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Are the strange happenings in "Young Man's Fancy" all in Virgina's mind?

posted 7 years ago by AngularTurnip (3338)
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No one but Virginia seems to see how the house is slowly reverting back to way it looked when Alex lived in it as a boy. And the final confrontation Virginia has with Alex's mom, as well as her discovery it is Alex, not his overbearing mom, causing the house to change, might not be literal inasmuch as a dawning realization inside Virginia that her beau is nothing more than a momma's boy who will never change and that she could get out of there while the getting is good.

[–] Tristan_Booth (405) 7 years ago

First, the obvious (and annoying) question: If this was all psychological, how does the Twilight Zone fit in? (After all, it is a magical place.)

Also, after waiting for him for years, why would she not make this realization until right after they get married? Wasn't this aspect of his character fairly obvious for a long time? (Or was she living in the Denial Zone?)

[–] AngularTurnip (3338) 7 years ago

The mind is a magical place. As "TZ" reminds us it is a place "not only of sight and sound but of mind." The supernatural elements are there if that's how you want to interpret it. But, if psychological is more to your liking (and I, honestly, often prefer the latter), I think an episode like this allows that reading too. If the episode wanted us to look at the events depicted as based in the supernatural only there probably would have been a scene where Mr. Wilkinson makes a comment about the delicious fudge the house's slow reversion to the past has made possible. We never do though get a moment like that.

Denial Zone. Good one. I don't think her realization of who Alex really is happening so late in their relationship is unbelievable. I have known, and I'm sure you have too, people who have spent a lifetime lying to themselves; it's human nature after all.