His dismissive attitude towards poetry prompts Poe to have a violent fantasy about strangling him, but in reality he meekly requests an advance on a new story, which Graham obliges.
Relenting, he asks her to play a piece "one last time," only to have her performance of Thomas Moore's Come, Rest In This Bosom (said to have been Poe's favorite song[4]) interrupted by a sudden, copiously bloody coughing spell.
Desperate to earn some money, and encouraged by Virginia, Poe sits in front of a blank piece of paper but suffers writer's block.
To his shock, however, Virginia suddenly wakes up, apparently having only appeared dead (evoking several Poe stories, including "The Premature Burial", "The Fall of the House of Usher" and "Berenice").
The police are suspicious, explaining that neighbors reported screams, but after they search Poe's room—finding nothing, as the body is in the building's basement—they turn to leave.
Apparently free and clear, Poe suddenly calls after them to search the basement, even taunting them to check the walls and refusing to let them leave.
Reviews were generally positive; Brett Gallman of Oh, The Horror called it "a well-wrought little yarn that marries the short film format to the original story in an admirable fashion," and "a neat film that attempts to understand the demons that spoke to Poe: his insecurities, his paranoia, his tortured genius, and, most importantly, his undying love for his wife.".
[5] Writing for Fangoria, Michael Gingold praised Combs' performance, saying he "evokes Poe’s mania, torment and even his romantic side with equal skill, creating a fully formed portrait of the artist as a very troubled man," and that "the craft and pacing are perfectly scaled for [Masters Of Horror]'s modestly budgeted one-hour format," though he noted that the (fictitious) animal abuse depicted in the film may be "a sticking point for some viewers.
"[1] Cinemablend's Brian Holcomb also praised the episode, saying, "The Black Cat gets it just right, using the one hour length to its advantage by tightening the pace like a vice around its protagonist’s head," and singled out Combs for praise: "A few minutes into the episode you lose all thoughts about... Combs the actor and feel as though you are spending time with the great writer himself.