Larry Haines had a certain voice quality he could evoke...you just couldn't help feeling SORRY for the guy. (I think of some other episodes he did this, like "The Solid Gold Zarf" in which he's an everyman who loses his job for a large company where he's worked almost lifelong, and spends the rest of the episode trying to learn WHY he was fired.)

He does it very well here, as a guy who had an unhappy, unable-to-please-his-father childhood who seems to survive (Viet Nam?) staring death in the face, only to stare at it again later, after marrying and having a career, when he learns he's the one who should have died in combat.

This is one of those very few RMTs that I'd have a tough time listening to again (a similar episode being "Star Sapphire") because I feel such pity for the central character.