Eye of the Beholder - Recap

In a darkened hospital room, Janet Tyler has her face heavily bandaged. She asks the nurse what the weather is like outside, then wonders when they’ll remove the bandages. The nurse assures her they’ll remove them when they can and that she’s seen worse than what Janet looks like. Janet breaks down sobbing at how people have screamed at her when seeing her face.

The nurse reports to the doctor about Janet, Patient 307, and then talks to another nurse about how badly disfigured Janet is.

Later, the doctor meets with Janet and notes that she’s had ten previous attempts at surgery and she hasn’t responded to any previous techniques due to her bone structure and flesh type. No more than 11 attempts are permitted. Janet begs to be allowed just to go out and sit in the darkness, but the doctor says it’s not allowed. He says that if the last treatment doesn’t work, she can go to a facility where others of her kind are segregated in a ghetto. She staggers to the window, upset, and begs to have the bandages removed. The doctor gives in and orders the removal to begin.

As they wait to begin, the doctor talks to Janet’s nurse and notes that the patient’s true face is beautiful. He begins to question the State’s determination of what is and isn’t acceptable, and admits that he’ll be better once the bandages are removed and he knows one way or another.

The removal procedure begins but before he removes the last bandages, the doctor tells Janet that even if the treatment didn’t work, she can still live with others of her kind. She wonders if she’ll be allowed to submit to execution, but the doctor says her case isn’t warranted and he’d order her to go to a facility. The doctor removes the last bandages to reveal that she is… an attractive human woman.

The doctor orders the lights up and it’s revealed that the doctor and the others are pig-like creatures. Janet runs from the room in terror, past the horrified staff and a State broadcast on the virtues of conformity.

Janet finally runs into a room where she confronts a hideous freak: Walter Smith, a handsome human male. The doctor arrives and says that she’s managed to find the man who will be taking her to the village where she’ll live. Walter reassures her that she’ll be going to a place where she will be loved. She wonders how she can go on, but Walter notes that “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.”

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