Scarecrow's Blog From the Darkside

Continuing a string of great performances in the fourth season Dana Andrews’ lone Twilight Zone appearance is also a noteworthy effort. He is a physicist hoping to somehow alter the future by going back into the past, with each effort a miserable failure. Whether it be an attempt to encourage a movement of women and children out of Hiroshima before the bomb drops, hoping to assassinate Hitler from the balcony of a hired room in Berlin, or hoping to convince a captain to alter course before a submarine torpedo hits his British ship, Lusitania; each and every trip results in disappointment. Andrews’ Paul Driscoll just wants to deprive future generations from the mistakes of mankind, hoping to just stop awful things from happening. If his scoped rifle could just send that one key shot right into the sweet spot that kills Hitler, or somehow convince some member of the Japanese military / government into evacuating Hiroshima of its innocents, or talk the captain of a ship into altering ...

Episode 229 will definitely continue to conjure similarities to Dracula (1931) as Maggie is certainly Mina to Barnabas’ Dracula. Maggie’s situation is worsening as her illness during the day and spitfire nastiness at night show a clear indication that there is something quite wrong. Her father, Sam, and boyfriend, Joe, are perplexed at her change in behavior and mood swings. Barnabas knows, obviously, as he is the proponent of this darkness overwhelming her. By episode’s end, Maggie is complete darkness, that wonderful light totally gone after she dismisses Joe outright, ordering him to leave, in essence, “firing the babysitter”. Sam was convinced by Joe to go get a drink after attempts to help Maggie during the morning and early afternoon fail, as she insisted a doctor visit was not wanted. But Sam had to see what was wrong with his daughter even if she was persistent and defiant that no doctor visits her. And the doc tells Sam that she has lost a lot of blood, planning to examine...

I have already mentioned that I am going through the fourth season and came up on this delightful episode featuring an inspired, game Meredith. I was startled to discover that it was January of last year when I last watched this episode and reviewed it for the blog. It seems like it was actually this year. I remember being stuck at home due to icy roads, unable to go to work, and decided to watch this episode. I recall dealing with a nasty ear infection that spread to my throat. The episode was still fun, but I nowhere close to enjoying it as I would have liked. As I was putting together my review for Miniature, I had this episode up next and watched it. Meredith is such a blast, living it up as the twisted-cigar chomping Devil, linotyping news articles for a dying paper he was responsible for, helping a struggling editor, eventually expecting his soul in return for continued success! My review here:  Printer's Devil review I think this is clearly one of the best episodes of th...

Robert Duvall's misunderstood Charlie finds solace and comfort at the dollhouse Beaumont’s script makes this Twilight Zone’s hero someone quite unexpected: Charlie,  played as soft-spoken, tender-voiced social misfit who doesn’t dispute anything anyone says to him, trying to be agreeable and Teflon to drama, could be the show’s lone Autistic lead character. I truly believe he’s on the spectrum. William Windom, as the psychiatric doctor for Charlie when he breaks glass to a dollhouse museum exhibit to “get after the scoundrel attempting to go after the young woman” he sees inside the display living room, mentions to Charlie’s mom (Pert Kelton), sister (Barbara Barrie), and brother-in-law (Lennie Weinrib) that their use of the word “normal” oppresses him, forcing  him to try and incorporate himself into society when he isn’t quite able, leaving him to the point where he vanishes into supposed fantasy. If you have ever been close to an Autistic person, or are a parent to ...

Episode 228 is all about the discarded characters getting some attention. Roger and Caroline wanting to know why shit-eating-grin scumbag Jason is still around, living at Collinwood and now some dipshit Public Relations director. He blackmails and extorts Liz, with Caroline and Roger unaware just why she continues to talk tough but cave to him. And then there's the mystery regarding Caroline's dad, for whom Liz won't discuss, especially adamant that the locked room in the basement Roger mentions remains unopened. Vicki is asked by Liz to convince Caroline to forget about that room but daughter is dedicated to learning more about daddy. It's a break from Barnabas and establishes Jason as Subplot B villain. Jason and Barnabas have middle stooge weakling Willie pulled back and forth while Liz just can't get a break. She has one predator preying on her wealth and another preying on human blood! Nothing much but back and forth among those at Collinwood trying to figure w...

Episode 227 Presents: Maggie deals with physical reactions brought on by Barnabas' visit. Sam and Joe recognize that something is not right. That Maggie is "ill". Barnabas wants Sam to finish his painting. Maggie's health seems worse during the day, and it very well could be that she is a victim of the vampire. Maggie awakens worse for wear probably because Barnabas shows up at her bedside, eyeing her with mouth open with sharp fangs, just anticipating sinking those pearly whites into the soft flesh of her neck. The restless sleep, inability to evade the pervasive darkness of the vampire, Maggie is now Barnabas' conquest. Her father finds her unable to gather her bearings, uncharacteristically sleeping in, late for work, irritable and even course with him. She grabs at her aching head, seems barely able to stand, but persists in trying to to to work despite her father's best attempts to convince her otherwise. And even when there, she can barely hold up t...

I decided to conclude the early birthday weekend with a run of late series TZ episodes, recorded off early SyFy hours. Seeing unedited episodes wasn’t a necessity, particularly the fifth and final season, at the very end, considering most of them are far down my list of favorites all-time. In fact, none of the episodes I watched late Saturday night, and early Sunday morning, are remotely close to my top 100, except perhaps Mr Garrity and the Graves , a latter episode featuring a hoot of a cast, with Dehner as the supposed con-artist preying on the gullible (and guilty-as-sin) locals of Happiness, AZ. I opened thankfully with it so it set up the right mood, considering that twist at the end left me grinning from the ear to ear…seems Garrity isn’t such a façade after all! If only the town wasn’t harboring secrets they were so ashamed of they would be willing to depart with funds to keep him from resurrecting their dead relatives, relatives, and outlaws! Mr. Garrity and the Graves ch...