Jordan Peele's The Twilight Zone Season 1 TV Show Review

Familiar theme tune, familiar stories, darker take

by Casimir Harlow
Movies & TV Shows Review

30

Jordan Peele's The Twilight Zone Season 1 TV Show Review

Jordan Peele reboots the classic Twilight Zone series with a game all-star cast, finding a darker and less forgiving tone to the familiar material.

Rod Serling's classic 1959 series was genius, with many of its episodes all-time classic supernatural sci-fi tales of dark and twisted alternate morality, ushering in a burgeoning slew of then and future stars. First rebooted in the 80s, it enjoyed some contemporary success with stories from the likes of Harlan Ellison, Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen King, and a similarly future-big cast, but the 2002 second revival died a swift and painful death, with modern mystery horror maestro Peele (Get Out, Us) now developing this third reboot, and taking hosting duties in the role originated by Serling himself.

 

Darker than many will remember the original series, the twists are definitely informed by Peele's Us-esque influences

From a stressful, unusual, political campaign to a post-apocalyptic escape to Mars, to a stand-up comic desperate to succeed, or a mother and son stuck in a loop with a racist cop, there's a diverse set of tales on offer from the latest incarnation of The Twilight Zone, utilising its 10-episode run to do what anthologies do best: offer a little something for everybody, with the majority following the formula of tales of curses, conflicts and moral conundrums worthy of the mantle of this classic show.

Jordan Peele's The Twilight Zone Season 1

The series kick-starts (at least in the UK, where the order is slightly different) with a remake of the classic Nightmare at 30,000 Feet. The original was by the late author Richard "I Am Legend" Matheson, starring a young William Shatner (one of the best early Twilight Zone repeat victims), and involving a creature on the wing of a plane, freaking out a passenger who had only recently recovered from a nervous breakdown, mostly because he can't convince anybody else that he's not just seeing things. Here Adam Scott (Big Little Lies) takes the lead as a journalist with his own bad history with stressful experiences, who starts listening to a podcast that appears to be charting the fateful crash of the very flight he's on.

It's a reasonable updating, and an ok start, although - at best - a curious decision to remake one of the classics, leaving The Comedian (the first aired episode in the US; the second in the UK) with an uphill struggle of proving the show, and Kumail Nanjiani (The Big Sick, Stuber) the unenviable task of convincing as a desperate and somewhat bitter comic whose acerbic writing is struggling to find an audience, but who is given an opportunity to change that all - although not without a heavy price. More original, even if it is desperately predictable, the episode better sets the tone and flow for the subsequent run, maybe even distancing the show from its forebears. 

 

There are definitely some interesting ideas farmed here, but even the best of them stop just shy of being classic tales

So far, so Black Mirror, with Replay only upping the sci-fi, wrapping up a racial profiling angle into a distinctly Groundhog Day / Edge of Tomorrow narrative, which sees Sanaa Lathan's single mother struggling to get her son to college with a racist cop out to get her no matter how many times she replays the day. Easily strongest effort so far (and a contender for the best of the entire first season) Twilight Zone hits its stride here, buying some goodwill to take you through the next few eclectic entries, featuring the likes of Greg Kinnear, John Cho, Taissa Farmiga, Ginnifer Goodwin, Chris O'Dowd and Zazie Beetz. The next couple are a tougher slog, outstaying their welcome with overstretched, underwritten tales of mysterious strangers and Black Mirror-esque politics. There are definitely some interesting ideas farmed here, but even the best of them stop just shy of being memorably classic tales.

Curiously one of the show's weakest links is Peele himself. Not behind the scenes - where his writing and exec production work benefit the dark mystery tone - but in front of the camera, where he simply can't hold a candle to the original show's Rod Sterling, struggling to do anything but pull you out of the experience by his monotone ramblings about the characters in these tales crossing over into the titular 'zone'. It doesn't work, which is perhaps why Replay (featuring the least intrusive input from him) further distinguishes itself from the two preceding episodes. Sure, it's understandable that the producers feel the need to bind all of the tales together, as per the original series, but playing it largely charisma-less, Peele is not a good fit for the job, only sparking to life in the final meta episode.

Darker than many will remember the original series, the twists are definitely informed by Peele's Us-esque influences, not really shocking in a post-Black Mirror universe, but still capping off moody tales already frequently laced with a topical socio-political bent. It can't really compete with the original series, but it can hold your interest, affording a little something different to fit that middle-ground between sci-fi, horror and often supernatural mystery. Falling short of compelling, it's still definitely worth checking out.

Scores

Verdict

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7

7
AVForumsSCORE
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10

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