Rod Serling's Delivery

A blog to review all 156 episodes of the original The Twilight Zone series in chronological order.

April 12, 2011 1:37 pm

When The Sky Was Opened (Again)

“When The Sky Was Opened” is a goddamn nightmare. Starting off, as it does, with the return of an experimental spacecraft, this episode of the Twilight Zone promises us “SPACE!” and “ADVENTURE!” in capital letters and a booming voice, but the adventure already happened. We missed it. All we’re left with now is the clean-up, and that’s not going to go well for anybody involved.

Boiling down the synopsis of the episode to “Three astronauts return from an experimental mission, and one by one, vanish,” you’d expect a monster tracking down the crewmen, and Rod telling us at the end of the show about the unknown, and what we’ll find there, and how just because space is silent, doesn’t mean it’s empty. But what if it is empty? What if it’s just cold and black forever, and we were an accident nobody noticed until now? “When The Sky Was Opened” is perhaps simultaneously the most noirish and Lovecraftian of any Twilight Zone episode.

While most people think noir means expressionist lighting and private dicks, the real through-line of noir is the conviction that something is rotten at the heart of the world. Colonel Forbes slowly pieces this together as his crewmates and himself are written out of continuity - which is exactly the way I’d describe what’s happening here. “Mass amnesia” doesn’t account for the changes in printed artifacts, like the newspaper, and the number of beds in a room - reality is being altered at a deeper, more fundamental level.

In Grant Morrison’s Animal Man, we’re introduced to the concept of Limbo, where all the characters written out of the DC universe live and wait for somebody to remember them. Mister Freeze, one of Limbo’s great success stories, spent a few decades there until Paul Dini gave him a sympathetic backstory in the Batman: The Animated Series episode “Heart of Ice.”  Colonel Forbes and his men, good friends he has known his entire life, are being stripped out of continuity by some greater force.

While I don’t think this episode is being post-modern and saying the writers are behind it, there is some horrible force at the edge of comprehension, which is what makes this episode so Cthulhu-riffic, without ever having to show a single tentacle. A great power is changing the universe, wiping out an entire military history, childhood, and lifetime, and not out of any sense of malice. As Ed says, “It’s like I didn’t belong here, like if I was to let myself go… like I’d disappear.” He’s fighting a force, not so different from gravity.

The worst thing about this is the complete lack of anything to appeal to - no face to plead your case in front of. Forbes is a man who does everything right. He’s served his country faithfully, he stands by his friends, he’s friendly, and outgoing, and responsible to boot, but in the end, he just simply stops existing. There’s the classic thought experiment where you imagine that the world came into being yesterday, with all signs of age faked perfectly, and all memories implanted and false - but the flipside is this - what’s to stop something from just ceasing to exist? What if you had a best friend yesterday, and now he’s gone, and you aren’t even aware? You shared your first stolen glass of schnapps together in middle school, you cheated off each other in high school calculus, and now, it just never happened.

This episode really reaches me on a deeper level many Twilight Zone episodes aren’t able to, and I’m completely enamored by it. I think the acting is actually fairly spot on, and Forbes looks kind of like a weirdly younger, more handsome Robin Williams. A man on the edge of a breakdown is going to emote pretty wildly, and Forbes nails it. It’s my favorite episode of TZ, and one of my favorite thirty minutes of television period. Unless, of course, I’ve just forgotten something else.

1:12 am

Get ready for a guest review here on Rod Serling’s Delivery, folks.

Joining us this evening with his own review, way the hell away from Andy and I in Pittsburgh, PA will my friend Matthew in Los Angeles, CA.

Matthew is a writer, has held position to editing for the show Intervention (don’t ask him about working on that show) and is one of the best people I’ve ever met.

He’s getting a guest review opportunity here because is exactly one of those people that believes “And When the Sky Was Opened” is the best episode of The Twilight Zone ever and since he won’t tell me why via personal message, he’s offered to write a guest review on it for here instead.

Do be warned that his writing will far exceed both Andy and mine by lightyears. It was actually walk and talk like an intelligent review.

Matthew, you have the floor.

