Although many people have compared the episode to season 1's "The Comedian", the episode owes an debt to the "Night Gallery" episode 'Make Me Laugh'. In which a comedian who can't get a laugh makes a wish and an inept miracle worker grants it. Except everyone laughs no matter what the comedian says, and eventually the comedian gets tired of his "success" and asks for another miracle which backfires, killing him.
The two new Twilight Zone episodes have both spun off that, but tried to impart a bigger message to a 15-minute episode which only had one thing to say ("Be careful what you wish for") which is the basis of all "make a wish" stories" since "The Monkey Paw". 'Ovation' doesn't add anything to it, and is basically shorter and less themeless than last year's 'The Comedian'.
Tell me if you've heard this before. An aspiring singer gets a coin from a pop star, Fiji, who then kills herself. No matter how badly the singer performs, or how implausible the circumstances of people applauding her, she gets applause. Unceasing and unearned applause. The singer, Jasmine, eventually gets tired of it. She has a sibling who is jealous of her, takes the coin, and gets the applause. But the sister, Tara, is immune to the coin's spell, and later Jasmine is immune to it as well. Not to mention Jasmine is immune to the spell initially when Fiji gives her the coin. And why does Fiji give her the coin if she considers its "blessing" a curse?
I don't necessarily need an explanation for all this. But a) the script requires it by gaslighting the issues, b) you've got nothing else to do but think about these issues while the story plods along, and c) we had the same unexplained ability thing in "The Who of You" last episode.
The jealous sister bit gives the episode a bit of a spin and a vaguely twisty ending. But the plot still boils down to "Be careful what you wish for", and the changes to the format don't really change the plot enough to make it interesting. There are a few decent scenes, like a hospital bit where the surgeons and even a patient being operated on applaud Jasmine. But the story doesn't go anywhere.
Also maybe this story just doesn't work in this day and age. It comes across more as some well-paid actors and producers lamenting "Oh, woe is me: I've got all this fame and fortune that it too much for my poor little soul." Serling pulled that off with "Make Me Laugh", in part thanks to Geoffrey Cambridge as the down-and-out comedian and in part because Serling never seemed to have a lot of fame and fortune despite his talent and famous name. And also just because Serling was that good a writer. With 'The Comedian', and now 'Ovation', the writers not so much.
Maybe Serling was a guy who had lots of money, and he dived into his vault full of it Scrooge McDuck-style. Or maybe it's just his on-screen persona that conveyed an image of him as an unassuming guy. But Serling seemed like the kind of the guy who stumbled into fame and/or worked hard for it. Unlike the writers and producers of the new show, who have been doing their jobs for years. I'm sure they worked for it, but it doesn't come across as "earned" the way Serling's work did.
It also doesn't help that at the end, Jasmine goes nuts. She doesn't seem like she was too stable in the first place. The screaming, wild guitar playing, and her ultimate killing someone she thinks she doesn't know, doesn't help. It doesn't seem like she was too tightly wound in the first place.
But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. What do you think?
The two new Twilight Zone episodes have both spun off that, but tried to impart a bigger message to a 15-minute episode which only had one thing to say ("Be careful what you wish for") which is the basis of all "make a wish" stories" since "The Monkey Paw". 'Ovation' doesn't add anything to it, and is basically shorter and less themeless than last year's 'The Comedian'.
Tell me if you've heard this before. An aspiring singer gets a coin from a pop star, Fiji, who then kills herself. No matter how badly the singer performs, or how implausible the circumstances of people applauding her, she gets applause. Unceasing and unearned applause. The singer, Jasmine, eventually gets tired of it. She has a sibling who is jealous of her, takes the coin, and gets the applause. But the sister, Tara, is immune to the coin's spell, and later Jasmine is immune to it as well. Not to mention Jasmine is immune to the spell initially when Fiji gives her the coin. And why does Fiji give her the coin if she considers its "blessing" a curse?
I don't necessarily need an explanation for all this. But a) the script requires it by gaslighting the issues, b) you've got nothing else to do but think about these issues while the story plods along, and c) we had the same unexplained ability thing in "The Who of You" last episode.
The jealous sister bit gives the episode a bit of a spin and a vaguely twisty ending. But the plot still boils down to "Be careful what you wish for", and the changes to the format don't really change the plot enough to make it interesting. There are a few decent scenes, like a hospital bit where the surgeons and even a patient being operated on applaud Jasmine. But the story doesn't go anywhere.
Also maybe this story just doesn't work in this day and age. It comes across more as some well-paid actors and producers lamenting "Oh, woe is me: I've got all this fame and fortune that it too much for my poor little soul." Serling pulled that off with "Make Me Laugh", in part thanks to Geoffrey Cambridge as the down-and-out comedian and in part because Serling never seemed to have a lot of fame and fortune despite his talent and famous name. And also just because Serling was that good a writer. With 'The Comedian', and now 'Ovation', the writers not so much.
Maybe Serling was a guy who had lots of money, and he dived into his vault full of it Scrooge McDuck-style. Or maybe it's just his on-screen persona that conveyed an image of him as an unassuming guy. But Serling seemed like the kind of the guy who stumbled into fame and/or worked hard for it. Unlike the writers and producers of the new show, who have been doing their jobs for years. I'm sure they worked for it, but it doesn't come across as "earned" the way Serling's work did.
It also doesn't help that at the end, Jasmine goes nuts. She doesn't seem like she was too stable in the first place. The screaming, wild guitar playing, and her ultimate killing someone she thinks she doesn't know, doesn't help. It doesn't seem like she was too tightly wound in the first place.
But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. What do you think?
