The Toys of Caliban

This article has multiple issues. Please help or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these template messages) This article consists almost entirely of a plot summary. It should be expanded to provide more balanced coverage that includes real-world context. Please to focus on discussing the work rather than merely reiterating the plot. (June 2019) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) This article does not cite any sources. Please help by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources:  –  ·  ·  · scholar · JSTOR (June 2019) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

"The Toys of Caliban" is the twenty-ninth episode and the fifth episode of the second season (1986–87) of the television series The Twilight Zone. In this episode, two parents struggle to take care for their mentally retarded child as his psychic powers become increasingly powerful and deadly. The title refers to the character Caliban from the William Shakespeare play The Tempest.

Plot[]

Ernest and Mary Ross's son Toby is a mentally retarded boy with the ability to summon things he has seen by saying the word "bring". Ernest and Mary have lived as recluses for many years so as not to expose Toby to images of things that he might then "bring". When Toby "brings" living things, whatever he brings is dead when it appears.

Toby pleads with his parents for doughnuts. After they give permission, Ernest unlocks a drawer containing pictures of doughnuts, but Toby produces the doughnuts before Ernest can show him the pictures. Ernest recognizes that Toby's power is growing stronger.

That night, Toby becomes seriously ill. Ernest suspects that since Toby no longer needs to see pictures in order to "bring" items, he may have produced more doughnuts and made himself sick on them. Though Mary is terrified of the dangers of bringing Toby to a public place, Ernest realizes they have no choice but to take Toby to a hospital. The Rosses spend the night at the hospital and take Toby home the next day, but their reclusive behavior attracts the attention of a social worker, Miss Kemp, particularly after they refuse to let Toby see a magazine she has.

At home Toby "brings" the magazine and looks through it. Seeing a diagram of a heart, he "brings" the nearest heart, which happens to be Mary's, making her collapse dead. Kemp interviews the Rosses' family and neighbors, learning of how they will not let Toby go outside or play with other children, and builds a case to take Toby away from Ernest unless he enrolls him in a school for the mentally retarded. Cornered, Ernest explains the situation to Kemp, having Toby demonstrate by summoning items from a picture book. Kemp believes Toby needs professional help, but Ernest insists that if psychologists and scientists discover what he can do then they will abuse him. Kemp refuses to keep quiet about Toby's abilities, and leaves after Toby uses a photograph of Mary to summon her corpse to an armchair.

While burying Mary's body in the backyard, Ernest tells her that it is finally time, after hearing sirens closing in. Ernest then sits with his son, tells him he loves him, and presents him with a picture of a sunset. Toby "brings" a piece of the sun, incinerating him and Ernest.

External links[]

• "The Toys of Caliban" at IMDb