The Misfortune Cookie

"The Misfortune Cookie" is the third segment of the fourteenth episode from the first season (1985–86) of the television series The Twilight Zone.

"The Misfortune Cookie"
The Twilight Zone episode
Scene from The Misfortune Cookie
Episode no.Season 1
Episode 14c
Directed byAllan Arkush
Written byRockne S. O'Bannon (credited as Steven Rae)
Based on"The Misfortune Cookie" by Charles E. Fritch
Original air dateJanuary 3, 1986
Guest appearance(s)

Elliott Gould: Harry Folger
Bennett Ohta: Mr. Lee
Caroline Lagerfelt: April Hamilton
Frederick Coffin: Max
Claire Carter: Glamorous Gourmette
John G. Scanlon: O'Malley
Elven Harvard: Guard
Al Leong: Proprietor

Plot

Harry Folger is a snobby and arrogant food critic for a major newspaper. Restaurants live or die by his reviews which are often nasty. Folger's hobby is to collect matchbooks of restaurants he's destroyed and he displays them as tombstones in a graveyard scene at his office. One day, he hears about a mysterious new Chinese restaurant called "Mr. Lee's Chinese Cuisine" and immediately begins typing a review even though he had not visited the restaurant. "If you love your Pekingese don't ask for a doggie bag," he writes.

Harry grudgingly agrees to visit the establishment in person after being urged by his boss. When he enters, he orders a massive amount of food and then immediately asks for the check before trying any of his meal. Though disappointed, the owner Mr. Lee presents Harry with a fortune cookie. The fortune reads "A grand reward awaits you just around the corner."

As Harry is walking through the alley outside the restaurant, a bank robber knocks him down and drops $100,000 in diamonds before running away. The grateful jewelry store owner gives Harry $1,000 as a reward. Realizing the fortune cookies are indeed magical, Harry returns for more. He promises to change his review, but then receives a fortune that says "April arrives today, bringing romance." As it is September, an angry Harry storms out, intending to go back on his promise. Before he can get to his office, he meets a woman asking for directions. He shows her the way and asks her out for dinner. When he asks her name she replies that her name is April.

At dinner, April's fortune tells her that she will soon recognize a grievous error in judgment, while Harry's message says "You're going to die." Outraged, Harry swears at Mr. Lee and causes a scene. April, seeing him for who he truly is, leaves. Mr. Lee tells him the cookie only delivers true fortunes. As he exits the restaurant, Harry is overcome with massive hunger pangs. He finds that he is on a seemingly never-ending street of Chinese restaurants that were not there before. He wanders into one restaurant after another, but is unable to satisfy his hunger. As he continues to endlessly eat, he receives a fortune that informs him why he is perpetually hungry: "You're dead." The last scene shows Folger's matchbook graveyard. The latest tombstone has Folger's name on it.

Closing narration

Check please, for Mr. Harry Folger. For whom the phrase "dim sum" is not merely a description, but a damnation. A man who finds himself sitting down to a single, neverending course of just desserts. Prepared for him in the kitchens of the Twilight Zone.

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