Anthology TV series, where each episode, or perhaps each season, is a distinct story
If you’ve just finished Room 104 S4E9 “The Last Man” (directed by Julian Wass and written by Mark Duplass) you may find yourself wondering what in the hell you just watched. It’s a strange episode, experimental even by the standards of this show, and I honestly found myself wondering how many people might have turned […] More
Room 104 S4E8 “No Dice” (written by Julian Wass and directed by Patrick Brice) gives us the story of an older woman named Enid (Linda Lavin) who is obsessed with game show host Chip Crawford (Gary Cole). This type of parasocial interaction is not uncommon, even if most of us don’t engage in it to […] More
Room 104 S4E7 “Foam Party” (written by Bryan Poyser and directed by Natalie Morales) is like one of those horror movies you might have seen in the 1990s: the premise is absurd (by which I mean far-fetched, or outlandish), and so is its logic (which I ultimately don’t think is consistent—how does the foam function […] More
Room 104 S4E6 “The Hikers” (written and directed by Lauren Budd) centers on the question of friendship. What does it mean to be a friend? I like to say that a friend is someone who will help you move, and while that is something of a joke I think it gets to the heart of […] More
Room 104 S4E5 “Oh, Harry!” (written and directed by Mel Eslyn) is a sitcom. The style is very much of the ‘90s, from the tropes making light of familial dysfunction to the absurd premise (they are living in a motel room while their house is being worked on) to the clothes (OK, especially the clothes!). […] More
I’ll have to admit to you, kind reader, that I didn’t get this one. I was pretty confused and I like to think I’m a fairly intelligent guy. But this week’s episode of The Twilight Zone went to goofy town and I don’t think I came back unscathed. If there is one thing that this […] More
Room 104 S4E4 “Bangs” (written by Jenée LaMarque and Lauren Parks, and directed by Jenée LaMarque) follows in line with the previous episodes of Season 4 in a couple of significant ways. As with “Star Time” and “Avalanche,” the reality of events is meaningfully in question, and the plot centers on what could be called […] More
As with last week’s episode, “Star Time,” the reality of events is very much in question in Room 104 S4E3 “Avalanche” (directed by Ross Partridge and written by Mark Duplass). I’m something of a sucker for this kind of narrative—particularly when there is a mystery centered around issues with memory—so at least from my point […] More
The Twilight Zone’s second season gets back on track with its fifth episode “Among the Untrodden”. After a couple of episodes of near misses and/or simply ‘meh’ storytelling, “Among the Untrodden” brings back the traditional Twilight Zone milieu, delivering a can’t-miss premise and issuing plot surprise after plot surprise, including the patented TZ twist ending. […] More
Room 104 S4E2 “Star Time” (written by Mark Duplass and directed by Karan Soni) opens with Sam (Jillian Bell) eating chips while lying on the bed of the titular room. Then a talking hamster (Jon Bass) appears on the other bed and asks her if she is ready. She seems and claims to not know […] More
Room 104 S2E6 “Arnold” may not be entirely sung, but it nonetheless constitutes a musical episode of television. And, while some such episodes have a way of feeling a bit gimmicky because the musical aspect is unexplained, “Arnold” falls rather in the camp of those rare ones (like Buffy’s “Once More, With Feeling”) where the […] More
“Infamy All for publicity Destruction going viral –Metallica, “Moth into Flame” The Twilight Zone is, shall we say, a bit cynical about fame, especially in its newest incarnation. In season 1’s “The Comedian”, Samir Wassan (Kumail Nanjiani) was a comedian who was granted his wish of popular success but the price was the disappearance of […] More
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