Season 1, Episode 10: Judgement Night

Hello again my Tifflighters! This week’s episode I do remember seeing before, and to be honest I had to watch it a few times to fully “get it”. Just a warning of some sensitive topics, but honestly… I think these are things we should talk about. I just like to give a little warning beforehand. My world views will come out pretty heavily and if you disagree with them, that’s your prerogative. But just know, you're wrong.

I’m really liking this train of thought type blogging so I’m going to stick with it. Maybe I’ll do a video of me watching an episode I haven’t seen before? Let me know what you think.

And with that, we’ll now cross over into…..

The Twilight Zone.

Rod comes in with our usual opening: Her name is the S.S. Queen of Glasgow. Her registry: British. Gross tonnage: five thousand. Age: Indeterminate. At this moment she's one day out of Liverpool, her destination New York. Duly recorded on the ship's log is the sailing time, course to destination, weather conditions, temperature, longitude and latitude. But what is never recorded in a log is the fear that washes over a deck like fog and ocean spray. Fear like the throbbing strokes of engine pistons, each like a heartbeat, parceling out of every hour into breathless minutes of watching, waiting and dreading. For the year is 1942, and this particular ship has lost its convoy. It travels alone like an aged blind thing groping through the unfriendly dark, stalked by unseen periscopes of steel killers. Yes, the Queen of Glasgow is a frightened ship, and she carries with her a premonition of death.

We zoom to a man, I assume is our main character for this evening (Rod and his suit notwithstanding). A crew member comes to our man, and let’s him know the salon is going in a blackout. And would he like to wait there? He agrees and goes with the other passengers, picking up a little girl’s doll as he does. Another man asks if he is Lanser? Yes, he is and apparently the other passengers wondered where he was at dinner. He is invited to the table and is introduced to everyone. Lanser is pretty wooden the whole time and is asked if he’s traveling to or from home? Seemingly confused, he says away from home. 

Honestly, the other passengers seem a little weird. I’ve been on a cruise, I get you try to get to know the people at your dinner table. I’m still friends on Facebook with people I met on an Alaskan cruise! But this guy that invited Lanser to dinner said he was trying to figure out what he looked like based on his name…..’scuse me? 

In WWII fashion, the lights go out every time the door opens. The captain enters, and says due to fog he is taking his dinner on the brig and it is revealed to us that they have fallen apart from their convoy. They begin to discuss different methods of submarine attack and Lanser has a TON of knowledge on this. The captain notices and asks if he’s a commander. Lanser drops his cup (smooth) and gets very edgy. Trying to smooth things over, the captain asks questions to the other members of the group. Our weird guy reveals he works for the US government and is looking forward to getting home. When asked, Lanser says he was raised in Germany, as if almost remembering it himself. The one woman in the group asks how long he was in England? He replies not very long at all. Again, as if realizing it himself and excuses himself to his cabin. 

Later, as Lanser is chilling on the stairs he stops the woman on the way to her room alone and asks if they’ve met before.

PSA: DON’T DO THAT!! It’s creepy and if it’s me you’re talking to you might get pepper sprayed. Dark stairwell, alone, acting weird all night and now asking weird questions? Someone is going to get hurt and it’s not me. 

Anyway...he says she looks familiar (seriously? Oldest line in the book). She OBVIOUSLY asks if he’s ok and he basically says he has really bad deja vu. She OBVIOUSLY asks if he’s ok and he basically says he has really bad deja vu. She OBVIOUSLY asks if he’s ok and he basically says he has really bad deja vu.

Ok that joke was for me, but I’m assuming you smiled anyway.

He doesn’t recall getting on the ship, or anything else. He says he woke up on the deck, knowing who he was but knowing nothing else. “I was born in Frankfurt Germany and I was in…” then he can’t remember. She suggests he go to sleep, and he says that won’t help. He feels like he’s in a nightmare. That there’s disaster out there and they are being stalked. There’s a U-Boat out there. He KNOWS it. Then a crew member appears and calls him to the bridge. 

On the bridge, the captain asks him questions. First, for his passport as his passport number wasn’t on the register. They question if he's ok and is there anything he wants to tell them? He slightly loses it and says he can’t remember anything before he got on the boat and only knows his name and where he was born. 

The captain brings up his knowledge of German submarines, and maybe that could help? He says no, they agree to talk tomorrow, and bid each other goodnight.

After he leaves, the captain says he’s odd and wants him watched. 

The crew member helps him in his room while not so subtly snooping, and finds a war uniform. When Lanser looks inside the hat, he realizes he was an officer on… let’s say the wrong side of the war, for now. Actually, let’s not. He’s a nazi (I refuse to capitalize it). 

Lanser goes to the bar to get drunk, even the bartender tells him he should go to bed. Lanser mentions the engines sound labored to the bartender, and bartender says they always sound that way. 

