10 TV Episodes Where People Didn’t Get What They Wished For
7. The Twilight Zone – ‘The Man In The Bottle’ (S2 E2)
This classic episode from 1960 tells the story of Arthur and Edna Castle, who come into possession of a wine bottle when an old lady sells it to them in their antiques shop. It contains a genie, who they initially test by asking to repair a broken glass cabinet. The genie warns them that all wishes have consequences, but they go on to wish for a million dollars, which they receive. However, after giving a lot of it away to friends it turns sour when they are saddled with a hefty tax bill, leaving them with virtually nothing.
The episode takes a dark turn when Arthur wishes to be a great, powerful leader, only to be turned into Adolf Hitler at the end of World War II. At the brink of capture and defeat, he is given a vial of cyanide to kill himself but uses his last wish to return himself to his previous life. The bottle shatters and the cabinet breaks again as he is sweeping it up.
The tale is a warning that you can’t get anything for free and what you think you want may not necessarily work out in your best interests.