Jack Haines is the main protagonist of "Love is Blind," the 27th episode of the 3rd season of the 1985-1989 iteration of The Twilight Zone, with the episode airing in 1989. He is a truck driver who sought to kill a man who he believed his wife was cheating with him on, only to encounter a mysterious being who gave him a chance for salvation.
Jack Haines was portrayed by Ben Murphy.
Biography[]
By the 1980s, Jack Haines was a truck driver married to a woman named Elaine, becoming increasingly obsessed over keeping her faithful to him, always making sure she wasn't cheating on him, although he would repeatedly cheat on Elaine while on long hauls. One day, approaching the anniversary of his marriage to Elaine, Jack found out that Elaine was going to meet an unknown man in a bar, meant to be a secret. Not letting on that he knew, Jack traveled to the bar before Elaine, a snowstorm engulfing the area as he entered, a pistol concealed in his jacket, planning to kill the man when he arrived. Inside, he was soon approached by a blind singer, who had just finished a song about a man in shock after killing someone. The singer then surprised Jack by knowing his name and saying the song was about Jack. Jack, thinking the singer was messing with him, demanded to know what the singer thought he knew about him, and the singer responded that he could sense the bad in Jack's life, claiming to have been blessed, or possibly cursed, with the ability to do so. When Jack claimed to be a happy man, the singer revealed that he knew what Jack planned to do, and mentioned that he had been to Hell when Jack told him to go there, also mentioning that Jack was already on his way there.
Jack then angrily grabbed the blind singer, but found himself unable to finish his threat, although the singer assured him he wouldn't call the police. Jack then asked the singer to point out the man who his wife was going to meet, but the singer said his powers only worked with Jack, urging him to abandon his plans before he does something he'll regret. Elaine then entered, and Jack watched her while staying out of her sight, the blind singer alongside him. The singer asked Jack to stay calm while a muscular man approached her, anticipating that Jack would be quick to act. Jack reluctantly stayed his hand, and the muscular man then approached Jack, jokingly asking Jack if he wanted to know what Elaine told him. Jack, trying to stay calm, allowed the man to speak, revealing that the man wasn't who Elaine was there to meet, and was just trying to flirt with her before being brushed off. As the man walked off, the singer told Jack that he could easily end up shooting the wrong person anyways, but Jack demanded that the singer go away. The singer told Jack that he couldn't, and then revealed that he knew that Jack had been cheating on his wife with many, many women. Jack, angered, took off the singer's sunglasses to see if he was really blind, finding that the singer's eyes were discolored.
Sitting down with the singer, the singer then claimed that five years prior, he worked as a trucker, and met a woman in a bar, flirting and drinking with her, only for the woman's husband to come up and shoot the singer in the head. However, the singer claimed that the bullet entered through one temple and out the other, killing the man's wife instead. The singer then recounted how the man later hung himself in prison, and how he supposedly got his abilities, also describing how he was drawn to certain places to prevent people from falling victim to a similar fate as the man who shot him. The singer then told Jack that he had dealt with men like him before, and how some listened while others didn't, and told Jack that he had to decide for himself, before going back to the stage to keep singing.
Then, Jack saw Elaine enter alongside Taylor, one of Jack's closest friends. Believing that Elaine was cheating on him with Taylor, Jack began to leave, before stopping and turning back to confront the two, ignoring the singer as he tried calling out to Jack. When Elaine and Taylor noticed him, Taylor standing to greet him, Jack pulled his pistol on him, only for Elaine to get in the way just as Jack fired, taking the bullets instead of Taylor. Jack, horrified by what he had done, fled into the woods, managing to escape the other patrons, only to run into an image of the blind singer, who told him he was going the wrong way. Pushing past the singer, Jack only ran into another image of him, who told him that if a blind man could find him, the police could definitely do the same. Jack tried to run again, only to find himself back at the bar, where the police had arrived. There, he heard Taylor admit that all he and Elaine were doing was choosing new wheels for Jack's truck as a gift for their anniversary. Realizing that he killed Elaine over nothing, Jack cried in grief, collapsing as the officers shone their flashlights on him. Suddenly, Jack awoke back in the bar.
The singer met Jack again, revealing that the events he had just seen were a vision that the singer's song created, telling Jack that this time, it was for real, as Jack saw Taylor and Elaine arrive. Deciding to abandon his homicidal goals, he watched the two leave, picking up a rim and tire catalog that they left behind. Now resolving to be a better man, Jack left to his truck, finding the singer already inside, who asked for a lift down the road. While confused over how the singer knew what truck was his, he accepted and got in, then asking the singer about his injury, noting how he never heard of anyone surviving such a wound. The singer merely brushed the question aside, but as Jack drove off, it was revealed that he was truly alone in the truck, the singer likely being a guardian angel.
