The Twilight Zone - A Review.

Rating: ****

First off, this is the classic series and not the revamped, rehashed knockoff version of itself. The creator Rod Serling was probably one of the bright minds who worked back then in the entertainment industry, and if his clash with the studio moguls are of any indication, he was one helluva fighter, too. He didn't bend backwards for any money-grubbing, penny-pinching weasel. He believed in untainted, unlaced and a satiable family entertainment, and The Twilight Zone is one such endeavor.

Episode 49: Back There.
This episode dealt with time traveling, and if it were possible to change the course of events in regard to a particular era. The leading person, initially, doesn't buy into the notion, but a moment later, is somehow transported back into time. The day in question is when Mr. Lincoln was assassinated. After the stark reality is revealed upon our lead, he conjures up every strength and might to stop the unthinkable from happening, only to be dismissed as a nutjob. The episode wraps up this fictional notion with a subtle, yet a very effective resolve. The comments by Mr. Rod Serling at the end and the beginning of every episode puts the whole episode into a nice, ribbon-clad, spooky, yet very relevant perspective. You see, no matter how unthinkable, improbable, eccentric, and bizarre the episode's content may be, Rod Serling has the unearthly ability to paint it with contemporary notions, and with a remark on the most important and basic of all aspects: the human nature.

Episode 50: The Whole Truth.
I guess, the concept for the Jim Carrey flick "Liar, Liar" was ripped of from this particular episode. The butt of this twilight joke this time is a car salesman, who'd do anything in his power and use all the imaginable trickery and gambit to swindle an unsuspecting customer, and leave him with no option but to buy one of his decrepit, haggard, run-down metal junk. That is, until, one of his customers sells him a car that is supposedly haunted; not in the traditional sense, however. In actuality, whoever owns this particular car, cannot lie (just like Mr. Jim Carrey in "Liar, Liar"). That's pretty much the gist of the whole story, but that's more than enough for Rod Serling to hold us captive to his leap of imagination and narrative. Like every other episode in the series, this one, too, has a befitting ending with a decent enough twist.