Sunday, July 12, 2020

What I’m Watching: The Twilight Zone


The Twilight Zone: Season 2, Episode 5 “Among the Untrodden” (B)

I was a bit surprised to see this episode revolve around younger characters, but that didn’t make it any less effective. I wasn’t sure what the focus was going to be, even when Jordan Peele came on to introduce the central mystery, but that wasn’t a negative since the denouement here is what worked best. It was disturbing enough to see just how cruel Madison and her friends were to the new student without any reason for it, and I definitely wouldn’t have guessed that Madison would be the one to exhibit powers. Irene seemed genuinely excited at the idea of being able to help her, and going to a hidden room no one else knew about or ever visited didn’t seem like the best idea. Conjuring up the key to the roof was a cool trick, though that went downhill fast when Irene fell to what should have been her death. Madison only chastised Irene about hanging out with her friends because she knew of their “Mean Girls”-style plans to ruin her life via their science project, which somehow didn’t earn them any demerits before they were all turned catatonic, but this was still a redemption story, to a degree. Irene realizing as she was turning to stone that she had fulfilled the purpose Madison needed from her was chilling, though my head is still spinning from the notion that might have only been conjured out of thin air to begin with rather than existing in her own right. That’s one of the strengths of this show: sometimes, it’s hard to know what really happened and which way is truthfully more frightening.

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