‘The Twilight Zone’ (2019) Recap: ‘Blurryman’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

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I think we can all agree upon the fact, that year one of the newest iteration of The Twilight Zone has been one wild ride. For we’ve seen the series reinvent itself like never before, becoming a beacon for powerful social commentary, the kind that doesn’t shy away from hot topics in our world, nor does it take the time to handle said topics in subtle fashion and that made it a lightning rod for criticism as the season rolled on. For there has been plenty of feedback on social media mocking the show for its attempt to say something about our world, but regardless of any criticism sent the show’s way, the commentary has rolled on week in and week out, leaving me to wonder what particular topic would fall under its purview for the season one finale.
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But as it turns out, ‘Blurryman’ ended up being a vastly different kind of episode for this series, one that quite frankly surprised this reviewer to no end. In large part because it went some extremely meta places thanks to the plot, one that involved a writer named Sophie Gelson who found herself at quite a crossroads. For her job on The Twilight Zone was in quite the strained place thanks to her inability to truly attach herself to the material and well, her tough day at work only becomes more strenuous when a mysterious blurry figure begins to stalk her on set and well, it really doesn’t get more meta than that. I mean, come on, we get a writer on the show being terrorized by strange forces and this little twist allowed for Jordan Peele to break character as the Narrator and have a little fun with the story, and it was quite cool to see the series address its own ‘shortcomings’ in the eyes of its critics with that little riff on how shows of its kind should stick with a kitschy formula over having any kind of social relevance or responsibility.

However, once the Blurryman comes into play, that little riff becomes paramount to the plot and that’s really where the story sucked me in because this really did transform into a parable on whether or not entertainment as a whole should commit itself to any kind of commentary on our world or our society and the answer to that question, was a resounding yes. For the human condition is what drives the best stories in any medium, and to ignore that, is to ignore the power and the value of art and as an added bonus the series also made it clear that this is nothing new for The Twilight Zone. Commentary is something that’s been around since its inception and to reinforce that point and remind us of the show’s past relationship with said commentary, it was eventually revealed that Rod Serling himself was the Blurryman after all, and his haunting of Sophie served as the visual representation of how one cannot escape what a story has to say about our world, and while some may criticize this twist, it works for me, simply because Rod and the show are truly synonymous in every way imaginable.

Yet while all of that was fascinating in its own right, the execution of such a bold twist is key, and making use of sets from this season, alongside some lovely homages to classic episodes, such as ‘Time Enough at Last’ really helped to make this plot work in seamless fashion and it also helped to bring together both iterations of the show and the wonders this episode provided us with, structure wise, didn’t end there. Because this particular tale really did do a fine job of reminding us, just how seamlessly the show can shift between genres and execute what they stand for flawlessly, since early on, this was a wonderful comedy and once Blurryman/Serling arrived, this sucker dove into outright horror and watching Sophie try and escape what she feared was a terrifying experience to say the least and kudos to the show for everything it pulled off in this episode and this season for that matter.

Because really, whether you stood by it or not, one has to admit that this iteration of The Twilight Zone has been bold and downright fearless. For it never once shied away from the ugliest parts of our world that we honestly try to avoid to talking about because they are such hot button issues, and it definitely had no problem ruffling feathers in tacking said issues and well, this really was a unique and brilliant way to bring season one to a close, since this finale makes it inherently clear that the show is only going to continue to examine our modern world and the problems it faces and well, dang it, that leaves me hungry for more. Because The Twilight Zone really is an important piece of art that our world needs right now and I’m utterly hooked on what this series has to say and how it executes its messages which means, for me, it’s going to be an extremely long wait, when it comes to season two of this magnificent series. Until next year.  

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