Mute - Twilight-Tober Zone

"Mute" clearly stretched a concept that might have been okay at a half hour into a pretty dull fifty-two minutes, containing some questionable moral complications. Join Walter as he discusses this episode and continues his deep dive into The Twilight Zone.
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"Mute" is an episode of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone. It was written by Richard Matheson, based on his 1962 short story of the same name which appeared in the anthology The Fiend in You. The episode deals with a young girl (in the Matheson story it was a boy) raised to communicate only through telepathy, and her struggles after the sudden death of her parents forces her to enter mainstream society.
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[@trinaq]

The ending made me feel so sad and heartbroken for Ilse. She was treated as a lab experiment by her biological parents, who never loved her, and her teachers and Foster parents don't teach her to open up socially, instead ruining her telepathy. Just watching her scream "My name is Ilse" over and over again is enough to make me bawl.

[@lifewithlee6298]

But she now atlest has a loving or more loving family

[@jlev1028]

​​@@lifewithlee6298Not really. She now has a family who remolded her into someone she isn't. Don't ever justify forced assimilation.

[@AliceTheSpider]

@@lifewithlee6298 not really she now has a family who would ruin her just to make her "normal"

[@Chaos89P]

I'm convinced the ending would make me seethe.

[@57highland]

At the end, we're never told if the adoptive parents were made aware that the reason for Ilse's not speaking is that she was raised telepathically. There are certain "plot holes" in this episode that some viewers are filling in with their own opinions. When Ilse's natural parents decided to move to America, and the Werners then could not respond quickly to the sudden absence of letters from Ilse's parents, all the adults in the story did what they thought was best for a child they believed to be orphaned. The only possible wrong was Cora's burning the letters. But even with that, the Werners had the legal right to take Ilse back to Germany but decided not to do so.

[@soren3569]

The adoptive mother being so completely obsessive is the crux of the episode's weakness, I think. I think it could have worked, but only with a completely different ending, one that reveals (as the Twist), that Ilsa is, in fact, controlling the mother with her powers, creating a safe place for herself with a fanatically devoted defender/follower.

[@drewo.127]

That I think would have been WAY WAYYY BETTER imo! Not only does it stay true to the Twilight Zone, it gives much more intrigue into both characters! (I’d also have Mrs. Monster-from-Heck get some kind of comeuppance! Even if she wasn’t fired, at least something that just gives her a perfectly fitting serving of cosmic justice!) Not sure if it would 100% fix the episode, but those things REALLY needed to be reworked!

[@57highland]

​@@drewo.127The bad or ill-intentioned people "get away with it" all the time in real life, at least as far as we know. This episode included all kinds of emotional misfortune: the death of the Wheelers' daughter, the deaths of Ilse's parents, Ilse's isolation, Miss Frank's cruelty. Maybe we just have to imagine that the teacher "got hers" in the (unseen by the audience) end.

[@Superderpynerd]

I feel like I see this episode as "adults in the life of a unique child being unable to understand what's wrong with them, and unintentionally damaging them more and more in an attempt to make them what they consider normal".

[@elder-woodsilverstein7716]

Now, that could make for a very thought provoking tragic tale, but its done in the wrong way.

[@meganshaw1949]

Maybe the episode was to show just how low humanity is willing to go in order to get their results and how cruel it can be in the process. This episode also shows that it’s not all of the time that bad people get punished and that sometimes they get away. But that’s just how life sometimes works.

[@claytonrios1]

This is why proper pacing is important. I felt the same way about some dragged out Netflix shows.

[@gothicMCRgirl]

Yeah, this episode really didn’t age all that well in the grand scheme of things. None of the adults even attempted to think about how the poor girl was feeling, and instead of trying to understand her, they just FORCED her to conform by making her repress her gift of telepathy. The foster mother is literally nuts and only using Ilse as a replacement, the foster father is emotionally detached in every way, and the biological parents treated her like a science experiment. Don’t even get me started on the goddamn teacher, too. Every single character in this one is just unlikable, plain and simple. What was the message supposed to be here? That it’s better to have a terrified, mistreated but ultimately “normal” child in the end??? Like????

[@Martynde]

I feel like you’re approaching this episode from a modern day perspective and not from the era it was made in. Adults did act like this back then. It was considered normal and correct. Doesn’t make it so in hindsight but that’s how it was. Only without the telepathy aspect obviously. Woe be the child who was left-handed - I read that teachers would smack their left hand with a ruler and were permitted to do so. Yes they were unlikeable.

