Clearly I was over-optimistic back in 2019 when I opined that Jordan Peele’s The Twilight Zone reboot “may be built to last.” Oh well, nobody ever accused me of being a streaming-era TV hitmaker. But after catching up with the second and final season, I’m still convinced the right people were in charge. The episodes may be uneven once again, but they’re well cast, intriguing, and watchable, and largely recapture the singular vibe of the original.
The second season gets off to a strong start with “Meet in the Middle,” a well structured speculative chiller. Jimmi Simpson stars as Phil, a socially awkward man who mysteriously acquires the ability to telepathically communicate with a faraway woman named Annie (Gillian Jacobs). Phil’s hapless quest for connection finds a new target in his impossible inner voice, inexorably spinning him into her orbit. “Meet in the Middle” has what TZ generally needs: an intriguing slow-build, escalating twists, and a satisfying payoff.
Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for the middle stretches of the season. “Downtime” has a great build-up, but ultimately stumbles to an abrupt finish line, managing to waste a stellar cast — Morena Baccarin, Colman Domingo, and Tony Hale — along the way. “Ovation,” featuring Jurnee Smollett, is a fairly obvious careful-what-you-wish-for tale about a frustrated wanna-be pop star, while “Among the Untrodden” is a competent but unexceptional peer-pressure fable set in a girls’ boarding school. There are also a pair of middling old-school science fiction episodes: “A Human Face,” starring Jenna Elfman and Christopher Meloni as parents whose grief for the death of their child is uncomfortably disrupted by an alien invasion, and “8,” which features Joel McHale in an Antarctic creature feature with roots going all the way back to “Who Goes There?” Best of the middle-packers is “The Who of You,” a manic body-switching adventure which escalates entertainingly while serving up a juicy multirole for Ethan Embry.
Season two saves its better episodes for the home stretch, starting with “A Small Town.” Written by Steven Barnes and Tananarive Due, this one stars Damon Wayans, Jr. as a widower who discovers a scale model of his struggling town in a church tower — which he can manipulate to improve the town’s fortunes. His powers are challenged when the mayor (David Krumholtz), whom he thinks is responsible for the town’s demise, starts taking credit for his magical improvements. This one fails to stick the landing, but the build-up is a treat, full of fun eyeball kicks. Perhaps the most effective episode of the season is “Try, Try,” about a young woman (Kylie Bunbury) who finds herself unexpectedly charmed by a man (Topher Grace) during a museum visit. This one is best approached in a foreknowledge vacuum; suffice it to say it’s a smart, brilliantly performed rejoinder to a common cinematic premise, with Grace standing out impressively. The final episode, “You May Also Like,” is also the weirdest. Written and directed by Osgood Perkins, this one features Gretchen Mol as a suburban mom whose surreal, confusing blackouts coincide with the rise of a new product called “the egg” — a vague craze everyone seems to want, even though nobody knows what it is. Cryptic and quirky, “You May Also Like” doesn’t necessarily make sense, but its bizarre sense of humor and unique tone are infectious, plus it features Greta Lee in a delightful supporting appearance.
With Jordan Peele steering the ship, The Twilight Zone seemed like a good bet to cash in on the anthology series resurgence Black Mirror briefly spawned – not to mention a potential flagship property for a new streaming service. Two uneven seasons, a pandemic recession, and the end of Peak TV later, TZ has faded out yet again. It may never have been truly great, but it was fun while it lasted.
