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William Searle is a QTV reporter, back on the air after an alcohol-fueled breakdown. He is covering the launch of the SS Sea Princess. As the camera pans the crowd on onlookers, Searle is horrified to spot five bystanders in the crowd, the same five faces he has seen in the crowd at several other horrific accidents. The realization that these "watchers" are harbingers of impending doom drove Searle to his breakdown.
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In a panic, approaches the president of the shipping line and tries to warn him. In stead of the launch being canceled, William is thrown out of the shipyard. At home, he waits by the radio for the inevitable - As he feared, the ship has slipped its berth, causing deaths and injuries.
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Soon after, it is
Searle's turn to host the TV show Focus, and interview Frank Scarfe, a suspected extortionist who was released after testifying
against his own brother. As Searle grills Scarfe, the criminal's sister-in-law
bursts into the studio and shoots Scarfe down. As the panicked audience
flees the studio, Searle sees the same bystanders in the crowd, as
well as an attractive redhead who remains in her seat as the bedlam
surrounds her.
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Searle's wife Ruth, fearing for his sanity, insists he visit a psychiatrist. Dr. Baillie believes the bystanders are a manifestation of Searle's subconscious, a product of guilt for surviving a horrific train wrecks several years before that Searle has blocked from his memory. Baillie injects Searle with sodium pentothal and Searle relieves the wreck. The doctor hopes this catharsis will end the manifestations.
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Searle sees a girl on
the street and he recognizes her from the studio audience. He
introduces himself and soon he and Marielle are having an affair. On
an outing to the zoo, William again sees the watchers just before an elephant
kills his handler.
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William returns to the psychiatrist and Dr. Baillie shows him pictures of various people, and from these Searle picks out the five bystanders. All were involved in the same train crash as Searle and none of the five survived. Armed with this new knowledge, Searle and Ruth plan a vacation for him to recoup and get their lives back together. Searle tries to break off his affair with Marielle, but she will not let him go and will await his return. |
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On the vacation, William and Ruth rediscover the love lost in the moths since William first saw the Watcher. They decide to spend the last day of the holiday by rowing out to an island in the nearby lake for a picnic. Denouement takes place on the secluded beach as Searle discovers that Marielle has come looking for him, and she's brought some very familiar friends as witnesses ...
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 For more information on the episode and screenwriter Michael J. Bird, visit the Michael J Bird Tribute site. |
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