TWO FOR TUESDAY - A CRUSHING REPEAT

We've got a little something different for Two for Tuesday....
Because Earth Prime-Time is the Television Universe, certain tropes of TV hold true in that world.  For instance, if you get on the elevator with a pregnant lady, the elevator will break down as she goes into labor.  But there are certain elements of television that are reflected in Toobworld which are not plot elements.  On Sunday afternoons in the Fall, certain actions of note reoccur almost immediately, influenced by instant replays during football games.  

And the lives of people in one country could play out on a delayed basis by somewhat different people in another country.  You should know where that one came from - think of all the foreign TV shows that have been remade in the United States, from 'All In The Family' to 'Worst Week'.  Usually enough changed so that even though the plots were similar (i.e. the first two seasons of 'The Office' before they ran out of the original story lines) both shows - or in the case of 'Ugly Betty', as many as a dozen! - can remain in the same TV dimension.

And then there are the individual episode plots that repeat as well.  I've found several that were done earlier (and most times, better) in episodes of 'Columbo'.  For most of those I splained it away as the murderers were inspired by the book Lieutenant Frank Columbo finally got around to writing, which he talked about in "Publish or Perish".  (I like to think that Jeffrey Neal from that same episode published Columbo's memoirs of his past cases.)

But here's another one which played out yet again in Toobworld nearly a century later.  And before we proceed, a word of warning....

THERE BE SPOILERS AHEAD!

'MURDOCH MYSTERIES'

"THE ACCIDENT"

Murdoch investigates a car accident and uncovers sinister motives.

[2017]

&
 

'HOMICIDE: LIFE ON THE STREET'
"SUBWAY"

A man is pinned by a train in a subway station, producing a mortal wound that is temporarily suppressed by his situation, the Homicide detectives must determine if the incident was an accident or deliberate.

[1997]

As you might have noticed, the episodes are out of sequence.  But that's based on the order of broadcast.  I have them listed by their placement in the Toobworld timeline.  "Subway"  happened in 1997, around the same time as broadcast.  But "The Accident" took place circa 1905.

Dilbert Dilton was an efficiency expert for the City of Toronto who was crushed against a trolley car.  Although he wasn't feeling any pain, his pelvic area had been crushed.  There was plenty of internal bleeding which was being clamped off by the vehicles - as soon as the car was separated, Mr. Dilton would more than likely die.

Ninety-two years later in Baltimore, the same situation happened in a subway station.  Pushed into the path of an oncoming subway train, John Lange was crushed between the train and the platform with his lower extremities twisted all the way around.  Just as was the case with Mr. Dilton, as soon as the train was leveraged to provide the space to get Mr. Lange out, the damage to his body caused a traumatic shock which killed him.

I sometimes promote "Born to Rerun" - reincarnation.  It would be easy to claim that the soul of Dilton returned as John Lange.  But I think it more likely that one of the cosmic Fates thought it might be fun to replay the previous method of dispatch. 

For those of you who are religious members of Team Toobworld, I'm sorry.  The Judeo-Christian God created Earth Prime-Time's twin planet Mondas; Earth Prime-Time showed up later and is a super-computer created by the engineers of Magrathea for pan-dimensional philosophers to provide the question to the answer supplied by their first super-computer Deep Thought.  God may take a hand in the proceedings of this big blue marble, but there are other religious beliefs at play as well.

If you want to read more about "Subway", click here.

And to check out more about "The Accident", give this hyperlink a shot.

BCnU!