Synopsis

Jason Foster, a very wealthy old man, is dying. Cranky and candid, Jason is not cheered by a visit from his daughter Emily and her family—husband Wilfred, son Wilfred Jr., and daughter Paula. All four have various, terrible traits. Emily is a cowardly, self-centered hypochondriac who whines and complains about the most trivial things. Wilfred, a successful businessman, is introverted and greedy, thinking of everything in monetary terms. Paula is extremely vain, constantly checking her appearance in the mirror; in fact, she is looking in one when she greets her grandfather. Wilfred Jr., meanwhile, is an oafish, sadistic bully who enjoys causing pain and suffering to other people and animals. Moreover, it is clear that they are only there in order to claim Jason's fortune once he dies. Jason is not shy about his opinions of his family and openly insults each of them. In an act of apology, he says he has a special Mardi Gras

Mardi Gras

The terms "Mardi Gras" , "Mardi Gras season", and "Carnival season", in English, refer to events of the Carnival celebrations, beginning on or after Epiphany and culminating on the day before Ash Wednesday...

 party planned for the little group that night.

After dinner, the family gathers in Jason's study, where he offers special, one-of-a-kind mask

Mask

A mask is an article normally worn on the face, typically for protection, disguise, performance or entertainment. Masks have been used since antiquity for both ceremonial and practical purposes...

s. These masks, which he said are "crafted by an old Cajun

Cajun

Cajuns are an ethnic group mainly living in the U.S. state of Louisiana, consisting of the descendants of Acadian exiles...

", are very ugly creations. Jason informs his daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren that a Mardi Gras custom is to wear masks that are the exact opposite of a person's true personality. Thereupon, he says sarcastically that these masks are just that—and offers the mask of a sniveling coward to Emily, a miserable miser

Miser

A miser, cheapskate, snipe-snout, penny pincher, piker, scrooge, skinflint or tightwad is a person who is reluctant to spend money, sometimes to the point of forgoing even basic comforts and some necessities...

 to Wilfred, a twisted buffoon to Wilfred Jr., and a self-obsessed narcissist to Paula. He himself dons a skull

Human skull

The human skull is a bony structure, skeleton, that is in the human head and which supports the structures of the face and forms a cavity for the brain.In humans, the adult skull is normally made up of 22 bones...

, claiming that the opposite of life is death. The family is reluctant to wear the ugly masks—until Jason quotes his demands as a proviso from his will

Will (law)

A will or testament is a legal declaration by which a person, the testator, names one or more persons to manage his/her estate and provides for the transfer of his/her property at death...

; unless all four of them don the masks and leave them on until midnight, all they will receive from his vast estate is train fare home to Boston

Boston

Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...

. So do the foursome comply, in spite of their disgust.

As the hours tick by, all four beg to be allowed to take off the masks...claiming that they are worse than uncomfortable; they are unbearable. Yet their pleas are wasted on Jason, who delivers his final tirade to his family as he dies; he explains that even "without [their] masks, [they're] caricatures!" He then dies. The foursome rejoices in the fact that they are now rich—until they remove their disguises and find, to their horror, that their faces have conformed to the hideous shapes of the masks. When Jason's mask is removed, it appears as if nothing has changed, but his face is actually the expression of death itself- calm, peaceful, and serene. As Dr. Sam Thorne observes, "This must be death. No horror, no fear...nothing but peace." As the episode ends, the butler, Jeffrey, looks upon the relatives' ugly faces.

Episode notes

"The Masks" was directed by Ida Lupino

Ida Lupino

Ida Lupino was an English-born film actress and director, and a pioneer among women filmmakers. In her 48-year career, she appeared in 59 films and directed seven others, mostly in the United States. She appeared in serial television programmes 58 times and directed 50 other episodes...

, who had starred in the first-season episode "The Sixteen-Millimeter Shrine

The Sixteen-Millimeter Shrine

"The Sixteen-Millimeter Shrine" is an episode of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone.- Synopsis :Aging film star Barbara Jean Trenton secludes herself in her private screening room, where she reminisces about her past by watching her old films...

." She was the only person in the history of the original Twilight Zone to have acted in one episode and directed another. She was also the only woman to direct a Twilight Zone episode.

External links

• TV.com episode page