“1:15, something is going to happen at 1:15” says Lanser, looking at the clock that reads 12:05AM. Not knowing why, just that 1:15 is stuck in his head. Then the engines stop and he freaks out, saying they are now defenseless and they will drift until 1:15. 

Still at the bar, time passes and he drinks more until it’s 1:15. “We must abandon ship. The U-boat is coming!” and stumbles out of the bar. 

On the deck of the ship, he screams “IT’S HERE! THE U-BOAT IS HERE!” When he sees a light on the water. He runs through the boat alerting everyone…

But they are all standing in the back of a hallway, huddled together. He moves closer and sees that they aren’t there.

Running back up to the deck, he hides behind a life saver with “S.S. Queen of Glasgow” while calling for everyone by name. Nobody responds, he is inexplicably alone. 

Looking through binoculars, he sees the U-boat, ready to attack. And watches them fire on the ship he is standing on.

He watches as the passengers he was with try to escape their rooms that are burning from the inside, try to escape on lifeboats, and walk through smoke filled hallways. Everyone seems to suffer a terrible fate. 

In the ocean, we see the doll he picked up earlier. The U-boat goes back under, and the life saver he was hiding behind earlier floats out to sea.

We pan over to Lanser, in a leather jacket, very dry and at a desk. Another man walks into the room and he asks “Good catch tonight! Queen of Glasgow 500, isn’t that what the registry said?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Oh, you have nerves Mueller?”

He demands why, and the man replies “There were people on that ship sir, women too. Sir, we gave them no warning.”

Lanser brushes him off and says if they gave a warning they would give their position away. The man says he has a hard time reconciling the killing of men and women without any warning, and it makes him wonder if they are not damned. 

“In the eyes of the British Admiralty, we certainly are.” laughs Lanser. 

“No sir, in the eyes of God.”

Lanser calls him a fool. So what if they are damned?

The man says he’s had dreams about it, what if there is a special kind of hell for people like them? Perhaps to be damned is to have a fate like the people on that ship. To suffer and die as they died. To ride that ship every night for eternity, they could die only once but they could die one hundred million times.

Lanser laughs him off. Then the camera zooms into his unlaughing face.

Rod comes in with our closing commentary: The S.S. Queen of Glasgow, heading for New York, and the time is 1942. For one man it is always 1942—and this man will ride the ghost ship every night for eternity. This is what is meant by paying the fiddler. This is the comeuppance awaiting every man when the ledger of his life is opened and examined, the tally made, and then the reward or the penalty paid. And in the case of Carl Lanser, former Kapitan Lieutenant, Navy of the Third Reich, this is the penalty. This is the justice meted out. This is judgment night in the Twilight Zone.

Closing thoughts: I think this is the punishment Nazis deserve. I make no apologies for it. I know that it is not my decision who is punished for their sins or in what way...but this seems pretty fair to me. I’d even be fine with a worse punishment

In watching this, I noticed Rod wrote this one as well as he did a lot of the cutting edge episodes. The original air date for this was December 4, 1959. Sixty-one years ago. Rod would be disappointed in the lack of advancement that has been made, and quite honestly I am too. Why is the issue of racism and genocide still just as relevant as it was over half a century ago? 

We need to do better, all of us. That includes me. 

Let’s not make this episode still as relevant in the next half century. Let it be a reminder of how awful we let humanity become, so that we don’t let it happen again. 

Season 1, Episode 9: Perchance to Dream

We meet a man, “in an ordinary city” named Edward Hall. Time is of life and death to him apparently. He looks exhausted, and the camera zooms on the endless line of people walking through a revolving door. He walks into an office that had been expecting him. The secretary sends him in to the psychiatrist’s office, and Mr. Hall explains he’s “just tired” when he collapses against the desk. 

He lays down on the couch, and falls asleep, only to jump up. We find he’s been awake for 87 hours. It’s not that he can’t sleep, its that he won’t, because if he sleeps he thinks he’ll never wake up. 

The doctor gives him a cigarette (this part has aged hilariously). Mr. Hall walks around “to stay awake” while telling the doctor he can’t help him and that he only agreed to see him because his friend recommended the doctor to him. He goes to leave the office, and the doctor persuades him to stay “Do you think running away will help your problem?” 

He asks the doctor to promise not to put him in a straight jacket…. Which he doesn’t promise. Hall asks to open the window and comments on the “long drop” as they are high up. This disconcerts the doctor, and he offers to turn the a/c on instead. Hall asks if the doctor though he would jump, because he wouldn’t. His problem is he wants to stay alive. 

Hall starts talking about his problem, asking if the doctor has ever seen a picture of a sailboat in his office move? Of course not, but Hall insists he can make it move. He had a similar picture in his childhood home and his mother told him he could make it move if he looked hard enough and eventually… he did. Then he couldn’t stop it. 

