I have been a fan of The Twilight Zone since I was kid. I would watch re runs of the series in the 80's on WGN. I saw this episode when I was twelve and the ending scared the living daylights out of me. (This episode and Halloween III caused my phobia of costume masks)
Years later, I caught the episode again during Sci Fi TZ marathon. After watching the episode as an adult I realized how dark and disturbing this episode is.
The main character Jason played by Robert Keith who did his best in trying to bring some sympathy to an otherwise miserable verbally abusive old fart, gathers his family together for Mardi Gras party. He has them wear bizarre mask which reflects there true personality.
His family is the not most stellar of characters. They are miserable, bored and selfish. And at the end they are forever wearing the mask.
It's a good storyline, good acting (I give actors credit for breathing life into rather dull characters) and good directing. All that saved this episode.
The problems with the episode are: Poor casting: Who thought it was a good idea to have a thirty something old man to play a teenager?
Bad dubbing of voices when the actors had the mask on.
Generational dysfunction: Jason was not a kind man to his daughter and she became an attention seeking hypochondriac. It turn, she passed down her misery to her kids.
The ending: I realized Jason's family is now forever imprisoned in the mansion and who is going take care of them? Jason's servants and his doctor. So...not only did he ruined his families lives but the three people who cared for him.
Did his family deserve their fate? Not really. He could have given his millions away to a charity. However if that happened there would not been a story.
The character Jason: He was not the good guy. Usually, in TZ episodes there is one good person or reasonable person. None here. He was verbally abusive and vindictive As the end of episode I realized he was no better than his family.
The moral to this story is: Revenge is not worth it. Everybody gets hurts. There are no winners.
Years later, I caught the episode again during Sci Fi TZ marathon. After watching the episode as an adult I realized how dark and disturbing this episode is.
The main character Jason played by Robert Keith who did his best in trying to bring some sympathy to an otherwise miserable verbally abusive old fart, gathers his family together for Mardi Gras party. He has them wear bizarre mask which reflects there true personality.
His family is the not most stellar of characters. They are miserable, bored and selfish. And at the end they are forever wearing the mask.
It's a good storyline, good acting (I give actors credit for breathing life into rather dull characters) and good directing. All that saved this episode.
The problems with the episode are: Poor casting: Who thought it was a good idea to have a thirty something old man to play a teenager?
Bad dubbing of voices when the actors had the mask on.
Generational dysfunction: Jason was not a kind man to his daughter and she became an attention seeking hypochondriac. It turn, she passed down her misery to her kids.
The ending: I realized Jason's family is now forever imprisoned in the mansion and who is going take care of them? Jason's servants and his doctor. So...not only did he ruined his families lives but the three people who cared for him.
Did his family deserve their fate? Not really. He could have given his millions away to a charity. However if that happened there would not been a story.
The character Jason: He was not the good guy. Usually, in TZ episodes there is one good person or reasonable person. None here. He was verbally abusive and vindictive As the end of episode I realized he was no better than his family.
The moral to this story is: Revenge is not worth it. Everybody gets hurts. There are no winners.