There's this one episode of my favorite television show, "Millennium" (from way back -- 1998), where a group of demons sit down in a coffee shop to discuss current progress in the damnation of souls they pursue. They each have their own particular style, their own way of ensuring that humans succumb to the myriad of evil in the world. Definite shades of "Screwtape Letters".
One of the demons, with overdone prosthetics jutting from his face and back, declares that the best technique he's found is to do nothing at all. "That's the beauty of modern life!" he declares, "humans now do my job for me!" The other demons scoff at this laissez-faire style, but he is content with little things like doling out traffic tickets to sap the joy out of his victim's lives.
The episode is one of my favorites; even in spite of the fact I don't own any movies and almost never sit through a movie twice, I own this set and can watch this episode over and over. It's funny, well-writen and directed, and has just enough bite to make you think. What is the thing to drag me up out of my stupor, charm me and make me proud to be doing what I'm doing? Find that, take the bite back from the devil. Wish me luck.
Posted by eric at April 16, 2005 01:15 AM