- Elliott

12:46 am
S1.E11: “And When the Sky Was Opened” There are certain people that are going to think that this is probably the best Twilight Zone episode ever, but I promise they’re in the minority. I say that because it ends as mysteriously as it begins and nothing is resolved. If you’re into deconstructionism though, you’ll no doubt think this one best half hours of television you’ve ever seen. Two astronauts have just returned from a space flight in essentially what looks like a fighter jet under a tarp. One of the men has just been discharged from the hospital and is returning the next day to check on his buddy, still not yet allowed to leave. As Serling’s monologue opens, we learn that the ship somehow inexplicably vanished off the radar for 24 hours. What follows is basically a mass effect of amnesia. Colonel Forbes goes back to not-yet-released Grant looking extemely frazzled and explains to Forbes that there were actually three astronauts on the flight, Forbes, Grant and Harrington. Grant swears he’s never heard of a Harrington before, a man Forbes points out he knew for 5 years and Forbes knew for 15. In a flashback sequence, we see Forbes and Harrington getting out of the hospital and going to get a victory beer. As they saddle up to toast, this overwhelming feeling comes over Harrington like he “Belong…I shouldn’t exist.” Harrington goes to call his parents and tell him he’s safe, but he’s shocked to tears as his parents say they never had a son. As Forbes heads back to the bar, Harrington is now gone and the newspaper writes that only 2 men had returned from space now. The bartender then swears Forbes walked in alone and Forbes loses his shit calling the barkeep crazy. As we flash back to the present day, Grant listened to his story and still seems confused, never having heard of Harrington before and as Forbes gets ready to leave, he looks in the mirror and notices his reflection doesn’t exist. He runs out of the hospital never to be seen again; mysteriously vanished like Harrington. It’s then that Grant calls for the nurse asking where Harrington, a man she previously had been talking to at the start of the episode went and the nurse says “You were the only one that was ever in this room,” and suddenly the 2 hospital beds that were in the room are now gone. Grant flips out and knows he’s next. The next shot, we see a nurse taking a general into a hospital room now empty for new patients. As the episode closes, the fighter jet covered in a tarp we saw at the beginning of the episode is now totally gone as well. The event never even happened now. This episode was okay in my book. Like I said at the start, this is a deconstructionist’s dream of an episode the way everything is presented and then is destroyed by the end of it like it never happened. If that’s your thing, you’ll love this one, but I thought the acting was a little overreaching (particularly Colonel Forbes’ character who ends up being the main character) to keep me from loving it.

S1.E11: “And When the Sky Was Opened”

There are certain people that are going to think that this is probably the best Twilight Zone episode ever, but I promise they’re in the minority. I say that because it ends as mysteriously as it begins and nothing is resolved. If you’re into deconstructionism though, you’ll no doubt think this one best half hours of television you’ve ever seen.

Two astronauts have just returned from a space flight in essentially what looks like a fighter jet under a tarp. One of the men has just been discharged from the hospital and is returning the next day to check on his buddy, still not yet allowed to leave. As Serling’s monologue opens, we learn that the ship somehow inexplicably vanished off the radar for 24 hours. What follows is basically a mass effect of amnesia. Colonel Forbes goes back to not-yet-released Grant looking extemely frazzled and explains to Forbes that there were actually three astronauts on the flight, Forbes, Grant and Harrington. Grant swears he’s never heard of a Harrington before, a man Forbes points out he knew for 5 years and Forbes knew for 15.

In a flashback sequence, we see Forbes and Harrington getting out of the hospital and going to get a victory beer. As they saddle up to toast, this overwhelming feeling comes over Harrington like he “Belong…I shouldn’t exist.” Harrington goes to call his parents and tell him he’s safe, but he’s shocked to tears as his parents say they never had a son. As Forbes heads back to the bar, Harrington is now gone and the newspaper writes that only 2 men had returned from space now. The bartender then swears Forbes walked in alone and Forbes loses his shit calling the barkeep crazy.

As we flash back to the present day, Grant listened to his story and still seems confused, never having heard of Harrington before and as Forbes gets ready to leave, he looks in the mirror and notices his reflection doesn’t exist. He runs out of the hospital never to be seen again; mysteriously vanished like Harrington. It’s then that Grant calls for the nurse asking where Harrington, a man she previously had been talking to at the start of the episode went and the nurse says “You were the only one that was ever in this room,” and suddenly the 2 hospital beds that were in the room are now gone. Grant flips out and knows he’s next. The next shot, we see a nurse taking a general into a hospital room now empty for new patients. As the episode closes, the fighter jet covered in a tarp we saw at the beginning of the episode is now totally gone as well. The event never even happened now.

This episode was okay in my book. Like I said at the start, this is a deconstructionist’s dream of an episode the way everything is presented and then is destroyed by the end of it like it never happened. If that’s your thing, you’ll love this one, but I thought the acting was a little overreaching (particularly Colonel Forbes’ character who ends up being the main character) to keep me from loving it.

