Love Is Blind (The Twilight Zone)

The man behind the wheel is Jack Haines, a long-haul trucker. On any other night, he'd be on the lookout for a good time, but that's changed. A lot has changed for Jack because of one overheard telephone conversation. He learned that tonight his wife is meeting another man here at the Mustang Bar, his name unknown. The only thing Jack Haines knows for certain is that tonight, there's going to be murder at the Mustang, a little place ten miles from town and deep in the heart...of the Twilight Zone.

Jack Haines is sitting in his pick-up truck, drinking whiskey and watching the door to a bar. When he finishes drinking, he pulls a gun from his glove compartment and goes inside. Haines walks up to a singer on stage and then walks back to the bar and orders a beer. The singer finishes his first song and begins introducing a second song when he pauses in reflection. He then begins a completely different tune. Haines is quite taken with the song and when he questions the bartender, he tells him that the singer just came in out of the rain looking for a dry place. He turned out to be a great singer but he was blind.

The singer sits down next to Jack and asks what he thought of his song and they begin talking. He tells Haines he meant the song to hit him where he lives, and the singer claims he has either an immense amount of talent or a terrible curse which allows him to reveal bad things that have happened to people via song. He even tells Haines that he knows his secret: that he wants revenge by shooting someone that wronged him. Haines says that if he's so talented then he should tell him which guy in the bar is sleeping with his wife. The singer claims he doesn't know anything but the pain he is feeling, and then Haines notices his wife has come into the bar and is seated at a nearby table. When he sees a man begin flirting with her Haines nearly pulls the gun out - but the singer stops him. It is revealed that the guy was merely flirting and had never seen her before.

Haines decides to sit at the bar and listen to the singer's story while watching to see if anyone else tries to talk to his wife. The singer, meanwhile, tells him about how he became blind: he was messing with a guy's wife and the guy shot him in the head. The bullet wound to the brain caused the singer's blindness, then passed through his head and hit his wife—killing her. The shooter hanged himself out of guilt and somehow the singer acquired this talent to know about people's pain. He never knows when his power will activate but when it does he somehow knows the right song to sing and to attempt to stop the guy from giving in to his pain. He tells Haines that some guys listened and some didn't as one needs to decide for themselves. After the singer leaves, the wife is joined by her date, and Haines gets upset but listens to the singer instead while the majority of the bar dances. He is almost out the door when a flash of anger washes over him, so he walks over to his wife. He pulls out the gun but his wife steps in front of him. He shoots her instead of the date and runs out with half the bar chasing him. Running into the woods, Haines meets with the blind singer who tells him he's going the wrong way.

Haines continues to run and makes his way by the police, overhearing the date, who was Jack's friend, tell the police that Jack's wife wanted to surprise him for their anniversary. She wasn't cheating on him but only meeting with the friend to look through an auto parts catalog to choose new wheels for his truck. The police flash a light in Jack's eyes and he suddenly awakens in the bar. The singer stands near him tells him what his songs do: give the taste of what might happen. But this time, it's the real thing and it's up to Haines. He turns to see his wife and their friend leave and he notices a truck catalog in the trash. Haines goes to his truck where he finds the singer, much to Haines' initial surprise. He then asks the singer if there's anything he could do for him. The singer tells him he just needs a ride down the road for he has more songs to sing. A curious Haines asks the singer how he could have possibly survived the bullet wound to the head but the man ominously refuses to answer. When the truck is shown pulling away we see that the passenger seat is empty and Jack is actually alone in the truck.

No comment necessary, except to note the necessity of caution when the hands show midnight in the dark hour of the human soul. A song of warning and hope written in somber red and copyrighted...by the Twilight Zone.

• "Love Is Blind" at IMDb
• "Love Is Blind" at TV.com