Mr. Bigelow awakens in what appears to be his apartment, but it turns out to be a replicate, a "simulacrum" imprisoning him until he can completely, unequivocally gives up smoking, the face of Mr. Synapses (Sam Anderson, always ace at laying out a smugness that gets under the skin) on a television screen his "guide" through the process, a smoke alarm going off each time he lights up a cigarette (a test of his willpower, lots of packs of cigarettes are supplied periodically as means to tease him). Bars on the windows, bars on the exit door, and each time Bigelow lights up a cigarette, he is punished, creature comforts (radio, chairs, bed, etc) are removed until nothing is left except wooden floor and empty shelves/cabinets. Soon a torn hole in the wall (Bigelow by doing this realizes the apartment isn't real) reveals the voice of a job colleague Matthews who seems to be an ally against the no-smoking program (Synapses tells Bigelow their success rate is 100%), trying to negotiate cigarettes for certain details that are supposed to help him achieve the ability to smoke in peace—but it is obvious that this is only another part of the program to help Bigelow stop smoking. Like many other episodes of Tales from the Darkside, this is essentially a one-man show with actor Richard Romanus fighting his captors with everything he has so he can continue his habit. He tears apart a ridiculously large smoke alarm, ripping out its guts to no avail. It is a satire on the extremities behind kicking a habit through the means of a program that uses unorthodox methods to "heal" their clients. The twist at the end, regarding his exhilarating taste of a hot cup of coffee, puts the finishing touches on a rather amusing episode. Nothing spectacular, but certainly an interesting take on helping someone defeat a habit that can kill you.
Add a Review
-
Scarecrow-8817 June 2012
-
blanbrn27 August 2008This "TFTD" episode titled "Bigalow's Last Smoke" has a neat idea and the concept is clever, though it doesn't really have a big ending or anything it just proves the old moral right that when a person does bad vices like smoking the guilt he feels from hearing criticism can drive them insane! Richard Romanus is Bigalow a man who's single and lives by himself in an apartment, and he's a heavy smoker then one day when he awakes and on the TV a talking man appears telling him about the dangers of his vice and it drives Bigalow to the edge as he's getting close to quitting yet fighting the temptation is hard. It's neat as the episode shows how his character feels trapped inside a prison as the apartment walls have bars behind them! It ends as an ongoing saga as soon as the smoking problem is kicked the talking voice has plans to start on the next problem! Overall good clever and neat episode not much drama or suspense to it though still it's worth a watch.
-
TOMNEL2 August 2006I actually think that this is one of the most clever ideas for a Darkside episode, but it really doesn't have an ending. It just leads to nothing. This episode deals with the tortures of smoking. Mr. Bigalow has signed himself into rehab, unbeknown-st to him. He is trapped in his house, and a voice guides him on what to do. Every time he smokes he is scolded and the buzzers go off really loud. Bigalow finds a man living next door to him and decides to make deals with him through a mouse hole. The ending is kind of the beginning of his drinking problem.
My rating: Great episode. 21 mins. TV PG L -
Leofwine_draca25 May 2015BIGALOW'S LAST SMOKE is a fun episode of TALES FROM THE DARKSIDE, although I seem to recall it heavily copies a Stephen King short story with the same subject matter (and one which was in the horror anthology film CAT'S EYES). The essential story involves a chain smoker who is imprisoned inside his own apartment and forced into giving up thanks to punishment therapy.
This episode is surprisingly well acted with strong production values and a narrative which excises any extraneous material in favour of pure entertainment. It's no classic, but it does boast a fun twist and some good scenes of the smoker getting put through his paces. -
claudio_carvalho15 March 2022The heavy smoker Frank Bigalow wakes up and notes something is wrong with his apartment. Soon he learns that he is trapped inside a cage that looks like his apartment. He also learns that he is in a clinic to quit his addiction and the chain-smoker Bigalow has to quit smoking, otherwise he will be tortured every time he wants to light a cigarette.
"Bigalow's Last Smoke" is a good episode of "Tales from the Darkside". The radical treatment proposed by the clinic seems to work in the end. My vote is seven.
Title (Brazil): "Bigalow's Last Smoke" -
Bored_Dragon10 November 2017Definitely the best episode so far. Non-smokers could not possibly imagine depths of horror this episode represent to smokers, while people who find highlight of a day in coffee and cigarettes will understand why I rated this story ten out of ten.
10/10 -
Frank Bigalow ( Richard Romanus- Heavy Metal) is hooked on cigarettes. He is scared he will die of Cancer like is father at a young age. So he checks in to a rehab center, that has a 100% cure rate. Little does he know he has signed all the proper paperwork, and he's being monitored. It is designed to look like his room and his cigarettes are within reach. He is shocked when he wake's up and realizes what's going on, in comes the Dr. via T.V.. Dr. Synapsis( Sam Anderson-Growing Pains) introduces himself. He explains it's all legal due to his signature, and no of his smokes are taken away. What he doesn't tell him is each time he lights up, bells go off, & the smoke detector blares. He is punished with a smoking demerit, and his stuff starts to be removed from the room. Frank starts to lose it, especially when the guy next door takes his last cigarette. He tries to lit up, and the smoke detector goes off & frank beats the hell out of it. When he realizes what he's done, another detector replaces it. The next day Frank wakes up everything has been returned to his room, so he thinks it was a dream. He opens the drawer to get a cigarette, he realizes he doesn't want one. So he gets up to make coffee, Dr. Synapsis appears and tells him it's time to do something about that caffeine habit.
