How many years ago was it now? The Tuesday Suspense Theater. It starred Shiro Ito—at first, I thought, Shiro Ito really?! I think the title was something like "Light Blue Labyrinth." The unusually simple title raised my expectations. The scene opened with Shiro Ito sitting in a dark interrogation room, wearing work clothes. It was an unusually quiet beginning, which raised my expectations even more. Shiro's wife and child died after their car plunged off a cliff. Elsewhere, his mother was found drowned in a river. There were signs that his mother, who had a disability in her legs, had been dragged to the water's edge... The suspicion was murder. The story progressed in a monologue format where Shiro confesses the truth of the incident. Shiro wasn't just a workaholic, but a good-natured man who was easily deceived. As expected, he was tricked and ended up with massive debts. No matter how much he worked, the debt piled up. They either sold their house or had it taken from them, I think. Then the family moved into a cramped, dirty apartment. Even so, he could never pay it off completely, no matter how long he worked. The conclusion reached at the family meeting was a joint family suicide.
However, at that point, everyone seemed cheerful, as if a weight had been lifted from their shoulders. It was like, "Let's just do our best." The family's hearts became one. That's what Shiro felt. From then on, unlike before, Shiro started working desperately hard. When he came home, his family would thank him for his hard work. There was even laughter during family time. Shiro actually felt happier now than before. But. One day, Shiro came home from work. Only his mother was in the house. "Huh? Where are the others (wife and child)?" "What are you talking about? Today's the day, isn't it?" "?" "They already went... Take me along too, quickly." The day to carry it out was today. At that moment, Shiro realized the truth. Everyone had just been trying to live cheerfully until that very day. He realized that he was the only one who had somehow shifted into believing they could overcome this adversity. Dumbfounded and devastated, Shiro carried his mother on his back to the riverside, urged on by her. Yet, even so, Shiro couldn't bring himself to throw his mother into the river. "...I get it, I'll go myself." His mother got down from Shiro's back on her own, and crawling on all fours, dragging her legs, she moved forward—slithering, scraping along the ground. Shiro couldn't bear to look at his mother. Yet he couldn't stop her either. And in the end, he was the only one left behind who couldn't bring himself to die. It's a first-person narrative of a man who couldn't grasp his own reality, even though his family got dragged into ruin solely because of the debts he had taken on. It was a story where no one is saved and no one finds happiness. Unlike a typical Tuesday Suspense, the stage of the drama—aside from flashbacks—barely left the interrogation room. With Shiro's vacant eyes throughout, it was an unusual and heavy work that brooked no argument.
I am the one who wrote about the end of the Ito family. I searched for it and found it. The title was "Water Maze." Shiro's mother was played by Kotoe Hatsui. It was broadcast back in '84... The fact that I still haven't been able to forget it goes to show just how deeply unsettling it must have been.
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