When he turned 15 he developed a heart problem to the point the doctor’s advised he shouldn’t suffer any shocks or his heart might stop. Then, he started getting paranoid and imagining people in the backseat of his car after reading about a woman murdered that way. He imagined this to the point he crashed his car, and though he survived the shock the doctor said he couldn’t survive another one. And that the woman he saw in the rear view mirror would be in his dream and be the last shock.

He used to dream in serials or episodes as a kid, and would write it down to keep track of them. He didn’t dream for years, and then it started back up again recently. He fell asleep and dreamed he was at an amusement park, but a terrifying one. Everything was slightly distorted but disturbingly real. He walks to a sideshow, and they are showing “Maya the Cat Girl”. Basically, a modest stripper in leopard print. Carole Baskin in her younger days maybe? 

Her dancing scares him and he runs off, as she cackles at him. He knew he had to get away from her because of something in her eyes. He meets up with her again in the dream, and she asks why he ran away and starts to flirt with him. ...If this is Carole Baskin she’s totally going to kill him. I’m calling it. 

She asks him to come with her, and when he refuses she says he’s afraid. She knows she’s in his dream, none of this is real, and asks him to come with her again. She urges him to take her to the fun house, and he obliges “How can I argue with a dream?”

There are wax figures (TERRIFYING!!) and maniacal laughing. So basically, my nightmare. There’s even a clown. Halfway through she says “We’ve been expecting you Mr. Hall” and asks him to kiss her. He goes as a fake gorilla goes by and a shriek echoes through the tent. He ran to get out, and “next thing I knew she was trying to kill me!” 

Back in the office, he tells the doctor he has no idea who she actually is but knows she wants to kill him. The next night, the dream was worse in the same place but he was running. Maya (Carole) catches up with him and tells him since it’s all a dream, he can do everything he can’t do awake. She takes him on a roller coaster, and he willingly goes knowing what it might mean because he “had to follow her.” On the roller coaster, he begs to stop it and she tells him it’s too late. She tells him to jump from the roller coaster, then he wakes up. He knows if he goes back to sleep he’ll go back to where he was on the roller coaster. 

He leaves the office telling the doctor that he can’t help him. Then, on the way out the secretary is Maya (Carole). The doctor tells him Maya is not her name and…

MR. HALL DIVES OUT THE WINDOW!!!!

Cut scene to the doctor at his desk, and calls “Maya” (Ms. Thomas) the receptionist to his office. Mr. Hall had been asleep on the couch. He has Ms. Thomas look at him to confirm he is dead. He came into the office, fell asleep, gave out a scream and died from a heart attack.

“I guess there are worse ways to go. At least he died peacefully” the doctor remarks.

Rod comes in with a closing commentary: They say a dream takes only a second or so and yet in that second a man can live a lifetime, He can suffer and die, and which is to say is the greater reality? The one we know or the one in dream? Between heaven, the sky, the earth, and the Twilight Zone.

Closing thoughts: I remember seeing this one a few years ago for the first time. The theme park/fun house scenes are truly stuff of nightmares. Just real enough and off enough to be off putting. The scene of the doctor sitting calmly in his chair after his patient just jumped out the window is one of the most jarring things in this episode to be honest though. Not my favorite, but definitely still a darn good one!

Season 1, Episode 8: Time Enough at Last

After about a 4 month hiatus... we're back! And not with just any  episode, but probably one of the most famous Twilight Zone episodes ever. I mean, it was even referenced on The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (if you haven't watched that yet, you definitely should). I saw this particular episode for the first time about five years ago, I'm not sure how I hadn't seen it or even more impressively, that I didn't know the ending yet! I'm going with a stream of conscious on this one because it's been awhile since I've seen it. 

We open in a bank, and zoom to teller Henry Bemis. An older gentlemen with the thickest glasses I’ve ever seen. Being an ex-teller myself, I’m already having flashbacks. He is reading a book while counting cash to a client. He tries to strike up a conversation about David Copperfield (the book, not the handsome magician) with the client. She points out he shorted her by a dollar. He tries to carry on the conversation anyway... and ends up talking to himself. Then gets caught reading by his boss. Ruh-roh.

Dude tries to talk to his boss about the book!!! The balls on this guy!! 

His boss pulls him into his office, and rips him a new one for not being a good employee and calls him “a reader” like it’s a curse word. 

Again, I’m having flashbacks to elementary school where I got in trouble for reading in class. 

He tries to explain to his boss that his wife doesn’t let him read either (wtf). SHE HIDES THE MAGAZINES. Seriously this poor guy. *glances at bookshelf across the room*

THE BOSS CALLS HER A BRIGHT WOMAN!!

How can someone be bright IF THEY DO NOT READ??? 

Henry tries to read the newspaper on the way out the door. 

Cut scene to Henry at home reading his newspaper. His wife comes in and rips the newspaper out of his hands. She seems like a severe woman... I don’t like her. Very overbearing and just mean. If I met her somewhere I would probably dislike her immediately. She tells him they’re going to play cards and leaves the room.

Henry then PULLS A BOOK OUT OF HIS CHAIR. What a baller. Love this dude. 

