SYFY TZ Marathon (The Grave/It's a Good Life)

 

With sleep and laziness, I've been on and off all day today. Stayed up late, got in plenty of Twilight Zone until the early morning of the 1st but "The Grave", an episode that I think is pure ghost story western goodness, was on right after "The Mirror" (with Peter Falk as a twitchy, paranoid, unstable Castro executing folks all day every day who eventually turns on the very soldiers having helped him secure his position of power thanks to a mirror that appears to exploit his worst fears). I just can't watch "The Grave" in the early afternoon. This deserves its rightful place near, at, or right on Midnight. The lights need to be out, way into the dark of night, preferably a rainpour. I definitely plan to revisit it this weekend. 

Decades is offering their own marathon as "A Toast to Twilight", an alternative to SYFY. I noticed they are showing "The Grave" 3AM Central early Sunday, the 3rd of January. I like their four day marathon idea. One thing 2020 gave us was New Year's Eve on Thursday so we could have the weekend free. I plan to follow Decades schedule Saturday and Sunday as a fun change from the norm of past years. "The Grave", briefly commenting, got a lot of love on Twitter (I specifically focused on #TwilightZoneMarathon) thanks to its cast and "ghost town windy night" flavor.

I haven't seen the "sequel" to "It's a Good Life" which was an episode on the UPN Twilight Zone lone season, but the potency of the classic loses none of its punch. A temperamental, selfish, coddled kid with mental powers that can turn folks into a jack-in-the-box and wish them away to the cornfield if they just as much think bad thoughts about him or frown the wrong way. He tortures, mutilates, disfigures, and kills animals, makes demands and sees fit they come to pass or else those who fail to appease him are wished away or made an example of, and if you produce music he doesn't likes he can wipe out your mind and turn you into a near catatonic. Peaksville is his domain and the entire US was wiped out because this brat didn't like anything to exist beyond his own location. What he wants can be conjured by his thoughts, his mind. Adults having to put on a smile, think happy thoughts, perform for this boy or else...that control could be afforded to such a volatile, psychopathic child is why this episode is so impactful for a lot of folks for over 60 years. You do see a lot of comments every year...while Dan, on his birthday no less, has Anthony focus on him, the remaining adults are encouraged to kill the kid. I see a lot of comments suggesting that any one of them should bash that kid's skull with a brick. It is a fascinating episode to decompress from. This episode's ending gives us no conclusion. As long as he exists, the adults remaining are to act accordingly. Cautionary tales about such behavior...maybe such a kid can symbolize many a psychopath in power. Just one properly placed brick in just the right spot ends the misery.