The Most Unforgettable Episodes of The Twilight Zone | Chaz's Journal

“The Hitch-Hiker” (Season 1, episode 16). The simple story of a young woman (Inger Stevens) dogged by a mysterious figure (Leonard Strong) who turns out to be Death could be a cold tale of the inevitability of life’s end. But a curious grace is allowed to slip into it stealthily. Strong’s Death is frightening, able to appear out of nowhere and refusing to be left behind at a series of loney gas stations and cafes on a desert road far from anywhere. But he does not attack Stevens or drag her into the dark unknown. But rather he waits, for her to realize she is no longer among the living. After a fateful phone call Stevens wanders back to her car, her voice over remarking that all she feels now is a strange peace. And when she looks into the rearview mirror of her car she sees Strong in the backseat. Death is quiet and still, wearing a reassuring smile. And as shows become entwined with our own personal histories, I first saw this episode after a beloved grandparent died. It’s become a touchstone ever since to deal with the ache of loss. Not the easiest assurance of what, if anything, lies on the other side. But the hope that death is just another stop on the road. 

“Nothing in the Dark” (Season 3, episode 16). Death personified was a frequent theme on “The Twilight Zone” and the old woman (Gladys Cooper) terrified of death who reluctantly takes in a wounded policeman (Robert Redford) might be another episode where the end of the story is clear. But the pleasure lies in watching Redford gently coax the old woman into realizing that her fear of death is also what’s kept her from living. And that if we acknowledge the end of life as part of its process it stops being the boogeyman and becomes something we can live with, however long we have on this earth. 

“One for the Angels” (Season 1, episode 2). “The Twilight Zone” told stories of people who tried to outrun death, who feared death. But one of the most humane and lighthearted episodes is a story about someone who outwitted death. Almost. A salesman (Ed Wynn) makes a deal with Death (Murray Hamilton) to not take him until he’s made the one perfect sale. Hamilton agrees and Wynn promptly retires. Not to go home empty handed Death is about to take a sick little girl in Wynn’s building instead when Wynn decides that maybe he’s got one more sale in him left after all. The generosity of characters, often small time operators and ordinary people not marked by any great destiny, that transforms them into heroic figures even if only for one hot summer night is an enduring pleasure of the show. In an age of Prestige TV that trades in cruelty and cool indifference there is something irresistible in a show that said over and over again as selfishness could damn you so could empathy save you. That was the real lesson of "The Twilight Zone": That unknown, unreachable place is in all of us. Whether it was a place of terror or wonder depended entirely on how willing we were to go into it with our hearts and minds open. 

To read Brian Tallerico's list of five "Twilight Zone" episodes you should watch in preparation for Jordan Peele's reboot series, click here