[@AliceTheSpider]

this kinda stuff still happens to this day, parents forcing their kids to be someone they aren't to just to make them normal lobotomy is maybe gone but othe4r torturous methods remains

[@kali3665]

I was going to post my own response, but I think you touched on all my concerns, as does Walter. I absolutely disliked this episode because no one even tried to understand Ilsa or even wants to help her for her own sake. Everyone has their own ulterior motives. The teacher is working from a false premise, and her attempt to "free" Ilsa is what would be considered corporal punishment in today's world. Ilsa is practically brainwashed before the end, and that's just disgusting. The ending only emphasizes that Ilsa is going to have some severe emotional problems as she grows up. Admittedly, Ann Jillian was a fine little actress, and she does well in the role, but I definitely believe the script betrayed her. In Matheson's original short story, the protagonist is, of course, male, but I am not really impressed with the short story either. Making the protagonist a girl just emphasizes the torture she is subjected to throughout.

[@gothicMCRgirl]

@@MartyndeBut that just makes it even more infuriating because Sterling was usually against the status quo. He would usually praise differences in people, and in any other situation, the adults in Ilse’s life would see how special she really could be. But portraying a terrified child on screen and concluding that this is the good thing to do is just… bizarre for Sterling. He was usually very good in pointing out injustices in the world, even back then, and even when it was unpopular to do so. I’m just disappointed in the way this episode went.

[@darthmelsie]

Actually, I'd argue that this aged way, way too well. Just replace telepathy with mental health disorders and disabilities like autism, anxiety, bipolar disorder, or sexual/gender identities, or just some bullying. A cruel amount of parents and adults completely ignore children and their needs. So many kids have been beaten, destroyed, even killed because they don't get respected or listened to.

[@mikelthehook9884]

It's weird because this could have worked in the runtime given. They could have started with scenes where we saw how the parents treated the girl and shown us how they didn't care for her.

[@melissacooper8724]

Cora should've had some therapy when it comes to dealing with the death of her daughter. Ilse is not a replacement of the child she lost. Neither any foster child for that matter.

[@jonleibow3604]

Sadly it was the early 60s and "therapy" just wasn't a common thing then. The main attitude would have been "Lost a child? So have lots of other people, deal with it."

[@melissacooper8724]

@jonleibow3604 Sorry. I wasn't alive in the 1960s so I wasn't aware that "therapy" didn't exist then. I just noticed how possessive Cora was to Ilse in the episode.

[@jonleibow3604]

@@melissacooper8724 I understand, I grew up in the 80s and therapy wasn't common even then, fortunately people are much better able to cope in modern times thanks to therapy.

[@Kwink]

OK, that’s not Düsseldorf at the beginning. Düsseldorf in the 1950s was already a bustling metropolis. And the big church you see with the distinctive onion-shaped towers points to a place way farther down south in Germany, probably Bavaria.

[@robertbrookes2000]

This story reminds me of the author John Wyndham, a British early sci-fi author who wrote such iconic stories as The Day of the Triffids, and The Midwich Cuckoos (aka Village of the Damned). He touches on some ideas from this story: A group of people deciding that they can form their own society that is better than the current one (Web), children with telepathic abilities that can't conform to everyone else (Midwich Cuckoos), with a little touch of Chocky, a story about a boy who has a voice come to his mind that starts to teach him things that he can't quite comprehend.

[@JackKirbyFan]

Oh I am glad you said this. I felt the same way. She was tortured to conform. Her 'mom' was an obsessive human being who displayed absolutely no love for her - ever. It was all about her replacing a memory. This poor girl was forced to be something she was not. I think some rewrites would have worked to make this story far better. It's an interesting concept. It really is. What defines the individual but it gets lost in the confusing plot. Give far more explanation of this entire 'mind reading' society and their goals. What were there reasons? Seriously? Then the teacher who was just a sadist. No empathy and zero compassion. It was more like 'I hated the way I grew up' so I know what's best for you. I left feeling angry as they think that this 'sappy ending' was going to tie into the entire show. It didn't. It was trying to justify something. But seriously.

[@aidanhever3369]

It reminds me of a manga series: Purple Eyes in the Dark. Which is about a girl with special powers, and especially a teacher who is a sadistic monster who wants to torture the poor girl just because.

[@shenloken2]

If I wanted to sit through a long story about a psychologically scarred telepathic school girl I’d probably just watch Carrie. That one had a better payoff!

[@sethstrattan7380]

I bet you someone watch this episode and is like I want to make a movie of this but better and thus Carrie is born

[@sweeneytodd1414]

​@@sethstrattan7380Dude, the Stephen King novel existed before the movie, probably before the short story, but I can't say.

[@checkmatekingtwothisiswhit7685]

Conformity in the Twilight Zone? Scary.

