Most Likely to Succeed story
In college, Dave Sumner was voted most likely to succeed. Nowadays, however, he has had a run of bad luck. He takes a job from Stanley Towers, a shady businessman. Stanley's business is being investigated by the government. At a meeting with the IRS, however, Stanley is shocked to discover that Dave is really an undercover Treasury Department agent. He only pretended to be down on his luck so he could get the goods on Stanley's shady business dealings. Directed by: Richard Whorf. Story by: Henry Slesar.
12 total · 1 choice · 6 major · 5 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| appearances can be deceiving | choice | It seems a point of the story was that Stanley was deceived by Dave's appearance, and gloating in his relative success decided to hire Dave as a servant. But little did Stanley know that Dave was actually the most successful tax investigator in the country. |
| feeling neglected in a relationship | major | Louise felt Stanley was neglecting his husbandly duties by being preoccupied with his business. She confronted Stanley about it and later confided in Dave about how she felt. |
| friendship | major | Awkwardness ensued when Stanley hired his seemingly hard up acquaintance from college, Dave, to serve as his butler. |
| getting a taste of one's own medicine | major | Stanley gloated over outshining Dave, only to find himself about to face ruin as a far more successful Dave prepared to take him down. |
| husband and wife | major | Stanley and his not so enthusiastic wife Louise. |
| master and servant | major | Stanley hired Dave to work as the house butler. |
| tax evasion | major | It was revealed that Dave went undercover to investigate Stanley for tax evasion. |
| alcohol abuse | minor | Dave spoke of how he turned to the bottle after his ex-wife remarried. |
| brother and brother | minor | In his sketch, Alfred Hitchcock had his brother tied up in the truck of a car. |
| divorce | minor | Dave spoke of how he once married, and ultimately divorced his former boss' daughter. Louise was about to walk out on Stanley. |