SYFY TZ Marathon - The Lateness of the Hour

 As much as I love Inger Stevens in "The Hitch-Hiker" (and I really do), I find her sadly insufferable in "The Lateness of the Hour", about the daughter of an inventor and his wife who live secluded in their mansion with android maids and butlers. The maids and butlers are basically [sinister] automatons. I guess I find them sinister because they are so blank, practically emotionless, and always on call, but there are these moments like when a maid is shoved downstairs and gets right back up with a smile that creep me out. Then there is that damned Irene Tedrow with those orgasmic back massages. Any time I write about "The Lateness of the Hour" I'll always mention those moans of delight from Tedrow...I can imagine Riner's mom would look over at Tedrow's back massage pleasure and ask to have what she's having. Hoyt and Tedrow, I figure, might be infuriating for some viewers because they just dismissively or nonchalantly handle Stevens' nonstop nagging about leaving the mansion, experiencing life, and getting rid of all the servants. Stevens' voice is constantly at near rage or verbally vitriolic...she damn sure wants to be heard. The video quality of this production just hampers the storytelling power of the episode, but even the twist at the end is muted by Stevens' performance because I imagine almost everyone by the end will be glad her role has shifted just so she'll calm down. The use of thunderstorms does give the episode some atmosphere I guess.