[@Barbinheimer-ke6fl]

Instead of remaking the classic episodes ( the monsters are due on maple street, Terra at 20,000 feet) they should remake THIS because Ilse needed more than this bull. I know twilight zone doesn’t always have a uplifting ending but this was supposed to be a “happy” one. Let Ilse discover she’s actually really gifted and make the teacher a true villain who also has telepathy and the reason for her hatred is because Ilse is more powerful with her gift. Also have her CHOOSE a to go with the family that traveled to find her. Cora can pound sand in the 5th dimension

[@FunFilmFare]

Agreed. OR give this episode a sad ending where Ilse’s torture at school drives her to suicide something. Make it a cautionary tale about a tragic consequences of conformity.

[@aaronm4858]

​@@FunFilmFareor just have llse straight up murder the teacher during a public freakout

[@Crazyredemu]

I think that maybe the teacher breaking her powers was meant to be a good thing cause she won't be burdened with them or used for them, and maybe it was just written poorly.

[@Crazyredemu]

Teacher abuse has taken new forms, but there are still the classics out there.

[@melissacooper8724]

In modern times, Miss Frank would've gotten fired for how she treated poor Ilse.

[@Crazyredemu]

@@melissacooper8724 have you seen all the abuse that school streaming revealed?

[@kaos2405]

Or worse. The courts, child protective services, school boards, other parents, and police tend to frown at blatant child abuse. Especially, when it is done in front of the entire class.@@melissacooper8724

[@FunFilmFare]

Unless Miss Frank is in Texas or Florida.

[@fredrikcarlstedt393]

Nice to see a more caring side of Captain Gunter Lutz .

[@rogue7723]

_I knew_ I recognized that guy when I saw him!

[@JVM_Productions]

I have so much respect for this guy to make a video every day during October

[@rowjelio]

I love this series every year, but i know we are one step closer to no more twilight zone episodes 😭 maybe you can do Night Gallery, but i know its hard to find all the episodes

[@trinaq]

Agreed, I think that 2024 will be the final year for Twilight Tober Zone reviews, but hopefully Walter will find another series, such as Outer Limits, or Tales of the Crypt.

[@philarmstrong3765]

I thought Night Gallery might be fun myself. But he might need to do a 'best of' because there were quite a few stinkers. But 'The Caterpillar,' 'Cool Air,' and 'Pickman's Model' are top notch.

[@sarahsims6164]

​@trinaq there are also the other Twilight Zones that came after the original series. Maybe Walter could review those.

[@rowjelio]

@@philarmstrong3765 I agree A LOT were not great. I thought I saw a KZbin video explaining that you can't even find all the episodes to watch at this time anywhere

[@philarmstrong3765]

@@rowjelio Just bought the complete series on da Bay for $15.50 brand new. There's one left if you're interested

[@joshuariddensdale2126]

Doug should review the anime movie A Silent Voice, based on the hit manga of the same name by Yoshitoki Oima. Revolving around a deaf girl, who like most deaf people, can't speak well, so she communicates through sign language. One example that comes to mind is trying to recite some English, like "I'b doibg the best I cab" (I'm doing the best I can").

[@Martynde]

I don’t think all episodes need a tidy happy ending. Sometimes a story is memorable when an injustice has not been resolved or righted and the wronged characters are still wronged or become wronged even further. I’ve not seen this episode though.

[@57highland]

The main thrust is that the fire which killed Ilse's parents cut her off from the only life she knew. No one's fault. The people who come upon Ilse do not know why she does not or cannot talk. No one's fault. Yes, Mrs. Wheeler commits a deception when she burns the letters which her husband wrote to Ilse's German acquaintances. And when the German people arrive, they end up not divulging that they possess the legal right to take custody of Ilse and return her to Germany. All other actions by the adults were out of their not knowing the truth. That's probably why their actions with regard to Ilse are so questionable. It was cruel to send Ilse to a school in which she didn't belong, but it might have been cruel to keep her at home. It was wrong of Mrs. Wheeler to burn the letters, but then she was ready to give Ilse good and loving home. It may have been wrong of the Werners to not take Ilse back to Germany, but they seemed to trust in fate, and in the adoptive parents.

[@RialVestro]

I agree with EVERYTHING you said in this video. That kind of schooling was a thing of the past when I was growing up but they're actually reintroducing this nonsense in some states very recently and you're right. There's already been multiple videos talking about how kids with disabilities are the ones who often suffer the most. I can give the people of the past when this episode was made some credit that they didn't know any better because not a lot was known about various mental conditions at the time but people today trying to reintroduce these abusive tactics don't have that excuse as there's been years of research proving how harmful this is since then.