April 10, 2011 9:58 am
S1.E10: “Judgment Night” Portrait of one Carl Lanser - a nervous, jittery man who has just found himself on board a British ship. The year is 1942. The scene - the Atlantic Ocean. As the story the starts you can see that this guy really has no clue where he is or how he got there. As he’s standing on deck, a crew member tells him it’s time for chow, so he goes into the cabin to join the other passengers for some dinner. The dinner conversation quickly turns to the subject of German U-boats, and since their ship has become lost from it’s convey, I would consider it a valid concern. Lanser quickly becomes annoyed with the conversation and discusses in great detail the ins and outs of German U-boat tactics. You can tell something is obviously amiss with this situation as he tells them about “wolfpacks” in a thick German accent. The conversation then turns to Lanser and his place of birth - coincidently, Frankfurt, Germany, but he still can’t remember any of the details about his life - who he is, where he’s going, where’s he been. It’s clear at this point that it really is 1942 - because everyone now-a-days knows (thanks to Forrest Gump) that all you have to do is look at a person’s shoes to assess all of that information. The captain then sends a steward to Lanser’s cabin to check his passport and traveling papers. While searching thru his possessions, Lanser discovers a German U-boat captain’s hat. Upon closer inspection, he discovers the hat has his name on it! He immediately goes to the ship’s bar - exactly what I would do. He starts getting the feeling of deja vu and starts screaming to all the passengers that the ship will be attacked. It’s of special concern since the ships engines have decided to stop working. He insists that everyone should abandon ship. The ship is soon attacked by a German U-boat and is sunk. The scene then cuts to inside the cabin of a U-boat with Captain Carl Lanser, as he’s tallying the nights kill. Second in command then walks in and asks Lanser if he feels like he might be judged for attacking a defenseless ship with civilians on it. The second in command then asks if he thinks God might condemn them to a certain kind of hell where they will be forced to experience the fate of the doomed ship every night for the rest of eternity. So basically this episode is an account of Carl Lanser’s private little hell, where he must ride and die on the ghost for the rest of eternity. The episode ends in the same way that it began… I enjoyed this episode, especially compared to the last one that I wasn’t so “crazy” about (get it? the last one was about a crazy dude…). While this one certainly doesn’t rank in my top ten, it’s one that I could watch at least once more. Actually, I’ve probably seen it 4 or 5 times so far…

S1.E10: “Judgment Night”

Portrait of one Carl Lanser - a nervous, jittery man who has just found himself on board a British ship. The year is 1942. The scene - the Atlantic Ocean.

As the story the starts you can see that this guy really has no clue where he is or how he got there. As he’s standing on deck, a crew member tells him it’s time for chow, so he goes into the cabin to join the other passengers for some dinner. The dinner conversation quickly turns to the subject of German U-boats, and since their ship has become lost from it’s convey, I would consider it a valid concern.

Lanser quickly becomes annoyed with the conversation and discusses in great detail the ins and outs of German U-boat tactics. You can tell something is obviously amiss with this situation as he tells them about “wolfpacks” in a thick German accent.

The conversation then turns to Lanser and his place of birth - coincidently, Frankfurt, Germany, but he still can’t remember any of the details about his life - who he is, where he’s going, where’s he been. It’s clear at this point that it really is 1942 - because everyone now-a-days knows (thanks to Forrest Gump) that all you have to do is look at a person’s shoes to assess all of that information.

The captain then sends a steward to Lanser’s cabin to check his passport and traveling papers. While searching thru his possessions, Lanser discovers a German U-boat captain’s hat. Upon closer inspection, he discovers the hat has his name on it!

He immediately goes to the ship’s bar - exactly what I would do. He starts getting the feeling of deja vu and starts screaming to all the passengers that the ship will be attacked. It’s of special concern since the ships engines have decided to stop working. He insists that everyone should abandon ship.

The ship is soon attacked by a German U-boat and is sunk. The scene then cuts to inside the cabin of a U-boat with Captain Carl Lanser, as he’s tallying the nights kill. Second in command then walks in and asks Lanser if he feels like he might be judged for attacking a defenseless ship with civilians on it. The second in command then asks if he thinks God might condemn them to a certain kind of hell where they will be forced to experience the fate of the doomed ship every night for the rest of eternity.

