The Twilight Zone (1.1-1.2) - A New Saddle for an Old Horse

The Twilight Zone made its return this week with Jordan Peele in the driver’s seat. The mind behind Get Out and Us takes the audience in a different albeit not dissimilar place for his work in these first episodes. In fact, though Peele is the narrator, he mostly hands off the writing duties through the first two episodes. The first episode, “The Comedian,” comes together through the work of writer Alex Rubens (Rick and Morty, Key and Peele) and director Owen Harris (Black Mirror; “San Junipero”). The second episode, “Nightmare at 30,000 Feet,” is a remake of a classic Twilight Zone episode based on Richard Matheson’s short story “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet” spearheaded by Peele, Simon Kinberg (Sherlock Holmes), and Marco Ramirez (Daredevil, The Defenders, Sons of Anarchy). While Ramirez was the one who wrote the script, Greg Yaitanes (Banshee, Castle Rock, House) directed “Nightmare at 30,000 Feet.” Though this iteration of The Twilight Zone starts slow with “The Comedian,” with “Nightmare at 30,000 Feet,” there is a considerable amount to look forward to as this first season continues to unfold.

The Comedian

Kumail Nanjiani (Samir), Diarra Kilpatrick (DiDi), and Amara Karen (Rena) all gave excellent performances throughout the series premiere. As I sat with this episode since watching it days ago, I continue to come back to how much I would love to see them in more. Admittedly that feels odd to say about Nanjiani as he does have quite a lot of great credits to his name, but to be able to see him work front and center here the way he does in “The Comedian” was a delight. Diarra Kilpatrick’s performance as DiDi was a whole lot of fun and brings welcome nuance as the episode comes to an end. Amara Karen’s performance as Rena is the emotional lynchpin to the entire episode and her confrontation with Samir at the end of the episode is brought together in large part due to her work.

Owen Harris’ direction in this episode was alluring. He consistently deploys a variety of close-ups throughout the episode, mostly on Samir’s face. In doing so, Harris plays with shadows throughout the episode. If the episode had been filmed in black and white, there would have been almost no question the discussion about it would be around it embodying noir. The principles are all there. Admittedly in an episode without a real mystery (we know what’s happening with Samir’s stand-up early-on), it is an interesting choice, but one I found myself enamored with by the end of the episode.

Part of what still draws me to the original Twilight Zone is the mysticism that regularly surrounds its plots. Whereas an anthology series such as Black Mirror is grounded in an exploration of technology and some dystopian future that lies therein, Twilight Zone does not always explain the mechanics of its world. That ethos certainly runs through “The Comedian.” Not everything always needs to be explained, things just happen. As these events or plots transpire, they lead the audience to questions and answers they may never have previously considered.

Ultimately though, “The Comedian” was a bit of a slog. For as high as the stakes were, they didn’t really feel that way until the end when Rena finally confronts Samir. The decision to make this a 55-minute episode is a curious one as the material certainly did not need that much time to have the impact it did. The pacing becomes nearly glacial in the middle as Samir is exploring his “powers.” The consistent repetition in the writing does make sense in the context of the show, but at some point, the episode would have been better off ditching it. Samir’s Second Amendment joke repeated ad nauseam made me feel like I was losing my mind by the end of the episode. Maybe that was the purpose, but there had to be a better way to achieve that effect. Rubens’ writing tries to redeem itself quite a strong finish to the episode, but it isn’t enough to forget all the time spent waiting for movement throughout the episode.

Nightmare at 30,000 Feet

For all the weaknesses that took away from the premiere’s strengths, the second episode refuses to fall victim in the same places. Running a much tighter 37 minutes, “Nightmare at 30,000 Feet” packs just as much as the audience can handle into its episode. This episode is also the embodiment of the spirit of the original Twilight Zone. “Nightmare at 30,000 Feet” is a story that keeps the audience on the edge of their seats for multiple reasons. Sometimes those are rooted in mystery and other times rooted in the intrigue of individual characters.

The ending of the episode is both the most exciting and promising part. The bulk of the episode is, quite literally, suspended in the air. We do not know what is going to happen from moment to moment, and even when we do, each event is changed when viewed through the varying perspectives of Justin Sanderson to the recording of the podcast to the passengers on the plane. When the plane – and the story – come crashing down is when the details start to fill out the remainder of the story. The audience is left with one final twist, the camera pulls out, and the episode ends. That entire moment felt crafted in the vein of the original series. Serling and the show’s various writers often cut through the fat of the story even if that meant leaving the audience with more questions than answers. Sometimes the questions themselves are even the purpose. Though that was not the case with this particular episode – it did wrap it neatly – that theme starts to flesh out a potential direction of this iteration of the show.

The direction and cinematography (courtesy of DP Craig Wrobleski) of this episode were steeped in color and continued to use lots of close-ups. The prominent blues throughout the episode give the environment a soft but imposing aura. The close-ups further exacerbate that sense. In contrast with “The Comedian,” “Nightmare at 30,000 Feet” does not have the same issue with pacing. The writing paces each twist and turn to keep the audience guessing while still allowing enough time for moments of brevity and silence. That is another element from the original Twilight Zone that rings true in this episode. Even when the episodes of the first iteration didn’t stay with you, they typically hit their beats in the story just at the moment they needed to, keeping each episode tightly within the confines of Serling’s narration.

As Peele’s iteration of The Twilight Zone continues to develop, the comparisons to the original series will start to dissipate. The show will come into its own. While the first two episodes showed mixed results, they demonstrate a promising new direction with old elements for a show that I am personally glad is back for one more go ‘round.