Night Gallery - The Little Black Bag

I like “The Little Black Bag” but don’t love it. Mainly (no surprise) because of Burgess Meredith do I cling to the tale much at all. Serling wrote it, but this, for me, isn’t Rod at his very best. But I don’t think he always had to be at his very best. The story is about a medical bag from the future accidentally sent back in time to 1971, landing in a trash can covered by old sacks of discarded lettuce and store receipts (and cats who pop out after the findings were unimpressive), found by foraging Meredith after fucking Chill Wills ruins his “dinner, cocktail, and supper” bottle of bad hooch during a fight over it. Wills, mind you, happens upon Meredith, who the bottle of hooch was in possession, granted a swig but couldn’t help but try and drink it all. The entire tale Wills is a self-absorbed piece of shit, a clinging, selfish bum with no redeemable qualities. He had planned to drink all of Meredith’s liquor despite it being offered for a few gulps, and later when Meredith uses the black bag to help a dying little girl (begged by her mother for help when it looked like he was about to pawn it), Wills is encouraging him to forget her so they could sell it (with life changing medicines and tools inside) for about 8 bucks to get a stronger whisky. Nice guy, this Wills. Wills is a scumbag. He mentions that he once was an atomic scientist or something, while Meredith brings up a past where he was a medical doctor who sacrificed his career thanks to alcoholism and bad decisions through the use of his license. Meredith sees the medical bag as a chance to redeem himself. He uses it to heel the girl (suffering infection from a cut) and a fellow down-on-his-luck homeless friend dying of a neck tumor, utilizing the instructions available, following them carefully, using his still-existing medical knowledge as reliance to the fullest. Wills can only see what the bag will do for him personally, not its life-saving gifts to mankind. So instead of allowing Meredith to use the bag for good, Wills will be rid of him, and that greed will obviously cost him dearly. Wills is the ultimate opportunist and there are plenty like him out there so it isn’t as if he’s this villain that isn’t totally identifiable. I’m sure many have felt that there are plenty of CEOs and Big Pharma opportunists that capitalize on the health of others suffering to accumulate their wealth. Wills just wanted some of that for himself. No alleys or trashcans or cold streets any longer…Wills could offer the black bag in exchange for his own piece of the action. And Meredith, because he put others before his own interests, was in the way. Serling wasn’t about to let Wills off, at least. A small concession but at least Wills wouldn’t be able to truly make some quick bucks after using a scalpel meant to help the sick and dying to get rid of someone standing in his way of cold hard cash. 2.5/5