Dammit, he goes to the other room and the wife finds the book in his jacket. It’s a book a poetry and she asks him to read it aloud to her. He gets SO excited, and it is adorable. He goes to open the book and....

SHE SCRATCHED OUT THE WHOLE BOOK!!

I yelled a few expletives at this point. Mainly questioning her type of employment and whether or not it may be on a street corner. 

First off, don’t injure the book, it didn’t do anything to you. Second of all, she has a husband who got SO excited at the prospect of reading poetry to her and then she just completely stomped on it. What. A. Jerk. (I used a different word while yelling at the tv). 

HE ASKED WHO DID IT?? THEN SHE TEARS UP THE BOOK!!!

**Is anyone else having flashes of Matilda? No? Just me?**

She said she married a fool, leaves, and he very sadly collects his ruined pages. 

Cut scene to him at work, grabbing his lunch and book to head down to the basement vault to read. Away from people. He opens the newspaper which reads “HBOMB CAPABLE OF TOTAL DESTRUCTION”. Then his pocket watch shatters and  there is a loud boom and the room shakes.

He walks out to total and complete destruction. Nobody else in sight, buildings collapsed, everything broken. He hears a voice, and goes to investigate. 

At this point I thought to ask “Where are the bodies???” All we see is a hand holding a recorder - the source of the voice. 

I asked a friend of mine about the lack of bodies, and apparently it was highly speculated that all bodies would be vaporized and also the censors at the time wouldn’t allow it. Which makes sense to me, after all Psycho was the first film to show a flushing toilet and apparently THAT was a big deal. Anyway... 

Henry hightails it out of there, and make it outside. A total wasteland. 

Rod comes in with commentary, "Seconds, minutes, hours. They crawl by on hands and knees for Mr. Henry Bemis. who looks for a spark in the ashes of a dead world. A telephone connected to nothingness. A neighborhood bar, movie, a baseball diamond, a hardware store, the mailbox of what was once his house is now a rubble. They lie at his feet as battered monuments to what was once but is no more. Mr. Henry Bemis on an eight hour tour of a graveyard. "

Henry calls out for Helen, and realizes everyone is dead. Except him, because he was in the vault. He isn’t sure he wants to be alive at this point. He finds food, and is not concerned about it for “years and years and years. All the food I could eat and more too.” 

He lights up a cigarette, takes off his glasses and lays down on a couch. He wonders aloud that the worst part will be that he is alone. The boredom of being alone and doing the same thing over and over - eating, reading the same newspaper and smoking a cigarette. 

He wakes up, unable to see without his glasses on, retrieves them and looks around his surroundings. He runs to a car, honks the horn, and attempts to start it. To no avail, of course. He calls for someone, anyone. Again, to no avail. 

“I’ve never had much solitude...” he says aloud, then calls for help. He runs through the rubble of the town calling for help eventually knocking over a case and breaking it where he finds a revolver. 

“If it weren’t just for the loneliness, for the sameness. If there were something to do. I’m sure I’ll be forgiven for this” as he holds the gun to his head.

THEN HE SEES THE SIGN FOR THE PUBLIC LIBRARY ACROSS THE WAY FROM HIM AND RUNS UP THE STEPS!!

And there, as all of us do, he finds treasure in the library. 

“All the books I could want!” The sheer JOY in his voice!!

He makes stacks of them, counting them by months, and years to read them. SO happy about this, and sits down on the steps to read his first batch of books. Surrounded by stories.

But oh my friends, this is not a happy ending. 

“The very best thing of all is there’s time now. There’s all the time I need and want. Time enough at last.”

He sees a book on the step below him and reaches down to get it.

And his glasses drop.

And break.

The camera shows us what he sees - nothing but out of focus blobs. He picks them up and the glass falls completely out.

“There was time now. It’s not fair. It’s not fair.”

Rod comes in with our closing commentary. "The best laid plans of mice and men and Henry Bemis. The small man in the glasses who wanted nothing but time. Henry Bemis now just a part of a smashed landscape, just a piece of the rubble, a fragment of what man needed to himself. Mr. Henry Bemis in the Twilight Zone."

Closing thoughts: Honestly, I knew this episode was coming up and I did not have it in me to do a write up of it during the worst of quarantine. I mentioned in another post that post-apocalyptic stuff really gets me in a bad way. Add in an outcast that loves books, and all he wants is time to read them and you’ve got all my emotional buttons. This episode is a classic for a good reason, it’s heartbreaking in the simplest of ways. Having something within your grasp only to have a small thing happen to completely prevent it? We’ve all been there.

Also my friends, if you’re having a hard time during this SIP, quarantine, whatever you want to call it, or even in general! Please reach out to someone who cares about you. The world is better and more interesting with you in it. 

