Movies - TV
The Episode That Marked The Beginning Of The Twilight Zone’s End
By DEBOPRIYAA DUTTA
In “The Twilight Zone” episode “The Arrival,” investigator Grant Sheckley (Harold J. Stone) is tasked with investigating Flight 107, a plane that lands without anybody on board.
Sheckly notices that everyone perceives details of the plane differently. He concludes that the plane isn’t real and tests his theory by sticking his hand in the plane’s propeller.
His hand comes out unharmed and the plane disappears. It’s revealed that the plane was a hallucination triggered by repressed emotions due to a single unsolved case in his career.
Critics panned the episode for its cop-out ending and numerous plot holes. One review of the episode from Variety said, “‘Twilight Zone’ seems to be running dry of inspiration.”
While this seems like a one-time miss from show creator Rod Serling, he admitted in a 1961 interview that he felt “drained of ideas” after penning scripts for countless episodes.
While “The Arrival” may have signaled a decline in quality for “The Twilight Zone,” the show is still remembered for etching vivid experiences steeped in the unknown.