The Revelations of Becka Paulson

"The Revelations of 'Becka Paulson"
The Outer Limits episode
Episode no.	Season 3 Episode 15
Directed by	Steven Weber
Written by	Brad Wright, Story by Stephen King
Production code	59
Original air date	6 June 1997
Guest stars
Catherine O'Hara as Becka Paulson, John Diehl as Joe Paulson, Bill Dow as Doc Fink, Steven Weber as The Handsome Man, Marilyn Norry as Flo, Carla White, aka. Carla Boudreauas the soap opera actress
Episode chronology
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List of The Outer Limits episodes

"The Revelations of 'Becka Paulson" is an episode of The Outer Limits. It first aired on 6 June 1997, during the third season.

Introduction

Becka Paulson accidentally shoots herself in the head while watching a soap opera. The bullet lodges in her brain, and begins to have some strange effects.

Opening narration

“

Even in the most innocent of minds, there are still secrets best left unrevealed.

”

Plot

In a stroke of 'luck', the bullet does not kill Becka, but her severe brain damage causes her to begin to hallucinate that the picture of a tuxedoed stranger on top of the TV, who calls himself the "8-by-10 Man" (in the original story it was a picture of Jesus), is talking to her.

Under the advice of the 8-by-10 Man, Becka eventually decides to kill her worthless husband, and in a bit of "damaged savantry", rigs the television (using instructions from the 8-by-10 Man) to deliver a fatal electrical pulse to whoever touches the knob. Becka in the end tricks her husband into touching it, but as he begins to be fatally electrocuted, she finally realizes just what she's done and tries to save him. All she does is alter the circuit by touching him, and the two fall dead, the victim of a tragic quirk of fate that was in the end far from lucky.

Closing narration

“

Perhaps the descent into madness...is not a solitary journey after all.

”

Trivia

• The episode is based on the short story "Revelations of 'Becka Paulson" by Stephen King.
• The character Becka Paulson is also in the Stephen King novel The Tommyknockers, in which she kills her husband in much the same way. However, in The Tommyknockers Becka Paulson's powers come from a strange alien craft lodged in the ground in the Maine wilderness.

External links

• "The Revelations of Becka Paulson" at TV.com
• "The Revelations of Becka Paulson" at Sci Fi
• "The Outer Limits" Revelations of Becka Paulson at the Internet Movie Database (TV episode)