National Suicide Prevention Line 1-800-273-8255

Season 1, Episode 7: The Lonely

Hello my lovely Tifflighters! I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy in these...Twilight Zone-esque times we find ourselves in. I did this one a bit differently than my other posts, I'm writing a synopsis after watching the episode instead of a stream of conscious while watching. Let me know which you like better! 

Ok, I wish I were kidding when I said this one was very heavily based on isolation. Rod would have loved the coincidence in that.

We meet a man, Corey, that has been sentenced for murder and is serving out his sentence on an asteroid where he is the only inhabitant. His only visitors are the flight crew of the rocket that bring him supplies every 3 months, his favorite being Allenby as he treats Corey like a person and will bring him extra things. Previously, he brought Corey car parts to rebuild an old car just to pass the time. Corey maintains the murder was in self defense, and Allenby believes him. It seems he is also trying to get him a pardon.

Allenby arrives and says they only have 15 minutes until their window is closed to depart back to Earth, if they miss it they have to stay another 15 days. Honestly, I thought he was going to kidnap them for 20 minutes just to have company - I was wrong. That would be too obvious for Rod. Allenby sends the other 2 crew members back to the rocket to get the last box for Corey, a large box. As they go, he asks Corey not to open it until they're out of sight as the others don't know what's in it and that when he opens it the instructions will be clear.

As he's getting on the ship, another crew member asks Allenby "Say, what's in the box?" Allenby replies, "To be honest, I'm not sure. Maybe nothing, maybe salvation." He makes another comment hinting it may just all be in Corey's mind.

As soon as they are gone, Corey opens the box and find it to contain a robot woman that according to the instructions is "In every way a human woman." Her name is Alicia.

Side note: Robots were such a novel idea then that "ro-BOT" is pronounced "ro-BIT". It throws me everytime they say it. 

Contrary to my original assumption (I'm two for two here), he is NOT thrilled. The days pass and he continues questioning her "Can you feel X? How would you know that, you're not human!" and so on until he grabs her arm. At which point she tells him he hurt her.

That sets him off and he yells at her telling her she isn't real, etc. Basically, being a jerk. She turns to look at him and... she's crying. "I can feel loneliness too."

Excuse me while I grab tissues.

This is a turning point in their relationship and over the next few years, they fall in love.

*awwww*

One day, Allenby comes back and is SPRINTING towards Corey's house. Corey greets them as Allenby excitedly tells him... he got pardoned!! He's taking all the prisoners that were on the surrounding asteroids back to Earth and he's the last stop! He has 20 minutes to get 15lbs maximum of his things together and get on the ship.

Corey, obviously thrilled says he doesn't even have 15lbs of stuff. He'll just get Alicia and they can go!

*record scratch*

Allenby, "Oh dear God I forgot about her."

He tells Corey she can't come. They have stripped the ship to bare minimum already and that is the only room they have - him and an extra 15lbs.

Corey, of course, loses it. He is screaming for Alicia telling them "She's a woman! You don't understand!" She comes out and he begs her to show them she's real. She just looks at him questiongly, repeating his name.

Allenby says they don't have time for this, and he's only doing this for Corey's on good. Then he... SHOOTS ALICIA.

Yup. Literally shoots her face off. We hear her saying Corey's name as it warps into a robot voice that is running low on batteries. The camera pans up and we see her... but he face is all sparks and wires.

(Again epic effects for this time)

Corey is shaken and slowly goes towards the ship as Rod closes.

"On a microscopic piece of sand that floats through space is a fragment of a man's life. Left to rust is the place he lived in and the machines he used. Without use, they will disintegrate from the wind and the sand and the years that act upon them. All of Mr. Corey's machines, including the one made in his image, kept alive by love by now obsolete - in the Twilight Zone."

Closing thoughts: I won't spend a lot of time on the relevancy of being isolated, but I'm definitely going to point it out. Also, quick PSA: If you aren't isolating yourself and think you can do whatever you want because "I feel fine." I personally want to send you on an asteroid like Corey. I don't care how YOU feel I care about the people that can't fight off this stuff and the fact you are probably carrying it. I'm one of the high risk people so stay the hell inside or I promise I will haunt you.

Moving on...

I thought this was a depressing episode at first. Man finds love in a hopeless place (cue the song), then has to choose between her and the one thing he's wanted more than anything. Only to have her literally killed in front of him. Super depressing right?

But then, I thought a little more about it and it got creepy. Remember at the beginning when Allenby hinted that Alicia may be more in Corey's imagination than real? And up until she met the crew, Alicia was very talkative. It was very out of character for her to not speak other than one word, and especially with so much at stake. Also, Allenby is a kind man - bringing Corey extra things, helping to get him pardoned, and so on. He wouldn't just outright kill someone.

What if Alicia was no more than a talking doll that was programmed to walk, and say basic phrases? Corey is a smart guy, he rebuilt a car on an asteroid, it wouldn't take much to program her to say things like his name would it?

What if Alicia was no more human than the car Corey rebuilt and Allenby knew he was on the edge of losing his mind, so he gave him something to project companionship on to?