So basically this episode is an account of Carl Lanser’s private little hell, where he must ride and die on the ghost for the rest of eternity. The episode ends in the same way that it began…

I enjoyed this episode, especially compared to the last one that I wasn’t so “crazy” about (get it? the last one was about a crazy dude…). While this one certainly doesn’t rank in my top ten, it’s one that I could watch at least once more. Actually, I’ve probably seen it 4 or 5 times so far…

9:34 am
S1.E9: “Perchance to Dream” This is the story of Edward Hall, a man with a serious heart condition, who believes that if he falls asleep it will put to much stress on his bum ticker. He believes this because he has an overactive imagination and has crazy-ass dreams. So instead of falling asleep, he pops pep pills constantly - a much safer alternative - at least in the 50’s I guess, where sleeping was much more of a dangerous endeavor. He enlists the help of a psychiatrist to help him figure out his dreams, but the shrink is unable to help him. While in the doctor’s office, Hall falls asleep and starts dreaming about some crazy stripper chick named Maya. She lures him into a carnival fun house with the plan on literally scaring him to death. Hall is too smart for this and wakes up. When he wakes up, he realizes that the doc’s receptionist looks just like this stripper chick, so he freaks out and jumps out the window. The most logical solution… especially since he’s so worried about dying. In reality the doctor calls his receptionist into his office, where Mr. Crazypants is laying with his eyes closed. The doctor explains to his receptionist that Hall had come in and fell asleep immediately. While sleeping he let a scream and then died. “Well, I suppose there are worse ways to go”, the doctor says philosophically. “At least he died peacefully…” Overall I didn’t really like this episode very much. Especially because it came after such a wonderful episode - “Time Enough at Last”. It’s worth watching, but only once, just to say you saw it.

S1.E9: “Perchance to Dream”

This is the story of Edward Hall, a man with a serious heart condition, who believes that if he falls asleep it will put to much stress on his bum ticker. He believes this because he has an overactive imagination and has crazy-ass dreams. So instead of falling asleep, he pops pep pills constantly - a much safer alternative - at least in the 50’s I guess, where sleeping was much more of a dangerous endeavor.

He enlists the help of a psychiatrist to help him figure out his dreams, but the shrink is unable to help him. While in the doctor’s office, Hall falls asleep and starts dreaming about some crazy stripper chick named Maya. She lures him into a carnival fun house with the plan on literally scaring him to death. Hall is too smart for this and wakes up. When he wakes up, he realizes that the doc’s receptionist looks just like this stripper chick, so he freaks out and jumps out the window. The most logical solution… especially since he’s so worried about dying.

In reality the doctor calls his receptionist into his office, where Mr. Crazypants is laying with his eyes closed. The doctor explains to his receptionist that Hall had come in and fell asleep immediately. While sleeping he let a scream and then died. “Well, I suppose there are worse ways to go”, the doctor says philosophically. “At least he died peacefully…”

Overall I didn’t really like this episode very much. Especially because it came after such a wonderful episode - “Time Enough at Last”. It’s worth watching, but only once, just to say you saw it.

April 9, 2011 8:56 pm
S1.E8: “Time Enough at Last” This is perhaps one of the most famous episodes from the series, as a result it’s often parodied on other shows. It’s the story of a chap by the name of Henry Bemis (played by Burgess Meridith) who loves books and reading. The only problem is that everywhere he goes, he’s not allowed to read. His boss gives him hell about it constantly and his c-word of a wife actually goes so far as to ruin his books. He even mentions that he’s resorted to reading the labels of condiment bottles, and his wife won’t even let him use the ketchup at dinner anymore. Anyway… he spends his lunch breaks in the vault of the bank he works at. The one place where he is able to read without people bothering him about it. On this particular occasion, while in the vault, a hydrogen bomb goes off and destroys the whole world. He is saved because he was in the basement of the bank, reading books in the vault. He emerges from the vault to find complete and total destruction of the world. He wanders around the city and just as he’s about ready to put a bullet in his brain, he looks up and sees the public library. He decides that he’d rather fill his brain with book learnins’  instead of lead, so he follows his 6ft erection into the library and begins sorting through all the books that he will read for the rest of his life. As he bends down to pick up the first book to read, his glasses fall off and shatter. He starts sobbing and uttering “It’s not fair. It’s not fair at all. There was time now. There was all the time I needed…” All in all this is a fantastic episode!

S1.E8: “Time Enough at Last”

This is perhaps one of the most famous episodes from the series, as a result it’s often parodied on other shows. It’s the story of a chap by the name of Henry Bemis (played by Burgess Meridith) who loves books and reading. The only problem is that everywhere he goes, he’s not allowed to read. His boss gives him hell about it constantly and his c-word of a wife actually goes so far as to ruin his books. He even mentions that he’s resorted to reading the labels of condiment bottles, and his wife won’t even let him use the ketchup at dinner anymore.

Anyway… he spends his lunch breaks in the vault of the bank he works at. The one place where he is able to read without people bothering him about it. On this particular occasion, while in the vault, a hydrogen bomb goes off and destroys the whole world. He is saved because he was in the basement of the bank, reading books in the vault.

