Rod Serling’sThe Twilight Zoneis an iconic series ahead of its time and features various stories in various genres, including science fiction, fantasy, and horror. The show originally aired in 1959, but even decades later, it remains a cherished classic noted for its timeless tales and impressive line-up of established and future stars such asRobert Redford,William Shatner, andOscar-winnerLee Marvin. There are several episodes, like “Time Enough At Last” and “It’s A Good Life,” that have become staples in pop culture, butThe Twilight Zonealso features incredible, thought-provoking episodes that deserve a bit more of the spotlight.
Out of the show’s five seasons, there are bound to be some fantastic episodes that manage to slip through the cracks or are even more memorable to fans than others, but episodes such as “Printer’s Devil,” “One for the Angels,” and “The Passersby” are criminally marginalized and overshadowed by more popular stories from Serling’s Fifth Dimension. From “Night Call,” starring classic film starGladys Cooper,to the chilling “Deaths-Head Revisited,” these are the most underrated episodes ofThe Twilight Zone.
The Twilight Zone (1959)
10"Night Call" - Season 5, Episode 19
Cast: Gladys Cooper, Nora Marlowe, Martine Bartlett
Elva Keene (Gladys Cooper) is an elderly woman who lives alone and is bound to her wheelchair with her housekeeper as her only connection to the world outside her home. One night during a terrible storm, Keene receives a strange phone call and can only hear the sound of static, but as the calls persist, a faint voice begins to speak, sending fear through the woman. The telephone company manages to trace the call back to a line that fell into a cemetery, and when Keene goes to see it for herself, she realizes the line has fallen on the grave of her fiancé, who was killed a week before they were to be married.
Season 5, episode nineteen,“Night Call,” initially begins as a classic ghost story, but as it progresses, the tone turns bittersweet as Keene learns who has been calling her. After learning her long-lost love has been trying to communicate with her, her earlier demands to be left alone ultimately cost her the one thing she craves in life: companionship.Granted, the episode doesn’t have a happy ending and has an emotional impact on viewers, but the unexpected twist makes “Night Call” an exceptional episode.
9"The Night of the Meek" - Season 2, Episode 11
Cast: Art Carney, John Fielder, and Val Avery
When a department store Santa Claus, Henry Corwin (Art Carney), is fired for being late and intoxicated on the clock, his luck turns around after he stumbles upon a magical burlap sack that produces any item someone asks for. Much like his seasonal persona, Corwin visits his friends, delivering their Christmas gifts, which he pulls out from the enchanted bag, and as he’s spreading Christmas cheer to others, his good deeds end up changing his life forever.
Season 2, episode eleven, “The Night of the Meek,” is an endearing reminder to viewers about remembering the true meaning of the holiday season. There’s nothing wrong with enjoying gifts and bountiful feasts with family and friends, but the episode sheds light on how the stress and pressures of the time of year can sometimes cause people to lose sight of the genuine spirit of the holidays.Carney’s jolly, heartfelt performance as the selfless Corwin and the overall sentiment of the episode’s message are what make “The Night of the Meek” by far one of the most highly underrated episodes ofThe Twilight Zone.
8"The Sixteen-Millimeter Shrine" - Season 1, Episode 4
Cast: Ida Lupino, Martin Balsam, and Jerome Cowan
Former film star Barbara Jean Trenton (Ida Lupino) spends her days alone watching her films and dreaming about her glory days on the silver screen. Despite still earning offers for bit parts, Trenton refuses to lower her standards by playing older characters like aging mothers and grandmothers, believing them to be insulting to her immense talent and history as a leading lady. After an argument with her agent, Danny Weiss (Martin Balsam), Trenton spends day and night in her screening room, and when Danny comes to see her, he discovers that she finally got her wish, appearing in the film playing before him.
Classic film star and director Ida Lupino stars in season 1, episode 4, “The Sixteen-Millimeter Shrine,” which is essentially similar toBilly Wilder’s classic film,Sunset Boulevard, with a twist of fantasy at the end. While Trenton and Norma Desmond are cut from the same cloth, audiences are more empathetic to Trenton, who isn’t as manipulating and self-centered as Desmond.Lupino, who is the only star of the series to also direct an episode, delivers a flawless performance, which is alone enough to deem “The Sixteen-Millimeter Shrine” a spot on the list.
