The Twilight Zone episode that got a sequel from Longlegs director Oz Perkins

Can aliens be trusted to arrive on Earth with seemingly altruistic intentions? Or is he a Trojan horse, waiting for the right moment to ambush? This is the fundamental question posed by the book “For the Service of Man”, which is considered… One of the most exciting episodes in Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone series. When this episode aired on CBS in 1962, Serling’s show had already established itself as an anthology series containing short, quirky episodes about supernatural or psychological phenomena emanating from the titular Twilight Zone. The original TV show “The Twilight Zone”. Steeped in rich, compelling storytelling and a deep sense of nostalgia, this combination is difficult to recapture or replicate today. However, Jordan Peele took the initiative to do so with the 2019 “Twilight Zone” revival, which ran for two seasons and included some interesting spin-offs.

Bill’s approach to the property was thoughtful. Thematically, his version of “The Twilight Zone” is designed to be a direct response to the issues we face today, and yet its best individual episodes still feel timely. However, Bale also realized that it was impossible to separate the revival from the legacy of the original series, which is why he and his fellow creators showed respect for it. As a result, the revival included plenty of Easter eggs referencing classic episodes of Serling’s “Twilight Zone,” and even went so far as to explicitly recast/homage a particularly popular segment with “Nightmare at 30,000 Feet.” This has proven to be a double-edged sword Bale’s “Twilight Zone” revival proved controversial For the way she blended nostalgic appreciation with inspired renewal.

In addition to the reshoots, Peele’s Twilight Zone revival also included a To Service Man sequel from writer-director Osgood Perkins (who knows a thing or two about building and maintaining fear in horror-coded stories). ). But to better understand Perkins’ sequel, “You Might Also Like,” we need to talk a little more about its predecessor first.

SBoilers To be followed by “For the Service of Man” and its sequel “You May Also Like”.

Serling’s opening novel “In the Service of Man” introduces the Kanamites, an alien race of beings over nine feet tall and of unknown origin, who arrive on Earth during turbulent times. After the intervention of the United Nations, the Kanamet declared their intentions to be charitable and expressed their willingness to solve Earth’s food and energy crises by sharing advanced technology developed by their species. Despite their initial wariness, the peoples and governments of the world begin to relax once they decipher the book the aliens left behind as titled “For the Service of Man.” Over time, the Kanamit flatten the land into vast natural expanses, solving global problems, and helping to resolve all military powers. However, the illusion of this utopia is shattered when the Kanamet’s true intentions are revealed One of the best “Twilight Zone” twist endings ever: “For the Service of Man” is not an altruistic statement, it is actually a cookbook.

“To Service Man” is told through the eyes of Michael Chambers (Lloyd Bochner), a cryptographer tasked with deciphering the book left behind by the Kannames. Chambers represents a troubling human impulse: laziness, combined with an abiding refusal to think beyond selfish desires. He is terrible at his job (an expert at doing absolutely nothing while pretending to do a lot) and is even more obsessed with getting a ticket to the home planet of Kanamet for entertainment purposes. By the time someone else does their job and translates the book, it is too late. Michael’s negligence cost humanity everything; The inhabitants of Earth would soon be delicious little treats for an alien race that was essentially fattening pigs before slaughter.

The episode’s pun-based twist is of the same variety as Hannibal Lecter’s famous “I’m having an old friend over for dinner,” though “The Twilight Zone” makes it work by contrasting Michael’s darkly ironic fate with the tension of the near-miss. development. So, how does Perkins reinterpret the story of Kanamite in a sequel that sees the return of these conniving creatures?

Perkins, who directed films such as The Blackcoat’s Daughter and Longlegs, He knows how to make the most of simple fears that linger on the edge of human consciousness. In “You Might Also Like,” this element is present throughout, as Perkins focuses on the smug indifference that the Kanamite display in the original, buoyed by their (perceived) superiority over humanity. However, the episode leans right into Serling’s goofy humor, taking things even further with sarcastic product placements that underscore humanity’s obsession with gadgets it doesn’t need (but think will fix everything). Here, a wealthy woman named Janet (Gretchen Mol) suspects something is wrong after she loses track of time and has memory gaps, and the arrival of a heralded egg heralds the return of the Kanamite to Earth.

While “For the Service of Man” focuses on the failure of the human race to anticipate its own ruin, “You Might Also Like” satirizes rampant consumerism and how it prevents audiences from recognizing its most glaring moral traps. In the original episode, the Kanamites used cunning to deceive the smartest people on Earth and played the long game to lure humanity into a false sense of inaction. In Part II, such elaborate planning is not necessary, as the Kanamet can simply take advantage of late-stage capitalism to advance their goals. One simply has to describe their Queen Eggs as the next most sought-after product that will dramatically improve everyone’s lives. The why and how are irrelevant when something “life-changing” is 50 percent off.

Reception to Perkins’ approach was mixed and, admittedly, a somewhat off-putting episode. Although it would have been an objectively better choice not to take a subjectively serious stance in a sequel to a classic Twilight Zone episode, the satirical nature of the story runs deep. There was an opportunity to delve deeper into the relationship between mindless consumerism and self-esteem, how “happiness” is often a hollow performance for the public, and how hobbies are constantly stimulated. Who are we to lead for? For better or worse, the episode offers no answers. Instead, he merely mocks our dependence on the “egg,” which promises to make everything right again. Of course not.