Tagged (The Twilight Zone)
| "Tagged" | |
|---|---|
| The Twilight Zone (2nd revival) episode | |
| Episode no. |
Season 1 Episode 29 |
| Directed by | James Head |
| Teleplay by | Michael Angeli |
| Story by | Charles Largent |
| Production code | 129 |
| Original air date | February 12, 2003 |
| Guest actors | |
|
Paul Rodriguez: Rosas | |
"Tagged" is the twenty-ninth episode of the science fiction television series 2002 revival of The Twilight Zone. The episode was first broadcast on February 12, 2003, on UPN.
Opening narration
| “ | Marcus Fisher is a tagger, an advance man, if you will, for the "A" Street Deuces, a gang armed with the usual vices and willing to do anything to show the world just who rules. Marcus is about to get schooled in a little thing called consequence. Because tonight, just down that alley, he'll make his own mark in The Twilight Zone. | ” |
Plot summary
Marcus Fisher, a tagger and member of the "A" Street Deuces gang, is with his friends as another painter comes over and starts painting over Marcus' wall in an alleyway. The other gang members, led by String, give Marcus a gun and tell him to take care of it. Marcus goes over to confront the man Henry Santos, but Santos does not believe that Marcus will shoot him over it. He tries to take the gun away and Marcus accidentally pulls the trigger. Marcus runs for the car and the Deuces drive back to their garage where they congratulate Marcus on becoming a man.
Later that night, Marcus goes to the site after the police have taken Santos' corpse away. He looks up at the wall and sees that his painting has changed: now Santos' dead body shot in the chest is part of the image. The next morning, Marcus goes back and paints over it, but the arriving police officers grab him as he leaves. Rosas, a local gang counselor, vouches for Marcus and gets the police to release him. He knows Marcus and warns him that the police are looking for the person who killed Santos. Rosas tries to get Marcus to leave the Deuces but Marcus refuses and leaves. He cannot get the image of the painting with Santos' corpse out of his head, despite his girlfriend Shauna's reassurances that there is nothing he can do about it.
That night, Marcus meets with the Deuces and their girlfriends and young admirers. They all congratulate him on finally becoming one of the gang and he gets a Deuces tattoo on his right arm. Rosas shows up and wants to show Marcus something. As they drive through the city, Rosas talks about how Santos was a new artist with good reviews and his entire life ahead of him. They arrive at the alleyway and Rosas shows Marcus the wall. Now a white silhouette has appeared over Santos' corpse, holding a gun and it has a Deuces tattoo.
Marcus goes back later and paints over the entire wall with white paint. He sits down to watch and dozes off for a second, then looks up to discover that the images are emerging out of the still-wet paint. Worse, the image of the shooter is now dressed exactly like Marcus: the only thing still blank is the face.
The other Deuces have seen Marcus with Rosas and think he is going to snitch to the police. Shauna, String's cousin, tries to warn Marcus but he is increasingly eaten up with guilt over the murder. Rosas finds Marcus on the streets and informs him that the coroner's report indicates that Santos had powder burns on his right arm, as if he did not believe the person who shot him was going to really do it. Rosas figures that Marcus killed Santos but that it was an accident. He warns that the Deuces own Marcus now and they want to drag him down because he has the chance to make something of himself as an artist and they have got nothing.
Marcus goes to String and the others and says he came to them because he has nothing to worry and does not plan on confessing. They are skeptical but Shauna comes in and tells them they need to look at the wall. They go there and discover that now the image of the shooter is complete: it is Marcus. Shauna and the gang are convinced Marcus is boasting about the murder and congratulate him, then leave. Marcus grabs a sledgehammer and smashes his image and Santos' off of the wall, then collapses in shock.
The next morning, Marcus wakes up and sees that the images are still gone. However, he feels a pain in his chest and rips open his shirt to see the images are tattooed on his chest. He runs out onto the street and finds Rosas and the police, and confesses to the accidental shooting. He shows them his chest… but there is nothing there now. Rosas notes that he knew Marcus was not a killer, and takes Marcus away. Forest Whitaker narrates about the act of contrition that erased the tag on Marcus Fisher's soul as it then shows the nearby graffiti of The Twilight Zone logo.
Closing narration
| “ | A mark on a wall, ink under the skin. Easy enough things to remove with enough pain and effort. But only an act of contrition could erase the tag on Marcus Fisher's soul in the Twilight Zone. | ” |
External links
- "Tagged" at TV.com
- "Tagged" at the Internet Movie Database