The Twilight Zone Zone - Episode 10: "The Grave” and “It’s a Good Life”

Every week on The Twilight Zone Zone,we go down Donald Liebenson’s list The 26 Episodes We Talk About When We Talk About The Twilight Zone from Vanity Fair, chronologically by release date and compare two episodes and choose which one to recommend. This week we watched  "The Grave” and “It’s a Good Life”

“The Grave”

Months before Lee Marvin, Strother Martin, and Lee Van Cleef starred in John Ford’s classic Western The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, they co-starred in this episode, a Western ghost story (ghostern?) about a gunman who is dared to make a midnight visit to the grave of the freshly gunned-down killer he relentlessly pursued but failed to capture. It boasts a great script, eerie atmosphere, and Lee Marvin at his Lee Marvin-est (“I don’t get my nerve from this gun . . . I had it long before I could even pick one of them up”). And the ending is a real grabber.

“It’s a Good Life”

The twist is revealed right up top: the monster who has made the world go away, save for his rural Ohio village, is a six-year-old boy (Bill Mumy) who can read thoughts, control even the weather with his mind, and transform those who would wish him harm into “grotesque walking horror.” Demon kids are always creepy, but this episode plays like the ultimate nightmare of a society destroyed by the spoiled children of overindulgent parents. (Yes, The Simpsons did this one, too, with Bart as the monster.)

There are many paths in life, but which one will you travel down in the Twilight Zone, Zone…

Host: Nic Hoffmann

Panel: Matthew and Daniel