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Few shows have stood the test of time in the way “The Twilight Zone” has. For a show that ended its initial run 60 years ago, it’s downright shocking how relevant and impactful many of the classic episodes are. Like any show that runs for well over 100 episodes, though, there are going to be some stinkers in the bunch. “The Twilight Zone” is no exception, with some truly awful ones in the mix. Fortunately, the good far outweighs the bad, which is all anyone can ask from any long-running series. On the opposite end of the spectrum, what’s the best of the bunch? What episode stands tall above the rest?
While this question could be debated (and has been debated) for decades amongst fans, there is, at least, a clear cut winner when it comes to the users of a specific website. “Eye of the Beholder,” which is the 42nd episode of “The Twilight Zone” overall, stands above the rest as the series’ highest-rated entry on IMDb. For anyone who has seen it, it’s certainly a difficult episode to argue against. Viewers undoubtedly have their personal favorites, but “Eye of the Beholder” is an oft-cited quintessential installment for a reason.
The episode centers on a young woman who is lying in a hospital bed, recovering from a procedure which was performed as a last-ditch effort to make her look ordinary. With her head wrapped in bandages, she impatiently awaits the outcome of this surgery. Not to spoil it for those who haven’t seen it but this episode contains one of the greatest twists in “Twilight Zone” history. It’s up there with the best of them.
Eye of the Beholder is The Twilight Zone at its finest
Airing as the sixth episode of “The Twilight Zone” season 2, “Eye of the Beolder” features one of the best executions of a story in the show’s history. It was written by series creator Rod Serling and directed by Douglas Heyes, who helmed a number of episodes during the show’s first two seasons. It also required very little by way of visual effects, there were no fancy sets, and there were only a small handful of actors involved. It’s purely dependent on the great premise and the execution of that premise.
Looking back, it feels like a miracle that CBS let this show exist for five seasons and more than 150 episodes with such a high degree of quality. It was network interference that doomed the 2002 “Twilight Zone” revival, after all. 60 years later, it remains an example of timeless storytelling that represents the best of what Serling had to offer the world as a storyteller. There are no bad CGI shots that’ve aged poorly to take the viewer out of it, nor are there any compromises dictated by a needlessly big budget. It’s just a clever story with something to say, executed to perfection by some very talented artists. It’s special and deserving of every bit of praise it’s received.
“The Twilight Zone” is currently streaming on Prime Video and Paramount+. You can also grab the entire series on Blu-ray from Amazon.