[@jennamedlyn]

It's not even just today. These teaching tactics have always been around, and I know I lived through it. I was diagnosed with dyslexia at the age of 9 and the way I was taught was just disgusting. I was constantly yelled at and blamed for my struggles. I was publicly shamed and embarrassed for things like misspelling things and struggling to read out loud. This even happened to me a few years ago in a college classroom where a professor called me illiterate because I couldn't read her handwriting. She also told me that I shouldn't be in college because I have dyslexia. Unfortunately this attitude also exsistes out side of education too. I have been cursed at and call the dumbest person alive becasue I misspelled a singel word. I don't use social media much because I have to worry so much about my spelling and grammer I often can't get across what I am trying to say. I just have to remind my self of my favoriet quote "I don't suffer from dyslexia I live with it and learn from it. I suffer from the ignorance of people who belive that they can tell me what I can and cannot do."

[@Nazo-kage]

There’s one other element that is not mention. Wasn’t it said this takes place in Germany? So the idea of somebody being cruelly forced to conform. Until she breaks, And she happens to be a blonde girl in Germany. Has a couple extra layers of uncomfortableness added into this episode.

[@zorakj]

Only the prologue took place in Germany. The rest was in the US.

[@38procentkrytyk]

Wonderful idea which was lost somewhere in production.

[@clicky1996]

Unfortunately teachers like that woman do exist. So many tease and abuse their students, and the students aren’t taken seriously since they are seen as “less than” the adults.

[@railroader1719]

Yeah this one kind of missed the mark hilariously badly. Maybe they could have ended it with Ilse's telepathy going berserk during a parent teacher conference, causing the teacher to lose her ability to speak, while the mom loses her memory of her deceased daughter. Giving the pair fitting and karmic endings for their misdeeds through out the episode, with Ilse either staying with her new family, or going off with the other one to be with others like her. Also, a Medium? Maybe it's supposed to be the teacher projecting but it doesn't seem very clear.

[@jlev1028]

She specifically states that mediums are taught to speak with the dead.

[@railroader1719]

@@jlev1028 I know what a Medium is, my confusion is how she correlates Telepathy with being a Medium.

[@Merit2397]

I hate this episode with a passion. Children with disabilities were and still are to some degree mistreated in school for their disabilities and it's just SICK!!! Didn't like the mother, HATED that CREEP of a teacher and there's no comeuppance for both. I expected better from Richard Matheson. There is no excuse for why this episode turned out the way it did.

[@danielsantiagourtado3430]

Every day is better with your videos guys! 🎃🎃🖤🖤🧡🧡

[@Torgo-and-the-Lucifer-Cat]

Nice video I just wanted to say about this whole theory about speech stopping psychic ability my question is if we had psychic ability at one time then why the hell did we develop language anyway LOL😊

[@elkudos6262]

You know, it's not a revelation, but it kinda struck me just now how this, what this channel is doing, is not just entertainment, but actually culture, the refinement and preservation in our collective memory of the works of televisionary art.

[@Someguy_9]

Well said. Shows like this help shape generations, and understanding why and how is important.

[@TriforceWisdom64]

I don't want to come off mean, but I don't think it's that big a deal. Retrospectives are a dime a dozen, and any good retrospective will examine the thing in its original context as well as modern day. The info about the cast and crew is an excellent addition to Twilight-tober Zone, but that's also nearly all info from one or two readily available sources. I do love this series, of course.

[@elkudos6262]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's not The Culture, it's not the library of congress for the neo-roaches to peruse, it's like that 0.0000012 points to the culture score from specialists in the civilization campaign.

[@graysonchristian2668]

Funnily enough on Scifi the cut this into a half hour episode during their marathons. And yeah it plays much better. There no Rob Serling open narration which always confused me until I realized what was up. And it plays much better and due to the limited screen time. The characters dont come off as strange. The teacher still sucks though😂

[@ninjabluefyre3815]

If there was ever a TZ episode that could benefit from a modern remake, it's this one.

[@god-rj5wf]

im glad im not the only person reminded of neurodivergent children by this. this reminds me so strongly of the horrific cases of behavioral therapy for autistic children, forcing these babies into situations they'll never be comfortable with instead of adapting to them just so they can mask effectively and behave more "normally". it's so very sad :[

[@sarahwilliamson8646]

This can be seen as an example of someone usually creating great work can always have an off day in their creativity

[@emilybrinkerhoff6825]

Aside from The Obsolete Man, this is one of my favorites. The ending was always frustrating to me, but almost in a good way. I wanted to see more plot afterwards, like a sequel story or something.

