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

What is your favorite episode?

posted 4 years ago by Darren (1343)
34 replies | jump to latest

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.

[–] stevewyzard (1591) 2 years ago

There are no absolutely perfect episodes, but both "A Passage for Trumpet" and "Five Characters In Search of an Exit" are as close to flawless as you can get!

[–] strntz (12285) 2 years ago

Too many as others have said, but this one just popped to my mind: Changing of the Guard. I'm not a teacher, but I think there's a feel-good lesson for anyone who ever worked in any career and helped someone, or even as a parent who had a profound impact on the quality of your children's lives.

[–] midnightsun (42) 2 years ago

Hard to just pick one. It's a toss up between "Night Call" and "Valley of the Shadow". I am going with the latter.

[–] TandyMan (11109) 2 years ago

My favorite episodes aren't the best ones. I like the ones that are character studies. Two is my second favorite episode. But my favorite episode ever is The Lonely. I've always wanted to blow that up into a whole movie. A guy on a rock learning to love an android. The themes it deals with are really solid, and I feel are more relevant than ever, but it hammers through them so fast, it just goes by in a blur.

[–] [email protected] (5881) a year ago

My favorites are the ones that scared me. "The Howling Man" and "To Serve Man" are two of the episodes which scared me the most! Another favorite is Inger Stevens in "The Hitchhiker". It made me fear hitchhikers for years!

Another favorite which isn't scary is "The Hunt". I love dogs and I like to think that I'll be with my long lost canine pals if I ever make it to heaven. It wouldn't be heaven without them.

[–] andersonb85 (2068) a year ago

"The New Exhibit" with Martin Balsam showing how misplaced obsession can lead to destruction.

[–] riraho (129) a year ago

Walking Distance.

[–] PittPanthers47 (237) a year ago

The Hunt, The Passerby, Still Valley, The Seventh Is Made Up of Phantoms, The Changing of the Guard, The Purple Testament, The Fear, Long Live Walter Jameson, An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge, and probably a bunch more.

[–] SRey (5) a year ago

I'm surprised no one's mentioned "Nick of Time" or "Perchance to Dream". Those are two of my absolute favorites. Also "The Silence"

Nick of Time is about the couple who stops over in a small town diner and discover the fortune teller machine, the husband is naturally superstitious and becomes obsessed with the seemingly accurate answers he gets while the wife pleads with him to let it go and make their own decisions.

Perchance to Dream is about a man who every time he falls asleep dreams about a mysterious woman at an amusement park who keeps trying to scare him to death and get him to jump from a roller coaster and his heart can't handle the stress from the dreams or the lack of sleep. It's got that eerie feeling that shows the power of the mind in fear.

I also always love The Silence. About a man who is challenged to spending a year in a men's club without speaking a single word for a large sum of money. The ending is a pretty tragic twist.

Honorable mentions: Twenty-Two, The Eye of the Beholder, The Devil's Printer, In His Image, I Shot an Arrow Into the Air. There's so many excellent episodes I'm tempted to list a bunch more but I'll stop there.

[–] andreaahr (2337) a year ago

The After Hours. Love this episode and the plot twist at the end too!