I'm thinking that's the more likely case. But as with most things, we'll never know the true answer - in the Twilight Zone.

Season 1, Episode 6: Escape Clause

Hi Tifflighters! Today is a special day - it's by birthday! The 1st anniversary of my 29th birthday to be exact. I'm forcing my family to watch an episode (or more than one...) with me today. Birthday rules and all. I hope everyone is staying safe!

Well, right off the bat, "You're about to meet a hypochondriac." I have a feeling this is going to be *very* relevant. We meet Walter, who is afraid of everything (telephone, other people, dirt, drafts and everything else to be precise). Based on Rod's monologue it sounds like Walter is a narcissist too as his only concern is himself and he wonders how society would survive without him.

I hate him already. But I've said that before an changed my mind. I don't think I will this time.

A doctor is taking his vitals and tells him literally, everything is fine. Walter is having back pain and can't sleep, he's told this is psychosomatic. There is nothing wrong with him. Walter calls the doctor an idiot, and he blames his wife for his issues.

Yeah, hate him. He calls her names as well as the doctor a quack and says "She can't wait to see me gone." Neither can I, Walter.

The doctor tells Walter's wife to take a few vitamins because she looks rundown herself. Well, anyone would married to Walter.

Walter is back to complaining that there is a draft and does she know how many germs are in a cubic foot of air? That she wants him to die because she leaves the window open. I mean...

Walter is such a whiny manchild. He's mad that the doctor gave his wife vitamins and not him. That they are colluding together.

He wants to know why a man has to die, why is a man's life so short? He's basically convinced he's going to die today.

Questioning why can't a man live 200, 500 years to the air around him, he gets an answer "Why not 1,000?" And in appears... a man.

No like he fades in. First of all, cool. But look at the time period this was shot!! 1959, that's not digital folks!

Walter still hasn't realized there's a guy randomly in the room. In true self-absorbed style. (I may pull a muscle at all the eye rolling I'm doing in this episode.) A few minutes later, he notices the guy as he introduces himself as Mr. Cadwallader, at least that's his name this month.

Mr. Cadwallader cuts to the chase - they each have something the other wants and he's making a proposition. He knows Walter wants a long lifespan, and what he wants from Walter is small, tiny, itty bitty.

His soul.

Saw it coming. Walter, ever the genius, figures out he is the devil immediately.

The devil admits yes, he is. But he can give him immortality and indestructibility. He tells Walter he won't even miss his soul, and after being asked if there are hidden clauses he tells Walter no there aren't. That he will also look the same. Because of course Walter asks about his looks.

Devil agrees to throw in barely aging, and that Walter won't regret this until his dying day - which won't be for several thousand years.

But there is one thing.  And he produces a contract - Article 93. It's an escape clause. If he gets tired of living, he can exercise the clause by calling upon him and he will have an uncomplicated departure. Walter assures him he won't need it.

The devil produces a pen (pretty sure it was sleight of hand). The devil signs the contract with a smoking brand and vanishes after saying it's awfully hot.

Walter tests out his new skills by touching the flaming hot radiator. No pain, no blisters, nothing. He throws open the window, and his wife is shocked to see him leaning out the window.

Basically, Walter starts doing stupid shit like jumping in front of trains, busses, etc and collecting settlement money from each. He's no longer getting excitement from any of it and is unhappy.

Yeah, I'm not ever going to like this guy.

The only excitement he got out of life was constantly thinking he was dying. So he decided to mix up some different household poisons, including ammonia and drink it. Much to his wife's horror.

Nothing.

His wife JUST NOW thinks to act about what's going on. He tells her, and she doesn't believe him of course. And then he blames her for not having enough excitement in his life. So he decides to jump off the roof. Like an sane person.

"Walter come back to the apartment. I'll make you a potato pancake. You love potato pancakes."
"Ethel, you're a potato pancake."

I'm using this as an insult now!

Ethel falls off the roof instead and... well. You know. Pancake.

He calmly calls 911 while smoking a cigarette, and says he KILLED HIS WIFE. So he can try the electric chair.

I hope he gets life in prison.

His lawyer interviews him and says he thinks Walter WANTS to go to jail. Well... yeah.

Walter is sentenced to life in prison, no parole.

YES!! *happy dance*

The devil shows back up, quoting thousands of years in his life. Then he fades back in, but we can see right through him. Awesome effects.

Walter is enacting his escape clause, and he has a heart attack.

Closing thoughts: 

I never liked Walter, and I think he got off too easily. I do love the realization that living forever (or almost) would get boring. Being indestructible takes the thrill out of things. My friends, we are not indestructible so live each day to it's fullest. Even inside.  

Season 1, Episode 5: Walking Distance

Ok, let's be real here - the world is so crazy right now with the coronavirus that I could have just posted a blog about that and it would have been believable.  As a side note, why is nobody actually saying the name? I swear it's like saying "Voldemort", people are using "the current situation" and "everything going on" with some weird side eye to address it. Anyway, I may do a blog out of sequence later this week about one episode I think would be pretty relevant at this time. We'll see how stir crazy I get first though!

