Tales from the Darkside (TV Series) The Bitterest Pill (1986) User Reviews

Knowledge is Power

[kapelusznik18 · 5/10 · 7 December 2016]

****SPOILERS**** Instead of not looking a gift horse in the mouth these two mindless fools Harland & Margery Bender, Joe Carafello & Catherine Battistone, blew a ten million lottery win by discounting what their good friend Tinker,Mark Blankfield, had to offer them. Finding out that they hit it big time Tinker showed up at the Bender's doorstep with this bottle of smart pills that he developed in his laboratory that by taking them would give them all the smarts or knowledge they need to invest their winnings. It was in fact the Bender's son Jonathan, Jason Horst,whom they treat like the village idiot who ends up swallowing the pills, after they threw Tinker and his pills out of the house, and thus made monkeys out of his not so bright parents.

Using the brain power that the pills gave him Johathan pulls the rug from under his parents feet and left them at his mercy with him investing the ten million dollars and double or even tripling it, within a week, and having them put literally under house arrest with only the barest nauseates at their disposal. Being the greedy and mindless jerks that they were the Bender's had Jonathan dance rings around them and legally end up leaving them penniless. And totally dependent on him and him alone.

This TFTDS episode shows just how out of touch with the hard cold realities of life most people like the Bender's are when they come into a big windfall and end up blowing it before they can spend a dime of it.It was young Jonathan who by gulping down the smart pills that ended up on easy street for the rest of his life and they both ended up straight down in the dumps! A fate which they and only they made all for themselves!

Of course...

[shellytwade · 5/10 · 30 January 2022]

Season 3 was turning out pretty decent but of course it wouldn't take long for them to introduce a completely stupid episode. I mean it's alright but it's once again just the wrong tone for this series. It feels more like a sitcom.

Lackluster episode

[Woodyanders · 5/10 · 1 August 2014]

Little boy Jonathan (adorable Jason Horst) lives a miserable existence due to his whiny and unhappy neglectful parents (decently played by Joe Carafello and Catherine Battistone). Relief arrives in the form of flaky inventor Tinker (an irritatingly frantic portrayal by Mark Blankfield), who has created a miraculous pill that increases the power of the mind and memory. Director Bryan Michael Stoller, working from a pretty slight script by Jule Selbo and Michael Kube-McDowell, tries for a cute whimsical tone that just doesn't work the way that it should: The constant bickering amongst the adult characters was probably meant to be amusing, but it's done at such a tiresomely shrill pitch that it registers as annoying and exhausting instead. Worse yet, Tinker's nonstop ranting and raving wears out its welcome real fast and ultimately makes this episode a bit of a chore to endure. Only at the end when Jonathan cleverly turns the tables on his terrible parents does this episode finally hit its stride, but alas by then it's too little too late to make this one anything more than mediocre at best.

Really bad overacting!

[Leofwine_draca · 1/10 · 24 September 2015]

This cruddy episode of the TALES FROM THE DARKSIDE TV series is apparently based on a story by acclaimed sci-fi writer Frederick Pohl, not that you'd ever know because this is a complete mess in terms of execution and narrative style. The plot is about a crazy inventor who makes pills that turn people into geniuses and the couple who win the lottery and end up falling in with him.

You guessed it, this is one of the dumb comedy episodes of the show and everything about it is over the top. ALL of the dialogue has to be shouted at full volume by a cast of very bad actors and Mark Blankfield in particular is cringe-worthy; I actually had to turn the volume down every time he appeared because he was giving me a headache. Anyway, this is completely awful.

Tales from the Darkside: The Bitterest Pill

[Scarecrow-88 · 2/10 · 20 September 2015]

After a rather strong start to the third season, Tales from the Darkside was bound to eventually lose some momentum. It does so with this lousy lesson in not dumping annoying characters on screen for an entire running time, expecting us to not check out in aggravation. This was just a case where those involved in the writing and direction tried to get too cute, with the conclusion perhaps amusing to some while I had already given up on the episode before this. A kid is bored, and his parents seem too involved in other things while he yearns for entertainment. His wife-beater shirted pops is reading the sport section, telling his son to look at the all-news sections that provides only the most entertainment a child could imagine. However, he notices the lottery winner number and soon realizes that his parents have that ticket number themselves. Ten mil but they don't do anything with it. Meanwhile a number of greedy folks stop by or call them looking to be financed. A former friend of the mother's (Mark Blankfield), named Tinker, soon arrives looking to be financed for his invented "total recall" drug which opens the brain to allow for greater learning capabilities and memory. However, father Harlan (Joe Carafello) doesn't want anything to do with Tinker while his wife, Margery (Catherine Battistone), invites him in and is more willing to listen to his offer. The kid, Jonathan (Jason Horst), is mostly confined to his room, begging to come down to the living room through an intercom, with the parents emphatic that he stays put.

