Description: Season 5, Episode 1
Air Date: September 27, 1963
Plot Summary: After learning that his son is dying in the Vietnam War, a man believes he sees his son as a child again.
Review: We've arrived at the fifth and final season, but there are still plenty of great episodes left to cover. As I've stated before, TZ only deviated from its typical formula for season 4, so we have the return of concise, 30 minute tales. As for this particular season premiere, it could have been better that's for sure. Serving as the last appearance from Jack Klugman, you'd hope for a more interesting episode for him to stretch his legs with. Also, considering the controversial aspects of the Vietnam War at this point, you'd think TZ would work with the material in a more thought-provoking way.
The story focuses on a bookie named Max, played by Mr. Klugman, right as he's coming to terms with the fact that his life has been fundamentally wasted. Obviously his biggest regret is not being there for his son, Pip, in a meaningful way. The self-reflection is done well enough, but there is just something amiss in the execution. Anyway, Max is apathetic toward a guy he conned, but his attitude changes when he learns Pip appears to have been fatally wounded in battle. This is surprisingly a violent scene for TZ--Max is shot after stabbing his boss and one of the boss' flunkies, because they were roughing up the guy Max conned. Max then aimlessly wanders toward an amusement park he took Pip to when he was young. There, Pip's spirit somehow manifests as a child, played by Billy Mumy in another appearance. The two are having fun for awhile as Max brushes this sight off due to the delirium induced by the gunshot wound. However, Pip suddenly runs away, and the two run around in a funhouse. Pip says he must go, the adult version appearing to die, and Max is left with only regret that he wasn't there for his son. Begging god for some kind of exchange, Max dies and Pip miraculously survives. We skip to sometime later with a crippled Pip going back to the amusement park and seemingly remembering the bizarre last instance of meeting Max.
I'm mostly disappointed that they didn't do more with this plot line. The were many elements that could have been utilized in a meaningful way, but, maybe, they were afraid of retreading covered material. This isn't a bad episode, it just doesn't work all that well as the season opener.
I don't think that Pip was remembering the bizarre experience of Max seeing Pip as 10 years old again, since that whole part was something playing in Max's mind as he was dying from his gunshot wound. Max was seeing in his mind real pieces of memory back from when he really did take Pip to the amusement park when he was 10. When Pip survived and was then later back at the fair reminiscing about his times with his dad at the fair, he was just recalling the same moments from being 10 that his dad was envisioning as he was dying.
ReplyDeleteGod did answer Max's prayer about taking him instead of Max. Even though while laying wounded and the doctor saying that his survival didn't look promising, once in a while during war when that has been said, the soldier did then recover, it's happened before. Also, the last scene with 20 year old Pip at the fair looking well, that could've been 6 months or a year later from the beginning scene when he was in very bad shape at the army hospital after being shot.