Kentucky Rye
| "Kentucky Rye" | |
|---|---|
| The Twilight Zone episode | |
| Episode no. |
Season 1 Episode 3c |
| Directed by | John D. Hancock |
| Written by |
Delree Todd Chip Duncan Richard Krzemien |
| Original air date | October 11, 1985 |
| Guest appearance(s) | |
|
Jeffrey DeMunn: Bob Spindler | |
| Episode chronology | |
"Kentucky Rye" is the third and final segment of the third episode of the first season (1985–1986) of the television series The New Twilight Zone.
Synopsis
Bob Spindler (DeMunn) is celebrating the closing of a big deal with co-workers in a bar after work, and consumes too much alcohol to drive. The reactions of Spindler's wife (on the phone) and his co-workers indicate that this is not a one-off occurrence. Spindler tells his boss he will get a cab, but then drives himself while still inebriated. He is adjusting the radio and driving in the wrong lane when a car approaches from the other direction, and they both veer off the road. Spindler hits some trees and blacks out; when he comes to, he is outside an old bar called Kentucky Rye. He gets out with a bleeding head, and enters the bar.
The bar is alight with laughter, camaraderie, and wonderful drinks. Bob finds his head is no longer bleeding—with no injury and no blood on the rag—and he instantly fits right in, arm wrestling, chatting with the bartender, and treating everyone to drinks. As he cajoles, Spindler notices a somber-faced man and a gloomy-faced woman in the bar. Spindler does not worry about these people, though, as he consumes beer after beer.
Finally, the bartender makes him a curious offer: he can buy Kentucky Rye for $1600, but only if he does so that night. Spindler protests at first, but after the somber-faced man gives him the $100 he lacks, he happily agrees, seizing the keys the bartender offers him. In an instant, the whole tavern goes quiet, staring at him silently as he chortles and brags that he owns the bar. Spindler tries to lighten the mood, but the silent fury is overpowering, and he passes out on the pool table.
When Spindler awakens, he is still in the bar—but it is now dark, desolate, and abandoned. Through the glass door, he observes what has truly happened. The somber-faced man was the man Bob ran off the road and killed, and the gloomy woman is the man's widow. When Spindler tries to get out, he finds the doors locked; through a window, he even sees his own dead body being loaded into an ambulance. Screaming to be let out, Bob turns around and sees the image of the bartender in the mirror who laughs and cries out "IT'S YOURS, IT'S ALL YOURS!", leaving Bob alone with nothing but empty bottles to comfort him for eternity.
Closing narration
| “ | Bob Spindler, new owner and sole customer of the Kentucky Rye, a hell of a tavern. Where last call goes on forever...in the Twilight Zone. | ” |
Episode notes
This episode had no opening narration. It was the third of three stories aired in the third episode of the first season, after "Healer" and "Children's Zoo".
This episode shares similar themes on alcoholism and the human cost of addiction that are worn throughout the Twilight Zone, including in a later season 3 episode The Hellgrammite Method.