I'm trying to think of a name for all of the followers here... if you have any ideas let me know! Until then, I'll be trying out different (probably awful) names. With that in mind...

Hello Zoners!

Well we open to a jerk driving his car into a gas station and being a jerk, jerkily - Martin Sloan, 32. He's a media guy. *eye roll*

According to Rod, Martin is looking for sanity, but will find something else.

Apparently he used to live in the town up the road and hadn't been to it in over 20 years. He's heading out of NYC now, because he couldn't handle it.

"That's walking distance isn't it?" (Referring to his hometown) and he starts walking as his care is being worked on.

He find himself in a general store (oddly looking like the one from the first episode) and asks for a 3 scoop chocolate soda. It was from his childhood, and apparently still exists there but not here. Everything looks the same to him.

The soda jerk gives him a 3 scoop chocolate soda for a dime. "A dime? You'll lose your shirt that way!"

Guys... something happened. I dunno what but I'm feeling time travel.

"I expect Mr. Wilson to be in the stockroom sleeping like he used to before he died."

He hands over a dollar and the soda jerk is shocked. It's a whole dollar!!

Martin leaves, and the soda jerk goes to the stockroom. Where he wakes up Mr. Wilson so he can order more chocolate syrup.

First of all, I CALLED IT. Second of all. I appreciate an ice cream place that knows the value of chocolate syrup.

Martin walks down the street, and runs into...  OPIE!!

Ok, Ron Howard as a kid, but you get my drift. He's playing marbles.

Martin starts talking to the kid about marbles, difference games, and the house he used to live in.

"The Sloan House?" asks the kid. "You still call it that?" replies Martin and introduces himself as the kids.

Opie doesn't believe him because "I know Marty Sloan and you're not him!"

Martin goes through the park, and helps a kid down from a tree, where his mom is yelling at him to get down from it. Martin starts talking to the mom, and reminisces about his childhood.

"I carved my name on that post. Grew up on that merry go round."

Then he sees a kid carving his name on the same post.

WHAAAAAAT

Yup, it's him. Doesn't that break a LOT of time travel rules?

Obviously, younger Marty runs off. Crazy man is talking to him that says he's Martin Sloan, and "that's what I looked like!"

He goes to his old house, and is greeted by his dad and mom. They ask who he is.

That's got to screw someone up. "Don't you know me?"

I'm amazed he hasn't realized something is going on.

He walks away and the guy across the street starts talking to him about his brand new car. Martin is shocked it's new, because it's a 1934 Roadster.

I think he's coming to grips with his situation here.

"Martin Sloan is back in time and his resolve is to put in a claim to the past." Rod, of course with his beautiful turn of phrase.

He goes back to his house, and his dad asks him "Back again, huh?" He starts revealing who he is via memories and his dad asks who he is and what does he want. His doesn't want him hanging around, and doesn't want trouble, but if he keeps hanging around there will be.

He starts revealing to his mom who he is via memories too. Obviously, neither believe him and are spooked. They go back inside, and Martin hears the carousel. He starts walking towards it, then running.

**Fun side note: The carousel they used for filming was from Binghamton, NY. The birthplace of one Mr. Rod Serling. The same carousel he rode on as a kid.**

Martin finds himself as a kid, and jumps on to the carousel to... well I'm not sure.

A Martin/Marty chase ensure on the carousel. Marty the kid falls off, and his leg gets trapped underneath it. The adult Martin feels it too.

"I only wanted to tell you this is a wonderful time of life. I want you to enjoy it."

The lighting goes dark except for a spotlight on adult Martin. I'm starting to think the kid died??

Adult Martin soberly tells the empty marry go round how much he wanted Marty to enjoy his time here.

His dad shows up - kid is fine!! He'll have a limp though. He found Martin's wallet too, and sees his license. I think he believes him now.

"I know who you are. I know you've come from a long way and a long time from here." Both admit that neither understand how he got there.

His dad asks if he knows things that happen, he says yes, and his dad tells him he has to leave.

"We only get one chance. That little boy here, this is his summer just once. Don't make him share it."

His dad asks if it's so bad where he's from?

No, it's not. He needed to get away, to breathe. To relive it again.

"Maybe when you go back you'll find there are merry go rounds and band concerts where you are. You've been looking behind Martin, try looking ahead."

"Goodbye, son."
"Goodbye, Pop."

He hops back on the merry go round as it starts spinning by itself again.

Back into the store he goes, with a group dancing. He goes to the counter and asks for a 3 scoop soda. The soda jerk says it'll be extra, 35 cents. And what flavor did he want?

Martin asks about Mr. Wilson, apparently he died 10 years ago.

Martin said he changed his mind on it and these chairs weren't made for bum legs. He reveals he hurt it falling off a merry go round. The soda jerk says they tore that down years ago.