[@aaronmccarthy875]

Did anyone else notice that he's alive? Got age restricted

[@kelleyceccato7025]

Frank "I may not be much, Mr. Finch, but I'm still sheriff of Maycomb County, and Bob Ewell fell on his knife" Overton should NEVER be as poorly directed and deployed as he is here. Agree completely: this episode does NOT have a happy ending. A girl like Ilse should have found refuge with Professor Xavier rather than being bludgeoned into "normalcy." Worse, that poor girl will still be in the odious Miss Frank's class. It's darn depressing.

[@julieporter7805]

This is a good episode and Ilsa is my favorite character in it. Ann Jillian did a marvelous job and you see what a great actress that she later became. Fun Fact: This was close to the same time where she played Little Bo Peep in Disney's Babes in Toyland, a favorite holiday viewing tradition within my family. It's a treat to see her go from a cute light hearted role in that to a darker more sensitive and nuanced role here. Also, it's nice to see Oscar Berengi Jr. Play a good sweet guy for once in this series instead of the villains in The Rip Van Winkle Caper and Death's Head Revisited. However , I can see how ineffective her upbringing is becoming. I keep thinking of this is as a metaphor for autism or other disabilities and people like her teacher and foster mother are trying to "cure" her instead of adjusting to her world and maybe adapting to it. Plus, Cora seems to think of Ilsa as a replacement goldfish for her dead daughter. She doesn't love Ilsa for who she is but who she wants her to be.

[@thealchemist51]

When was the first that I actually did really like all the way through It’s still had problems, but it’s Aziz our long episodes went on. They seem to have gotten better well, except for Jezebel but we’ll see that in a day or two. . But yeah, this poor girl he was treated like a lab experiment finally breaking down at the end and she at least can see that she will start to have a normal life.

[@Sairin13]

In the universe with the better ending Ilse turns on her teacher gives her a stare and says "My name is Ilse " Then we cut to a mental institution where the teacher has been hospitalized because the teacher is unable to say anything but that same phrase over and over. But that is another ending for another story, a story you can only find in the Twilight Zone

[@milestrombley1466]

I thought when she spoke, she would kill people by accident. 😳

[@dancepiglover]

While “The Twilight Zone” had dealt with a lot of unpleasant subjects, I found this episode to be the most upsetting. 😢 It made me sad that the girl lost her abilities in order to conform and that the other telepathic adults never knew that she could communicate that way. She struggled throughout the episode, all the way to the end. I really don’t think it was meant to be a happy ending.

[@sarysa]

Totally agree with the whole idea of "medium" coming out of left field. Did nothing for the plot and undermined the intro scene. As for the Aesop here, I think the biggest bungle was giving the foster mother the illusion of a moral high ground. I didn't see the teacher as a villain but she was flawed as well. It comes across as a better episode if I mentally block out Matheson picking sides for us. It's best as a showcase of the ethical dilemmas of experimenting with children, but the more down to earth interpretation is that there are many opposing ways to raise a child and each has its pros and cons.

[@keiththompson9435]

This seems like the beginnings of what would later become in Babylon 5 the Psi Corps. Unsettling as hell. This episode needs a modern reboot in a hurry

[@Dev3000]

Though they are pretty close, I think the short story is way better, explains things out better and expands on more important things like the life with the parents

[@miroslavtomic7038]

The town square where Ilse runs away from her foster parents is very obviously same one used for similar scene in I Sing the Body Electric.

[@christophertheriault3308]

Questions abound about this secret society. Are the other kids just never going to interact with the rest of the world until they are old enough not to lose their skills? Why is it even presumed that telepathy is better than speaking, is it a gateway to other mental powers? Did the adults have powers? If they don't, how do they even know their techniques to train the kids are working? They'd have to go around never saying anything to the kids or else the kids would also naturally try to start talking. If they do have powers, then it can't be a big deal to keep the kids isolated since you can still have them as an adult without that.

[@danteflores4357]

Cool

[@pikkusaukko]

This i haven't seen

[@BlowHeat1416]

love how me and the mom said WHAT at the same time when this psychotic teacher said her parents dying in a fire is a "blessing"

[@Nasser851000]

*Reads title* This video is false advertising XD

[@heyelliew]

And Ilsa still has to go to that school!? Too many injustices!

[@miroslavtomic7038]

Both Claudia Bryar and Barbara Baxley appeared in 80s incarnation of Twilight Zone.

[@random22026]

5:58 You Bet Your Ass, It Still Happens. 9:28 The message concerning 'spirit-communicating mediums' as being...abnormal? Fit in, or be ostracised, for being different, or unique, with a special gift? What's going on in the minds of the writers/producers of this episode? In the spirit of Hallowe'en: BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO (Nice one, Walter: 'C' for Conformity, indeed)

[@SnowdropHill]

They should've had this episode swap places with "Steel" from season 5. That episode needed the extra time that this episode had too much of!

