Lewis Vendredi, an antiques dealer, has a strange way of doing business: he insists nothing in his store is for sale, and yet the doors stay open and he’s able to pay his bills. He had made a pact with the devil, and when he tries to renege on the deal, the cursed items in his store turn on him and kill him.
Ryan Dallion and Michelle “Mickey” Foster, distant cousins who have never met, end up inheriting their uncle’s store upon his death. Both eager to return to their normal lives, they open the doors for one last sale, getting rid of everything they can. After spending only mere hours in the store, they’re already aware that the antiques there are out of the ordinary. They’re about to close up shop when an older man named Jack Marshak bursts in, claiming to be Uncle Lewis’ former partner. Jack is aware of Lewis’ deal with the devil, and reveals to Mickey and Ryan that every artifact in the store was cursed, imbued with evil powers – and every single item that they or Lewis ever sold must be recovered and put in a vault in the store’s basement.
The search starts with a porcelain doll sold to a family with a troubled little girl. By the time Ryan and Mickey track the family down, the doll has already started to claim the lives of everyone for whom the girl expresses a dislike. When Mickey tries to coax her into giving the doll up, she becomes the next target.
written by William Taub
directed by William Fruet
music by Fred MollinCast: John D. LeMay (Ryan Dallion), Wendy Robey (Mickey Foster), Chris Wiggins (Jack Marshak), R.G. Armstrong (Uncle Lewis Vendredi), Sarah Polley (Mary),
Lynne Cormack (Mrs. Simms), Michael Fletcher (Mr. Simms), Esther Hockin (Babysitter), Sean Fagan (Boy #1), Gordon Woolvett (Boy #2), Robyn Sheppard (Nurse), Barclay Hope (Lloyd)
Notes: Mere minutes into the episode, see if you can spot future Deepwater Black and Andromeda cast member Gordon Michael Woolvett – credited here without his middle name – as the quieter of two street hoodlums harrassing Mary (he’s the one who doesn’t get attacked by the doll).
LogBook entry by Earl Green