Mr. Jason Foster, a tired ancient who on this particular Mardi Gras evening will leave the Earth. But before departing, he has some things to do, some services to perform, some debts to pay — and some justice to mete out. This is New Orleans, Mardi Gras time. It is also the Twilight Zone.
“The Masks” · Season 5, Episode 25
In this episode: Rod Serling (2)
EHEmily Harper
Why must you say such cruel and miserable things to me?!
JFJason Foster
Why indeed, Emily. Because you're cruel and miserable people. Because none of you respond to love. Emily responds only to what her petty hungers dictate, a prime example of this being her marriage to Wilfred... a marriage which broke her dear late mother's heart, in every sense! Wilfred responds only to things that have weight and bulk and value. He feels books, he doesn't read them. He appraises paintings, he doesn't seek out their truth or their beauty! And Paula there lives in a mirror. The world is nothing to her than a reflection of herself. And her brother. Humanity to him is a small animal caught in a trap to be tormented. His pleasure is the giving of pain, and from this, he receives the same sense of fulfillment most human beings get from a kiss or an embrace! You're caricatures. All of you. Without your masks, you're caricatures! (the clock strikes twelve) And now you're all very rich. Now you own everything that I have owned. You kept your bargain. You wore the masks. Enjoy yourselves, dear ones. I've lived a full life. May God pity you. (Jason goes limp)
WHWilfred Harper Sr.
He's dead! At long last, he's dead!
WHWilfred Harper Jr.
Good!
WHWilfred Harper Sr.
(takes off his mask) Now, let's celebrate!
EHEmily Harper
Oh!
WHWilfred Harper Sr.
What's the matter? What's the matter with you all?!
(Wilfred's face has taken on the appearance of his mask, and the others take off their masks revealing the same has happened to them)
(Jason's butler takes off the mask, revealing Jason's dead face looks normal with a peaceful expression
DDoctor
This must be death. No horror, no fear. Nothing but peace.
Mardi Gras incident, the dramatis personae being four people who came to celebrate and in a sense let themselves go. This they did with a vengeance. They now wear the faces of all that was inside them—and they'll wear them for the rest of their lives, said lives now to be spent in the shadow. Tonight's tale of men, the macabre and masks, on the Twilight Zone.
These quotes come from Wikiquote's The Twilight Zone (1959) pages and are available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.