Season 1 Episode 4
Watching the elite of the business world get their come-up-ins is always entertaining. I don’t know what it is about watching someone who has it all lose everything in the blink of an eye that is satisfying, but I am glad that Creepshow understands what we want.
The episode opens with Lydia Layne explaining to two of her employees who are getting a promotion. You will recognize the actor playing Lydia as Trica Helfer. Helfer is widely known in the pop culture universe for playing roles in television and film like Battlestar Galactica, Lucifer, Van Helsing, and Falling Skies, among many others. As Lydia lays out how significant this new role will be, a small earthquake rattles the room they are in. Lydia seems unfazed by this small commotion and tells the two employees, Tom and Celia, who will be moving up. Celia has a look of promise and expectation on her face, and Tom looks uncertain. Tom is given the promotion in a twist of fate, and the look of anticipation on Celia’s face quickly turns to anger.
When Tim leaves, on cloud nine, Celia lashes out at Lydia for overlooking her in the position. Lydia tries to assure her that she did this so they could stay together, and it becomes apparent that the two are in a romantic relationship. Celia, now accusing Lydia of not having the back of women in business, continues to grow in anger. Trying to explain her reasoning, Lydia says that she might run for office and wants Celia by her side, changing the world. This is not the life that Celia had in mind, however. With her anger rising to a boiling point, Celia stands to her feet. She starts really digging in deep on the insults and accusations. She calls Lydia a cow says that she will tell the world what a fraud she is. Hearing this, Lydia can’t take it anymore and throws her hands up to stop Celia from talking and, in doing so, smacks her in the face. Instead of being upset about the slap, Celia seems happy because she now has the ammunition, she needs to destroy Lydia. She threatens to go to the police first and then the media. As she goes to leave, Lydia grabs her arms and tells her to wait. The struggle and Celia fall backward over the couch and lands headfirst on an award that digs deep into her skull, killing her instantly.
Now gripped with fear and guilt, Lydia picks up Celia’s dead body and sits her on the couch. She grabs the award that is sticking out of the body’s skull and begins pulling it out. Suddenly, someone walks in, and she shoves the award back in place. She goes to the office door, and it is someone inviting her to come out and celebrate Tom’s promotion with them. She explains that Celia is a little upset about losing to Tom and asks the guy to have the valet bring Celia’s Tesla around and leave the keys under the visor.
With a plan to get rid of the body, Lydia places Celia in an office chair and begins moving her down the hallway. They do not make it far when Tom comes out of the bathroom, forcing Lydia to roll the chair with Celia into an empty office. She does her best to avoid long conversations with Tom. When the elevator opens, she explains she forgot something in the office and for Tom to go ahead. When he leaves, Lydia ducks back into the office only to discover that Celia’s chair has now turned where she is facing her murderer, eyes wide open. She seems to be looking directly into Lydia’s soul. Feeling uncomfortable at the site, Lydia approaches and slowly closes Celia’s eyes.
They make their way into the elevator. As they begin their descent, Lydia starts coming up with a story of how Celia was so upset. She wishes she would never have let her drive. I’m going to stop here for a moment. Why is it in all of these stories someone has to come up with a wild story to try and cover their tracks? The more likely account would be that Celia was so upset about not getting the job to attack Lydia. In self-defense, Lydia pushed her off, causing Celia’s balance to be thrown off. I mean, I am sure they have cameras in this big office anyway.
Back to the elevator. Just as they start going down, another earthquake hits, and the power goes out, forcing them into a free fall. Lydia is thrown from side to side, and the chair containing Celia rolls wildly around the small metal box. Falling to the floor in the corner, Lydia holds up her hands to stop the chair from moving right into her. Celia’s eyes are once again open and staring into Lydia’s face as the lights go out.
With the power back on, Lydia moves the chair away from her. She franticly begins hitting the buttons on the elevator’s control panel. Just as she starts to hit the panic button, she stops and looks at Celia. She can’t ask for help with her recently slain lover in the shaft with her. Looking for a way out, Lydia forces the doors open only to discover a concrete wall behind them. In an attempt to climb up through the ceiling, Lydia, now using Celia as a ladder, falls to the floor and passes out. The two bodies now lay side by side.
When Lydia wakes up, she notices that Celia’s eyes are open again. She reaches over to close them, and just as they approach, Celia’s mouth opens wide. The elevator begins to free fall again, but before it hits the ground, it suddenly stops. The fire department is now calling through the emergency phone. Still, Lydia is afraid to answer because she hears soft breathing coming from Celia. The latter is currently looking directly at Lydia. Now terrified, Lydia reaches for the phone, but Celia somehow moves closer, causing Lydia to scream in terror. Now, seemingly losing her mind, Lydia starts yelling at the corpse.
24 hours pass, and Lydia wakes up again to find that Celia is sitting across from her staring directly into her face. He bones begin to crack, and her body move as the award jammed into her head slowly is pushed out by an unseen force. Lydia does not believe it and just starts laughing hysterically at the corpse. She then slowly makes her way over Celia and looks down at the wound in her head. As she is looking down at the wound, a hand reaches up out of it and grabs her by the throat. She wrestles free and opens the doors again. Now in a new location, she can squeeze through the small hole a little. As she is climbing through it, the elevator begins shaking again. Just as she thinks she will make it to safety, Celia grabs her hair holding her in place as the elevator drops again, cutting Lydia’s head off. When the elevator finally opens and two firemen are standing at the opening, they find Celia’s body smiling, holding Lydia’s decapitated head in her lap.
As I stated at the beginning of this article, I love watching the wealthy elite get what they deserve. Having said that, while watching this episode, I didn’t see that Lydia really deserved what she got. I’m not saying she was a good person by any means, but to deserve death because she gave someone else a promotion instead of someone who I assume she had a romantic relationship with seems harsh. Either way, this is one of the creepiest and most thrilling episodes the series has had yet. The acting is top-notch, and the story is really intense.
Written exclusively for TheLastPicture.Show by Jacob Ruble
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