This is one downer of a Twilight Tone, and like many of the show's half-hour entries, it begins in an closed environment suggestive of literal or. or likely, psychic entrapment from which there appears to be no escape, as is often suggested, early in such dramas, even as it becomes clear as the stories progressed that these "stuck people" have, deep inside, their key to freedom, to exit, from their dreadful plight.
In this one, borderline middle aged Barbara, well payed by Constance Ford, is at the mercy of her uncle Simon, ailing and rapidly in physical and mental decline; and he's a nasty, sadistic man who must prove himself superior to others,--hence his extreme physical and emotional isolation--and the woman who looks after him, tends to his daily needs.
There's a light at the tunnel for Barbara, who shall inherit her uncle's fortune when he passes on; and yet theere's the nagging issue of how long Barbara can bear her uncle's abuse. Simon is in poor health, thus he may not last long; and yet even the sickest among us have been known to surprise their families and caregivers. The dialogue in Uncle Simon is often witty in the Victorian fashion; and the old central house in which the story is set looks to be of the same vintage.
Part drama, part comedy, this episode is also a character study, and an insightful one at that, of how two "split off" (from the normal world", that is) people can live in a world of their own with scarcely any other people entering it except to serve their needs.
Even as Simon and Barbara share barbed insults one can't help but wonder what their lives would have been like without them. Simon and Barbara complement one another perfectly. Whatever the character flaws of these two trapped individuals may be on an individual basis, considered as a twosome they are bound to one another as Siamese twins. Thst neither uncle nor niece comes across as sympathetic in the end seems only fitting.
In this one, borderline middle aged Barbara, well payed by Constance Ford, is at the mercy of her uncle Simon, ailing and rapidly in physical and mental decline; and he's a nasty, sadistic man who must prove himself superior to others,--hence his extreme physical and emotional isolation--and the woman who looks after him, tends to his daily needs.
There's a light at the tunnel for Barbara, who shall inherit her uncle's fortune when he passes on; and yet theere's the nagging issue of how long Barbara can bear her uncle's abuse. Simon is in poor health, thus he may not last long; and yet even the sickest among us have been known to surprise their families and caregivers. The dialogue in Uncle Simon is often witty in the Victorian fashion; and the old central house in which the story is set looks to be of the same vintage.
Part drama, part comedy, this episode is also a character study, and an insightful one at that, of how two "split off" (from the normal world", that is) people can live in a world of their own with scarcely any other people entering it except to serve their needs.
Even as Simon and Barbara share barbed insults one can't help but wonder what their lives would have been like without them. Simon and Barbara complement one another perfectly. Whatever the character flaws of these two trapped individuals may be on an individual basis, considered as a twosome they are bound to one another as Siamese twins. Thst neither uncle nor niece comes across as sympathetic in the end seems only fitting.