Weird, but this morning's news about the horrific tragedy last night in Aurora, CO (and I'm anti-criminal, not anti-2nd Amendment) made me recall one of the last (1982), not one of the best yet one of the RMT episodes which most disturbed me: "Tony's market"...even though that show centered around a convenience store and an armed robbery gone terribly wrong rather than a mass shooting.

A word of caution: do NOT listen to this if you're in a down mood. This episode opens up reminiscent of the one called "Out of focus", with someone dying of a gunshot wound. However, THIS one involves four people in the beginning...3 people killed in a convenience store ("Tony's market") massacre, then the gunman getting killed in a shoot out with the police. This RMT play basically tells us all how the three victims ended up in the same place to die, and why the gunman killed them and himself, the latter in what some nickname "death by cop". Ms. Grimes also tells us this episode could have been entitled: "Strawberry ice cream", or "My mother never loved me", or "Spanish cigarettes" or "MacBeth"...each of the victims had, more or less, something to look forward to. This is worth a listen if: 1. You want to hear Arnold Moss play a policeman, or; 2. (More importantly) You need to be reminded how fleeting life on this earth is.

This is one of my favorites. All the sub plots are interesting. The actors use their voices brilliantly in this one!

Great one. One of my favorite ones. Not uplifting but very well done. All players are at their peak. Worth the listening time.

This one should not be missed by fans of this series. It paints a compelling psychological portrait of the disturbed protagonist and a vivid picture of the scenery. I remember hearing this as a kid and picturing what the market might have looked like: a corner store on a city street with grates on the windows to protect from theft. Decades later, I got the same visual picture. Well written and masterfully acted. I'd rank this as one of the best.

An excellent episode and worth listening to.

How much better could I put it than that? "Wrong place, wrong time" would have been a great title. This was sad to me on the order of "Star Sapphire" or "Out of focus", but both those other plays (the toughest ever RMT plays out of 1,000+ to listen to for me, one involving child abuse, the other starting with a suicide) had fascinating plots and carried a powerful message. In this one, everyone died. It ranks #3 toughest. Don't want to hear it again.

This message brought to you by the Strawberry Ice Cream Council.

The "Tony's Market" episode is one of the best in the series and reminiscent of the Thornton Wilder short story entitled "The Bridge of San Luis Rey". The narrator made passing reference to this story by asking why were victims on a bridge when it collapsed. The parallels between Wilder's story and this CBSRMT episode are salient. This is a thought provoking and poignant story about some of our society's most significant problems and how they coalesce to create havoc for us.

The writing in this episode is fantastic. I really felt sympathy for the characters. The killer, in the flashback sequence with his mother, made me think of the Carol Burnett skit "Eunice" and the interaction between her and her mother.

The story carries you along with excellent acting, but only gives you a thought provoking ending with no surprises. Everything would have been resolved peacefully, if Tony would have closed his store early. Entertaining for the moment, but not close to being a favorite of mine.

This is my 2nd time hearing this episode. Will listen to it again as it makes you feel for all the characters.