He emerges from the vault to find complete and total destruction of the world. He wanders around the city and just as he’s about ready to put a bullet in his brain, he looks up and sees the public library. He decides that he’d rather fill his brain with book learnins’  instead of lead, so he follows his 6ft erection into the library and begins sorting through all the books that he will read for the rest of his life. As he bends down to pick up the first book to read, his glasses fall off and shatter. He starts sobbing and uttering “It’s not fair. It’s not fair at all. There was time now. There was all the time I needed…”


All in all this is a fantastic episode!

April 8, 2011 3:06 pm

Some additions and changes in format

We’ve added two new pages on our home page, “Top Notch Episodes” and “Shit Life Episodes” where both the best (Top Notch) and the worst (Shit Life) episodes we watch are archived for your convenience.

Andy and I have also agreed upon the format of taking 3 episodes in a row each and then switching off. Either one of us may make our own updates to weigh in on a particular episode even if it’s not our turn to write one and this will be dictated by a series of underscores and who the person is putting in their thoughts in bold.

Finally, as we complete each season, we will put all of those reviews in a new page for your convenience as well.

We hope you’ve enjoyed this so far. Only 149 more episodes left to go!

- Elliott

2:25 pm
S1.E7: “The Lonely” I think most people’s biggest fear in life is to end up alone. For most of us, we just need somebody to tell our troubles to or even just pass the time with, whether they’re a friend, a lover or a stranger. That’s what this episode is all about. A criminal named Corry is part of a new criminal program where convicted men of murder are to be placed on asteroids to serve out the rest of their life in solitude, with supply ships and human interaction (sometimes for only as short as 15 minutes) show up every 3 months. Corry is now in year 4 of his 50 year sentence and holy shit is this man lonely and bored. When a supply ship shows up, Corry gets set into gear like it’s a giant party waiting on his main man Allenby to hook him up with supplies and play a game of cards or chess or anything just to have that fleeting moment of interaction that he knows he won’t see again for another 3 months. Allenby likes Corry and feels sympathetic for the man, so he’s brought him a present to hopefully keep this man sane so he doesn’t end his life: a robot that looks and talks just like a human woman. At first Corry is dismissive of the creature, Alicia, because even though she looks just like a woman and can respond just like a woman, “You’ve got no veins in ya’. You’re all cogs and wires!” He grabs her arm and throws her to the asteroid ground when he notices she’s crying tears. Real tears. It’s at this moment that he realizes that she’s been programmed really well and maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to live with this robot. We then see them interacting like any other couple. Playing chess together, looking at the stars together and otherwise being an extremely happy couple. Corry is now the happiest man in the universe. He’s no longer bored or lonely and he has as good of enough of a “real” person to share every thought and moment with. Then one day, a supply ship comes down to the asteroid to where Allenby tells Corry he’s been granted a pardon and the asteroid jail program has been shut down. He’s going to take him back to Earth to live out his life just as he had always wished, but he can only take 15 pounds with him. And those 15 pounds certainly don’t mean bringing Alicia with him. Corry refuses to go, but Allenby and his helpers convince him to go by straight shooting Alicia in the face, killing her on the spot. It’s then that Corry sees her mechanical inside, realizing he had created a woman in his chosen image, but it wasn’t who she was and none of their time together was ever real. He could’ve just as easily created a cardboard cutout of a person, even if it couldn’t speak and felt the same way about it and he now knows this. This is a heartbreaking episode and I definitely would not suggest any of you who are hopeless romantics to watch it. It’s pretty depressing by the time it’s over because the writers didn’t choose to go the sentimentalist route of Corry staying on the planet refusing to go back to Earth if he can’t take Alicia with him, nor did they choose the optimistic route of Allenby unloading some provisions so that Corry could take Alicia with him. So what is this episode trying to say then? I think it’s that most of the time our relationships with people aren’t real, they just exist because they have to. We need interaction with other people. It helps keep us sane in an insane world. This show fucking rules for being so bold as to say that.

S1.E7: “The Lonely”

I think most people’s biggest fear in life is to end up alone. For most of us, we just need somebody to tell our troubles to or even just pass the time with, whether they’re a friend, a lover or a stranger. That’s what this episode is all about.

A criminal named Corry is part of a new criminal program where convicted men of murder are to be placed on asteroids to serve out the rest of their life in solitude, with supply ships and human interaction (sometimes for only as short as 15 minutes) show up every 3 months. Corry is now in year 4 of his 50 year sentence and holy shit is this man lonely and bored. When a supply ship shows up, Corry gets set into gear like it’s a giant party waiting on his main man Allenby to hook him up with supplies and play a game of cards or chess or anything just to have that fleeting moment of interaction that he knows he won’t see again for another 3 months. Allenby likes Corry and feels sympathetic for the man, so he’s brought him a present to hopefully keep this man sane so he doesn’t end his life: a robot that looks and talks just like a human woman.

