In the Confessional story
An old tramp, while stealing from the donation boxes, gets locked inside a church, and, concealed within the confessional, overhears the details of a grisly murder. But not everything is as straightforward as it seems. Directed by: Peter Sasdy. Story by: David Ambrose, based on a story by Alice Scanlan Reach.
12 total · 1 choice · 7 major · 4 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| alcohol abuse | choice | The story follows a seemingly harmless old tramp in his efforts to pilfer a from church donation box for liquor money. In a chilling revelation, the viewer learns that the tramp had murdered a 15-year-old girl to ensure that she would not get in the way of him getting his next drink. |
| Catholicism | major | The story is set in a Catholic church. Father Crumlish was shown going about his evening duties. A statue of the Virgin Mary seemed to look disapprovingly on the old tramp as he fished coins out from the church donation box. Father Crumlish heard the confession of a psychologically troubled young man. |
| law enforcement | major | Sergeant Warren was investigating the murder of a 15-year-old girl. |
| murder | major | The story's grand revelation is that a seemingly harmless old tramp had murdered a 15-year-old girl to ensure that she would not get in the way of him getting his next drink. |
| religious occupation | major | The Catholic priest Father Crumlish was a main character in the story. He saw about the church late at night, heard Johnny's false confession, and tended to the old tramp as he lay dying from two gunshot wounds. |
| remorse | major | As he lay dying, the old tramp confessed to having murdered the 15-year-old girl, and seemed genuinely remorseful for what he had done. Johnny sounded remorseful when he falsely confessed to having murdered a 15-year-old girl. |
| theft | major | The old wino had designs on "borrowing" just enough money from a church donation box to quench his thirst. |
| what it is like to be homeless | major | The story follows a thirsty wino who lands himself in a predicament while attempting to fish some coins out from a church donation box in the middle of the night. |
| coping with humiliation | minor | In the confessional, Johnny alleged that Vera publicly denied his manhood and that this humiliation drove him to murder her. In a surprise twist, it was later revealed that Johnny's confession was false. In reality he was a psychologically disturbed youth who was in the habit of falsely confessing to crimes. |
| human self-sacrifice for another | minor | While the matter was left somewhat ambiguous, it appears at least after he was shot the old tramp felt the urge to come clean about his murder of the girl in order to protect the boy that had falsely confessed to the deed. |