Services Rendered story
While passing a construction site a young man is hit on the head and gets amnesia. He can't remember who he is or where he was going. The only clues he finds in his wallet: a thousand dollar bill and the name of Dr. Ralph Mannix. He visits Mannix, but the doctor doesn't recognize him. The doctor suggests that something familiar may trigger his memories to return. He sees a picture of the doctor's wife and wonders whether he has a wife of his own. Later his memory returns. He realizes that the thousand dollars was from the doctor's wife. He's a hitman and she hired him to kill her husband. He visits the doctor again and fulfills his contract. Directed by: Paul Henreid. Story by: Richard Levinson & William Link.
7 total · 1 choice · 1 major · 5 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| what if I had amnesia | choice | The story follows a nondescript man as he seeks to piece together his identity after getting whacked on the head by a falling board. |
| ironic twist of fate | major | The protagonist visited a doctor to help cure his amnesia and, by an ironic twist of fate, comes to recall that the doctor is in fact the man he is intending to assassinate. |
| coping with a moocher | minor | Whilst suffering from amnesia, the protagonist was set upon by a parched moocher who persuaded him to buy drinks. |
| hitman occupation | minor | It turned out that the amnesiac protagonist was actually a hitman who'd been sent to murder the very doctor he sought out to cure his condition. |
| husband and wife | minor | It turned out that Dr. Mannick's wife had hired a hitman to kill him. |
| medical occupation | minor | The amnesiac protagonist sought out Dr. Mannick to help get his memory back. |
| murder | minor | The story culminated with the amnesiac man recollecting that he'd been sent to do in the doctor who was helping him regain his memory. |