Template:Infobox TTW season five Template:TTW episode details
Cast
- Floyd Burney: Gary Crosby
- Mary Rachel: Bonnie Beecher
- Billy Rayford: John Bolt
- Old Man: Hank Patterson
Synopsis
Template:Spoiler A young music producer named Floyd arrives at a small town in search of a new song, which he hopes to buy. He is directed to a dilapidated shop in the woods run by a reclusive older man. After his offers of money in exchange for an original song are rebuffed, Floyd wanders off through the woods and unknowingly passes a tombstone with his name on it. Beside a lake, he encounters a pretty but mysterious woman, Mary, who reluctantly plays a song for him about two lovers who meet in the woods and are torn apart by tragedy. Floyd offers to buy the song rights from her, but she claims it isn't for sale. As he tries to seduce her, a jealous young man named Rayford shows up and attacks Floyd, who defends himself and inadverdently kills Rayford. Soon, Rayford's brothers arrive to chase after Floyd. As he prepares to flee, Mary begs him to stay, hoping things will be different this time. She implies that these exact same events have occurred before. Ignoring her, he runs away and finds himself back at the shop in the woods where he is killed by the brothers. The camera returns to the image of the tombstone seen at the beginning of the story with a warning from Rod Serling that, "In the Twilight Zone, some things are not for sale."
Trivia
This episode is generally considered one of the more ambiguous episodes of the series.
Themes
The episode appears to explore the importance of observing other people's wishes. It may also criticize the commercialization of art.