At first Corry is dismissive of the creature, Alicia, because even though she looks just like a woman and can respond just like a woman, “You’ve got no veins in ya’. You’re all cogs and wires!” He grabs her arm and throws her to the asteroid ground when he notices she’s crying tears. Real tears. It’s at this moment that he realizes that she’s been programmed really well and maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to live with this robot.

We then see them interacting like any other couple. Playing chess together, looking at the stars together and otherwise being an extremely happy couple. Corry is now the happiest man in the universe. He’s no longer bored or lonely and he has as good of enough of a “real” person to share every thought and moment with.

Then one day, a supply ship comes down to the asteroid to where Allenby tells Corry he’s been granted a pardon and the asteroid jail program has been shut down. He’s going to take him back to Earth to live out his life just as he had always wished, but he can only take 15 pounds with him. And those 15 pounds certainly don’t mean bringing Alicia with him.

Corry refuses to go, but Allenby and his helpers convince him to go by straight shooting Alicia in the face, killing her on the spot. It’s then that Corry sees her mechanical inside, realizing he had created a woman in his chosen image, but it wasn’t who she was and none of their time together was ever real. He could’ve just as easily created a cardboard cutout of a person, even if it couldn’t speak and felt the same way about it and he now knows this.

This is a heartbreaking episode and I definitely would not suggest any of you who are hopeless romantics to watch it. It’s pretty depressing by the time it’s over because the writers didn’t choose to go the sentimentalist route of Corry staying on the planet refusing to go back to Earth if he can’t take Alicia with him, nor did they choose the optimistic route of Allenby unloading some provisions so that Corry could take Alicia with him.

So what is this episode trying to say then? I think it’s that most of the time our relationships with people aren’t real, they just exist because they have to. We need interaction with other people. It helps keep us sane in an insane world. This show fucking rules for being so bold as to say that.

2:03 am
S1.E6: “Escape Clause” Did you enjoy the film Groundhog Day? Did you also enjoy The Little Mermaid? Well, get ready here folks, ‘cause those two movies are about to be combined some 40 years before they were made for this episode. This will be short because this episode is pretty simple. This tale is one of morals and consequences. An asshole hypochondriac who’s perpetually thinking he’s sick makes a deal with the devil exchanging his soul for immortality, but with one exemption, an escape clause should he choose at any moment that he doesn’t want to go on living in which the devil will take his life and soul with him forever on the spot. The guy signs the contract without reading a word of it and goes around spending all of his time trying to kill himself in various ways (jumping in front of subway’s, busses, drinking poisons). He then collects money off of these various public death’s from the subway and bus companies and makes a living off of it. But all of this is no fun for Walter Bedeker. He never knew trying to kill yourself could be so boring. After a moment with his pleading and frazzled wife telling him not to jump off 14 stories to his death, she trips off the roof and falls to her death, where he gets a grand idea: “Maybe the electric chair would be fun!” He calls the cops and tells him he killed his wife. Now he’s simply waiting around in prison trying everything in his power to see to it he gets the electric chair to get his jollies off. The twist comes in with the verdict in that the judge does not sentence him to death by the electric chair, but rather life in prison without parole. As Walter contemplates a life spent behind bars (hundreds of thousands of years spent behind bars, that is), he decides he’d like to execute his “Escape Clause” where the devil shows up and gives him a heart attack, killing him on the spot. This would’ve been a great episode, but the actual “Escape clause” part kind of killed it for me. Maybe it would’ve been too depressing for audiences then just having to watch this guy rot away in a cell, but I really don’t see how considering the ending to the next episode is one of the most famous depressing endings to any TV show ever (it’s one of the ones I’ve seen and is a really famous one). I just feel like the “Escape clause” part of it made it all so easy and convenient for everything to be wrapped up with, when maybe the escape clause could’ve been something like a long slow death, spread over the next thousand years. I swear I’m not sadistic, but you’re supposed to hate this character, so why not give the viewer something to feel satisfied for at the end of all of his dick moves? 

S1.E6: “Escape Clause”

Did you enjoy the film Groundhog Day? Did you also enjoy The Little Mermaid? Well, get ready here folks, ‘cause those two movies are about to be combined some 40 years before they were made for this episode. This will be short because this episode is pretty simple.

