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

Written by John Edward Betancourt 

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When it comes to social commentary in popular media, I would venture to say that we can all agree that there is an unspoken criteria in regard to what the audience should expect from a writer and/or director’s snap shot of our current world. We definitely want it to be relevant and poignant, and we want it to stay with us long after the episode or movie has come to an end, so that we are able to analyze it with our friends. But the key to making that happen, is that the commentary in question needs to be subtle, to the point where we recognize it, but never feel overpowered by it, because then the story would be hammering a point into our heads, potentially removing us from the power of the moment, and such criteria is on my mind today, simply due to the fact that I’m quickly learning that the newest iteration of The Twilight Zone is going to continually disobey those roles and get away with it.
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Because while the commentary has been quite subtle at times, as it was in the first two episodes of the season and last week’s entry, ‘A Traveler’; ‘Replay’ and last night’s episode, ‘The Wunderkind’, have thrown caution to the wind and brought their all-important point to the forefront of the story in a no-holds barred approach, and it actually works in magnificent fashion. Because somehow, by not tiptoeing around the matter at hand, the gravity of what these stories are trying to get across sinks in and they give you pause, and last night’s tale decided to examine the world of politics with a controversial President at the helm of the nation, and what it had to say about him and our country was downright fascinating. Now, in this tale we are introduced to political mastermind Raff Hanks and witness his fall from grace after he botches an important re-election campaign, and while he’s on the hunt for a comeback years later, he stumbles upon an eleven year old YouTube phenom named Oliver Foley who has declared his candidacy for the Presidency and on a whim, Raff decides to take the kid under his wing and see if he can’t re-energize his career by helping Oliver become President of the United States.

So, it quickly becomes obvious in this episode that Oliver is the small screen iteration of the 46th President of the United States and what is impressive about the comparison here is that scenes with Oliver, especially after he’s taken office, present the President in objective light. Gone is any partisan opinion of the man, allowing for Oliver to show us the parts we should be concerned about when it comes to the Commander-in-Chief since Oliver is prone to temper tantrums when he doesn’t get his way, and he’s quick to threaten and demand outlandish things that simply cannot be done, and the comparisons don’t end there. For he is as charismatic and charming on the campaign trail as Trump was and he also makes plenty of empty promises that aren’t feasible execution wise, and it’s equally as fascinating to watch his inner circle enable Oliver and never once try and stand up to the President out of fear of being ostracized or humiliated by his fans, or base, if you will.

Yet what truly impressed me about this particular tale, is that it didn’t present the massive doomsday scenario as we often fear, instead…laying out the core of what makes Trump, Trump, allowed for the show to explore how someone who is clearly not mature enough or qualified enough to hold the office, obtained it in the first place and that comes from our sheer disillusionment of government as a whole. Because it really is the same old, same old in Washington, with the same tired faces sitting in the seats of Congress year in and year out, and nothing ever really changes, and we are so desperate for someone to actually shake things up that we were quick to vote in a guy who promised us the world and delivered little past that point. But while that seems a tad too obvious of a lesson to provide us with, the show does dig deeper, because it also explores how our democracy can get to that point and ironically, the stinging truth there comes from a line from Oliver, wherein he tells Raff; ‘you can do better’, and well, it seems as though the kid is speaking to the audience over anyone else. Because he’s right. We haven’t demanded better of ourselves or our country and we’ve simply expected things to magically change with the same people in place and well, you get where this lesson is going.

If anything, this is a story that will definitely be polarizing in the days to come because there will be those out there, that see this episode, or read this review and see all of it as a hit piece on the President, and they will be counterbalanced by people who will offer up their opposite opinions on the matter, and quite frankly, that part of the discussion should also give us pause, because that is also more of the same. Because those reactions will be filled with partisan nonsense and the same old rhetoric that helps to maintain the status quo when the real fix when it comes to this particular mess, is that we have to do better, we have to be better, and we need to expect more from those we elect to run our nation. And if by chance they feel the need to do their own thing, or lie to us or make silly promises, we need to make our voices heard in unison, free from party and agenda and perhaps that’s the most bone chilling twist when it comes to this particular episode, in that, that kind of unity, is what truly feels like fiction right now. Until next time. 

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