Plot Spoilers

for episodes that have such poor quality it is hard to figure out what the heck is going on.

Confession, The

The story begins with two Catholic priests in San Francisco receiving a request from a Chinese man to hear his wife's dying confession.

The younger, inexperienced, priest (Father Ryan?) begs to be the one to hear the confession. The older priest agrees.

Father Ryan accompanies the Chinese man to a small home. It's a home that Father Ryan has walked past many times and always thought was vacant. It's very dark inside, but the Chinese man finds the light and they both ascend the stairs to the second level.

Father Ryan is startled to find the wife in perfect health! The Chinese man agrees that his wife is healthy, but claims she will soon die... because he intends to kill her! ("You were not told she was sick, you were told she was dying!")

Father Ryan is appalled and attempts to release the woman. There is a scuffle and the Chinese man gains the upper hand: Father Ryan agrees to hear the wife's confession and in return the Chinese man agrees to let Father Ryan leave soon after confession is given. The Chinese man doesn't care if the priest notifies the police because he says they will never arrive in time to save the woman.

The woman confesses by means of a flashback.

The woman is apparently much younger than her husband and was born in America. She meets another Chinese man (who is much younger than her husband, and was also born in America) and they fall in love. The back-story centres on the difference between marriage law in America compared with China. The young woman and the old Chinese man were 'married' according to Chinese custom, but the paperwork was never filed in America. The young Chinese man convinces the young Chinese woman that her marriage was neither finalized in accordance with American Law nor according to her Christian religion... so she is free to leave her 'husband' and go off with him!

The old Chinese man catches them as they are about to elope. He feels dishonoured and believes he has 'lost face'. He binds the young Chinese man to a table and his wife to a chair. He draws 'sharp little knives' from a sack. The knives are labelled with the names of body parts. One-by-one he inserts the knives into the named body part until the man dies.

"One by one they are drawn from the bag unseen and used as indicated. Sometimes the knife marked 'final death' is the last to come to hand." The first knife goes into the right eye.

The flashback ends. The woman tells Father Ryan to look in the alcove behind a curtain. The young Chinese man lies dead, confirming the wife's story. The priest gives absolution. Then, as the old Chinese man starts to torture his wife, the priest escapes and fetches the police. (It is unclear why the priest does not try to rescue the woman... a reason is given but I can't make it out.)

The police arrive to find a neglected house. Cobwebs adorn the front door. The police break the door down with an axe. Undisturbed dust, an inch thick, coats everything. There is no sign of recent activity... except for Father Ryan's prayer book on the stairs and a single set of footprints which match Father Ryan's shoes.

The 'torture room' is just as neglected as the rest of the house. Father Ryan points out where the wife was bound and where the Old Chinese man stood. But there is no alcove. In its place is a blank wall. The police knock down the wall with the axe and find the two skeletons... and rags which match the clothes the wife and the young Chinese man had worn.

The name of the old Chinese man finally rings a bell with the Policeman. He says the old Chinese man used to own that house and moved back to China 13 years ago!

There are a few more closing lines, but I can't make them out. Something about returning from the grave... Perhaps explaining that the 'ghost' of the wife was trying to get the priest to hear her confession in order to save her soul? Not sure about that part.

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