tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-894621586638442560.post6707847717671161634..comments2024-03-23T05:23:21.009-07:00Comments on My Life in the Shadow of The Twilight Zone: TZ Promo: "Mute" (1/31/1963)Craig Beamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01039251711343080950noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-894621586638442560.post-25235284557727996212018-07-05T22:44:42.984-07:002018-07-05T22:44:42.984-07:00Now this episode just ticked me off. The moral th...Now this episode just ticked me off. The moral this story imparts appears to be “for true happiness, destroy and suppress any unique gifts and characteristics that make you special, so that you can be just like everyone else.” For me, this message of conformity is in direct opposition to the spirit of The Twilight Zone, and I finished viewing the episode feeling very annoyed.<br /><br />I had some problems with the logistics of the plot as well. I didn’t understand why learning to speak would destroy Ilse’s telepathic abilities. After all, her teacher retained her ability to “mind-speak” even after she learned to communicate in the usual manner. And all the adults in the experiment could speak readily enough, as well as read minds. So why is Ilse so different?<br /><br />Man, I disliked both the sherriff and the teacher at first sight; as the episode went on, I wanted to punch both of them in the throat. (Wow, so violent!) But---seriously, what jerks they were. First off, all the suppositions the sheriff made about Ilse from the get-go irritated me no end. He knew NOTHING about the girl and her home life. Why would he assume that her parents never taught her anything? Why would he think there was no physical reason she couldn’t speak, before the doctor even looked at her? Why wouldn’t he even assume she was in severe shock at the beginning, thus robbing her of the ability to speak? He specifically said shock wouldn’t do that---but certainly shock COULD have that effect on a child. Why was he so surprised that she got out of the house when her parents didn’t?<br /><br />I have to say, never in the history of the postal system has anyone mailed a letter by pinching the corner of it in the mail box and leaving the rest of the letter hanging out in the open, in mid-air. That was ridiculous---just as ridiculous as apparently never trying to contact Ilse’s parents’ friends after that one time. Why didn’t he make repeated efforts to get hold of them? He could even have tried to get phone contacts, by using the addresses. <br />As for the teacher, why did she think that telepathy=communicating with the dead? There is no connection, that I can see.<br /><br />While Ilse can’t speak to those beyond the grave, she obviously had a lot more than basic telepathy going on, since she could not only hear other people’s thoughts, but she could mentally see what others were seeing/doing. She also could apparently see into the future a bit---for instance, she knew when the phone was going to ring before it actually did so. Quite a gift she had---all to be needlessly, wastefully, forcibly squandered by those who supposedly had her best interests in mind.<br /><br />Little goof in the interior set design---I noticed another door directly to the left of the front door in the Wheeler’s house. This couldn’t have led anywhere, as it was in an exterior wall and there was no corresponding door on the outside of the house.<br /><br />Anyway… yeah, plenty of little nit-picks from me for this episode, as well as a primary disagreement with the moral of the story. So, not one of my favourites. The high point of the episode is an excellent performance by Ann Jillian.<br /><br />octobercountryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10730345596655835129noreply@blogger.com