The Power of Fear story
Mrs Brenner, wife of a successful lawyer, is home alone, awaiting the plumber. The man, however, acts more than intrusive, and uses false excuses to go to the bathroom and bedroom, inspecting things while she is waiting elsewhere. When it comes to matters of payment, Mrs Brenner is shocked when he insists to get £1000 in cash - or he will start rumors about an extramarital affair, since he spent so much time in her house and knows intimate details about her bedroom. He also reveals he has blackmailed other women in the suburbs and they have all paid him. Mrs Brenner is given one day to come up with the money, but she is torn about paying for his silence, or somehow punishing this disgusting, abrasive creep. Directed by: Peter Sasdy. Story by: N.J. Crisp, based on "Suburban Tigress" by Lawrence Treat.
10 total · 1 choice · 6 major · 3 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| fear | choice | The title alludes to Margo being terrorized and blackmailed by a plumber who had arrived on a house call while she was alone at home. |
| blackmail | major | The plumber tried to blackmail Margo out of £1000 in cash. He was adamant that, unless she paid up, he'd bring a scandal onto her house by spreading rumors that they'd done the pelvic pinochle while her husband was out of town. This scandal Margo could ill afford, as it would have endangered her marriage and dashed both her and her husband's hopes of adopting a child. |
| facing a home invader | major | Margo was terrorized and blackmailed by the plumber who she had let enter her home on a routine house call to fix a leak in the cellar. |
| human occupational activity | major | The story concerns a plumber who made himself some extra cash by blackmailing hapless housewives. [plumber] |
| invasion of privacy | major | The plumber poked around Margo's bedroom and bathroom in order to find saucy tidbits of information with which to blackmail her. |
| personal practical dilemma | major | Margo was faced with this tough decision: Either pay her blackmailer £1000 and let him get away with his crime, or refuse to pay up and risk his spreading rumors that would have endangered her marriage and dashed her and her husband's hopes of ever adopting a child. |
| romantic infidelity | major | The plumber tried to blackmail Margo out of £1000 in cash. He was adamant that, unless she paid up, he'd bring a scandal onto her house by spreading rumors that they'd done the pelvic pinochle while her husband was out of town. This scandal Margo could ill afford, as it would endangered her marriage and dashed both her and her husband's hopes of adopting a child. |
| adopting a child | minor | Margo and her husband were in the final stages of adopting a child. |
| husband and wife | minor | The viewer is initially led to believe that Margo concealed the blackmail scheme from her lawyer husband while he was away in Washington on a three day trip. In reality, she had told him everything, and he had coached her on how to handle the blackmailer. |
| sexual assault | minor | The plumber threatened to rape Margo if she didn't produce the money he demanded of her. |