The episode shows a nuclear fallout in 1970a were the survivors are desperately holding on with the hope of the old man in the cave. He was the last ounce of compassion.
At the end it was a computer and it's said the main character commited suicide. What do you take from it? I'll share, but interested in prospectives.
When you have completed what you thought you had to do
And your blood's depleted to the point of stable glue
Since the old man is artificial it stands to reason his people, the townsfolk, might be artificial. Maybe Goldsmith invented the old man who in turn invented all of the townsfolk. He then kept the old man from the townsfolk when they became self-aware because he didn't want them to question their own existence and spiral into some kind of revolt like they finally do in "Old Man"'s coda. Maybe one of the messages of the episode is that it's best if some things are left unanswered -- like the old man's identity. The old man kept them alive, at a subsidence level yes but nonetheless alive -- and demanding to know more about your savior, like Janey in "The Lateness of the Hour" demands to know more about her past, like why the photo albums have no pics of her as a little girl, will only lead to an existential crisis and your downfall. A pursuit of knowledge is commendable but so is counting one's blessing and I think with the townsfolk in "Old Man" they should have favored the latter.
shareI don't remember the suicide part. Maybe, if referenced, the word was intended metaphorically more than literally. With no old man in the cave he, Goldsmith, I believe, would soon he dead anyway. In witholding the true nature of the (so-called) old man he was keeping a crucial piece of the truth of the matter to himself, and the new guy in town called him on it. It was presented like a poker game, with Goldsmith (presumably) bluffing. But that assumes that he doesn't have a winning hand.
Fact is, he did. If he'd explained the complex way in which computers work, that the machine was perfectly programmed, much earlier, the townfolk might have bought it. After all, it had kept them alive for many years. To put it another way, the truth doesn't have to be fun to work, and as adults, the people of the town ought to have been able to understand as much. Millions have colonoscopies and biopsies every year to check for cancer, and things like this have been going on for some time, and yet most of us are willing to tolerate the pain and inconvenience for that desired "negative for cancer" result.
This is the problem with the episode: everything is set up in effect to ensure the outcome. This is apparent after the first viewing. The ep is almost biblical in this regard, and no explanation is made for why the people Goldsmith is looking after after so childish in their thinking and behavior as to yield to a charlatan like French. I understand that people in a post-apocalyptic world would feel depressed and put upon by a character as humorless and dictatorial as Goldsmith. Couldn't he have once loosened up? Or maybe told some of the better educated, more intelligent people of the town the truth, or enough of it to keep things steady?
It's a good, well written episode but one has to suspend one's disbelief when watching it, as it's simplistic in its message, assuming that the ending constitutes a message. Nor does it allow for much in the way of ambiguity as to the nature of the situation or the way human nature really works. It's more like a fable than a drama' modern in its setting the the central problem its characters face, old-fashioned as to the "set up", with its seemingly inevitable tragic outcome.
I know what you mean. It was blind faith that a man in the cave was looking after their best interests. Their circumstances didn't change, but they hoped he kept his sight on them and not once did anyone wanna confirm if he was really there or not.
Another aspect was how superficial the society seemed.
The other was how they need fables to keep hope alive, but they could've worked together showing compassion when it was desperately needed. They were at each others throats with the attitude, "This is mine.". Its almost like the obsolete man as he really didn't have a place in society where no one questioned the status quo and you either played the party lined out for you or suffer the consequences.
I think in the end, when the main character kills himself out of desperation that it shows hero worship can give aspiration, but giving it to worthier causes may be more fulfilling. The computer was built up as a white knight coming to save them and in the end was a phoney.
The society of that post-apocalypse village was awfully shallow, I agree. Goldsmith has more or less set himself up as the old man in the cave's ambassador to the people of the town and he refused to divulge any more information than that it was an old man who sent him the message. Not even what the old man ate, how old he was, what level of education he'd achieved or why he should trusted other than his seeming to have the right answers,--but couldn't that have come from a Farmer's Almanac?--there wasn't much for those poor people to go on.
As in so many Twilight Zone episodes it's one of the "sooner or late such and such will happen and the sheet will hit the fan". In this case it was, and not for the first time on the Zone, a man playing God who brings all the trouble on himself (and in this case others as well). Actually, I think the episode it too much of an anti-Goldsmith screed, so to speak, as he's the most fleshed out character, along with French. The latter makes sense, but then he doesn't apparently know much about computers. Had Goldsmith taken French aside earlier and explained the situation to him might things have worked out differently for all concerned?