Catherine Foley is the main antagonist of "The Card", the first segment in the thirteenth episode in the second season of 1985-1989 series of The Twilight Zone, which aired in 1987. She is the manager of The Card, a "last resort" credit company with incredibly strict terms and unreal penalties. Foley's true nature, along with the rest of The Card's personnel, is unknown, although there are implications that she isn't human, as she and her agents have displayed reality-warping abilities. The episode's opening narration, speaking of Satan using long-term credit to destroy humanity, may imply that Foley is a demon.
Catherine Foley was portrayed by Virginia Kiser.
Biography[]
The Card's logo on its main office
By the 1980s, Catherine Foley had become the manager of The Card, a paranormal credit company meant for people who have been rejected by all other banks and credit unions due to incredibly poor credit. On the surface, the company appeared normal, if very strict, as they requested a minimum payment within seven days rather than the usual thirty days. However, their true nature was far more sinister, as Foley and her agents, possibly inhuman, had the ability to warp reality and steal memories. When a client would miss payments, Foley would have their loved ones abducted one by one, starting with pets and moving to children and spouses, erasing the memories of said loved ones from everyone other than the client, and warping reality to make it appear that they had never existed. Additionally, The Card would have the abducted beings "disbursed" to what they claim to be better environments, with the stolen memories rearranged to fit them in wherever they ended up.
As The Card was an exclusive, invitation-only company, Foley would personally contact new customers. She eventually contacted Linda Wolfe, a mother of three and compulsive spender who had many credit cards revoked. Meeting with Linda within The Card's main office, on a day when Foley had the child of an unknown client abducted, Foley explained the company's purpose as a last resort agency, and gave Linda a contract to sign, telling her that The Card held unique terms, including the short payment window. However, Linda signed the contract without reading it, not learning of The Card's paranormal side. Linda was given her new credit card, but immediately began spending and falling behind on payments. As such, Foley had her agents take Linda's cat, erasing the memories of it from Linda's husband and sons. Later, when Linda tried to buy a refrigerator, Foley refused to clear the purchase until Linda covered the minimum payment, which she quickly did. However, Linda once again began missing payments, so Foley wrote her up as delinquent, and had her agents take Linda's dog.
Some time afterwards, Linda's car broke down, and she was forced to use her credit card to pay for a mechanic. One of Foley's agents contacted her to report this, and Foley responded by ordering her agents to take Linda's children. Linda, now realizing what was happening, rushed to see Foley the next morning. At the same time, Foley and a security guard were personally meeting with Linda's children in her office, before sending them off to be disbursed to parts unknown. Linda, seeing her children, was unable to get through the glass partition separating the waiting room from the disbursements office, and was quickly restrained by another security guard. Foley exited her office, and ordered Linda to come into her in, revealing everything The Card had been doing. Foley ignored Linda's angry protests, coldly saying that she could do anything she wanted as long as Linda kept missing payments, also noting that Linda was an incredibly irresponsible spender who didn't even bother reading the contract. Linda then interrupted Foley and asked to buy her children back, only for Foley to point out that Linda's personal account was overdrawn. Linda then wrote a check using her and her husband's joint account, which still had funds in it, and Foley accepted it, but warned Linda that the check must clear, or else there would be consequences, waiting in her office while Linda ran home to make sure it cleared. However, as Linda's husband, Brian, had no memories of their children, he canceled the check. Seeing that the check didn't clear, Foley began abducting everything from Linda's house, including her car, all the furniture and appliances, and Brian. In desperation, Linda managed to grab a pair of scissors that didn't vanish, and cut her credit card in half. However, this appeared to activate the final penalty, making the entire house vanish with Linda, the bisected card now nameless, implying Foley completely erased Linda from existence.