[@TheCommonGentry]

i always took the episode as a critique on child psychology experiments like Kellogg who raised his son with chimpanzee and the Watson & Rayner Little Albert phobia experiment.

[@GigaTechWolf]

I feel sorry for Ilsa, her father tries to find people more like her,but the wife, Desperate to replace a Lost memory, burns the letters because shes Obsessed with Javing a daughter since hers is dead

[@miroslavtomic7038]

As of December 2023, Ann Jillian is the sole surviving cast member from this episode.

[@HarvestStore]

Great video.

[@jeremytung1632]

Quick shout out to all the nuerodivergent students in a school system that actively punishes you for it.

[@louisduarte8763]

A secret society in Munich, Germany? Depending on what year that scene was set, I doubt they had a happy ending.

[@jlev1028]

1953

[@louisduarte8763]

@@jlev1028 Was Munich in East or West Germany then?

[@jlev1028]

​@@louisduarte8763West.

[@cliftonchurch6039]

I'm going to discuss the twist, so don't read this unless you've decided to watch the twist. This feels like a situation where the sensibilities of the time have changed, and what we see as a ugly reflection of a school system failing to meet the needs of a child with special needs (in this case, due to social experimentation), I think it truly was intended to be the story of (in the voice of the times it's from) a woman who cared enough to want to change this disabled girl's life, and the teacher who pushed her through to overcome that disability put upon her for those crazy enough to treat her as a guinea pig for capital "s" Science. Through the lens of the time it's from, it makes sense and might do a decent job, but for us in [current year] it feels wrong and backwards.

[@RetroReloaded]

I feel like some higher ups at the time didn't want a dark ending involving children or something. This could have been so much better. It's like we have to do detective work to see what's REALLY going on and what we find is extremely unsettling.

[@calebmaybin6896]

It could've been more of a twist instead of the girl being telepathic, or just telepathic, the twist was she was telekinetic and went vengeful ... kinda like a pre-Carry and a lesson to never remove love and kindness from childraising or else you raise something else.

[@DeconvertedMan]

"I'm Korra and this is the Twilignt Zone and you gotta deal with it!" :D

[@KyleRobots]

Hitting me with strong Mrs. Kowker, my sixth grade teacher, vibes isn't good, Zone. They really did have a 'the nail that stands tall must be hammered down' attitude back then and into the 90s. And it sucks when the kids are making you miserable, the teacher's trying to beat you down, and the kids join in. Made me almost k!ll myself, which is why I use her name. How many kids didn't survive her in the long run? Also yeah, 'Mom's crazy and abusive. That's a True Crime podcast waiting to happen, or a Mommy Dearest book back then.

[@ericjanssen394]

As good as Richard Matheson is, most of his episodes (like Little Girl Lost) feel long at a HALF hour. He has good on-paper ideas, but doesn't go too far past the concept, leaving them as blank slates for the performances to throw in any unplanned direction. And while, yes, he clearly wanted a Metaphor for deaf/disabled students forced to conform, the two nutty depictions of the mom and teacher, and the 50's reassurance that What Kids Need Are Families scuttled whatever point was trying to be made here.

[@angelcat2865]

I did not get a notification

[@jeffreyberkin-ez3uh]

My number five episode. This is a cautionary tale. Unfortunately, experiments like what we see in the beginning did in fact happen. Ironically the very thing that the Warners fear is what happens. Ilse suffers (although she does escape the fire). The teacher was horrible 😮 and hopefully would never be allowed near Ilse again. Ann Julian (I think the name was misspelled in the credits) was incredibly good❤. Barbara Baxley was gorgeous and, although possibly a bit melodramatic, fully understandable. Harry was conflicted between duty and sentiment. Understandable. Again we have a conflict between conformity and allowing for difference. Finally, how can we KNOW that the Wheelers wouldn't be the better parents for Ilse?

[@pickettpride6980]

I’m a teacher & this really bothered me. Humiliation is not a teaching tool!

[@eviljust9793]

You can read some uncomfortable undertones with this one. It feels almost like it implies being mute/ No verbal is wrong and being something to "teach out" of.

[@smiththeinspiringanimator7042]

Awesome and cool! ^_^

[@TramiNguyen-oi3kp]

I love this The Twilight Zone episode!

[@tremorsfan]

I hate to use the "it was a different time" argument, but this was considered the best way to deal with autistic tendencies.

