Fog Closing In story
Mary begs her husband Arthur not to go away on a business trip, but he refuses. Mary is alone in the house when Ted Lambert, an escapee from a mental institution, breaks in. The two develop a rapport, and Mary confesses that she is always been afraid except for when she lived with her parents, only her husband no longer wants to live with them. After Ted leaves, Arthur returns home and Mary shoots him. Mary then tells her father on the phone that she can return home now. In 1957, this episode won an Emmy Award for Best Teleplay Writing. Directed by: Herschel Daugherty. Story by: Martin Brooke, James Cavanagh.
12 total · 2 choice · 3 major · 7 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| child leaving the nest | choice | We understand that the point of the story is that Mary had only left her parents out of financial necessity and was now so desperate to get back to their comforting arms that she murdered her husband. Arthur had earlier chided Mary for being 35 and unwilling to leave her parents. |
| loneliness | choice | Mary was desperately alone as she had never wanted to leave here parents and now, to boot, her husband left her alone for weeks on end. |
| fear of being alone | major | Mary had a foreboding feeling about being left alone at home for a week as Arthur went to do his traveling salesman thing. |
| husband and wife | major | Arthur and Mary Summers. |
| spouse murder | major | The story culminated with Mary shooting dead her husband Arthur. |
| compassion | minor | Mary empathized with the plights of an escaped mental hospital patient and helped him hide from his pursuers. |
| facing a home invader | minor | Mary reacted oddly to finding an escaped mental hospital patient hiding out in her house. Instead of freaking out, as one might expect, she confided in him about her fears and ultimately helped him to escape his pursuers. |
| father and daughter | minor | Mary spoke of the safety she felt in her father's arms. |
| female stereotype | minor | Arthur was trying to reason with his emotional and unreasonable wife Mary about their living arrangement with her parents. |
| in-law relationship | minor | Arthur was reticent about letting Mary's parents come and live with them as he had had enough of them in the past. |