Editing Escape Clause

{{Other uses}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2025}}

{{primary sources|date=December 2011}}
{{Infobox television episode
| series         = [[The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series)|The Twilight Zone]]
| image          =
| caption        =
| season         = 1
| episode        = 6
| airdate        = {{Start date|1959|11|06}}
| production     = 173-3603
| writer         = [[Rod Serling]]
| director       = [[Mitchell Leisen]]
| guests         =
* [[David Wayne]] as Walter Bedeker
* [[Thomas Gomez]] as [[Satan|Mr. Cadwallader]]
* [[Virginia Christine]] as Ethel Bedeker
* [[Dick Wilson]] as insurance man #1 (Jack)
* [[Joe Flynn (US actor)|Joe Flynn]] as insurance man #2 (Steve)
* [[Wendell Holmes (actor)|Wendell Holmes]] as Bedeker's lawyer
* [[Raymond Bailey]] as Bedeker's doctor
| season_article = The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series, season 1)
| episode_list   = List of The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series) episodes
| prev           = [[Walking Distance]]
| next           = [[The Lonely]]
}}
"'''Escape Clause'''" is episode six of the [[American television]] anthology series ''[[The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series)|The Twilight Zone]]''. It is "the story of a strange contract between a mortal man and his most satanic majesty";<ref name="preview">[[Rod Serling|Serling, Rod]]. Promotional spot for "Escape Clause". Original airdate: 30 October 1959.</ref> it originally aired on November 6, 1959, on [[CBS]].

==Opening narration==
{{cquote| You're about to meet a hypochondriac.  Witness Mr. Walter Bedeker, age forty-four. Afraid of the following: death, disease, other people, germs, draft, and everything else. He has one interest in life and that's Walter Bedeker. One preoccupation: the life and well-being of Walter Bedeker. One abiding concern about society: that if Walter Bedeker should die, ''how will it survive without him''?}}

==Plot==
Walter Bedeker, a paranoid and self-absorbed [[hypochondria]]c, is convinced his wife Ethel and his doctor (who insists Bedeker is in good health) are conspiring to kill him by purposely making him sick. After they leave, a large rotund man calling himself [[Cadwaladr (name)|Cadwallader]] appears in Bedeker's room, offering him [[immortality]] and a near-total halt to his physical aging. Bedeker guesses Cadwallader's true identity ([[Mephistopheles|the Devil]]) but is unafraid. He haggles with Cadwallader, who admits he wants Bedeker's soul and accurately points out the other will never miss it or notice when it's gone.

Cadwallader inserts an [[escape clause]] allowing Bedeker to summon him at any time if he chooses to die. Bedeker is suspicious but after Cadwallader leaves, he tests his new power by placing his hands on a hot radiator and finding them uninjured, then throws all his medicines out of a window, to Ethel's surprise.

Bedeker uses his newfound [[invulnerability]] to commit [[insurance fraud]], claiming false [[Settlement (litigation)|settlements]], and garnering cheap thrills by hurling himself into life-threatening accidents. After doing so 14 times, he concludes that the absence of risk and fear has made his life a dreadful bore. He purposely mixes a concoction of poisonous household liquids and drinks it, shocking Ethel, but it has no effect on him at all. Bedeker explains his situation to Ethel, admonishing her that if she had any imagination, she would find some way for him to experience some excitement. Proclaiming he is going to jump down the [[lightwell]] of their apartment building, Ethel futilely tries to stop him, tragically falling to her own demise.

Bedeker calmly calls the police, confessing to [[murder]]ing Ethel. He is arrested and brought to trial. He hopes to experience the [[electric chair]]. However, due to his lawyer's defense strategy, he is instead sentenced to life in prison without parole. Cadwallader appears in Bedeker's [[jail]] cell to remind him of the escape clause. Realizing he will face eternity in prison if he does not use it, Bedeker nods and immediately suffers a fatal [[Myocardial Infarction|heart attack]]. The guard discovers his lifeless body and sighs, "Poor devil … ."

==Closing narration==
{{cquote| There's a saying, "Every man is put on Earth condemned to die, time and method of execution unknown."  Perhaps this is as it should be.  Case in point: Walter Bedeker, lately deceased.  A little man with such a yen to live.  Beaten by the devil, by his own boredom, and by the scheme of things in this, the Twilight Zone.}}

==Preview for next week's story==
{{cquote|One of next week's stars is alongside me now. She'll appear in a most unusual tale called "[[The Lonely]]". It's a story that takes place on a - (female voice) an asteroid, and it's a most intriguing premise. (Serling) Sounds it. Next week on ''The Twilight Zone'', Jack Warden, John Dehner, and Jean Marsh appear in a bizarre tale of a man and a - a woman? I don't understand it either. Thank you and good night.}}

==Production==
"Escape Clause" was one of the three episodes-in-production mentioned by Rod Serling in his 1959 promotional film pitching the series to potential sponsors, the others being "[[The Lonely (The Twilight Zone)|The Lonely]]" and "[[Mr. Denton on Doomsday]]" (referred to as "Death, Destry, and Mr. Dingle").

==Impact==
"Here was a little gem.  Good work, Rod Serling.  This little piece about a hypochondriac who gets tangled up with an obese, clerical devil ranked with the best that has ever been accomplished in half-hour filmed television." —''Excerpt from the [[Variety (magazine)|Daily Variety]] review.''

[[Disney]]'s [[Twilight Zone Tower of Terror]] has a reference to this episode located in the basement of the attraction. The elevators have a certificate of inspection plaque, signed by "Cadwallader", bearing the inspection number "10259". These numbers represent October 2, 1959, the date ''The Twilight Zone'' first aired.

==Further reading==
*Zicree, Marc Scott: ''The Twilight Zone Companion''.  Sillman-James Press, 1982 (second edition)
*DeVoe, Bill. (2008). ''Trivia from The Twilight Zone''. Albany, GA: Bear Manor Media. {{ISBN|978-1-59393-136-0}}
*Grams, Martin. (2008). ''The Twilight Zone: Unlocking the Door to a Television Classic''. Churchville, MD: OTR Publishing. {{ISBN|978-0-9703310-9-0}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb episode|0734566}}

{{The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series) episodes}}

[[Category:1959 American television episodes]]
[[Category:The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series) season 1 episodes]]
[[Category:Fiction about hypochondriasis]]
[[Category:Fiction about the Devil]]
[[Category:Television episodes written by Rod Serling]]
[[Category:Television episodes about immortality]]
[[Category:Television episodes about death]]