![]() It's also one of Rod Serling's best written pieces. While The Twilight Zone has never been shy about themes involving the ugly nature of human beings, this episode features one of the most iconic commentaries on human nature the series ever explored. "The Monsters are Due on Maple Street" is the 22nd episode of the first season. Aunt T explains that unloved children just sort of show up there, and the two kids are face with a dilemma - either they stay with their crappy parents, or they live with this complete stranger in some sort of alternate universe. The children meet Aunt T, a kind and benevolent woman with dozens of children living at her quaint little homestead. They don't emerge from their swimming pool, but rather a swimming hole in the woods. After diving underwater, the three come up in a completely different world. One day, while sitting outside of their home's outdoor pool, a boy named Whitt appears from underneath the water and promptly invites them to follow him somewhere better. Sport and her little brother Jeb live in a tumultuous family with cold, cruel, and self-absorbed parents. ![]() The leading lady of the episode is Sport, portrayed by Mary Badham of To Kill a Mockingbird fame. The episode was released in mid-1964 and marked the end of the original series on a positive, uplifting, and utterly bizarre note. "The Bewitchin' Pool" is not only one of The Twilight Zone's most creative episodes, but it also stands as the original series' finale. ![]() Throughout the episode, you're left wondering if there is a creature on the wing or if Bob has gone into full blown psychosis. Bob descends into a panic and grows more and more desperate to get the plane to land before the creature can cause it to crash. His credibility is already tarnished due to his past, so nobody believes what he's saying. After every attempt to get his wife and the flight attendants to look out of his window, the monster leaps out of sight. However, he catches sight of some sort of horrible gremlin-like creature on the wing of the plane. Clearly nervous but holding his own, Bob quietly waits for the flight to be over with. He is traveling home after being institutionalized. In this episode, Bob Wilson (Shatner) is on a flight with his wife nearly six months after he suffered a nervous breakdown while on another plane. Why not start off with a widely known fan favorite? William Shatner blessed us with his overacting in this airborne episode from the fifth season circa 1963.
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