The Twilight Zone - One for the Angels

I admit that “One for the Angels” isn’t particularly my favorite Twilight Zone although I just delight in Ed Wynn’s performance. He’s just a lovely fellow, the character beloved by kids even if his life has been a disappointment. He is a “pitchman”, in the city with an open case set up to peddle his wares to any passersby that might be interested in toys, ties, or tonic. He has a less-than-posh apartment, well lived in and messy. It is definitely a bachelor’s existence for his near 70 years of livin’. His list of accomplishments isn’t too impressive and looking back on what he has produced in the lifetime provided many might consider less than spectacular. What he does want to do is make that one big pitch before his life meets its end. Speaking of the end of life, Mr. Death (Murray Hamilton, the infamous mayor of Amity who allowed tourists to enter the waters of his beach with knowledge that a Great White might be in close proximity in Jaws (1974)) has come to fetch Wynn, seemingly unwilling to allow him much longer than Midnight to remain alive and well. Wynn is able to trick him for a “little extra time to make the big pitch” but Mr. Death isn’t about to return “empty handed”, choosing a little girl instead (a girl Wynn is quite fond of). So Wynn will need to make his big pitch to Death, hoping to distract him until past Midnight so the little girl can escape his clutches as well.

While I think the first episode, “Where is Everybody?”, is the Twilight Zone I’m attracted to, where the protagonist(s) endure events of an eerie or disturbing nature, “One for the Angels” is perhaps closer to the typical flavor of the series in terms of its treatment of the ordinary man dealing with extraordinary matters that concern his welfare. I’m more invested in the show’s delve into the dark but not immune to the effects of the lighter side of the show. I think Wynn is such a pleasure to watch, the episode passes by without problem. Not on my top list but nonetheless a joy just because Wynn’s performance is full of heart and congeniality. The finale has Wynn pitching his wares to Death, keeping him preoccupied as the time approaches the little girl’s “due date with her demise”. Wynn has an energy and vitality even though Death tells him he’ll perish due to “natural causes”. Wynn debates with Death and yet Hamilton appears unwavering in the job, caving when peering down at the old man as his countenance grows weary. I just think the episode benefits significantly from Wynn’s fun chemistry with Hamilton as the two barter on borrowed time. The little girl and her life rests in Wynn’s ability to pitch his heart out, by the end covered in beady sweat.

To be honest, this episode wasn’t my “featured Wednesday TZ episode” (that would be “Back There”) but more “treadmill fodder”, giving me something to watch while grinding away on the exercise machine. It is a Syfy channel featured episode, the kind you see all the time. I think many of the older fans would probably actually choose this as one of their favorites, to join the ranks of “Walking Distance”. While not my ideal episode among my own favorites, I certainly get its appeal. Wynn, mostly. Hamilton is memorable, too, however. His moving around Wynn’s apartment is most amusing. So the episode has its merits and I consider it at least in the middle tier of the show’s output over the five seasons of its existence.