Okay, so this is it, this is the payoff.\u00a0 This is the quintessential Twilight Zone episode.\u00a0 Not even I dare to dispute the primacy of this one.\u00a0 This is the A+ by which all other episodes are measured against and found wanting.<\/p>\n
Rod Serling is standing in front of a map of the United States when the whole thing goes dark except for one dot on the map that he tells us is Peaksville, Ohio.\u00a0 He tells us that the people there don\u2019t know if the rest of the world was destroyed or if they have been removed from the rest of reality but either way, they are cut off from everything else.\u00a0 And he tells us that this was done by a monster and that the monster rules this little world through fear and intimidation.\u00a0 He has eliminated electric power, automobiles, radio and television and all other modern conveniences. \u00a0Then Mr. Serling shows us the monster.\u00a0 It\u2019s a cute little six-year-old boy named Anthony Fremont.\u00a0 He can read thoughts and he can create or destroy anything he wants to just by thinking it.<\/p>\n
Next, we see life in Peaksville.\u00a0 A grocery store bicycle delivery man shows up at the Fremont farm and says some polite things about the three headed gophers that Anthony is playing with just in time for Anthony to get tired of it and kill it with his mind.\u00a0 And then he sends it into the cornfield which means it disappears.<\/p>\n
The deliveryman talks to Mrs. Fremont about the things that have run out in the store and about the tomato soup that he found because he knows Anthony likes it.\u00a0 And we meet Aunt Amy who has been crack brained since Anthony stopped her from singing a while ago.\u00a0 Anthony likes music but not singing.\u00a0 And then we see Mr. Fremont in his room getting ready for a party that night and talking to Anthony about his day.\u00a0 Anthony says that no children came to play with him and he wanted them to.\u00a0 His father reminds Anthony that last time children visited him he sent them to the cornfield and if he keeps doing that eventually there won\u2019t be anybody left.\u00a0 Just then a collie dog starts barking outside and we find out that Anthony doesn\u2019t like dogs, so soon we hear a yelp of pain and the dog joins the three headed gopher in the cornfield.<\/p>\n
That night is a dual celebration.\u00a0 Anthony will present one of his occasional television shows and it is also Dan Hollis\u2019s birthday.\u00a0 The television show is a vicious battle between two triceratopses jabbing each other with their horns and attempting to throw each other off a cliff.\u00a0 When one dinosaur is victorious the television goes blank and Anthony declares, \u201cthat\u2019s all the television there is.\u201d\u00a0 Ethel presents her husband Dan with two birthday presents, a bottle of brandy and a Perry Como record album.\u00a0 Dan speculates that maybe they could listen to the instrumental introduction before the singing.\u00a0 But Mr Fremont declares that it would be too risky.<\/p>\n
While the rest of the party gathers around while Anthony listens to Pat Riley play the piano Dan Hollis starts getting drunk on his brandy.\u00a0 Initially he just becomes maudlin about the dwindling supply of whiskey but eventually he starts railing against Anthony and blaming his parents for bringing him into the world.\u00a0 When Anthony becomes angry with him, Dan tells Anthony, \u201cthat\u2019s right you think those bad thoughts about me and maybe some man whose had enough of this will take some something hard across your skull and end this.\u201d\u00a0 For a second it looks like Aunt Amy is reaching for a fireplace poker but then she backs off.\u00a0 Anthony says to Dan, \u201cYou\u2019re a bad man, a very bad man and you keep thinking bad thoughts about me.\u201d\u00a0 Then he points his finger at Dan and as a shadow on the wall we see Dan turn into a jack in the box.\u00a0 Then we see Dan\u2019s face bobbing as if on the jack in the box.\u00a0 Mr. Fremont begs his son, \u201cplease son, send it to the cornfield.\u201d\u00a0 And he does.\u00a0 Then he warns Ethel Hollis that she better not think bad thoughts or he\u2019ll do the same to her too.<\/p>\n
While everyone tries to put a happy face on what has happened, they notice that it\u2019s snowing (in the summer).\u00a0 Mr. Fremont starts to say that that will destroy half the crop but then he squelches his thought and finishes off by saying it\u2019s a good thing that Anthony made it snow.\u00a0 And finally, he says with all the sincerity of a man with a gun to his head that tomorrow is gonna be a real good day.<\/p>\n
This is the best Twilight Zone episode.\u00a0 It\u2019s the vision of hell on earth.\u00a0 It\u2019s a petulant child with the powers of life and death.\u00a0 The story is original, creepy and fun.\u00a0 A+<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Okay, so this is it, this is the payoff.\u00a0 This is the quintessential Twilight Zone episode.\u00a0 Not even I dare to dispute the primacy of<\/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":[1199,38,1355,1194,44,309,265,1691,154,1692,838],"class_list":["post-6567","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","category-sff","category-sff-tv-reviews","category-tv-reviews","category-twilight-zone","tag-its-a-good-life","tag-review","tag-reviews","tag-rod-serling","tag-sci-fi","tag-sci-fi-tv-review","tag-science-fiction","tag-sff-tv-show-reviews","tag-tv-review","tag-tv-reviews","tag-twilight-zone"],"yoast_head":"\n