July 10, 2023-numbers 114, 115, 116

Spoilers

“I Dream of Genie”

The Twilight Zone returns to the world of genies with the season four episode “I Dream of Genie.” I did enjoy the first genie episode with “The Man in the Bottle,” but, unfortunately, this second genie-centric episode really missed the mark.

“Meet Mr. George P. Hanley, a man life treats without deference, honor or success. Waiters serve his soup cold. Elevator operators close doors in his face. Mothers never bother to wait up for the daughters he dates. George is a creature of humble habits and tame dreams. He’s an ordinary man, Mr. Hanley, but at this moment the accidental possessor of a very special gift, the kind of gift that measures men against their dreams, the kind of gift most of us might ask for first and possibly regret to the last, if we, like Mr. George P. Hanley, were about to plunge head-first and unaware into our own personal Twilight Zone.”

George Hanley can not make up his mind about what to wish. He ran through several options and had daydreams about each of them… he was married to a famous actress, had all the money in the world, he was the President of the United States… and none of them made him happy.

None of them made me happy either as they were all pretty dull and did not do much for the story. And the ending, George choosing to be a genie himself to help people, came out of nowhere.

I guess he did not understand that the life of a genie was “phenomenal cosmic powers, itty bitty living space.”

“The New Exhibit”

“Martin Lombard Senescu, a gentle man, the dedicated curator of murderers’ row in Ferguson’s Wax Museum. He ponders the reasons why ordinary men are driven to commit mass murder. What Mr. Senescu does not know is that the groundwork has already been laid for his own special kind of madness and torment found only in the Twilight Zone.”

I liked this one. I have always been a fan of Jack the Ripper and his inclusion in the wax exhibits was cool for me. Honestly though, he was the only ‘murderer’ in the murderer’s row of wax figures that I recognized. The wax figures looked great, really creepy for the 1960s.

I also love the twist at the end with Martin being the true killer and just imagining that the wax killers had done it. It was really dark when his wife dies and he buries her in the basement, covering her with concrete. This was a very dark and creepy episode.

Martin Balsam was excellent as the wax figures-obsessed man, who apparently loved these wax figures over anyone else in his life. I did think it was odd that he was more upset about the murder of Ferguson than he was with the murder of his wife.

I enjoyed the ending, as poor old Martin wound up just another wax figure in a new museum with his five murderer friends.

“Of Late I Think of Cliffordville”

The best part of this episode? Easy. It was Julie Newmar! Catwoman herself. This was the first and only version of the Devil on Twilight Zone played by a woman, and they could not have found a better woman to fill that role.

“Witness a murder. The killer is Mr. William Feathersmith, a robber baron whose body composition is made up of a refrigeration plant covered by thick skin. In a moment, Mr. Feathersmith will proceed on his daily course of conquest and calumny with yet another business dealing. But this one will be one of those bizarre transactions that take place in an odd marketplace known as the Twilight Zone.”

I was not a fan of Mr. Feathersmith. I know that I was not supposed to like him as he was a rotten individual and the episode was put together just to mess with him. I have to say, I laughed out loud when Ms. Devlin (Julie) rebuked Feathersmith’s attempt to sell his soul in payment. She said that they already had his soul years ago. That was great. Plus, then she hit him with the blow that would hurt him the most… making him pay his bill… with money.

Then, she still screwed him over even more as every plan he had when he arrived back in time in Cliffordville flopped.

I was not a huge fan with the ending. It did not make a lot of sense even though it was a nice ironic end.

Julie Newmar was exceptional here and she really carried the story.