Monday, July 20, 2020

What I’m Watching: The Twilight Zone


The Twilight Zone: Season 2, Episode 6 “8” (B-)

I think I like it more if these episodes start with a situation that clearly has something strange going on without much explanation rather than a scenario that needs to be introduced for it to really become apparent. Every time there’s something that takes place in a snowy, remote research station, I immediately think of one of my favorite episodes of “The X-Files,” the season one installment “Ice,” that finds isolated scientists slowly being driven insane by a parasite. This episode didn’t really hold up to that, instead playing out as a monster movie where each of the characters were picked off one by one. That doesn’t feel like the type of plotline that begins on this show, since there wasn’t anything particularly noteworthy about the predator other than that it was trying to create a new species to replace humanity, which is obviously a big deal, but that wasn’t explored in a very satisfactory way. The notion that almost everyone there from the various international teams had different intentions and a mission was far more interesting to me than the actual events that played out, and I would have liked to see more about that. I did recognize two of the cast members, starting with Joel McHale from “Community” and “The Great Indoors,” who also plays a role in “Psych 2: Lassie Come Home,” which just premiered this week. The other actor was Brandon Jay McLaren from “The Killing” and “Falling Skies.” Jordan Peele’s appearance at the end didn’t do much for me, and while there was nothing especially bad about this episode, it really didn’t stand out as a memorable offering.

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