The Twilight Zone is filled with episodes with stunning and heartbreaking twists, however there’s a 64-year-old episode that has the saddest twist in the entire present. Some of the influential and best TV shows of all time is The Twilight Zone, created by Rod Serling. The Twilight Zone aired for 5 seasons, and it was rebooted in 1985, 2002, and 2019.
Each episode of The Twilight Zone is a unique story, typically bringing collectively sci-fi, horror, drama, and fantasy, with the occasional comedic episode. The Twilight Zone is finest recognized for its shock endings with an ethical and plot twists, which as a rule depart the viewers both shocked or heartbroken.
Lots of the best Twilight Zone episodes have heartbreaking twists, which have been key to their episodes’ legacies, however there’s one which earns the title of the saddest plot twist within the first run of Serling’s iconic present.
“The Midnight Solar” Is Simply The Most Heartbreaking Twilight Zone Twist
Warning: main spoilers for The Twilight Zone’s “The Midnight Solar”.Written by Rod Serling and directed by Anton Chief, “The Midnight Solar” aired in November 1961, as a part of The Twilight Zone’s third season. The occasions of the episode are attributable to an odd phenomenon that brought on a change in Earth’s orbit, making it slowly method the solar. By the point the episode begins, there’s no extra darkness, and the survivors put together for the worst.
Amongst them are artist Norma (Lois Nettleton) and her landlady, Mrs. Bronson (Betty Garde), the final remaining residents of their New York condominium constructing. Because the temperature rises, water utilization is proscribed, electrical energy is progressively minimize off, meals is scarce, and the police have been moved out of town, with residents warned about looters.
When one of many looters breaks into Norman’s condominium, the viewers learns extra of the extent of the scenario, as he tells them of the deaths of his spouse and new child youngster. After turning into delirious, Mrs. Bronson dies, and Norma sees the thermometer reaching its highest level and her work melting, collapsing in shock and desperation.
The twist in “The Midnight Solar” comes proper after this, because it’s all revealed to be a dream Norma had whereas in mattress with a excessive fever. Because it seems, the Earth isn’t transferring nearer to the solar, and it’s really transferring away from it. That is foreshadowed within the first minutes of the episode, when Norma says she retains having the considered waking up in a cool mattress, and it will be evening outdoors.
Whereas it’s not unusual for episodes of The Twilight Zone to not have uplifting endings, the one among “The Midnight Solar” is particularly heartbreaking as it reveals that there’s no approach for the Earth’s inhabitants to be saved. “The Midnight Solar” presents two catastrophic, nightmarish eventualities, with none higher than the opposite.
Even 64 Years On, The Episode Is Nonetheless Flawless
Regardless of being a decades-old episode, “The Midnight Solar” is a timeless The Twilight Zone because of its plausible portrayal of the top of the world. The episode progressively builds rigidity, but in addition desperation and disappointment as we see the characters succumbing to the results of the extraordinary warmth in numerous methods.
The twist is so completely executed that first-time viewers received’t see it coming, and it’s a twist that utterly adjustments your entire episode. Norma, Mrs. Bronson, and the remainder of the world had no approach out within the dream nor in the actual world, staying true to The Twilight Zone’s type of sending a message (environmental collapse, on this case) whereas presenting nightmarish but relatable eventualities.
The Twilight Zone
10/10
- Launch Date
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1959 – 1964
- Showrunner
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Rod Serling
- Administrators
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John Brahm, Buzz Kulik, Douglas Heyes, Lamont Johnson, Richard L. Naked, James Sheldon, Richard Donner, Don Medford, Montgomery Pittman, Abner Biberman, Alan Crosland, Jr., Alvin Ganzer, Elliot Silverstein, Jack Smight, Joseph M. Newman, Ted Publish, William Claxton, Jus Addiss, Mitchell Leisen, Perry Lafferty, Robert Florey, Robert Parrish, Ron Winston, Stuart Rosenberg
- Writers
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Charles Beaumont, Richard Matheson, Earl Hamner, Jr., George Clayton Johnson, Jerry Sohl, Henry Slesar, Martin Goldsmith, Anthony Wilson, Bernard C. Schoenfeld, Invoice Idelson, E. Jack Neuman, Jerome Bixby, Jerry McNeely, John Collier, John Furia, Jr., John Tomerlin, Lucille Fletcher, Ray Bradbury, Reginald Rose, Sam Rolfe, Adele T. Strassfield
