The Misfortune Cookie
| "The Misfortune Cookie" | |
|---|---|
| The Twilight Zone episode | |
 Scene from The Misfortune Cookie | |
| Episode no. |
Season 1 Episode 14c |
| Directed by | Allan Arkush |
| Written by | Charles E. Fritch: Screenplay by Steven Rae aka Rockne S. O'Bannon |
| Original air date | January 3, 1986 |
| Guest appearance(s) | |
|
Elliott Gould: Harry Folger | |
"The Misfortune Cookie" is the third segment of the fourteenth episode from the first season (1985–86) of the television series The Twilight Zone.
Plot
Harry Folger is a snobby and arrogant food critic for a major newspaper. Restaurants live or die by his reviews which are often nasty. Folger's hobby is to collect matchbooks of restaurants he's destroyed and he displays them as tombstones in a graveyard scene at his office. One day, he hears about a mysterious new Chinese restaurant called "Mr. Lee's Chinese Cuisine" and immediately begins typing a review even though he had not visited the restaurant. "If you love your Pekingese don't ask for a doggie bag," he writes.
However, Harry decides he must visit the establishment in person after being urged by his boss. When he enters, he orders a massive amount of food and then immediately asks for the check before trying any of his meal. Though disappointed, the owner Mr. Lee presents Harry with a fortune cookie. Harry reads the fortune: "A grand reward awaits you just around the corner," it states. Harry exits the restaurant.
As Harry is walking through the alley a bank robber knocks him down and drops $100,000 in diamonds before running away. The jeweler says that Harry deserves $1,000 as a reward. Realizing the fortune cookies are indeed magical, Harry returns for more. He promises to change his review but then at lunch he receives a fortune that says: "April arrives today bringing romance." Harry knows it is September so he storms out and goes back on his promise. But before he can get to his office, he meets a woman asking for directions. He shows her the way and asks her out for dinner. When he asks her name she replies that her name is April.
At dinner, April's fortune tells her that she will soon recognize a grievous error in judgment. Harry's message says "You're going to die." Outraged, Harry swears at Mr. Lee and causes a scene. April, seeing him for who he truly is, leaves. Mr. Lee tells him the fortune cookie delivers due fortune. As he exits the restaurant, Harry is overcome with massive hunger pangs. He looks up and finds that he is surrounded by Chinese restaurants that were not there before. Not thinking anything of it, he goes into one restaurant and finds himself being served by figures with pale faces, but no matter how much he eats he can't seem to satisfy his hunger. As he continues to eat, he receives a fortune that informs him why he is perpetually hungry: "You're dead." The last scene shows Folger's matchbook graveyard. The latest tombstone has Folger's name on it.
Closing narration
| “ | Check please, for Mr. Harry Folger. For whom the phrase "dim sum" is not merely a description, but a damnation. A man who finds himself sitting down to a single, neverending course of just desserts. Prepared for him in the kitchens of the Twilight Zone. | ” |