The Twilight Zone - Time Enough At Last
***½ / ****
The iconic Twilight
Zone episode that remains one of the classic series’ enduring jewels, Time Enough At Last, is one I could waste my time
picking apart and scrutinize (the bomb’s effects would certainly damn Bemis,
too, would it? Where are the bodies? Nitpicking whether or not Bemis might be
able to use the remnants of glass to perhaps find another pair, so on and so
forth), but it still stands against that with its themes and powerful ending.
Whether you recognize the anti-literature tone in all characters Bemis comes across—while I get that he might be compulsive in catching an eyeful during passages of time that might present itself when customers aren’t in the bank, he still put himself at disadvantage copping pages when on the job—or how abandoning human beings for what lies within a book’s pages could set you apart from everyone, deeming yourself a loner/misfit could certainly come back to haunt you, Time Enough At Last endures with stinging subject matter and eye-popping apocalyptic destruction once Bemis leaves the bank vault (to catch a read during his lunch break, what better place to be alone, eh?).
The sets involving the rubble, the structural damage, the stores and buildings reduced to faint reminders of a once sprawling, busy city. Collapse, skeletal wreckage, and the ghosts of the city paint a devastated picture (a car, couch, store cash register, street signs, etc alone as brick and dust surround them) of what the “bomb” can do. And among all of that, Bemis is still alive but alone. What could possibly alleviate the absence of another soul to talk to? Bemis contemplates that, finding a gun on the ground near the remains of a department store. So should he just end it all and remove himself from this unpleasant situation? It just so happens a public library with “all the books he’ll need or want” is just in eyesight.
So down to the ground goes back the gun and Mr. Bemis heads for the nirvana of Book Paradise, only to experience a moment’s euphoria…the thick-lens glasses, he so heavily depends on to see what is in front of him clearly, falls from his face to the steps of the library’s entrance, shattering the lenses. So the prospects of experiencing the uninterrupted thrill of losing himself in one book after another are denied him. What appeared to be harmony with no one to get in his way of reading the printed word has been taken from him. Just as the wife snatched away the newspaper from Bemis’ hands, fate has decided to take from him the ability to read when no one else is around to do so.
It is such a tragic ending, as this pitiable man with his goggle-eyed glasses and diminutive presence, harmless and cuckolded, just wanting to exercise a desire to read and escape into his books, will simply not be allowed. I think all of this defies the excessive, over-the-top meanness of the bank executive (Vaughn Taylor) and Bemis’ wife (Jacqueline deWit) who not only want Bemis to stop reading but take great pleasure in his inability to do so. I mean, when she marks through a book of poetry just so her husband can no longer read it because she deems it foolish, all the while, emasculating him during their time together, why wouldn’t this poor guy want to escape into another place? Nice touch in the episode has the bank executive’s hand still holding a recorder for a tape directed for his secretary, a speech that will no longer have other bank personnel to communicate to. But, seriously, Bemis should try to find the nearest toppled store and rummage for some glasses…
Whether you recognize the anti-literature tone in all characters Bemis comes across—while I get that he might be compulsive in catching an eyeful during passages of time that might present itself when customers aren’t in the bank, he still put himself at disadvantage copping pages when on the job—or how abandoning human beings for what lies within a book’s pages could set you apart from everyone, deeming yourself a loner/misfit could certainly come back to haunt you, Time Enough At Last endures with stinging subject matter and eye-popping apocalyptic destruction once Bemis leaves the bank vault (to catch a read during his lunch break, what better place to be alone, eh?).
The sets involving the rubble, the structural damage, the stores and buildings reduced to faint reminders of a once sprawling, busy city. Collapse, skeletal wreckage, and the ghosts of the city paint a devastated picture (a car, couch, store cash register, street signs, etc alone as brick and dust surround them) of what the “bomb” can do. And among all of that, Bemis is still alive but alone. What could possibly alleviate the absence of another soul to talk to? Bemis contemplates that, finding a gun on the ground near the remains of a department store. So should he just end it all and remove himself from this unpleasant situation? It just so happens a public library with “all the books he’ll need or want” is just in eyesight.
So down to the ground goes back the gun and Mr. Bemis heads for the nirvana of Book Paradise, only to experience a moment’s euphoria…the thick-lens glasses, he so heavily depends on to see what is in front of him clearly, falls from his face to the steps of the library’s entrance, shattering the lenses. So the prospects of experiencing the uninterrupted thrill of losing himself in one book after another are denied him. What appeared to be harmony with no one to get in his way of reading the printed word has been taken from him. Just as the wife snatched away the newspaper from Bemis’ hands, fate has decided to take from him the ability to read when no one else is around to do so.
It is such a tragic ending, as this pitiable man with his goggle-eyed glasses and diminutive presence, harmless and cuckolded, just wanting to exercise a desire to read and escape into his books, will simply not be allowed. I think all of this defies the excessive, over-the-top meanness of the bank executive (Vaughn Taylor) and Bemis’ wife (Jacqueline deWit) who not only want Bemis to stop reading but take great pleasure in his inability to do so. I mean, when she marks through a book of poetry just so her husband can no longer read it because she deems it foolish, all the while, emasculating him during their time together, why wouldn’t this poor guy want to escape into another place? Nice touch in the episode has the bank executive’s hand still holding a recorder for a tape directed for his secretary, a speech that will no longer have other bank personnel to communicate to. But, seriously, Bemis should try to find the nearest toppled store and rummage for some glasses…
*Burgess Meredith was quite good as the everyman diminished by those around him, often a victim of how others considered him. In his time on the Twilight Zone, Meredith had those characters that certainly endured their abuse. This and The Obsolete Man his real triumphs. Whereas, Bemis might be considered a weak man, reduced day by day, his character in The Obsolete Man was strong and emboldened by his beliefs. The less said about Mr. Dingle, the better.
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