The Outer Limits (TV Series) New Lease (1997) User Reviews

Revenge Isn't Always What It's Stacked Up to Be

[Hitchcoc · 7/10 · 16 May 2014]

O Henry would have been proud. That's all I will say. This is the story of a couple of men who truly go beyond what they had a right to do. The have a body delivered to them. The man did, indeed, give his body to science. What he didn't realize was that a couple of overzealous scientists were going to bring him back to life. His body has been frozen and he is eventually resuscitated. Think about the implications of this. The man is incredibly ill and never recovers. Not only that, he is driven to deep depression, wanting to die as the ghoulish pair prance around him, telling him how lucky he is to have two days. He does die again and then an event sets up the rest of the episode. The more zealous of the two men is going to his car when a mugger comes up and robs him. In the process, the guy shoots and kills the man. His partner comes along, the mugger runs, and it's back to the lab. That's right. He uses the technology to revive his friend. Unfortunately, the problem with the original case was that his cells immediately began to degenerate. A natural prognosis is 24 hours. There is a kicker here that I won't mention, but it is classic.

Resurrecting the dead to allow them to provide closure to the living

[CCsito · 8/10 · 27 June 2018]

This episode offers an interesting premise on reviving the dead to allow them to return back to the living world. Two researchers perform experiments on animals and finally a dead frozen human to try to revive the dead through cryogenics. They are able to revive their first human guinea pig, but the vital signs start to go haywire and the revived man begins to break down physically and dies within a few days. The man suffers in order to continue living and prefers to have remained dead after having a heart attack. He asks to see his wife, but is prevented from doing so because of exposing the research work. Since he only was revived for a short period, the researchers decide to keep the man's condition to themselves. Reviving the dead brings out one important aspect regarding sudden death where the deceased did not have time to say their goodbyes to their loved ones. I am sure some of the people whose life was suddenly cut short would like to have some additional time to spend with their families. Later in the episode, one of the researchers is shot and killed by a mugger (who happens to be the director of this episode). He dies, but then is revived by the other researcher. The revived man then decides to spend time with his family, knowing that the first revived man only lived for a few days. He gets to spend time with his wife and daughter that he has neglected for many years. I am certain that many who died suddenly would have liked to have closure with their families too. The twist to this episode occurs when the revived researcher locates the mugger who shot him and seeks revenge. He kills the mugger, but there are eyewitnesses. The other researcher then informs the revived researcher that he had made a mistake about his continued life expectancy after being revived. Since his dead body was not frozen like the first revived man, the body would be able to heal itself and allow a normal life span to be attained. The revived researcher is elated at this news that he can live much longer with his family. However, the murder of the mugger comes back to haunt the revived researcher in the ending with a twist.

Very good with caveats

[bgaiv · 7/10 · 27 October 2021]

Stephen Lang plays this extremely well. He's so earnest and convincing, his fate manages to be rather heartbreaking.

All the other actors are good as well and the story is pretty solid. I really like how Lang's character fumbles through his believed last day, trying to make amends, get revenge, etc. It's great that It's not the usual trope of him somehow becoming some sort of clever Superman. His actions are believably plausible for a real world man of high intellect.

Caveats... the main is that the (rather expected) twist doesn't satisfactorily end the story. So he kills the thug and yet no longer has a bullet hole. However, his colleague can truthfully testify he saw him die and brought him back to life.

Plus, these scientists are keeping records of what they are doing. Lang's not likely getting out of this scot free, but on the other hand, they just built technology to bring people back to life. Obviously that technology alone will generate fantastic interest in him.

And it's unlikely this is the first time the thug crimed, and most likely has a record which will lend credence to the scientist's story.

So, it really feels this isn't the end of the story.

A more minor caveat is it seemed strange the guy they revived wanted to stay dead. Why? That felt unlikely and arbitrary without more explanation. Also, why didn't they get that guy to a hospital or at least bring in other doctors?