Description: Season 1, Episode 13
Air Date: January 1, 1960
Plot Summary: A man who can make his face look like anyone attempts to pull off an elaborate scheme.
Review: This was an interesting episode in terms of the story, but it was mostly predictable and they could have made better use of the ideas especially in regard to the ending. Essentially, the main guy is a shapeshifter, although, I'm not sure if the term had even been coined at that point. The actual episode only mentions his ability to change his face, but we obviously see him change voices as well; he might also change build and size, but they did try to keep the four forms he takes similar to one another. We are told he's a cheap guy, and probably more of a lowlife, which might explain how a guy with such an extraordinary gift has accomplished nothing with it. The way they handle the shapeshifting is through obvious cuts, but it's effective enough. The man has a bunch of newspaper clippings of obituaries that he intends to use in a scheme we don't fully learn. We can infer that he had hoped to gain money, a girl, and perhaps other things before the scam meets an untimely end; or maybe that really was the extent of his plan. It's difficult to say, because he appeared to have more up his sleeve and had performed extensive research on the people he was scamming.
The first thing the guy does is take the form of a dead musician. The man seeks out the musician's, apparent, girlfriend who is a lounge singer I think. She's kind of cute, I suppose, and the two do one helluva make out scene. I'd imagine this was bordering on risque for the era, but, hey, they were bringing in the new decade...you gotta live it up in style! The girl is just so happy the musician is alive that she promises to run away with him later that night. The next phase of the plan is to take the form of a recently gunned down gangster found in the river. The guy goes to, what I'm guessing is, the boss and pretends he's a ghost or something and demands money from the gig that seemingly led to his death. This is mildly humorous as he tries to to taunt the boss a bit but then ends up running away like a bitch when backup goons arrive. In order to properly lose the goons, the man takes the form of a boxer whose image was plastered on a poster nearby. Through sheer shenanigans, or because this is the Twilight Zone, the man comes across the boxer's father who tells him how much he hates him and that he ruined multiple lives. Ditching that fiasco, the man goes back to his hotel to either plan the next stage or go meet his little hunny when he's suddenly arrested...I guess; this scene was questionable to say the least. In order to ditch the detective that found him, he amusingly runs around in a revolving door while shapeshifting, thus, confusing the detective when he catches up with the man once more. Unfortunately for our shapeshifting friend, when he fled from the detective he took the form of the boxer once more just as the crazed father has returned. Unable to focus long enough to shapeshift, the boxer's father shoots the man and he dies. That was so predictable even the shapeshifter should have seen that shit coming!
I really wanted them to somehow have the story come full circle with all the characters interacting. Wouldn't it have been great if all the people he was scamming began to come across him all at once and he had to shapeshift back and forth? But, then again, that might have turned out like a corny sitcom. We never get the full picture on what he hoped to accomplish or why now or why these people in particular. Lacking these aspects weakens the story since it was a missed opportunity to give the audience insight on the shapeshifter himself. Nevertheless, this was a nice little tale with some creative approaches to the situation despite the flaws. I suppose you could argue this episode is on the underrated side of the TZ spectrum.
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