[@nvm9040]

I never seen season four start to finish only just select episodes

[@michaelcarmona7838]

This is a really strange episode, especially when compared to Eye of the Beholder. Given that this is Rod Serling, I’m not going to assume inconsistency on his part, rather I think the major difference is the emphasis on communication. This isn’t a difference of appearance. Ilse is literally unable to communicate with her adoptive family, other children and other adults. Her parents didn’t simply develop her gift, they developed her gift to the exclusion of her being able to communicate with the entire outside world. It’s not like her family, or the other kids could learn to become telepathic. By the time the Werners arrive, it is too late for Ilse to learn both forms of communication. She has to choose, and while disturbing, her choice is the right one.

[@miroslavtomic7038]

Oscar Beregi and Eva Szorenyi play a German married couple in this episode. They were both born in Hungary.

[@57highland]

Both born in Hungary, yes, but remember that Hungary was once allied with Austria in the "Dual Monarchy" (Austria-Hungary), and since Austria is a Germanic state, maybe they are part Austrian.

[@miroslavtomic7038]

@@57highland Austro-Hungary was not an alliance in that sense. It was basically a union of two independent countries which were connected solely through common ruler and common army and diplomatic service. Both Beregi and Szorenyi were Hungarians.

[@57highland]

@@miroslavtomic7038 Yes, I know. I only said maybe they were part Austrian. They were certainly convincing in playing a German couple.

[@MaverickChristian]

I agree. The ending didn't make sense to me.

[@hayleybartek8643]

I think the angle was that being raised to have telepathic powers was damaging to Ilse, and being forced to conform to the rest of society was a painful but necessary thing. The loss of her "parents that experimented on her" made her incapable of communicating with anyone else outside of the secret society. Frankly, Ilse was raised to be in a cult, and the excuse of "it being in her best interest" is something I can only see as predatory. And seeing this society in Germany post-WWII only pushes the "mid-century Germans experimenting on kids" angle even harder. We know that's what they did. "But who's to say her biological parents didn't love her?" Love doesn't excuse manipulation or abuse. All of the adults' reactions come off as jarring and it may be intended to convince the audience that Ilse should go back to the cult. Judging by many of the comments here, it worked. The teacher's past of being raised as a medium and her having to escape it would motivate her to tamp down Ilse's abilities, especially if she feared the girl would be used in some way like she was, but the cruelty throws the audience off. How could a mean person have Ilse's best interests at heart? Having a mother figure who would care for her, oblivious to her powers, would obviously be a good thing, but the possessiveness throws the audience off. How could a mother who only wants a replacement daughter have Ilse's best interests at heart? The adoptive father, neither emotional nor cruel, makes the best case that Ilse should go back to the cult because he's actively trying to get rid of her. The cult members that show up again acting all sad because Ilse had the greatest potential ... to do what, exactly? Simply exist as a telepath? No, this gives off "planning for the new master race" vibes.

[@archivemedia1140]

Ms. Frank is like an Evil Mary Poppins

[@YukoValis]

Not sure, I see this as a good horror aspect. So many times we see the monster or darker side winning in this series. This is just the same but on a more emotional level.

[@michaelwalsh9616]

hypothetical end for you all. After Ilses breakfown and Maria's admonishment, Karl realizes that she was barring contact with her relatives. Angry at her for cutting off Ilse from her family. Amidst the argument The girl start whimpering, saying she wants her "momma". Maria tries to respond,but quickly the group realize that she trying to reach out to the Nielsen's. The house shudders suddenly as smoke begins to seep into the home. Excitement turns to dread, as the adults realize the Ilse isnt just speaking to them, she's calling them back to her. As the camera closes up on Ilse, the adults plead and scream as smoke fills their view. It cuts to firemen moving through the debris of the now fallen house. The teacher comes by asking what happened, and casual conversation reveals the she was forced to step down for her treatment of ilse. One of the firemen reveals that despite witnesses seeing smoke and the bodies found heavily scarred there was no indication of a fire. She asks about ilse, and is told that she hasn't been found but that she likely perished. A clear look of remorse crosses face as she walks along. Not consise to the episodes story but a few tweaks might make it work. I just wanted an ending i thought Would be cathartic as well as bleak

[@SpongeyTheEditor]

This one is actually pretty good. Strip away the powers and it’s about a poor abused girl trying to get over the things programmed into her by her abusive parents as she finds better ones. It’s well done and the drama is decently engaging. The extra time actually helps somewhat as we get more time to flesh out both parties, although it still does get repetitive. So overall, this was a pleasant surprise, being overt in the right places, and subtle in others. It’s a pretty well done story as a whole. (I did a doc putting my thoughts on each as I watched the series a while back so that's sometimes these are kind of formal)

[@LucasTigy2]

i don't see how any of the adults in this episode were better than each other. they were all terrible in their own way and maybe that was the point

[@theflotingheadproduc]

TnT Poor Ilse!

