At last, the first season has an episode I can applaud.\u00a0 Escape Clause is the story of Walter Bedeker a hypochondriac in a high rise who says that it\u2019s unfair that he can only live such a very short span.\u00a0 Along comes Cadwallader a portly fellow who says he can provide Walter with virtual immortality and indestructability in exchange for his insignificant soul.\u00a0 After just a little bit of haggling the bargain is struck and Cadwallader even throws in an escape clause just in case the day ever comes when Walter tires of life and wants an easy way out.<\/p>\n
Mr. Bedeker strides forward into his new life by hurling himself in front of every subway train and bus he can find.\u00a0 He makes a few thousand dollars of liability insurance but finds himself bored to tears.\u00a0 After drinking a glass of poison in front of his horrified wife, the jaded Methuselah informs his better half that he\u2019s going to the roof and jump the whole fourteen stories just to see how it feels.\u00a0 When she follows him to the roof and tries to block his way, she accidentally falls over the edge to her death.<\/p>\n
Walter calls the police and claims he murdered his wife in order to try out the electric chair.\u00a0 But the trial ends with him sentenced to life in prison without parole (damn Democrats).\u00a0 Faced with the endless boredom of a perpetual prison sentence he agrees to the escape clause and Mr. Cadwallader gives him an immediate heart attack exit.<\/p>\n
Now that\u2019s my idea of a Twilight Zone.\u00a0 Walter is a cranky egomaniac and Cadwallader is a friendly if oily ambassador for hell.\u00a0 It\u2019s an obvious match made in heaven?\u00a0 There aren\u2019t any big stars but it\u2019s filled with character actors that you\u2019ll recognize from any number of shows and series of the time.\u00a0 The most notable for me is Joe Flynn playing one of the insurance agents paying off on his accident cases.\u00a0 Flynn played Captain Binghamton (Old Leadbottom) on the McHale\u2019s Navy sit-com opposite star Ernest Borgnine as Lieutenant Commander Quinton McHale.<\/p>\n
Finally a Twilight Zone that deserves a solid B+.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
At last, the first season has an episode I can applaud.\u00a0 Escape Clause is the story of Walter Bedeker a hypochondriac in a high rise<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[237,4,244,240,1661],"tags":[1688,1687,1194,838],"class_list":["post-5880","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","category-sff","category-sff-tv-reviews","category-tv-reviews","category-twilight-zone","tag-cadwallader","tag-escape-clause","tag-rod-serling","tag-twilight-zone"],"yoast_head":"\n