I've been watching The Twilight Zone for as long as I’ve been watching television. But as I wrote here back in March, I’ve never owned the series or experienced all the episodes in order in their entirety. But as I wrote here back in March, I’ve never owned the series or experienced all the episodes in order in their entirety.
That’s what I’m doing now. And it’s been an interesting experience – especially in how I’ve been discovering quite a few episodes that I’ve never seen before.
After finishing the first season I wrote a piece here listing my three favorite episodes, and three I could have done without. I have now finished season two, so let’s do it again.
The Three Best
The Howling Man
A traveler seeks shelter in a remote European monastery. The monks are reluctant to let him in, and he soon discovers why: in one of its cells, they claim to be holding the Devil prisoner. His agonized howls echo through the stone walls at regular intervals. Curious, the visitor confronts the figure in the cell, who appears to be a normal man professing his innocence. Is he right? And will the traveler let him out?
This is one of the classic TZ episodes even casual fans recall, made more memorable by the gravitas brought to the role of Brother Jerome by the grandiose John Carradine.
Twenty-Two
The surreal world of dreams, and whether they have any impact on our reality, was a theme explored in more than one Twilight Zone episode. “Shadow Play,” also from this season, starred Dennis Weaver as a man trapped in the same recurring dream of being in prison awaiting execution. It’s good, but I found “Twenty-Two” to be even more unsettling.
The set-up is similar: a nightclub dancer is in a hospital seeking answers to why she keeps having the same terrifying dream. In it, she awakens from her hospital bed, takes an elevator down to the basement level, and walks down a darkened hallway until she reaches room 22 – the morgue. A severe-looking nurse swings the door open and says, “Room for one more, honey."
I really liked how this one ended as it suggests that some nightmares might be good for you. Arlene Martel, usually quite the exotic looker but not here, plays the nurse – it’s a small role but one not easily forgotten.
The Obsolete Man
In a Kafkaesque courtroom, sometime in humanity’s possible future, a man is judged to be obsolete by the all-powerful State. He is a librarian in a time when books have been banned, and he believes in God despite the State insisting there is no such entity. He is sentenced to die and is allowed to choose the method of his execution – and that’s where the condemned man sees an opportunity for reprisal.
Much of “The Obsolete Man” is a two-character piece, with Burgess Meredith as the humble librarian, and Fritz Weaver as the arrogant Chancellor, representing the State. I’m not sure if the climax owes more to Tennessee Williams or Night of the Living Dead – but either way it’s by far the most unsettling scene of the entire season.
The allusions of fascism are hardly subtle – at one point the Chancellor even says men like Hitler and Stalin had the right idea but didn’t go far enough. But that lack of subtlety is not a flaw, especially since the lesson in this episode is one that apparently needs to be taught to every generation, especially our current dumbed-down one that needs a reminder that fascism once meant something concrete, and was not merely a slur to hurl at people you don’t like.
For a more in-depth examination of this episode, I am happy to refer you to Mitchell Hadley’s analysis, from his forthcoming book Darkness in Primetime.
Which episodes almost made the list? Quite a few, starting with “Eye of the Beholder” with Donna Douglas, which may be the season’s most famous offering.
“The Invaders” with Agnes Moorehead was an ambitious experiment – telling the story of an alien invasion without any dialogue. I also liked “Nick of Time,” with William Shatner nearly throwing away a promising future after becoming obsessed with a fortune telling machine in a small-town diner.
Time travel stories were big this season, with people from the present being transported to the past (“Back There”) and people from the past being transported to the present (“A Hundred Yards Over the Rim”). My favorite was “The Odyssey of Flight 33,” through its ambiguous ending may frustrate some viewers.
The Three Worst
The Mind and the Matter
There’s a reason why “the comedy stylings of Rod Serling” is not a phrase in common parlance. The series’ lighter-side episodes rarely worked, and this is one of the worst. Comedian Shelley Berman plays a man fed up with his crowded city, who uses the power of his mind to make everyone disappear – and then he has conversations with himself about how he still feels miserable.
The Three Worst
The Mind and the Matter
There’s a reason why “the comedy stylings of Rod Serling” is not a phrase in common parlance. The series’ lighter-side episodes rarely worked, and this is one of the worst. Comedian Shelley Berman plays a man fed up with his crowded city, who uses the power of his mind to make everyone disappear – and then he has conversations with himself about how he still feels miserable.
A Thing About Machines
Bartlett Finchley (Richard Haydn) is a fussy luddite who hates machines, so much so that they start to hate him back. In one particularly ridiculous moment, he is chased around his home by his electric razor.
Mr. Dingle the Strong
Burgess Meredith starred in one of the season’s best episodes but also plays the title role in one of its most forgettable. Dingle is given super-strength by perhaps the most ridiculous aliens ever seen on the series, and then they take it away.
That’s pretty much it. Don Rickles is in it, which helps, but not enough.
While I begin exploring season 3, what were your favorite season 2 shows?
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