What I’m Watching: The Twilight Zone

The Twilight Zone: Season 1, Episode 6 “Six Degrees of Freedom” (B)

Like the last two episodes, this one started from a point where its characters were undergoing an incredible experience without knowing where it was going to lead. The beginning of the hour reminded me of “Last Resort” when one submarine was out on its own after a nuclear event, and the idea of a mission to Mars taking off as most of the human race was wiped out by nuclear bombs was certainly very intense. Once aboard, especially when the one crew member was trying to bait the rest of them and there was another shot of steamy sex, I was thinking about “High Life,” the recently-released film that I saw at the New York Film Festival last year about death row inmates sent into space to harness the power of a black hole. I’d say that the most on-brand part of the episode was Pierson starting to believe that none of this had actually happened and that it was all a test, going so far as to airlock himself to prove it. Like the last time we encountered aliens, in Alaska, they were far more aware of what was going on than any human, though it turned out that Pierson’s bravery and ability to see someone watching – even though he had no idea who or what it was – was enough to make the human race worthy of salvation. Though it wasn’t presented as such, it was a far more optimistic and rather hopeful ending than usual for this show.