This is my second favorite episode of the show and another of my favorite episodes in general as it has two of the best stories in my book. The first story of course was directed by Tommy Lee Wallace which is cool as he's a horror director I like that I feel is under the radar.
This episode is something different as it's one of those stories that deal with causes you to think more deeply about the next choices you make in life. Throughout our lives there are times we always wonder what if we made this decision or that and what would of happened had we made it, would our lives be any better or how different would life be. This truly is a philosophical dilemma where it's a question did you make the right decision, or do you have to lose something to arrive at that choice.
Really like the performances from Season Humley whom I remember from the under the radar film "Vice Squad". It makes sense that she would be faced with this decision making dilemma as she's a 30 something which is considered the turning point in life where their days of youth are starting to fade and they have to make some crucial choices on where else their life will go. Her character like most ambitious people has big dreams and desires and many more but is uncertain as to how or if she'll be able to fulfill them all.
Scott Grimes whom I feel is an underrated actor, he of course is recently in the under the radar TV series "The Orville" Back then he was a really solid actor, I like that he's not some annoying stereotypical kid you might see in a really bad Disney Channel TV show. But he feels like a regular kid that we really get to know. I like there is this aura of mysteriousness to him as we don't know how he knows certain things, let alone how he's able to get to certain places so quickly as if he has teleportation powers.
But I really like how both characters bond and after a while it really feels almost like a mother and son bond which cause her and us to think that maybe she might be able have not just one thing but another thing going for her life, after all there is no rule that says you can't have more in life. Which is part of what makes the finale all the sadder and more haunting, it reminds us that with ever decision made there is a loss we never forget.
The other one is of course Nightcrawlers which was written by one of my favorite horror authors that I feel is under the radar Robert McCammon. And of course, this was directed by William Friedkin which is also cool as that's a director I like. This is a simple format of build up to pay off where we have a Vietnam vet that really isn't totally sympathic once we discover more of the truth about him and what he's done.
But we see that he has some sort of psychic power where he inadvertently manifests his own nightmares of Vietnam which unfortunately come true. This I feel is a powerful tale that deals with the issues of war crimes and paying for them, but mainly about Post Traumatic Stress how it not just affects the solider but even the people around him.
The final minutes are just harrowing and shocking but a reminder on how war is never far away even from people not in the battlefield but also how in war it's the civilians that pay the most.
Rating: 4 stars