"The Beacon" has doctor (Charles Martin Smith) arriving at a coastal village seemingly cut off from society due to his car breaking down. A lighthouse with a spotlight that seems to select a human from the village to be sacrificed to it is interrupted by Martin's unintended meddling (he meets a boy whose mom takes him in for the night until the next day when the local village "voice" (Martin Landau, especially creepy, playing the leader with the command and authority all are beholden to), mentioning how he's good at fixing things, might help getting the car back started). Being a doctor, Smith is asked by the boy (played by a really young Giovanni Ribisi) to help his sick sister, not realizing that doing so interrupts the process of keeping The Beacon happy, with repercussions which directly involve him as a possible "replacement". Landau's final moments are unsettling, his face and words eerie. Cult story builds to a horrifying conclusion as Smith becomes the "wrong place/wrong time" victim of a terrible fate just because his car broke down near the entrance of a village with a "don't enter" sign. Landau doesn't appear too unfriendly although you sense immediately that him and his kind want no outsiders intruding. The Beacon is a type of god, the lighthouse built and taken care of by a man who founded the village, worshipped by Landau who informs Smith of his importance to their well being and health
he takes care of them, Landau says. Smith is a modern doctor from a way of life alien to the cult of The Beacon, with no intentions meant but pleasant to those in the village. I think viewers truly sympathize with him. 8/10. The episode creates a society in and of itself, with folks willing to do whatever their deity desires to placate it. The bodies surrounding Smith until you no longer see him, and the silence once the camera distances itself produces chilling results.
I love Twilight Zone time traveling stories. I think the show, regardless of age, just gets time travel right most of the time. The 80s had some good ones, too. "One Life, Furnished in Early Poverty" has a downright terrific Peter Riegert as an angry writer, at middle age, mad at the world and where life has brought him (a career that hasn't brought him any prolonged happiness or satisfaction) to. He accidentally breaks the gun on a toy solder figure and decides to return to his old home in Ohio, planning to find others he buried in the backyard. As the TZ often does, Riegert finds himself returning to the past and actually meeting his childhood self, deciding to create an identity of a traveling novelist researching for his next book project. He interjects himself into the child self's life, hoping he might can alter the outcome of his future. It also allows him to meet his father again, with the hopes of building a better relationship between him and his son. Time travel purists might balk at the notion of an older and younger version of the same person meeting each other as it could cause a type of malfunction, but just the same I found this story so worthwhile. I lost my father quite young, so when Riegert has a conversation with his father (Jack Kehoe), it definitely hits home. The kid being bullied, I also connected with that as I was done the same way, and Riegert interfering there was also quite satisfying. Kehoe confronting Riegert about being a type of surrogate right in front of him, and how jealousy fuels his rage towards him is a really potently emotionally charged scene
the father recognizing his faults, admitting that he is unable to halt the anger inside him, and Riegert trying to address that he himself didn't have a father/son relationship which ended on good terms just resonates. Few get such a chance to try and impact their life at its most vulnerable place, afforded the luxury of a trip back in time, but the episode wisely understands there is repercussions. Riegert builds a friendship with his younger self and when understanding his time is running out in the past, informing him he must leave will create a lasting impact felt from that point forward. Riegert, in the Gig Young part ("Walking Distance" (1959)), is attune to the character's crisis, and that reflection as he sees his childhood from the point of view of an adult is so palpable. A really good showcase for Riegert's underrated talent. 10/10. You truly believe, I think, he learns a lot and gains some insight going forward on a renewed approach to his own future.
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