Description: Season 2, Episode 1
Air Date: September 30, 1960
Plot Summary: Miraculously surviving a plane crash, a WWII captain searches for his crew amidst a desert.
Review: Now we come to season 2 and there are a few, slight changes. For starters, the opening is different as well as the main theme, however, I prefer the season 1 opening. Mr. Serling's appearances when narrating become more frequent, and they add the title to the closing credits. None of the changes are dramatic, although, this season does conclude sooner than the first and has less episodes. As for our season 2 opener, this episode is simply average--not all that great but still respectable. I appreciate the themes it was trying to touch on, but it felt similar to better episodes.
The story takes place in the middle of WWII as we see the wreckage of a bomber that has crashed somewhere in an African desert; they mention Tunisia so I will assume it's the Sahara. The only survivor of the crash appears to be the captain, but he can't seem to find the remains of his crew. The captain's memories are hazy as he can't recall the crash or how he could have possibly survived it. Hmm...are you detecting the similarities to other episodes yet? The captain roams around the nearby area trying to find a trace of his men, but all he can find are mere hints as to what became of them. The captain, on occasion, believes he sees a member of the crew, but it is nothing more than a mirage each time. With the captain growing increasingly erratic, and talking to himself, he notices jets flying over his head. He recalls what jets are, but he also recalls that they did not exist during WWII and is unsure how he knows this fact. Going completely insane, and laughing like a lunatic, the captain sees a mirage of the crew and realizes they must surely be dead. It's okay though, since the captain wakes up in a hospital, and it's really 1960 after all. A doctor and some kind of military liaison explain that reading an article in a newspaper set off the captain and sent him into a psychological breakdown. Apparently, the captain never went on the last mission where the bomber crashed and only recently were the remains found. The captain has been blaming himself all these years as he felt guilty that he wasn't there for his men; I suppose it's meant to be a kind of survivor's guilt. Coming to terms with his horrible dream, the captain still feels as though a part of the dream were real. Since this is the TZ, the episode ends with a nurse talking to the military liaison guy and they find sand in the shoes of the captain. Oh shit!
I'm not going to necessarily hold it against the episode that the presentation felt similar to others, but it sure didn't help things. Rather than throwing in a final zinger, it probably would have been more powerful to let the themes stand on their own merit. There were probably ways to do things a little different, but it's still decent. I liked that they addressed the fact that people were psychologically scarred from war, and WWII severely impacted the lives of TZ's writers. I would also think the story presented an early version of post traumatic stress disorder. In a way, this episode touched on the kind of mental problems vets could have, even years later, which is something worth showcasing. Overall, not too bad of a way to kick off the second season.
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