This tale is one of morals and consequences. An asshole hypochondriac who’s perpetually thinking he’s sick makes a deal with the devil exchanging his soul for immortality, but with one exemption, an escape clause should he choose at any moment that he doesn’t want to go on living in which the devil will take his life and soul with him forever on the spot. The guy signs the contract without reading a word of it and goes around spending all of his time trying to kill himself in various ways (jumping in front of subway’s, busses, drinking poisons). He then collects money off of these various public death’s from the subway and bus companies and makes a living off of it.

But all of this is no fun for Walter Bedeker. He never knew trying to kill yourself could be so boring. After a moment with his pleading and frazzled wife telling him not to jump off 14 stories to his death, she trips off the roof and falls to her death, where he gets a grand idea: “Maybe the electric chair would be fun!” He calls the cops and tells him he killed his wife. Now he’s simply waiting around in prison trying everything in his power to see to it he gets the electric chair to get his jollies off.

The twist comes in with the verdict in that the judge does not sentence him to death by the electric chair, but rather life in prison without parole. As Walter contemplates a life spent behind bars (hundreds of thousands of years spent behind bars, that is), he decides he’d like to execute his “Escape Clause” where the devil shows up and gives him a heart attack, killing him on the spot.

This would’ve been a great episode, but the actual “Escape clause” part kind of killed it for me. Maybe it would’ve been too depressing for audiences then just having to watch this guy rot away in a cell, but I really don’t see how considering the ending to the next episode is one of the most famous depressing endings to any TV show ever (it’s one of the ones I’ve seen and is a really famous one). I just feel like the “Escape clause” part of it made it all so easy and convenient for everything to be wrapped up with, when maybe the escape clause could’ve been something like a long slow death, spread over the next thousand years. I swear I’m not sadistic, but you’re supposed to hate this character, so why not give the viewer something to feel satisfied for at the end of all of his dick moves? 

12:51 am
S1.E5: “Walking Distance” I remember awhile back some publication like Time or Newsweek or one of those used-to-be-reputable-publications-but-now-just-rely-on-lists made some top 10 list of Twilight Zone episodes and it’s very easy to see why this one made the cut. I think it’d make anybody’s. This is a tale of nostalgia and time gone by. Our main character here is a man named Martin Sloan, some hotshot adman from NYC who ironically looks and sounds exactly like Duck Phillips from AMC’s Mad Men; Mad Men also has a ad exec named Sloan on its show (now that’s SOME Twilight Zone shit!). So Duck Martin is on a weekend getaway to the country, destination unknown, when he stops at a gas station to get a fill up, and obviously he’s in New Jersey because it’s a full service station (are there ANY self service stations in New Jersey even as of 2011? Curious and serious question). At the gas station, he tells the attendant he’d like a fill up and to check under the hood. The attendant tells him he needs some new parts and it’ll probably take about an hour to repair. At this moment he sees a sign for the town of Homewood, just a mile and a half up the road and where he grew up. He asks the attendant if it’s in “Walking distance,” and he agrees. When Sloan gets to town, there he walks into the old malt shop/pharmacy and starts talking with the soda jerk about the good old days. The whole old-man, self-congratulatory bullshit wrap: “Back in my day, a 3 scoop sunday was a dime. I can still picture old man Mr. Wilson upstairs taking a nap just like he did,” to which the soda jerk looks at him odd. Sloan pays his surprised 10 cents for his 3 scoop, and the soda jerk walks upstairs to tell Mr. Wilson that the shop needs more chocolate syrup.  The next series of events are a bunch of odd coincidences such as talking to the neighborhood kids about old nicknames they had for marbles, the nickname he gave to his childhood house and people then running away from him when he says his name is Martin Sloan. It’s then that Sloan is confronted with his childhood self and the dude just absolutely loses his shit when he realizes he’s gone back 25 years in time. He chases the boy back to his childhood house where he confronts his parents and they think he’s escaped from the insane asylum. And that’s when this episode gets outrageously fucking awesome. He chases his childhood self down to the carousel in the center of town and what follows is one of the best sequences I’ve ever seen on a TV show. It’s on par with some of the scenes of Fellini’s “La Strada,” and that’s not an overstatement. The angles, the lighting, the close-ups, the way the shots are framed. It’s just so well planned and perfectly edited together. Eventually this dizzying and gorgeous chase ends with childhood Martin getting his leg ran over by the carousel all while adult Martin just says “All I wanted to tell you was to enjoy this time.” I guarantee any man who has a high pressure job was probably in tears for this episode and that’s where the tears started… But not where they ended. Martin’s dad then comes to him telling him he dropped his wallet outside the porch and now believes he is who he says he is even though all the dates on his license, credit cards and dollar bills are from 25 years in the future. His father then tells him that he needs to go away, because this is not his time or place to be there. That he can’t look to the past for happiness because there are places he hasn’t looked yet. We then arrive to present day for Sloan, where Rock and Roll plays on a jukebox in the soda shop, a 3-scoop sundae costs 35 cents and he learns that the carousel was condemned a decade ago for being unsafe. As Sloan walks back to a car, we notice he now walks with a limp and he drives forward. This whole episode was just so beautifully presented here in the metaphor for the innocence of childhood and the burdens and pressures of adulthood. This is also an interesting episode because out of all of the episodes so far that I’ve seen, this one doesn’t have a happy nor a depressing end. It just ends as it should with nothing really being resolved. I can’t believe this is only the 5th episode. I don’t see how any of them could be more beautiful than this one. Clearly this episode is a Andy’s Update: I also love this episode! Pay special attention to the first child he talks to about the marbles - you’ll notice he’s played by a very young Ron Howard.

