Harry Folger is the main protagonist of "The Misfortune Cookie", the third segment of the 14th episode of the first season of The Twilight Zone's 1985-1989 iteration, the episode airing in 1986, and based on a short story by Charles E. Fritch. He is a greedy, arrogant food critic who purposefully drove restaurants he disliked to ruin via scathing reviews, which were based on false premises, just to bring more fame and fortune to himself.
Harry Folger was portrayed by Elliott Gould.
Biography[]
Harry Folger was born in 1947, living somewhere in the United States. As a young man, he befriended a man named Max, and would frequent a seaside restaurant known as the Sea Cliff Restaurant, apparently liking the cheesesteak sandwiches served there. At some point, he became a food critic for a major newspaper, where Max also worked at, opening a column known as The Feast of Life, which supposedly sought to review and rate sophisticated establishments. However, likely in the pursuit of fame and fortune, Folger became increasingly greedy, selfish, and corrupt, forsaking journalistic ethics in favor of using gratuitously scathing prose in order to attract more readers, writing negative and incredibly hostile reviews of restaurants, mostly those he didn't like or those praised by competitors, without actually going to them. Despite his repeated libel and fake stories, to the public, Folger was widely respected as a top authority on all matters culinary, and by the 1980s, restaurants in the city he resided in lived or died by his reviews. Additionally, Folger somehow got members of the state's Department of Health on his payroll, using them to help shut down targeted restaurants, and would only go to the restaurants he slandered in order to collect a matchbook from them, arranging the matchbooks of restaurants he closed in a diorama of a graveyard, each matchbook acting as a tombstone.
In 1986, Folger continued to work as a food critic, and even turned on his old favorite restaurant, the Sea Cliff Restaurant, getting it closed down with a review titled "Indigestion With a View." Max, distraught over how far his friend had fallen, confronted Folger in his office, as Folger was preparing to eat a gourmet salad and mocking a television report from a rival food critic, a woman named Dana Duchow running a column titled Glamorous Gourmette. Hearing Folger insult the sandwiches Dana was promoting, Max reminded Folger that he used to love the cheesesteak sandwiches from the Sea Cliff Restaurant, but Folger countered by claiming that was a long time ago. When Max pointed out that Folger's real reputation was trashing restaurants, Folger insisted that he only "exposed" establishments, but did not offer any rebuttal to Max recognizing that Folger's readership increased with the nastier he made his reviews. Just then, Folger heard Dana praise a small Chinese restaurant located in a downtown alleyway, known as Mr. Lee's Chinese Cuisine. Not wanting to be outdone by his competitor, and likely seeking to make her look bad, Folger immediately began typing up a negative review of Mr. Lee's, titled "If You Love Your Pekinese, You Won't Ask For A Doggie Bag." Max asked if the food was really that bad, but Folger revealed that he never even dined there, astonishing Max. Folger then decided to go to Mr. Lee's anyways, but only to collect a matchbook for his collection, the last one he needed to complete the graveyard, gloating that Mr. Lee's would be closing rather soon. Max called out Folger for being unethical and unfair, but Folger rebuked him, claiming that fairness did not exist, only ratings of "excellent" and "poor".
After writing his report, Folger left to Mr. Lee's Chinese Cuisine, being disgusted by the seemingly poor and shoddy exterior of the alleyway as night fell. Inside, he ordered a large amount of food and was personally served by Mr. Lee himself, but asked for the check without eating anything, likely intending to simply spite Mr. Lee and establish that he had, in fact, "dined" there. Mr. Lee asked if something was wrong, but Folger refused to answer, just asking for the check again. However, Mr. Lee did not bring him a check, instead saying that the meal was free, for he could not ask someone to pay for a meal they did not like, assuming something in the food displeased Folger. He then presented Folger with a "special fortune cookie," explaining that because his heritage was rich with the tradition of preparing/serving food for others, he felt obliged to make amends to whoever didn't like his food. Folger ate the cookie, and read the fortune within, which said that a grand reward awaited him just around the corner. Deciding not to collect a matchbook yet, Folger left, scoffing at the fortune, but as he turned the corner, a man ran into him, throwing both of them to the floor. Folger quickly covered his face, thinking the man was going to attack, but then, two security guards and the owner of a jewelry store came running down the alley, scaring the man off. As it turns out, the man was a thief who stole several diamonds from the store, and in running into Folger, he had dropped the diamonds, which the guards retrieved. As Folger got up, the grateful store owner, assuming that Folger stopped the man himself, took Folger back to his office to give him a $1000 reward. Realizing that the fortune came true, Folger accepted the reward, but regardless, his review was published.