This is a comical/ thinker of an episode Everyone can relate too. I don't smoke, but I love that caffeine, like most it is one of my favorites. I have lost too many relatives to Cancer. My favorite aunt lost her battle with Cancer, I wished she never would have taken up the habit. She was like my second mom and I miss her dearly. I hope more people who are so addicted to smoke would quit, it's expensive, unattractive, and eventually it kills. -
poolandrews30 September 2007Tales from the Darkside: Bigalow's Last Smoke starts at 7.30 one morning as the alarm clock in Frank Bigalow's (Richard Romanus) apartment goes off & wakes him up, the first thing he wants to do is have a cigarette but can't find any in his apartment. Bigalow then finds out there are bars covering the windows & door, he is a prisoner in his own apartment. Then a man who calls himself Dr. Synapsis (Sam Anderson) appears on Bigalow's TV screen & says that the only way he can ever leave his apartment again is if he gives up smoking, Dr. Synapsis also says they have extreme methods to make him stop & that they have a 100% success rate...
Episode 21 from season 1 this Tales from the Darkside story originally aired in the US during June 1985, the second Tales from the Darkside episode to be directed by Timna Ranon after the terrible Mookie and Pookie this is a definite improvement but still could have been better. The script by Michael McDowell has a nice central idea behind it but doesn't do much with it unfortunately, at only 20 odd minutes in length it moves along at a nice enough pace & is watchable but it left me wanting something a little more. Bigalow's Last Smoke actually reminds me of the horror anthology film Cat's Eye (1985) which came out the same year with a very similar themed segment staring James Woods called 'Quitter's Inc.' although the short story by Stephen King on which it was based was written years prior. This is maybe quite relevant here in the UK at the moment as a few months ago it became illegal to smoke in any public place here including pubs which I personally think is a great idea although many don't, all I can say to those people though is if they want to develop lung cancer they can do it in the comfort of their own homes & not subject the rest of us to the dangers of passive smoking. Sorry, got a bit carried away there. Overall I'd say that this is quite a fun & often bizarre look at an extreme method used to make someone give up smoking I suppose & I quite liked the twist ending as well.
Set entirely within one apartment location this looks alright & is well made, like so many episodes from this show it's just not scary or horrific though. The acting is OK even though there's only one person in it.
Bigalow's Last Smoke is a decent story, it's not anything particularly special but it passes 20 minutes harmlessly enough, worth watching if you can catch it on telly for free. -
hellraiser731 May 2019This is another favorite episode from this show. The story is uncannily similar to a Steven King short story which in turn was made into a live action anthology story from the underrated anthology horror film "Cat's Eye"; This episode is sort of a bottle episode as it all takes place really in one area, the monster in this episode is psychological and its name is addiction.
I really like how the episode just has this unsettling feeling of entrapment and oppressiveness, as Joe is literally being watched and monitored by the minute. We see things are just getting worse by the minute for Joe as his apartment becoming more and more barren, making it feel even more like a prison; all because he too stubborn to kick his addiction or just having difficulty in it. We do see a little depth as to how bad Joe's problem really is from the news, he had about his dad dying from lung cancer but we see a picture of him as a kid whom obviously isn't legally aged smoking a cigarette, yeah that doesn't look good.
It's kind of interesting how things in that simulacrum works as things just seem to appear and disappear with no real explanation. From cigarette packs randomly appearing, sort of a form of negative reinforcement as Joe knows the dire consequence if he ever remotely lights one. Another part of the consequence is stuff in his apartment just simply disappears into thin air.
Personally, I'm thinking from some of this happening he must be hooked up to some virtual reality program for those things to of occurred, I don't know you guess is as good as mine.
The prison Joe is in and everything happening are really a metaphor about how addiction destroys one's life, addition can give us what we want but not what we really need out of life. Sadly, Joe is not worried about everything he's lost or going outside, except being hung up on having one smoke which was exactly what got him there in the first place.
Beware of addiction, it will put you someplace you don't want to be.
Rating: 4 stars -
BandSAboutMovies5 November 2022Frank Bigalow (Richard Romanus) is trapped inside an apartment where he's tortured every time he tries to smoke with only a hole in the wall where he can talk to a fellow smoker. If it makes you remember Cat's Eye and James Woods trying to quit, well, everyone was trying to stop smoking in 1985.
Director Timna Ramon made two other episodes of this show, "Mookie and Pookie" and "Dream Girl." The story for this comes from Kenneth Wayne Hanis, who was the construction supervisor for the show, and Craig Mitchell, with the script being written by Michael McDowell, who went on to write Beetlejuice and The Nightmare Before Christmas.
The house in this is crazy as lights and sirens go off with each puff. I don't know how this makes you quit. It seems like it makes you lose your mind. -
Woodyanders14 June 2013Abrasive chain smoker Frank Bigalow (an excellent performance by Robert Romanus) wakes up one morning only to discover that he's trapped in a simulation of his apartment. Franks is informed by Dr. Synapsis (played to smug perfection by Sam Anderson), a sinister figure on his TV screen, that he must completely quit smoking and gets driven to the brink of madness by his attempts to continue with his unhealthy habit. Director Timna Ranon, working from a clever and original script by Michael McDowell, relates the compelling story at a brisk pace, makes the most out of the claustrophobic set, and milks a good deal of tension from the offbeat and intriguing premise. The animated and convincing acting by Romanus keeps this episode buzzing throughout; he does a fine job of conveying Bigalow's dismay and desperation as he tries to figure a way out of his dilemma. The surprise twist ending makes a potent and provocative point about how one addiction gets immediately replaced by another. A bang-up show.
-
shellytwade20 January 2022This episode shares a lot with the movie Cat's Eye and the James Woods segment, both about quitting smoking. This TFTD episode takes the story in a slightly different direction and is overall is pretty creepy and enjoyable. Watch it.
-
roganbee10 May 2021Eerily similar to the James Woods segment of Stephen King's Cat's Eye which came out only 3 months earlier.