A Human Face
Episode 7 of The Twilight Zone Season 2 begins with Robert and Barbara getting ready to move house while the radios buzz with news that a cosmic flare will be flying overhead. Suddenly, the radio crackles to life and the house shimmers as they realize they’re not alone. Creeping downstairs, they find a strange glowing creature gnawing on the table. Locking themselves in the cupboard, Barbara is convinced that the alien creature is their daughter, Maggie. Robert however, is not so sure and wants to phone the police. Coming to a compromise, the duo agree to head downstairs and confront the creature, which materializes into their daughter’s form temporarily. Confused and scared, they hide away in the bathroom this time but now, the creature takes on Maggie’s voice. Barbara and Robert continue to deliberate over the best way of handling this situation, with the creature heading upstairs to Maggie’s room to learn more about the girl it’s currently inhabiting. While sifting through the diary, she overhears Robert berating Barbara and confronts them both about their behaviour. It’s enough for them both to begin talking and decide they need to move on with their lives and start being more honest with each other. Barbara, or rather the creature adopting her form, changes tact and confirms she’s a Biological Pacification Tool. Although she began as a tool used to try and invade Earth, she decided their love was enough to turn off the main directive. Despite its initial plan to conquer Earth, these creatures were overcome by how vulnerable humanity is and the love they displayed. Instead, they decide to live alongside humans in peace, which is where the episode ends. The latest episode of The Twilight Zone is a nice idea in theory but when you actually look at the crux of the issue, Twilight Zone has some serious problems with its logic. The idea of aliens coming down and taking on the form of those we’ve loved and lost is fine but it’s based on the notion of everyone losing a loved one and being okay with an alien taking their form, as typified by the scene outside the house of all the families walking together. Having said that though, the episode does a pretty good job capturing the notion of grief and moving on, allowing oneself to be open and discussing these painful emotions. For that alone the episode does quite well but there just isn’t a whole lot else here worth getting excited about, a trait that unfortunately a lot of these episodes share despite being a step up from last season.