Fans of Blankfield understand that he has that flexible rubbery face perfect for physical comedy. He was quite a visible working actor in the 80s on both television and movies (mostly involving his relying on acting silly and manic). He's sadly forgotten, but if you watch Robin Hood: Men in Tights or Dracula: Dead and Loving It, Blankfield gets to steal scenes. He was also a part of horror comedies like Frankenstein General Hospital or Jekyll & Hyde: Together Again. In this episode, he's so over the top and madcap crazy, he sweats buckets and looks to be losing his breath. It is energy exploding on screen, but I think he just doesn't have the material or cast to play off of to benefit an audience who'd care. The point was that the total recall pill had adverse effects on Tinker that was simply too much on an adult brain to endure. The child finally taking front and center of the story, with the parents put in their place after one of the total recall pills proves its value, is supposed to satisfy us. I think it only gives us an end we perhaps longed for after about five minutes of this tiresome episode.

Not good.

[poolandrews · 3/10 · 16 April 2008]

Tales from the Darkside: The Bitterest Pill starts as the ordinary average Bender family realise that they have won the $10,000,000 jackpot on the lottery, apart from having lots of money their lives don't seem to change that much though. Then they get a visit from an old friend named Winston McGee (Mark Blankfield) who claims that he has created a pill which will make them all billionaires & eventually rulers of the entire world, Harlan Bender (Joe Carafello) doesn't believe him & throws him out but it's a decision he will regret...

Episode 3 from season 3 this Tales from the Darkside story originally aired in the US during October 1986, directed by Bryan Michael Stoller one has to say that The Bitterest Pill really isn't very good. The script by Michael Kube-McDowell & Jule Selbo is all about ironies & such, from the family who have nothing then getting everything & not enjoying it, from the way the parents who treat their son badly get a taste of their own medicine during a silly twist ending & of course the episode title The Bitterest Pill has all sorts of meanings in context with the programme. I am not sure who The Bitterest Pill was made for, it's certainly not horror or sci-fi or supernatural themed & it's just an odd tale that I didn't like at all. Even at only twenty minutes in length it's boring, it's slow, it's predictable & heavy handed with it's moralistic messages & irony.

Despite winning a $10,000,000 jackpot on the lottery the Bender family decide to stay in their little semi detached two storey house, yeah right. I am not being funny but who after winning ten million would stay in their old small house? Also with that much money you could just about go anywhere & just about do anything so the whole thing quickly loses credibility for me & never regains it. The acting isn't great & that loony scientist guy Winston is really annoying.

The Bitterest Pill doesn't really feel much like a Tales from the Darkside episode, I don't really know what it feels like actually. What I do know though is that I didn't like it & it's as simple & straight forward as that.

Limitless savant

[melhendrickson · 7/10 · 25 February 2023]

Interesting for a few reasons; seemed to be making fun of an autistic savant. Then realized this appears to be basis of the movie 'Limitless'. He even refers to the limitless options after taking the pill.

This isn't enough writing to leave review? Stupid still need 330 characters?? FU, guess that's why I've never done this. Dumb dumb dumb dumb Interesting for a few reasons; seemed to be making fun of an autistic savant. Then realized this appears to be basis of the movie 'Limitless'. He even refers to the limitless options after taking the pill.

This isn't enough writing to leave review? Stupid still need 330 characters?? FU, guess that's why I've never done this. Dumb dumb dumb dumb FU!

Ignore negative reviews that was GOOD

[danieln-15525 · 8/10 · 18 November 2019]

Well written. too bad the synopsis on tells too much. But well written, the acting is decent. And the ending is quite unique. Keep in mind that was 35 years ago, other shows took their stories from this kind of shows.