Two (The Twilight Zone)
"Two" | |
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Nathan Van Cleave | |
Production code | 4802 |
Original air date | September 15, 1961 |
Guest appearances | |
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"Two" is the season 3 premiere and 66th episode overall of the
The radio adaptation of this episode starred Don Johnson in the Charles Bronson role.
Opening narration
This is a jungle, a monument built by nature honoring disuse, commemorating a few years of nature being left to its own devices. But it's another kind of jungle, the kind that comes in the aftermath of man's battles against himself. Hardly an important battle, not a Gettysburg, or a Marne, or an Iwo Jima; more like one insignificant corner patch in the crazy quilt of combat. But it was enough to end the existence of this little city. It's been five years since a human being walked these streets. This is the first day of the sixth year, as man used to measure time. The time: perhaps a hundred years from now, or sooner. Or perhaps it's already happened two million years ago. The place: the signposts are in English so that we may read them more easily, but the place is the Twilight Zone.
Plot
A woman wearing a tattered uniform stumbles into a deserted city. She spots what was a restaurant and finds a can of chicken in the kitchen. A man in a different, well-worn uniform soon enters the kitchen, and after a brief scuffle, knocks her out and eats half the chicken. He later wakes the woman by dumping a pot of water on her face. He says there is no reason to fight anymore, as there are no more armies, but eventually realizes that she cannot understand him and departs. She eats the canned chicken he left for her.
The woman tracks him down, and they wander down the street, coming to a movie theater. He stares at a poster for a wartime romance film and turns to smile at her. They find the skeletal remains of soldiers at the theater entrance and abruptly grab the rifles of the dead owners, simultaneously aiming at each other. After a tense moment, the man turns and walks away, slinging his weapon over his shoulder.
The woman follows him, and the two walk along the city street. They stop in front of a store with a cocktail dress in the smashed display window. Upon her saying "Prekrasnyy" (Russian for "beautiful"), he hands the dress to her and tells her to put it on. She enters a recruiting office next to the department store to change into the dress, but then she notices the jingoistic enlistment posters on the wall. She grabs her rifle, exits the office and angrily shoots at him twice, but misses. The man gets up, looks at her incredulously, and walks away.
The next morning, the man has changed out of his uniform into a
Closing narration
This has been ... a love story, about two lonely people who found each other ... in the Twilight Zone.
Music
An abbreviated version of the music for this episode, composed by
Production notes
This episode was filmed on the backlot of
The sound for the "blaster" was taken from Forbidden Planet, where Robby the Robot exclaims that an Earthman's weapon was "a simple blaster".[1]
References
- user-generated source]
- Zicree, Marc Scott: The Twilight Zone Companion. Sillman-James Press, 1982 (second edition)
- DeVoe, Bill. (2008). Trivia from The Twilight Zone. Albany, GA: Bear Manor Media. ISBN 978-1-59393-136-0
- Grams, Martin. (2008). The Twilight Zone: Unlocking the Door to a Television Classic. Churchville, MD: OTR Publishing. ISBN 978-0-9703310-9-0
External links
- "Two" at IMDb