He gets into his car and drives off.

Martin Sloan, age thirty-six, vice-president in charge of media. Successful in most things but not in the one effort that all men try at some time in their lives—trying to go home again. And also like all men, perhaps there'll be an occasion, maybe a summer night sometime, when he'll look up from what he's doing and listen to the distant music of a calliope, and hear the voices and the laughter of the people and the places of his past. And perhaps across his mind there'll flit a little errant wish, that a man might not have to become old, never outgrow the parks and the merry-go-rounds of his youth. And he'll smile then too, because he'll know it is just an errant wish, some wisp of memory not too important really, some laughing ghosts that cross a man's mind, that are a part of the Twilight Zone.

Closing thoughts:

Well, I liked this one as I do most of them. I think we can all learn a lot about not living in the past. I know fair amount of people - friend included - that seems to live there. Every story told is decades ago, and their life seems on hold from then. Anything said to them has some relation to something in the past as well.

Live for the now, and for potential of the future my friends.

Season 1 Episode 4: The Sixteen Millimeter Shrine

Well friends due to a large amount of travel, I took a short hiatus. But we're back!!


We open with a forgotten movie star, watching herself in a bygone movie via projector. Based on what her maid says to her friend, Miss Trenton has spent too much time alone in that projector room and it's getting worse.

Very Ms. Havisham in my opinion. Though I appreciate a woman that does full hair, makeup, and wears a fabulous dress to watch herself on the big screen.

Her friend, Danny, tells her what she's doing is sick and he's made an appointment for her at an agency. She gets excited and talks about the romantic, leading lady roles she could have. Danny reminds her that was 20 years ago and she's gotten older. RUDE.

Side note: I'm personally loving her entire wardrobe.

The part offered to her isn't a big part, but is a good showcase. Barbara Trenton is not pleased, especially when asked to raise her vail and is told she will be playing a 40 year old mother. "As opposed to what? A corpse??" That's my girl, she's gorgeous and these guys are rude af. She's got sass and I'm loving it.

Then the agency jerk rips Barbara a new one, telling her she doesn't even need an agent and is a had-been. Danny tells him off right back, starting to like him a little more now.

Danny goes after Barabara and she tells him "He and that studio don't exist." and she will be locking herself back up. If she wishes hard enough she can wish it all away.

"These are the 1930's again, with all the charm and romance... that was a carefree world and I'm going to make it that way again."

I'm only slightly concerned with the amount of solidarity I feel with Barbara (Barbie to Danny).

She wants to throw a party, invite her old friends. Danny reminds her they've all moved away, fell out of touch, or are dead.

I don't like him again.

Barbie dramatically locks him out. Atta girl.

Back to the movie room we go, watching another one of her movies in Paris (swoon). Danny comes by and the maid says she doesn't even see Barbara anymore. The few times she's gone into the movie room, she swears she sees Barbara on the screen. Danny says he brought an old friend of Barbara's to see her, someone she starred with in one of her movies.

My girl let herself go a little bit. I feel you Barbie, we all go through it.

She runs upstairs to get ready and "put on my face". Girl comes back looking gorgeous!!!

Annnnnd the guy isn't hot anymore. "Isn't it odd how we picture people as they were not as they really are?" Even admits she thought they would do a movie together again. He says he now runs a string of supermarkets outside of Chicago.

She starts unravelling when he doesn't look like he did 20 years ago, in costume. Turning her back to them, this is heartbreaking. She locks herself back in the movie room, and starts the movie up again. "There you are. I wish I could be up there with you... oh how I wish."

Oooh fuzzy screen and Twilight Zone-y music!!

The maid opens the door after not receiving an answer. Barbie is GONE!!

She gaps, and screams, drops everything.

Danny comes back in, goes into the fully lit movie room. "Who shut it off?" The maid did, and says she shut it off and called him. She checked every room in the house, but she's not here. "At least she's not here the way you and I are." Asks if he's going to "run it" (the movie). He says yes very seriously.

Oh my girl!!!

She's in the movie. Throwing the party she wanted to throw in her home, with her friends as they were.

Danny begs her to come back, and she looks through the screen at him. Then blows him a kiss and throws her handkerchief to him.

The movie ends.

Danny is deeply disturbed, as is the maid. And seemingly heartbroken.

I love how they don't question this at all. "Yup, she's in the movie now."

OH MY GOD

He found her handkerchief. In the actual foyer where she threw it in the movie.

"To wishes Barbie. To the wishes that come true."

Closing thoughts: I love wishes, I even do a piece on it in my show. I identified with Barbie more than I care to admit. She wanted so desperately to have things as she remembered them - not necessarily as they were. Badly enough that she got it. I've been told I have a slight bit of optimism around my memories, and don't always remember things are they truly were. I'm ok with that, and I think Barbie is/was too. Some might find this episode melancholy, I find it more like a fairytale.