Forgotten TV: The Outer Limits - 'Descent'

 As we work our way down the Bottom 10 Rated Episodes, do things get better...or weirder.

This is a Season 5 Episode with a notable 'That Guy' in it.
Does the Plot accidentally touch on some modern ideas?

Let's go ahead and take the...

In the Cold Open, we see these Quest For Fire-looking guys fighting over food.

We then see that a Doctor is imagining the Scene entirely while staring at a Display on Primitive Man.

The Doctor- a famous That Guy named Leland Orser- is experimenting with DNA and trying to create the Dominant and Submissive genes.

With a potion, he can- in theory- make someone more of either.

As you can probably guess, he doesn't take the Submissive formula.

He's already got too much of that, he thinks.

The first dose makes him more confident and more assertive.

It's not enough, however, and he takes a second dose.

That one makes him very aggressive, to the point where he attacks his Boss like it is the Monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey!

He also gives the female Doctor he's obsessed with a dose of the Submissive stuff when the Office is just all getting flu shots- as you do.

The combination doesn't work, however, and he regrets what he did by trying to force himself on her.

She agrees to help him, making an antidote while he regresses.

Unfortunately, he can't accept a normal life without her and gives himself ALL of the formula he had left over.

After being shot by Security, we see his final fate..

He's now on Display in place of the mannequins!
The End.

A fairly simple Episode, but a pretty effective one.

As a reminder, these kinds of Shows tend to be little Morality Plays.
This is definitely one of those.

Poor Leland learns that power comes at a cost.  At first, he's willing to pay it.
Eventually, he sees the error of his ways...right?

This one has a pretty tight focus, only giving us Leland, the Lady, a Male Coworker and a Boss to focus on.  It helps make this easy to follow.

While it is somewhat of a universal idea- see those old Ads about He-Men on the Beach-, this one does feel a bit topical with the Tates and others doing their things online about being 'real men' or being 'man enough.'

While it is Sci-Fi (and replayed on said Channel), it's a good lesson in going too far for the wrong reasons.
Take us away, reused Newspaper Prop!

Next up, we get to lucky #10 on the lowest rated Episodes.  In this one, crazy people under care may not end up being the ones who are truly insane!  See you then...