A World of Difference

Description: Season 1, Episode 23

Air Date: March 11, 1960

Plot Summary: A man comes to the realization that his life is nothing more than a role in a film...or is it?

Review: This is another on my list of most underrated episodes. There's just something about the reality-questioning themes that always work for me. Although the story doesn't completely run with the theme, it's highly imaginative and paved the way for things like "The Truman Show" among others. Essentially, we have a man, who believes his name is Arthur, who suddenly finds himself on a film set when he thinks he's at work. Perplexed, the man, who the film crew refers to as an actor named Gerry, tries to get to the bottom of the situation. Everyone thinks the man is having a nervous breakdown of sorts and mention his drinking habits. Actually, the "nervous breakdown" concept appears to be a common plot device mentioned in numerous episodes. The man tries to call his home, but the operator says it's not a real number. This leads the man to stumble across a raging bitch that claims she's his real wife. The two travel to where the man thinks his home is at only to accidentally grab a little girl he believed was his daughter. Humorous. Then the two return to the house of Gerry in order for the bitch to get money from the guy; I guess they're divorcing or something. The man, in a perpetual state of disbelief, comes across, who appears to be, his agent--played by David White. The agent tries to talk sense into the man and shows him the script that he believes is his real life. There is the implication that the man can't cope with his increasingly shitty life and has somehow associated his psyche with the part he's playing. When the man learns they are shutting down the film, he races off to the set as a means to return to the world he believes is his true life. Sure enough, the man finds himself back at work, and his film wife has come to visit. The couple decides they are going on a vacation just as the agent arrives at the set to find Gerry has disappeared. The final shot is of the man and his wife flying off to that vacation as their plane disappears; Mr. Serling closes us out with the notion that there are more ways to leave this world than through a pine box.

My only real complaint with the story is that they should have left it ambiguous as to which was the true reality. Don't flat out tell us the actor's world was the true reality and that it was only through TZ shenanigans that the movie world became real at the end. Regardless of this, the episode tackles an awesome idea that was original for the era. You could argue this concept is simply a branch off of the life is but a dream concept, but I see them as much different. In the "it's all a dream" plot you're dealing with the reality itself more than the individual involved. With this notion, you're dealing more with the identity of the individual and their skewed sense of self. Eh, it makes sense in my head. I still feel the episode, "Roger the Wanderer," of the anime, "Big O," touches on this theme the best especially when considering the context of the show itself. I mean, is life a stage as Shakespeare proposed? Are we all merely playing parts or are we our true selves? How could we know the difference? You could look at this as an extension of destiny really. If our lives are set in stone, by some god or force, we are simply acting out preordained decisions similar to a script. It's really cool to think about. Alternatively, David White was Darrin's boss on "Bewitched," so maybe this is just more of Samantha's antics! I also wanted to mention the main guy looks too much like that son of a bitch George W. Bush, and that was annoying me.