Cast: Warren Stevens, Richard Devon, and Joan Marshall
When a homeless man, Nate Bledsoe (Warren Stevens), puts on a pair of shoes he snatched off a dead gangster, Dane, he’s infused with the spirit of the dead man, personality, memories, and all. While wearing the shoes, Dane returns to face his murderer, who doesn’t recognize him, but he does pick up on his mannerisms and unusual choice of drink. As the two men meet in a private room, Bledsoe is shot and killed, but before he dies, he warns the man that he’ll be back and will keep coming back until he’s had his revenge.
Season 3, episode eighteen, “Dead Man’s Shoes,” is a telling tale about how one’s past can come back to haunt them. It might not come back in a pair of spats, but somehow, their sins will catch up to them one way or another. Stevens does an excellent job switching from two completely opposite personas, the meek, shy Bledsoe to the aggressively confident Dane, with a more convincing performance in the dual role.“Dead Man’s Shoes” features one of the cleverest concepts in an episode from the Fifth Dimension, and leaving the final act up to the imagination of the audience solidifies it as one of the most underrated episodes.
6"A Most Unusual Camera" - Season 2, Episode 10
Cast: Fred Clark, Jean Carson, and Adam Williams
Petty thieves Chester and Paula Diedrich (Fred Clark,Joan Carson) are going through the items they recently stole from a local antique shop and come across a mysterious vintage camera. Initially, Chester deems the camera worthless, but when they realize the camera takes pictures of the future, they decide to use it to their full advantage. After making a steal at the horse races, the couple and Paula’s brother, Wilfred (Adam Williams), learn to their dismay that they only have a few pictures left, and their unquenchable greed and paranoia eventually lead them to lose it all.
The beauty of season 2, episode ten, “A Most Unusual Camera,” is its unexpected humor and its fitting ending, proving that crime doesn’t pay. Like most devices in the Fifth Dimension, there’s always some catch, and if this camera hadn’t fallen into the hands of criminals, it may have had a different outcome. The chemistry between the overall cast is another element that makes this episode one of the most underrated. They each play off of one another with witty banter and sarcastic remarks that illustrate them enough to be convincing small-time crooks instead of intelligent masterminds, adding another layer of comedy to the episode.
5"The Passersby" - Season 3, Episode 4
Cast: James Gregory, Joanne Linville, and Warren Kemmerling
At the end of the American Civil War, a Confederate sergeant (James Gregory) stops to rest at the partially destroyed home of a widow, Lavinia (Joanne Linville),and, together, they watch as battered soldiers pass by them on a dirt road. Lavinia reveals her husband was killed in action while the Sergeant recalls blacking out and, unable to remember what exactly happened, and as the soldiers continue to pass, he soon realizes they’re not returning home but instead walking to the afterlife.
Season 3, episode 4, “The Passersby,” is one of the most moving episodes fromThe Twilight Zoneand, in classic Serling style, features an ending with a rather somber but sweet twist. The episode sheds light on the devastating aftermath the South faced at the end of the war and the ruins they were left to try to pick up. The immense damage is ideally demonstrated in the never-ending string of men walking the road as well as Lavinia’s fate, which addresses the dangers many faced who weren’t in action.Similar to most episodes, Serling manages to portray the silver lining of the character’s unfortunate fate and leaves a lasting impression on audiences in more ways than one.
4"One for the Angels" - Season 1, Episode 2
Cast: Ed Wynn, Murray Hamilton, and Dana Dillaway
Character actorEd Wynnstars as a sidewalk pitchman, Lew Bookman, who repairs toys and trinkets belonging to the neighborhood kids who adore him. On one unfortunate day, Bookman is visited by Mr. Death (Murray Hamilton), who informs him that he will die of natural causes at midnight. Bookman pleads for more time so that he can achieve his greatest pitch, and, even though he found a loophole to escape Death, he learns that someone else must die in his place. When Bookman learns that Death intends to take a little girl from his building, Maggie (Dana Dillaway), instead of him, he decides to make his final pitch to save Maggie before the clock strikes midnight.
