The very name The Twilight Zone conjures up imagery of the great beyond and what happens when we leave our familiar plane of existence.
Some of the most touching episodes of Rod Serling’s television anthology series dealt with how we pass away, what may happen later and things nobody could have expected. Philosophers, religious leaders and intellectuals have pondered the question of our physical death. Through these episodes, our imagination is stimulated and our emotions touched.
Nothing In The Dark
One of the most poetic explorations on the fear of dying ever made for television.
A reclusive old woman (Wanda Dunn), hidden away in a basement apartment timidly exits upon hearing gunshots. She finds a young police officer (Robert Redford) severely wounded. Despite her fear, she drags him inside, but unless he gets medical attention, he’ll die. She tells him she’s hidden herself away from Death – death actually assumes human form, then preys on unsuspecting people to touch and kill them.
The two actors are top notch, with a young Robert Redford clearly showing here why he’d later attain superstar status as an American film icon and later a respected indepent film supporter by creating the Sundance Film Festival. When the end comes, it’s a gentle, uplifting moment, which stays with us long after fade out.
A Nice Place To Visit
A cheap crook is killed while committing a crime. The afterlife he lands in isn’t what he expects, when a portly man dressed entirely in white caters to the recently deceased’s every whim. Soon, the glamour, goodies and gifts wear thin and the crook gets bored.
The notions of heaven and hell are locked up not only into organized religions, but also in our own deepest desires and fears. Some of us hope we’ll be treated to a chorus of angels amidst a willowy landscape of clouds or be cast into a pit of flame to endure a tortuous eternity of pain. Whatever your viws on heaven and hell, this episode nicely explores the concept. It’s also incredibly funny throughout.
Long Distance Call
The deceased grandmother of a boy calls him on a toy telephone.
Explaining death to a child is not easy. Adults have trouble with the concept, so losing a loved one can shatter a child’s world. Here a boy can’t release his dead grandmother, because she keeps contacting him from the beyond. The episode plays like a cautionary tale about us having to finally let of our loved ones when they die. It’s not healthy to keep wishing they were in our lives. A lesson perhaps for all the people out there who seek out psychics claiming to a have a telephone like hotline to the deceased, like actor Billy Mumy in the episode.
Shadowplay
A death row inmate tries to convince all around him that they’re reliving the same days over and over.
It’s been theorized hell is repetition. Repeating events over and over- with no end in sight – sounds hellish. Actor Dennis Weaver does just that by reliving the last days of his life while awaiting execution on death row. What makes it engaging is each time events repeat, differences crop up. Like the title, the play’s cast changes so the prosecutor may take the role of the judge during the next round. Metaphor for reincarnation perhaps?
A master pool player (Jonathan Winters) returns from the dead to play against a young hot shot.
Before beloved sports writer slob Oscar Madison in the TV version of The Odd Couple, Jack Klugman gave us a sports obsessed pool player in this favorite. This is an amusing exercise in “be careful what you wish for”, with both actors playing off each other perfectly. Keeping with the spirit of the best episodes, the ending is unexpectedly powerful.
Mr. Garrity And The Graves
A traveling conman claims he can raise the dead of a small western town.
Residents of a small town look forward to bringing home their dead relatives through the ministrations of a slick salesman, then gradually regret their decision. Pre-dating classics like George Romero’s Dawn of the Dead or modern favorites like the Resident Evil films, this is an old school zombie party. Like the classic tale The Monkey’s Paw, this laugh fest plays with the notion of bringing souls back from the dead, but the outcome may not be satisfactory for all involved. Despite the light tone of the story, the last shot of recently revived dead shambling from a graveyard, remains delightfully spooky.
