Writer Richard Matheson and director Richard Bare manage to squeeze maximum worth out of this very slender premise. One of those bobble-head fortune teller novelties from the fifties proves to be more than just a teenage amusement. This devil's head claims to predict the future and actually does-- or at least appears to. There it sits booth-side in a cheap diner waiting for some unsuspecting customer to get caught up in the clairvoyant vortex. Unsuspecting newly-weds Pat Breslin and William Shatner make for very charming victims. Notice how Bare shifts camera angles as the couple falls under the demonic spell. He uses Breslin's mounting anxiety in the foreground to communicate emotions as Shatner gets caught up in the background. It's very effective. (Also-- consider how the couple gets a hearty lunch for under two dollars. Sign me up!)
The better TZ's usually posed an interesting philosophical question. Here the quandary is what you would do if you believed your future was already mapped out. Would you try to duck it? Could you avoid it? Or is fate unstoppable? Breslin doesn't want to find out, and when it comes down to it, neither does Shatner. Maybe their choice is the wisest. Live your life as though you are in charge. Let the gods sort out the rest. All in all, a worthy little episode.
The better TZ's usually posed an interesting philosophical question. Here the quandary is what you would do if you believed your future was already mapped out. Would you try to duck it? Could you avoid it? Or is fate unstoppable? Breslin doesn't want to find out, and when it comes down to it, neither does Shatner. Maybe their choice is the wisest. Live your life as though you are in charge. Let the gods sort out the rest. All in all, a worthy little episode.