MovieChat Forums > The Twilight Zone (1959) Discussion > What is your favorite episode?

What is your favorite episode?


Mine is "Two." About the only thing this lacks, that Twilight Zone was famous for, was a twist ending. But I think it was just a beautifully told story, and I think it's all the more impressive that it only features two actors, and one of them utters a single word of dialogue. The story is mostly told with visuals, and non-verbal acting from both performers, and I think it's brilliant. I also think it's a near-perfect commentary on human nature: how destructive and dangerous we are, but how capable of transcending that we can be. The characterizations, the actions, the motivations of both the man and the woman in the episode are pitch perfect, and the ending is hopeful, without being sappy, and without failing to acknowledge that the two protagonists are only in their situation because of tragic human failure, and the whole episode serves as a warning of how terrible it would be if we destroyed our civilization, but how we might just possibly manage to carry on as a species if we did.

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Too many favorite. I will have to think on this one...

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Mine are “The Hunt” and “The Trade-Ins”. They are both about love. I like to watch “Nothing in the Dark” because of the eye candy. I also like “On Thursday, we leave for home” because of the great lesson on hubris. I don’t feel sorry for Benteen— not one bit.

Ones that I don’t like that other people go apeshit over: “Walking Distance” and “A Stop at Willoughby.”

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I agree 100% about "Walking Distance" and "A Stop at Willoughby." I understand what Serling was shooting for in these -- and it's a theme he returned to often; a peaceful, simple, carefree life, whether that was the innocence of childhood, as in "Walking Distance," or just a quiet, bucolic existence in a nice, prosperous small town as in "A Stop at Willoughby." But in both those episodes, certain character actions and behaviors are just so terribly overdone it ruins them for me. In "Walking Distance" the protagonist acts like a complete nut when he decides to try and connect with his younger self, and his father and mother in the past. And in "A stop at Willoughby" the protagonist's wife, boss, and secretary all behave like such completely monstrous caricatures that it spoils the effect for me. I get that in a half-hour story, there isn't time to reveal these character's flaws or dilemmas subtly, but they went a little too far, in my humble opinion, and while these two episodes are widely admired, I've personally never rated them very highly at all.

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Yes— and you have summarized my own reasons very well.

I find the first half of “Walking Distance” to be very sweet, actually. But then when Martin Sloan becomes a friggin manic, chasing his younger self—- well, I just lose sympathy. Also— with this attitude, it points to Martin’s more deep-seated issues not addressed in the rest of the story. He has this melancholy that seems to keep him from being able to establish meaningful relationships as an adult.

I did a thread in imdb several years ago during the TZ marathon during which I posited that men have a tendency to be more sentimental about their childhoods than women. I think that a lot of Serling’s stories bear that out. But he was in WW II and wartime changes people a lot. It’s a demarcation for young men between childhood and adulthood. It is quite natural after going through wartime trauma to view ANYTHING before that time with rose colored glasses.

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Favorite episodes are like favorite actors – I can’t choose one but have to start with a short list that inevitably gets longer and longer! Least favorites are far easier because they’re so few – 6 episodes come to mind offhand, and that’s it.

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[deleted]

Yes. And the follow up In the 2002 series was awesome as well..

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My favourite is “number 12 looks just like you”.

It’s not the best episode and it’s not scary. I didn’t like the ending much. I just like the way it was presented. I like the social commentary. Perhaps the most precognitive episode.

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The After Hours

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[deleted]

If I had to pick one probably “The Howling Man”.

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My top 3 favorite episodes are

The After Hours
The Howling Man
I Shot an Arrow Into the Air

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The After Hours is one of my favorite episodes too. 😊

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The After Hours is an episode I make sure to watch every year.

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Me too for sure!

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'A Stop at Willoughby' and 'Walking Distance' always hit me in the feels.

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