"Third from the Sun" is an episode in the marvelous TV-series "The Twilight Zone" that should be showed in film classes all around the world and ought to be watched by every aspiring scriptwriter who considers writing his/her own (thriller or Sci-Fi) screenplay one day! Why? Not because of its legendary and infamous end twist (because, in all honesty, it's really not *that* difficult to predict), but because this episode masterfully demonstrates pure and non-stop tension building from start to finish! Throughout the entire running time, the three male protagonists behave suspicious, act extremely nervous and only share minimum bits of the information they have, and this doesn't just generate curiosity among their female counterparts but also among the viewers that guess along continuously. William Sturka and Jerry Riden are both employees of a secret governmental nuclear plant and dispose of inside information of a dreadful catastrophe about to happen in less than 48 hours. They plan an escape for them and their families, but their supervisor – the oddly menacing Mr. Carling – has figured out their intentions and subtly (
VERY subtly) confronts them. It has to be said, the twist at the end of this episode is pretty near to pure genius! Unfortunately the otherwise impeccable script, inspired by a short story by Richard Matheson - who else, suggests a little bit too obviously where it's going and the episode's title doesn't really help, neither. Still, also if you did envision the twist, "Third from the Sun" is particularly fun because you can – in retrospect – spot all the ingenious little details. For example, keep an eye open for that curious phone or listen to the bizarre noise of the car whilst driving
Review of Third from the Sun
