[Merskelly Metalien]

The Shelter

Ah! And we come to another one of my personal FAVorite episodes of the Twilight Zone! :D This is MY Maple Street. It's far less popular an episode, but I love it for exactly the same reason people like Maple Street. It has a message for people as a whole, as a group, and it reflects the absolute primal worst in us as a species. >-o It's a dark one, and it starts out so light! x)

This was an episode from it's time, during a time where cold war was the fear of all, and mutually assured destruction was a very real possibility. 8( It's a frightening thing alone, to feel you might be in danger of being in the midst of nuclear warfare...especially if you live in a major city somewhere. In the Shelter, the more frightening thing is far closer and far more devastating than any nuclear weapon or warfare imaginable.

Again, I won't give away the ending, as it's too good for words to praise. -o- But! I will give praise to the acting in this! :D The panic, feels real. The worries and woes, feel real. The fear and frustration, feels so very real. Above all, the animosity and desperation feels too real. I'd expect anyone to act these ways if they felt they had no protection, and were about to be doomed if they don't do something soon. o_o;

This episode has an excellent theme, premise, music, build up, and message. It's less science-fiction, and less horror. I'm not sure thriller was even a genre back then, but it would probably be categorized as such, as things get pretty intense prrrretty quickly. The best thing about this episode is the beginning and the end, which I compare all too often. You'd have to watch it to see what I mean. >u>;

Season 3. Episode 3. The Shelter. The unknown is one of the most frightening things we as humans can imagine. But what's ironic is that nothing in this episode is truly unknown. Give it a watch. It's more dramatic and reflective than anything, there's no scary faces or special effects or anything. I promise, it's one of the ones that has stood the test of time, despite the times having changed since then...or...has it really changed so much? >.>