[@labyfan1313]

I actually enjoyed this episode. It didn't really drag for me too much. I was mad at the mother for burning the letters, I don't think that was right especially considering we saw that the girl wanted to leave. And the teacher seemed evil at first. But I think when the couple from Germany came and told her to remember about how her parents set up this experiment with them it was like she realized that that's all she was to that society and her parents, just an experiment, they never truly loved her but with this family she has a chance at that, and now that's what she wants instead. Her saying her name over and over was like her saying she is an individual with her own thoughts and choices. I think the point of the teacher was tough love to snap her out of her training and maybe from the teacher's point of view a form of brain washing. I didn't really view it is that she lost her gift. I thought of it more like she will have both now. But she doesn't really need the telepathy. It would be more of a burden and something to be exploited if word ever got out. How many times have we seen it where reading people's minds turns out to be a nightmare. Not to mention they said the program was no longer running anyway. It seemed clear at the beginning that her parents didn't really care about her as a human being and their own child that much. They didn't care about isolating her from the world, not giving her a choice, and again making their own child be part of an experiment. They may not have treated her physically badly or been completely unloving, but isolation from society is still mentally damaging no matter the circumstances. They also left her defenseless when she was thrown into the world. They expected her to grow up and live in a secluded society of similar people, but did not prepare her for an emergency situation to be able to function in the real world, which is also neglectful. So I had a different interpretation of the point of this story.

[@peterkim3370]

This is too close to how life for kids back then was like and also show how the show favoured the bad people over the good ones. Literally the kid would’ve had a better time in that burned house than in anything that happened afterwards in the rest of the episode. Truly the misguided thought put into this show is a reflection of it’s time.

[@timkelly5149]

I took something different away from this episode. Maybe it’s too literal but I saw the episode as what can happen to gifted (or just some kids in general) when they assimilated in school (or any institution really)… they can lose their gifts

[@Serahpin]

The teacher was helping her from being used as a tool (medium), into being a person. If she were in the original telepath community and not the US, then it would have been abusive and not corrective. But given the circumstance, they _were_ helping her.

[@richewilson6394]

It doesn't make any sense whatsoever to start your child out with a mental telepathy because language is based on sound. And through mimicking through the word of sound is the only way a person can understand language. This would be like pushing your child to be online communicating with people and then having after 10 years of that see him actually interact with real people.

[@rrsaga]

The teacher did NOT FEEL LOVE from her parents because he trained her to be like this child. That’s why she was harsh to the poor child and wanted to try to curb Elisa from being a factory machine her father had made her. No her father was not a monster, maybe the teachers father was not a monster, but he created one according to YOU! Sigh. Wow, this gen is soooo focused on negative factors that they don’t see the true meaning behind the story. Yeah, some characters were hard but it sometimes takes tough love to overcome some obstacles. I’m so glad I won’t see what’s coming down the pike

[@jlev1028]

You have the profile of a woman presunedly in her late 20s or early 30s. You don't get to pull off that "This generation is stupid" crap.

[@Lwhale.3797]

So weirdly enough, this was my favorite “underrated” TZ episode. 😅 I first watched it as a gay closeted kid in a conservative country in the 90’s. So seeing the story of a highly sensitive child both harboring a dark secret and not understanding what’s “wrong” with her resonated with me deeply. Pacing issues and questionable morals / flawed ending aside.

[@retromacman620]

I actually feel like this episode would have been great, even a gem as a half hour, as I like the concept and setup quite a bit, but it drags for about 20 minutes of the episode.

[@entertainmentlife430]

I always enjoyed this one.

[@JusticeOutlaw]

I thought is Jess Belle would be next

[@pikkusaukko]

Tomorrow is Death Ship and after that should be Jess Belle

[@JusticeOutlaw]

@@pikkusaukko yeah I know now

[@bacaawesomerorie2788]

Imagine if superhero existed in twilight breaking dawn 2 war between vampires and superhero

[@Rtzx564]

How would a script for blue sky pictures Is horton hatches the egg Movie Would go

[@helanesolomon1724]

I really liked this episode. My mom was always sick and I lost her young. I would want a mother like Cora. She really did love her I believe.

[@BeyondInfinity_XD]

C for Conformity? How about J for Junk!

[@antonmassopust568]

I feel sorry for you that have to watch some of these Bad episodes but well that's what we have to do sometime estem informed about some of the rarely-seen Twilight zones