This is another of the show's hour-long entries and it's a good one in my book. This one is one of the light episodes, I really like the concept on the Devil having a hand in the News, though from all the oversaturation and epidemic of sensationalism, dirty tabloids and fake news that's going on I don't doubt he does right now. In a way the plotline sort of predates and is a bit uncannily like the plot in "Tomorrow Never Dies" (that's a story for another time) where the main villain creates tomorrow's news.
Protagonist Douglas Winter is pretty good as he's an underdog editor of a paper that is unfortunately on the verge of shut down, he's sympathetic as he's a guy that has a good thing going but is about to lose it all because of typical competition and some rotten luck. But that luck is about to change for the better or the worse depending on how you look at it, when the Devil comes to town.
What really drives this episode is Burgess himself, this is the first time he played the Old Scratch role, second time was in the horror film "The Sentinel" (film I reviewed). He's a fun villain who ironically goes by the name Smith which is probably short for wordsmith which makes it a fitting alias; he's got the usual Burgess charm but there is a manipulative and sinisterness that is attached which is what makes this Devil even more dangerous, can be your best friend one minute but can flip on a dime and become your worst enemy. I even like this one detail with him with the Cigar he smokes which is so odd as it is crooked, that was obviously a way a visual prop to reflect on how twisted this guy is and it works well.
We see him just we've his black magic as he is just suddenly producing headlines almost out of thin air and things go good at least for the paper, though for everyone else not so much makes sense he is the Devil after all destruction is part of his job description. But of course, the protagonist begins to get suspicious, though it really his significant other that picks up on it a little sooner when things seem like there going a little too good. Really like how the episode satires on the flipside of the coin in the news business. How the news profits from the "if it bleeds it leads" mentality and the sensationalism behind it.
The protagonist is then put to the test as we see Douglas play into the devil's hands. The way it happens is kind of dryly and ironically funny. The protagonist knows there is something more going on with Smith but due to his own skepticism that seems to be on a terrible scale and ego/pride he just doesn't want to believe in the possibility something more really is going on that Smith could be the devil and he foolishly you can say tempts fate by signing that contract. Of course, anyone that's a Christian or at least knows about the Devil would know that skepticism/disbelief and egotism/pride are two of his weapons against mankind but also you can say that deal goes part of that old story in the Bible where the Devil's cruelest trick was to say he doesn't exist. But on a professional standpoint Douglas broke an important cardinal rule in the news business which is to never become closed minded.
Smith has counted on all of it and Douglas is about to learn the hard way that he may lose something more valuable than his newspaper. Can Douglas find a way out of the deal before he makes tomorrow's headline permanently, you'll just have to wait and see, but just remember as one of the old saying in News goes "If something is too good to be true, it probably is."
Rating: 3 stars.
