The Twilight Zone (TV Series) Upgrade (2002) User Reviews

The Perfect Family

[kapelusznik18 · 6/10 · 8 March 2015]

****SPOILERS**** Annie Macintosh, Susanna Thompson, always wanted everything to be perfect in her life and through the unexplained workings of the "Twilight Zone" she got her wish. It came slowly to Annie at first in that after moving with her family into her new dream house the family dog Zonka changed from a common street mutt to a blue ribbon winning French Poodle in the blink of an eye! Trying to cope with this new and out of left field member of the Macintosh family Annie is suddenly confronted with the fact that both her children Tess & Sean, Alexandra Purvis Jaren Brandt Bartlett, have changed identities or appearances for the better as well!

Freaking out at what's happening to her Annie is later assured by her friend real-estate agent Yasmine Haleen, Laara Sadig, that everything is quite all right and as time goes by she'll get used to what happening to her and her family. Meanwhile Annie is slowly going off the deep end and her family including her now new, in appearance not name, and improved husband feel that she needs some rest to overcome her fears and anxieties by being committed to a sanitarium for a few months until she recovers.

****SPOILERS**** Refusing to be committed Annie tries to make a run for it thinking this is all some plot by everyone involve, her husband children as well as Yasmine, to drive her insane only to run into a brick wall or the "Twilight Zone" every time she tries to leave the house. Finally reality sets in with Annie, who wasn't exactly perfect, being replaced by a perfect Annie to complete the family portrait hanging on the wall. That due to Annie wanting everything to be perfect for her and her family, including the family dog Zonka, has finally made her the perfect wife as well!

"Any way you look at it, you got what you wanted."

[classicsoncall · 7/10 · 6 March 2023]

After the family dog Czonka turns into a poodle, and her teenage kids (Alexandra Purvis, Jaren Brandt Bartlett) are replaced by new and improved models, Annie MacIntosh (Susanna Thompson) starts to believe she's losing her mind. She always dreamed of the perfect home and perfect family, and it looks like it's happening right in front of her eyes, even as she thinks she's going crazy. Her husband (Timothy Carhart) and real estate agent (Laara Sadiq) aren't fazed by the replacements, they see the dog and the kids as the original family members, and what's more, it's confirmed by the family portrait hanging in the living room! When husband Philip is finally replaced by an updated version, you have to know how this was all going to end, but didn't it seem unusual that the 'new' Annie didn't realize she took the place of the 'old' one? It all made sense in the final analysis, because the story turned out to be a simulation in a video game, thus rendering the episode as one that didn't have to take place in The Twilight Zone.

Meh...

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 14 February 2022]

A family is moving in to a new house when the mom becomes frazzled at her jerky kids and the last straw is when the dog pees on the hearth. She wishes she had a different family and suddenly the mangy mutt is replaced by a poodle...and her husband and kids don't notice the different, though she does. Later, the kids change as well...which, isn't really all that bad. But when her husband changes and the furniture changes, you wonder what's happening next.

This is a very original episode, though the 'big twist' is very obvious and will shock no one. Still, it is worth seeing...and it's also skippable as well.

Be Careful What You Wish For

[Hitchcoc · 9/10 · 8 July 2017]

This is a very clever idea. A family is moving into a new house, one much nicer than their previous one. The wife says she wishes she had the perfect family. Soon things get weird. The family dog turns into a poodle and the rest of the family says this has always been their dog. Soon each of the children (who are a handful) turn into these sparkly clean polite kids. The house's furniture suddenly becomes expensive and stylish. Of course, the wife thinks she is going crazy, unable to accept all the changes, thinking her family is somewhere else. But nobody seems concerned. You will understand why the word upgrade is appropriate. The final scene caught me right out of the blue.