A World of His Own

Description: Season 1, Episode 36

Air Date: July 1, 1960

Plot Summary: A playwright reveals to his bitchy wife that he has the power to bring any character he imagines to life.

Review: Well, here we are, the final episode of season 1, and we end with one of most underrated tales. I'm not sure why it gets so little credit considering this is one of the more ballsy episodes for the era; man, this episode would never fly nowaday in this wasteland of pc, crybabies infesting every entertainment outlet. Besides a provocative plot line, this episode also provides the one time Mr. Serling is actually a character in the story. I've always thought that was a nice touch and made for an awesome conclusion to the season, but if only they could have strategically saved it to be the conclusion to the series itself.

While the story itself isn't all that complicated, it's the way they go about dealing with the subject matter that makes it memorable. We meet a playwright, named Gregory, as he is being serviced by a, decently, attractive woman, named Mary. The complete implication is that this dude is cheating on his wife, although, I am willing to consider the situation to be slightly more innocent than it appears; but come on, the guy even refers to her as his mistress. Conveniently enough, Gregory's wife, Victoria, walks by the window as she catches him with Mary. When Victoria tries to confront Gregory, it would appear Mary has completely vanished out of thin air while Gregory plays it cool. The two sort of screw with each other, in the lamest of ways, trying not to let the other know what they are up to. In a sly move, Victoria tricks Gregory into admitting Mary was there; she's completely convinced there's a hidden door or something. Caught in the lie, Gregory reveals that the characters he creates come to life as real people. He uses some early cassette recorder equivalent (hell if I know), but they never address if it's Gregory that makes the characters come to life or this recorder. As for Mary, she is Gregory's newest character, and the way he made her disappear was by burning the tape that her description was recorded on.

Of course Victoria doesn't believe any of these excuses, and the episode really stresses her bitchy attitude; TZ writers certainly had no love for nagging wives. While I can't fault her for being mad at possible cheating, she is too annoying to tolerate. To prove himself, Gregory materializes Mary and then burns her tape again to show Victoria the process firsthand. Despite this revelation, Victoria insists she will have Gregory institutionalized. I guess that really would have been a threat back then, but, still, I doubt you could really just pick up the phone and say, "yeah, come get this guy." To stop Victoria from escaping, Gregory manifests an elephant in front of the door (that's a good one), but then gets rid of it shortly thereafter. Annoyed that she can't leave (to where I know not), Victoria tries to steal the door's key from Gregory as he explains that, perhaps, Victoria is too perfect of a woman. Wait, hold on while I contain my laughter...perfect woman? Dude, are you fucking high outta your mind? This chick is a total bitch and busted as hell to boot! It's okay though, because Gregory discloses that Victoria is nothing more than another fictional character that he could discard if needed. Quickly relenting in this initial threat to get rid of her, Victoria proceeds, in disbelief, to destroy her own tape believing it to be a ruse by Gregory. Victoria then disappears from existence as Gregory frantically tries to recreate her, but decides instead to stick with Mary; yeah, good choice. The episode ends with Mary making Gregory a drink as Mr. Serling tries to wrap the tale up, however, he is interrupted by Gregory who ends up burning Mr. Serling's tape. I guess we know who really runs the Twilight Zone.

So what exactly makes this episode so ballsy? For one, you have the cheating almost admitted. Gregory even admits to screwing his characters, although, that could simply have meant banging Victoria technically. Gregory wants to get rid of his wife for a younger, nicer, and more attractive girl while also, sort of, threatening to kill her. Gregory traps Victoria and keeps control over her, and one of the main reasons he wants to get rid of her is because she's not listening to him anymore. Hah! Oh man, this Gregory guy is great. And the fact that the episode ends with him NOT getting his comeuppance and getting what he wants: priceless. Let's face it, a story like this would never be allowed on TV today, because it's pandering to the wrong demographic and we can't have that, now can we? Overall, this is an imaginative episode that tackles quite a bit with a hell of a lot going on under the surface. It is humorous, and the ending is one of the best in the entire series.