1.21 --- Dead Woman's Shoes

Reviewer's note : Just like the Teacher's Aide/Paladin of the Lost Hour confusion, this episode is usually listed as 1.22 with Wong's Lost and Found Emporium being 1.21. And again, the truth is they are in reverse. *** Directed by : Peter Medak Written by : Lynn Barker (original teleplay by Charles Beaumont & OCee Ritch) Starring : Helen Mirren, Jeffrey Tambor, Theresa Saldana First aired : 22nd of November, 1985. Maddie Duncan (Helen Mirren, Cal, 2010) is a nebbish thrift store worker, who one day discovers a rather nice pair of shoes. What she doesn't know is that the shoes belonged to the late Susan Montgomery, who was killed by her husband Kyle (Jeffrey Tambor, Life Stinks, Meet Joe Black), but in a way that it resembles an accident. When Maddie puts those shoes on, Susan's vengenful spirit possesses her, and she instinctively leaves towards the Montgomery residence. Once there, she is intercepted by the house maid Inez (Theresa Saldana, Raging Bull), who is astounded to hear she knows of her boyfriend and a secret fund she keeps. Maddie defiantly waltzes away to the shower, but once her shoes are off - the spirit leaves her body and she is back to her old self. Inez interrupts her and tries to send her home, but the moment poor Maddie puts the shoes back on, Susan takes control, and Inez is quickly dispensed of. After spending some quality time with the makeup set, Maddie-Susan emerges from the bathroom and starts putting on some finishing touches to her plan. First, she calls her husband at work and manages to convince him she's not dead. Then, after he's home, she coaxes him into a confession (of sorts), and then tries to shoot him. But, Maddie is a horrible shot, so after several misses she gives chase to the fleeing Kyle, and in an attempt to make herself run faster, removes the shoes. With the shoes, out goes Susan as well, and Maddie, back in her own body again, realizes those high heels are bad luck, dumps them into a nearly trashcan and leaves the scene. Police comes to make a report, but Kyle persuades them into thinking that this was just some stray lunatic. His story didn't fly with Inez though, who overheard the whole deal, and she leaves him - her replacement a young black girl. While putting out the trash, the new maid finds the shoes Maddie dumped. Enchanted by them, she puts them on...and Susan takes over again, but this time, she makes no mistakes. *** Dead Woman's Shoes is the first of several classic TZ remakes. Originally scripted by Charles Beaumont and OCee Ritch (Ritch basically ghostwrote the whole script for Beaumont, who was at the time bogged down with other assigments), Dead Woman's Shoes is however significantly altered for the new TZ. Scriptwriter Lynn Barker, who previously contributed Little Boy Lost to the series, swaps the lead character for a woman, and removes the story from the mob environment for something more "ordinary". Star of the show is English actress Helen Mirren, who excels in her dual role as Maddie and Susan. Also, the "shoes" theme is a nice opportunity for director Peter Medak to showcase his talent - just observe the opening 8 minutes of the episode, with most shots kept at ankle height anr portraying only shoes of various people, the crowning gem being a nicely executed tracking shot of Maddie going to work. Overall, this is a solid episode, and dare I say, an improvement over the original, which first aired 19th of January, 1962.