S1.E5: “Walking Distance”

I remember awhile back some publication like Time or Newsweek or one of those used-to-be-reputable-publications-but-now-just-rely-on-lists made some top 10 list of Twilight Zone episodes and it’s very easy to see why this one made the cut. I think it’d make anybody’s.

This is a tale of nostalgia and time gone by. Our main character here is a man named Martin Sloan, some hotshot adman from NYC who ironically looks and sounds exactly like Duck Phillips from AMC’s Mad Men; Mad Men also has a ad exec named Sloan on its show (now that’s SOME Twilight Zone shit!). So Duck Martin is on a weekend getaway to the country, destination unknown, when he stops at a gas station to get a fill up, and obviously he’s in New Jersey because it’s a full service station (are there ANY self service stations in New Jersey even as of 2011? Curious and serious question). At the gas station, he tells the attendant he’d like a fill up and to check under the hood. The attendant tells him he needs some new parts and it’ll probably take about an hour to repair. At this moment he sees a sign for the town of Homewood, just a mile and a half up the road and where he grew up. He asks the attendant if it’s in “Walking distance,” and he agrees.

When Sloan gets to town, there he walks into the old malt shop/pharmacy and starts talking with the soda jerk about the good old days. The whole old-man, self-congratulatory bullshit wrap: “Back in my day, a 3 scoop sunday was a dime. I can still picture old man Mr. Wilson upstairs taking a nap just like he did,” to which the soda jerk looks at him odd. Sloan pays his surprised 10 cents for his 3 scoop, and the soda jerk walks upstairs to tell Mr. Wilson that the shop needs more chocolate syrup. 

The next series of events are a bunch of odd coincidences such as talking to the neighborhood kids about old nicknames they had for marbles, the nickname he gave to his childhood house and people then running away from him when he says his name is Martin Sloan. It’s then that Sloan is confronted with his childhood self and the dude just absolutely loses his shit when he realizes he’s gone back 25 years in time. He chases the boy back to his childhood house where he confronts his parents and they think he’s escaped from the insane asylum.

And that’s when this episode gets outrageously fucking awesome.

He chases his childhood self down to the carousel in the center of town and what follows is one of the best sequences I’ve ever seen on a TV show. It’s on par with some of the scenes of Fellini’s “La Strada,” and that’s not an overstatement. The angles, the lighting, the close-ups, the way the shots are framed. It’s just so well planned and perfectly edited together. Eventually this dizzying and gorgeous chase ends with childhood Martin getting his leg ran over by the carousel all while adult Martin just says “All I wanted to tell you was to enjoy this time.” I guarantee any man who has a high pressure job was probably in tears for this episode and that’s where the tears started…

But not where they ended.

Martin’s dad then comes to him telling him he dropped his wallet outside the porch and now believes he is who he says he is even though all the dates on his license, credit cards and dollar bills are from 25 years in the future. His father then tells him that he needs to go away, because this is not his time or place to be there. That he can’t look to the past for happiness because there are places he hasn’t looked yet.

We then arrive to present day for Sloan, where Rock and Roll plays on a jukebox in the soda shop, a 3-scoop sundae costs 35 cents and he learns that the carousel was condemned a decade ago for being unsafe. As Sloan walks back to a car, we notice he now walks with a limp and he drives forward.

This whole episode was just so beautifully presented here in the metaphor for the innocence of childhood and the burdens and pressures of adulthood. This is also an interesting episode because out of all of the episodes so far that I’ve seen, this one doesn’t have a happy nor a depressing end. It just ends as it should with nothing really being resolved.

I can’t believe this is only the 5th episode. I don’t see how any of them could be more beautiful than this one.

Clearly this episode is a

Andy’s Update: I also love this episode! Pay special attention to the first child he talks to about the marbles - you’ll notice he’s played by a very young Ron Howard.