Description: Season 5, Episode 22
Air Date: February 28, 1964
Plot Summary: A man miraculously survives his execution and attempts to flee home to his wife.
Review: This is, undoubtedly, the most unique episode in the TZ universe. In fact, this is actually a short film that has been edited into an episode rather than created by TZ's crew. For various legal reasons, you will rarely see this episode re-aired on TV, and it's even been cut from a few collections; it is thankfully included with my boxed set. Despite a significant difference in cinematography and presentation, I can see why TZ wanted this particular story as a part in their universe. The story, very much, has a TZ tone going on and invokes a similar twist to other episodes.
We start things off with a prisoner, during Civil War times, about to be executed. This process, of setting up the execution, is drawn out quite a bit in an effort to elevate the tension; it lasts for 8 full minutes to be precise. Apparently they are hanging the guy from this Owl Creek Bridge and have him held aloft on a plank that another soldier is keeping balanced; in other words, if the soldier steps off the plank, the guy will fall and be hanged. While awaiting death, the man imagines his wife and children as his watch ticks loudly in his mind. Moments later, the man is, at last, dropped. Miraculously, the rope snaps allowing the man to fall safely into the water below and escape. The soldiers give chase, firing their rifles and even a cannon, as the man continues his luck and escapes all harm.
The episode highlights that appreciation for life as the man is taking in every scene with awe--like it's the first time. After much swimming and running, the man finally stumbles along to his home and wife. Right as the two are about to fully embrace we cut back to the man dropping from the plank, and he is hanged as intended. The dream of escape was nothing more than an optimistic fantasy of a dying man in the mere seconds before his neck is broken. A dark ending indeed, but I think now you can understand why TZ wanted it in their series. The overly artistic nature to the cinematography does clash slightly with TZ's style, but that is easily overlooked or even seen as an improvement. This is a great addition to the franchise, but, honestly, TZ already covered this plot line before (and better) and tackled the various themes across multiple episodes. I much prefer the underrated "Perchance to Dream" episode to this one, but I understand the draw of this incarnation of the themes.
It's interesting how in what seems like a couple of hours, or in the case of this episode, 20 minutes, are really only less than a minute. That was the actual amount of time that passed while the prisoner was imagining, or hallucinating his miraculous escape and running towards his wife to embrace. I can see how this episode will really shock the viewer watching it for the first time, like it did the first time I saw it. After that when you know what will happen, watching it will obviously not be the same. Another great example of this is the movie Jacob's ladder, with a man who spends his last dying moments hallucinating and seeing things not really there. Except unlike this episode where the visions were pleasant, in Jacob's ladder, many of the visions were horrific. That movie also had an ending which can shock a first time viewer of it, but not so much after when you know what will happen.
ReplyDeleteYou are very correct about how this episode "Owl creek bridge" and "Jacob's ladder", which I've also seen, are definitely more shocking the first time seeing them when you don't know what'll happen. They are both great at toying with first time viewers' minds leading us to believe a seeming-to-be reality which turns out to let us know we really didn't know what we were seeing was really reality or not. It's not the same once we know what'll happen.
ReplyDeleteTZ episodes "Perchance to dream" and "Owl creek bridge" do all have the similarities of showing up almost a complete episode which we thought may be real, which then turned out to be products of the mind of someone dying.
I meant "do both have the similarities", not "do all have the similarities".
ReplyDeleteAnd I meant "showing us", not "showing up".
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