Season 1, episode 2, “One for the Angels,” features the first appearance of Death in human form, which is a common reoccurring character throughout the series, and also showcases a sensational performance by Wynn. Known for his comedic roles, such as inWalt Disney’sMary PoppinsandAlice in Wonderland,Wynn demonstrates his impressive range as a dramatic actor, but even in this bleak episode, he never loses his natural sense of charm and witty humor, which adds a bit of comic relief to the dire scenario.Wynn is one of the few stars who appears in more than one episode ofThe Twilight Zoneand takes on another serious role in season 5, episode twelve, “Ninety Years Without Slumbering.”
3"Printer’s Devil" - Season 4, Episode 9
Cast: Burgess Meredith, Robert Sterling, and Pat Crowley
Newspaper editor Douglas Winter (Robert Sterling) is being pushed out of business by large media corporations, and just as he’s ready to throw in the towel and take his own life, he meets a peculiar man, Mr. Smith (Burgess Meredith), who turns out to be a fast-paced linotype operator and a fine reporter. Even though Winter can’t pay Smith, he still accepts the job, and shortly after his arrival, the paper makes a major comeback, getting hot scoops before any other outlet. As their success continues to roll in, Winter soon discovers that there’s something off about Smith as well as his uncanny reporting skills.
Much like Death, the Devil is another frequent character who appears in the Fifth Dimension, and Burgess Meredith plays one of the finest in season 4, episode 9, “Printer’s Devil.” The episode is featured in season 4, which, unlike the other seasons, is full of one-hour-long episodes, which is partially why “Printer’s Devil” falls off fans' radars.Meredith stars in several episodes ofThe Twilight Zone, including “Time Enough at Last” and “The Obsolete Man,“but “Printer’s Devil” isone where Meredith portrays a rather sinister and diabolical character, proving his incredible versatility as an actor and showman of range.
2"Back There” - Season 2, Episode 13
Cast: Russell Johnson, Paul Hartman, and John Lasell
When a young engineer, Peter Corrigan (Russell Johnson), leaves his elite social club for the night, he’s confused by his surroundings and realizes that he has somehow traveled back in time to the year 1865. While Corrigan tries to figure out how he ended up in the past, he learns that the day happens to be April 14th, the day President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth. As he relentlessly tries to warn local authorities and rush to stop Booth, his attempts are futile, and as he returns to his time, he realizes his actions were not all in vain.
Before he was The Professor onGilligan’s Island, Russell Johnson starred in season 2, episode thirteen, “Back There,” which is one of the series' best time-traveling episodes.The most interesting aspect of the episode is that there is no rhyme or reason as to how Corrigan ended up in the past, acknowledging Serling’s knack for leaving some things up to the audience’s interpretation. Even though it is apparent that Corrigan won’t be successful, Serling still manages to add in a few surprises plus an unpredictable ending, which is what essentially makes “Back There” one of the most underrated episodes ofThe Twilight Zone.
Cast: Oscar Beregi Jr., Joseph Schildkraut, and Karen Verne
After World War II, a former SS captain, Gunther Lutze (Oscar Beregi Jr.), visits Dachau, Bavaria, and checks into a local hotel under the name Schmidt. Once settled into his room, Lutze returns to the former concentration camp, which remains standing but is now abandoned. He strolls around the property reminiscing about his days as captain and his so-called glory days, but his walk down memory lane is interrupted by one of his former prisoners, Alfred Becker (Joseph Schildkraut),who sends Lutze into an inescapable nightmare, reminding him of the cruelty and torture he inflicted on thousands of innocent people.
Season 3, episode 9, “Deaths-Head Revisited” is without a doubt one of the series' most powerful and chilling episodes that uses fantasy to brutally illustrate only a fraction of what millions of Jewish people endured at the hands of the Third Reich during World War II. Even without the use of over-the-top graphic images or special effects, listening to Becker alone creates a vivid image in audiences' minds.While the entire episode is profoundly moving, Serling’s closing monologue is what ultimately seals this compelling episode and is hands down the most underrated episode ofThe Twilight Zone.
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