‘The Twilight Zone’ (2019) Recap: ‘Among the Untrodden’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

THIS IS THE EMERGENCY SPOILER ALERT SYSTEM. YOU ARE ADVISED TO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.

As season two of the latest iteration of The Twilight Zone rolls along, it’s quickly becoming apparent that the writers’ room of this particular series has finally found its stride storytelling wise. Because not only are the stories delightful and intriguing and intelligent, but they’re filled with balance in year two. For this season’s offerings are not only taking the time to say something about our modern world and some of the problems that society is currently facing, they’re also taking the time to pay homage to the Zone of old, by offering up stories that reside within the fantastical. And for proof that this is becoming quite the trend, then look no further than the last two episodes. For ‘Ovation’ dove deep into our unhealthy obsessions with fame, while the next episode digs into matters that are far more imaginative.
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For ‘Among the Untrodden’ takes the time to examine the power of the mind and its untapped potential in a sneaky manner. Because early on, this story plunges us into a world that few of us understand by introducing us to a young woman named Madison, who just so happens to attend a private school and well… she’s a bit of a bully. Because the instant a new girl named Irene arrives at the school, Madison is quick to point out her quirky and nerdy nature and pick on her for it, every chance she gets. Which makes it seem as though this particular tale is going to focus heavily on the nature of bullying, which would in turn, provide us with quite the twist ending wherein Madison pays her dues in an ironic fashion, because that’s just how things go in The Twilight Zone. But instead, a discovery on Irene’s part, takes this story in a supremely fascinating and engrossing direction.

Because Irene is obsessed with the possibilities of psychic powers, to the point where she makes it her science fair project at the school. And as she begins to collect data on the matter, by way of her fellow classmates, she comes to realize that Madison is exhibiting traits that would indicate she has these mysterious powers, prompting her to approach Madison to see if she can entice her to explore the possibility that she may in fact be psychic. Something that Madison balks at initially. But once she starts to see some genuine results in regard to Irene’s teachings on the matter, she embraces the possibilities and oddly enough makes a new friend in the process, since this discovery brings Irene and Madison closer together than ever before. But just when it seems as though life is going well for the two of them, that’s when the fantastical comes into play.

Because it turns out that Madison’s power is far greater than anyone thought possible. For not only can she apparently save lives by thinking hard, and conjure things out of thin air, she can also control minds. Something that becomes evident when she puts the popular kids into a catatonic state for being excessively cruel to Irene. Which is an act that terrifies her to no end and motivates her to press Irene on who exactly has these powers since they didn’t appear until Irene came into her life. But in the end, she is the only one that has them, and this lowering of her walls reveals to all that Madison is in a dark place, one where she was so lonely and broken by her experience at school that she manifested Irene out of thin air in order to save her sanity. An act she will have to repeat again since Irene fades away when that epiphany crosses Madison’s mind, and this was quite the unexpected twist.

For it really did seem as though Irene was going to be the source of this power and that she was indeed using it to make Madison and all the popular kids pay for their cruelty from day one. But perhaps that would have been too easy and too predictable, and it is a good thing, in the end, that this story went in a vastly different direction. Because playing ‘what if?’ in regard to what could happen if an imaginary friend was actually brought to life, and what would happen if we had psychic powers, made for a far more satisfying story. Because we were treated to an engrossing mystery and it turned Madison into an oddly relatable protagonist since we’ve all had our struggles with fitting in. But what matters more, is that this particular tale truly did explore one incredible idea, and you can never go wrong when The Twilight Zone decides to make the impossible, possible on screen. Until next time.

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