Kick the Can

Description: Season 3, Episode 21

Air Date: February 9, 1962

Plot Summary: An old man is reminded of, and longs for, his youth after seeing kids playing a game.

Review: This is another of the moderately classic episodes; it's probably more famous due to its movie incarnation. Overall, it's a decent tale, but I feel the material has already been thoroughly covered in episodes like "Walking Distance" and "Static." I suppose you could argue this is the perfected version of those themes, but I can't agree with that conclusion. The resolution is also a bit lacking as it makes virtually no sense, and the notion of "believing you're old makes you old" is fine in a figurative sense but not in a literal sense.

The plot simply involves old people at some kind of retirement home. When one guy thinks he's going to live with his son, he realizes there's no place left for him; even for TZ this is a grim outlook on the elderly. Later on, the old guy sees a bunch of kids playing kick the can, and he reminisces about the days when he and his friend would play. While kick the can may be a dated game, good luck trying to get the pudgy bastards nowaday off the couch to play anything at this point. So the old guy, seemingly going insane, comes to the conclusion that children believe in a certain kind of magic and that when they stop believing they begin to age. Ehhh, I don't know, old man, I know people who believe in some crazy shit and they're aging steadily. The old man tries to convince his friend to join him in his attempts to relive his youth, but the friend is too much of a cliche to oblige. Deciding to run away or whatever, the old man escapes the retirement home one night and starts to play kick the can with the rest of the old folks. Through TZ shenanigans, the old people become little kids again but the friend is left behind.

I guess my problem with this episode is that the supernatural elements come out of nowhere--there's no build up really. It's also too ambiguous as to what becomes of the children--do they run off to live on their own? Is it all spiritual and they're off in playground heaven? If so, who the hell wants to spend eternity as a little kid playing kick the can?! "Walking Distance" already covered the nostalgia aspects of youth and the feeling of how life changes when you grow up. "Static" covered the whole going back and redoing your youth. Finally, TZ as a whole has dealt with all manner of life after death and getting away from it all. I don't know, this episode simply feels unnecessary to me. Not saying it's bad, just that it's a rehash of similar tales while failing to bring something new to the table.