REVIEW: ‘The Twilight Zone: Season One’ on Blu-ray
Photo: The Twilight Zone episode “The Comedian” stars Kumail Nanjiani as Samir Wassan. The Twilight Zone is available to stream on CBS All Access. Photo courtesy of Robert Falconer / CBS © 2018 CBS Interactive. All Rights Reserved. / Provided by CBS press site with permission.
There is nothing more sacred in television history than The Twilight Zone, Rod Serling’s mystery series that kept audiences guessing until the end of each episode. Watching marathons of this black-and-white classic is a routine activity any time of the year, especially during a coronavirus pandemic (honestly, how many Twilight Zone episodes come to mind during these difficult days?).
CBS All Access, the relatively new streaming program for the television network, decided to employ the help of the modern Serling — Jordan Peele, who serves as host and executive producer — for an updated version of The Twilight Zone. The first season of this new interpretation is now available on Blu-ray and continues to stream online, and season two is in the works.
The first episode of this anthology series, titled “The Comedian,” is a narrative doozy and a fitting start to the reimagined series. Kumail Nanjiani stars as Samir Wassan, a standup comedian who is having a rough-go at a comedy club called Eddies (no apostrophe on that Eddies, which is an ongoing joke in the episode). He has an opening joke about the Second Amendment, but it always seems to fall flat, night after night after night.
You see, Samir has values. He doesn’t want to dip into the easy jokes that so many comedians seem to relish, mostly because he sees comedy as an art form, and he’s determined to find authentic success.
One night, at the Eddies bar, Samir meets a famous comedian by the name of J.C. Wheeler (Tracy Morgan, in a performance that is essentially a cameo). Starstruck and dumbfounded, Samir asks for some advice because he cannot seem to land the punchlines. J.C. offers a few thoughts on how he can improve the routine, in particular how to focus on everyday people and topics.
The next time he’s on stage, Samir gives it a go. He talks about his dog, who has the ironic name of “Cat,” and the jokes kill. He has the entire comedy club laughing and shouting his name; it is his best night ever.
On cloud nine, Samir heads home to tell his girlfriend (Amara Karan) about the night of comedy, but then he realizes something strange: His dog is not in the apartment. The animal is gone, and his girlfriend tells him that they never had a dog. Ever.
You have entered the Twilight Zone.
Each time Samir mentions someone’s name into the microphone, they vanish from this life. As one character points out in the episode, they are not murdered; they simply disappear. So now Samir has that Serling-esque dilemma: Should he get easy laughs and make people disappear, or should he go back to unfunny bits about the Second Amendment? Should he kill (literally) in order to have a career as a comic?
What Samir decides to do makes for an engaging and thoughtful hour of television, with drastic consequences for anyone who pops into his mind.
“The Comedian,” written by Alex Rubens and directed by Owen Harris, is a perfect beginning for this reimagined series. It’s clever, dark, mysterious and keeps one scratching the head for many minutes after the credits roll.
Peele, who appears in the episode as the narrator, has taken some of the energy from his cinematic successes and turned it into gripping television. That’s saying something because there’s a lot of competition out there, especially in the anthology business, what with Black Mirror and American Horror Story dominating for years. This new Twilight Zone stands firm against the competition because it is able to find the spirit of the original series — an original series that remains impressive and beloved decades after it first invited us into this in-between world of endless questions.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
The Twilight Zone, developed by Jordan Peele, Simon Kinberg and Marco Ramirez, is now available on CBS All Access, and the first season is available on DVD and Blu-ray. Click here for more information.
