'The Ray Bradbury Theater' Retro Recap: 'The Playground'

Written by John Edward Betancourt

I'm only two episodes into The Ray Bradbury Theater and already I can tell that this series as a whole, is going to be a thinking man's series and I'm totally fine with that. It's rare to see a show go for broke basically out of the gate and a day after watching 'The Playground', my mind is still reeling at its meaning and its depth, so let's not waste any time and get right into it, because we have lots to discuss about this fascinating story with an ending unlike any other. 

Charles Underhill is a man haunted by his past, but is trying his best to move forward in life, and so far he's managed to get by pretty well. He found a wife, had a son, has a great job in Insurance Sales, but the happy ending one would expect, is nonexistent. Charles' wife passed away, leaving him to raise his son Steve with a little help from his sister Carol. Work is beginning to hammer him over his performance, and the past is always waiting in the back of his mind. Bullied badly as a child, those memories are beginning to resurface as his son is reaching an age where he is ready to attend grade school and hang out with other children...but Charles is terrified that his son will suffer the same bullying he dealt with as a boy, and despite his best efforts to keep his son hidden away from the world, Steve finds his way to the same playground where Charles lived in fear and now Charles must face his fears and his past, and unfortunately the old bully from so long ago, will be more than happy to help him in his quest...

Gosh, so more or less, they managed to pack in an hour's worth of stuff in this story in the half the time and this one is just a damn impressive piece of storytelling. For starters, William Shatner is the star of this one and this is a role unlike any other I've ever seen him in. He is able to convey the terror that resides within Charles' soul on a moment's notice while at the same time, he's able to show his strength and how far he has come in masking his pain and adapting to the world around him and it's honestly some of his finest work. But, it's the story that props him up, and this is a tale that does a fantastic job of reminding the viewer that while so many of us work hard to get beyond our past and grow, there are some folks that simply cannot do it and Charles is one of those people.

His constant battle back and forth internally leads to a fascinating ending, one that seems incredibly meta at first but it is the centerpiece of the episode for certain and well, get ready for some spoilers ladies and gentlemen because it seems as though in those final moments when father and son go to the playground in question that they in essence switch bodies and Charles has become his son and is once again subject to the horrors of his past while his son heads off to enjoy a carefree life and and I honestly don't think this ending is to be taken at its literal face value. Considering how Charles sees the bully from his youth on a regular basis lurking in the shadows of the playground, and sees modern children as monsters, I honestly think this was a happy ending, in a roundabout sort of way. In reality, I believe Steven went off to play with the other kids and had no problems, as he did days before, and Charles merely imagined that his son was suffering because by confronting his bully internally and altering the strange fantasies in his mind...he was finally free. It's a screwed up way to get to a happy ending, but hey...that's the beauty of storytelling, you never know where it is going to go sometimes. 

I could be 100% wrong of course, but considering how jarring this ending turned out to be, it's the only conclusion that made any sense to me since there wasn't any real science fiction or horror style elements that could cause the switch. It just seemed like a dad filled with pain, comfortable in the fact that his son was going to face tough things and was finally okay with it and I'd like to think that Charles got his life together after that strange little moment. Either way, the fact that I had to sit down and think about this at length, speaks to the quality of this show. Few series engage us on that kind of level where we are left to interpret anything on our own and and I appreciate that. There's no spoon feeding here or twists and turns that make you roll your eyes. Just deep thought and Shatner stealing the show. Until next time.

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