The next day, Folger returned to Mr. Lee's, wanting to test if the cookies really were magical. Within the restaurant, Mr. Lee, now recognizing him from his column, complained that his review made many customers call in advance to cancel their reservations. Folger tried to apologize, promising to write a follow-up re-review that would line up customers up and down the alleyway, but on the one condition that he be served another special fortune cookie. Mr. Lee asked if he was certain, warning him that people were not always pleased with what the cookies say. Once again not touching his food, Folger saw that the fortune said that April would arrive that day, bringing romance. As it was September, Folger thought the fortune was worthless, despite Mr. Lee insisting that he had received the fortune he deserved. Still thinking the fortune was nothing special, Folger stormed out, deciding to leave his review as is. However, as he walked down the street outside the alley to get back to his office, he ran into a woman who was new in town and wanted directions. Finding that she was heading to a building close to his office, Folger offered to show her the way, directing her to the building, before asking her on a dinner date that very night, which she accepted. However, as she began to leave, Folger asked for her name, and the woman replied that her name was April Hamilton. Realizing that "April" from his fortune referred to her, Folger now believed that the cookies were truly magical, and that he could exploit them for more rewards.
That night, he made a reservation for a local French bistro, but first took April to Mr. Lee's, telling her that it was a special place. Inside, the two ordered food, but only April ate, quickly entranced by how good the food was, although Folger insisted that she save room for the bistro. When April asked why they came, Folger saw Mr. Lee bring them two special fortune cookies, thanking Mr. Lee and telling April about how the fortunes came true. However, when April opened her cookie, it only read that a grievous error in her judgement would soon be made apparent, and that she must take heed, confusing both of them. Folger then opened his own cookie, and to his shock, saw that the fortune within read "You're Going To Die." Angered, Folger grabbed a nearby waiter and roughly shook him before throwing him against a nearby table, demanding to see Mr. Lee and causing a scene. April, realizing that the grievous error in judgement was trusting Folger, promptly left while Folger shouted at her to get lost. Mr. Lee then came out, where Folger demanded to know why Mr. Lee gave the fortune to him. Mr. Lee tried to explain that the cookies merely give the fortune one deserves, but Folger didn't want to hear it, instead vowing to bring his friends from the Department of Health to forcefully shut down the restaurant.
Storming out once more, Folger abruptly lurched forward in pain, and then began to experience a series of stomach pains, doubling over with a sudden inexplicable feeling of extreme hunger. Looking back down the alley, Folger saw that the alley was now replaced with dozens upon dozens of neon-lit Chinese restaurants. Unable to get over his hunger, he entered one, finding the establishment dark and a couple of ghostly figures wearing traditional Chinese clothing within, evidently servers. He asked one of the figures for food, and was wordlessly directed to a table, where he was served plate after plate after plate of Chinese food. While he was disgusted by the food, he quickly ate everything he was served, but found that his hunger was not sated even after he had filled his whole table up with plates. Realizing that something was very, very wrong, he tried to get up while promising that whoever did this to him would pay, only to be overcome by his hunger again. Starting to break down, Folger asked how he could still be hungry, only to be given a fortune cookie. Eating the cookie, Folger read the fortune, which only said "You're Dead." As it turns out, Folger had died in the alley, possibly of a heart attack, and was currently in a personal hell. Starting to sob while trying to deny it, he was only served more and more food by the ghostly servers, as a mysterious black matchbook bearing only his name, year of birth, and year of death appeared in his cemetery diorama, filling the last empty spot.
