MovieChat Forums > Tales from the Darkside (1983) Discussion > Does Anybody Wanna Tackle 'Mary, Mary'?

Does Anybody Wanna Tackle 'Mary, Mary'?


Mary Mary quite contrary, how the hell does your episode go???

If you don't remember this episode, it's the one where a red-head named Mary (played by Margaret Whitton) talks to her stuffed dog, monkey, and fake-bird.

And she does video-dating, only she doesn't record herself--She records a mannequin (Monique) from afar, so the guys can't see what an uggo she really is (She's actually prettier than the mannequin, but that's just my opinion).

This story is already waving huge red flags right from the get-go...

First of all, the dudes that she's sending these videos to have got to be able to tell that it's not a real person in the videos, no matter how far away she shoots them.

Even if they can't tell that, they've got to be awfully suspicious that the girl never shoots any close-ups of herself (or at least close enough to where they can see her human face).

And secondly, if it reaches the point to where they go out on actual dates, then what? Is she going to prop up Monique at the restaurant table and talk for her from beneath it? And how is Monique going to be able to eat or drink anything? Did Mary not think this far ahead?

Alright, let's forget about all of that because Mary is obviously nuts (She even starts arguing with herself later on), so let's move on...

David!

Just when you think it couldn't possibly get any weirder than Mary, along comes David. This guy apparently stares into Mary's window 24/7, stalks through her mail to find out her name and phone number, and then promptly brags about it to her on the phone!

"If I can just show her how obsessed I am, that'll be sure to win her over!"

And it gets worse....

He invites her to a baseball game. How? By knocking on the door, introducing himself, and then (just when he feels good enough about how well their conversation is going) casually inviting her to the game?

Not in this story!

He does it by folding an envelope (containing the tickets) into a paper-airplane and shooting it right through her open window!

Quick Mary, call the cops!

Nope! Apparently all of this stalking is starting to turn her on, so she decides that it's time to send David a video, but she's actually going to be in front of the camera this time. (Way to go Mary--No more hiding behind mannequins for you!)

Well, she tries, but she's just too scared to do it, and so she decides to have a cute little breakdowny-poo instead.

But David's not done! He's going to come by and pick her up. Never mind the fact that she's already hung up on him once, refuses to return his calls, and closes the drapes every time that she sees him peeking in.

David knocks on the door. She doesn't answer (of course), but (being David) he decides to walk right in (because if you're going to be a stalker, go all out and be the best damn stalker that you can be!)

David can't see her, so he finally decides to give up on his stalking ways, but as he is leaving, he hears a "Pssst" and finds her on the other side of a folding screen...only now she's a mannequin.

So my question to you is...

What...

the...

hell???????

Did it turn out that she had a mannequin of herself all along, and when she knew that David was going to see her, she decided to get the mannequin out to scare him off?

Or did some supernatural force from above decide it was better for her breakdown-issues to turn her into a mannequin real quick and scare him off before her condition got any worse?

Or do you think that it was more of a symbolic ending where she wasn't really a mannequin, but it was to symbolize something intellectual and thought-provoking that the artistic film-maker had in mind...

"Her mannequin-form at the end represents how she prefers to be seen and reveals to us that the real world is just too much for her to handle."

Anyway, go ahead and hit me with your thoughts. Come on--Don't be shy (like Mary). I'd love to hear what you have to say.

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I think she was a mannequin the whole time. Not sure why or how, but then again the episode really doesn't make a whole lot of sense, as you already pointed out.

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I also think she was always a mannequin. A mannequin of low self esteem as she thinks her red herring housemate is more beautiful than her. I think this episode is merely symbolic of a person's perceived inadequacies in the dating department and how they desperately try to be noticed by someone on the outside even if they feel invisible. The writer/director of this episode seems to want the viewer to come to this conclusion.

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