The Final Chapter - Recap

The episode shows a realistic, frightening depiction of the last moments of a condemned man before he's strapped into a prison's electric chair. Reporter Frank Harris ( Roy Thinnes) is there to witness the execution. He believes and has written that the terrified wretch is innocent, the victim of a botched, hurried investigation by McClaskey, a police detective played by Ned Beatty. He can't bring himself to watch them throw the switch.
He steps out of the death chamber, as does McClaskey, whom he bitterly assails for causing, as later proved, the death of an innocent man. Ten years pass. Capital punishment is gone. But a recent Supreme Court decision paves the way for its resumption, a prospect that deeply disturbs the crusading reporter. So, with the support of his editor and a sympathetic warden, he's booked into death row, posing as a convicted murderer, to truly experience life there, to rouse public opinion against capital punishment.
Only the, the warden and the editor know of the plan. Unfortunately, the "keeper" of death row turns out to be McClaskey, who look the job after the reporter's attacks on him ruined his police career.


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