Written by Dan Ullman; Produced by Robert Bennett Steinhauer & Jeff Freilich;
Directed by John McPherson
Witnessing an attempted robbery on a newspaper stand David successfully intervenes, becoming friends with the owner, Harry, an ex-conman who is deliberately leading a simple life in order to keep himself away from criminal temptation. A generous man at heart, he buys David a lottery ticket - against the odds the numbers turn up and a quarter of a million dollars is suddenly up for grabs. Reluctant to attract any attention, David offers Harry half the winnings as a friendly gesture, and asks him to collect it on his behalf. Thus begins a series of bizarre events after Harry absconds with the entire sum. David tracks him down to a hotel where he finds Harry has adopted an alter ego, and planning to con more money out of several crime-lords.
Very strange story by Daniel Ullman, who also wrote Blind Rage a year before. Harry is a truly odd character, dressing up in disguise to collect the winnings and then hiring limousines, uniforms and people in order to pretend to be a military official. David's character demonstrates quite a degree of desperation during all of this: after learning of his win he's phoning around to buy laboratory equipment that should put him on the road to a cure, but Harry's rash use of the winnings to craft a scam that should double their earnings brings David to the point of begging for his half of the money and leaving Harry to it. It's an interesting turn of events but I'm not quite sure the comedic elements of the episode really work.
Number of Fists: ***
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