The Twilight Zone (TV Series) Replay (2019) User Reviews

A Real Life Nightmare

[jasmynsnipes · 7/10 · 12 April 2019]

Don't let the negative reviews keep you from watching this episode. It's hard to watch, but any viewer of the original Twilight Zone knows that the show covered social and political issues.

The episode has me on the edge of my seat all the way through. I wasn't sure exactly how it would. No, there was not a "plot twist," but there didn't need to be.

The acting was great, the writing was good, even the ending still left me unsettled. It lets you know this is a sad reality that some people can't escape.

My only complaint is that it's very strange how easily some of the characters believed the main character when she said she was kept reliving the same moments.

A Good Concept to Explore...A Little Too On the Nose

[babayer · 7/10 · 11 April 2019]

While I think this was a good concept to explore reflecting modern issues, the resolution and the dialogue were a little on the nose. Though I did find the ending to be interesting. Like the first episode, it seems to drag on longer than it needs to.

Some lack of imagination this episode

[nickdefever-03857 · 5/10 · 16 April 2019]

I like the theme of racial profiling mixed in with the magic camcorder a lot! The fear of feeling hunted from the get go. The ability to rewind the whole situation. I kept thinking there was something we don't know about as the viewer. Maybe the cop knew some detail about the car they were driving. However, this was not the case. Even after the nice conversation with the mother, and getting treated pie.. this cop still insists on shooting a black person like a terminator robot on a set mission. Once the characters get this personal with each other, the story does not work anymore. This is not racial profiling anymore to me, but pure 100 percent racism. And not just him but all the other cops showing up in the end backing him up. The writing got lazy, and one dimensional here. Plus with the magic camcorder you could let your imagination run wild! Very flawed episode in my opinion. The story could be more subtle to be believable. It also did not feel so Twilight Zoney to me compared to the first 2 episodes. The acting was really good though. The mother stands out! The whole episode is shot well, so I am giving it a 5 out of 10.

1'st Twilight episode without a "plot twist"

[zaratustra-02649 · 13 April 2019]

-I think this camcoder rewinds time back! -Say no more, I believe You. Now lets go to this tunnel. This tunnel is the only way for black people to get to school, without being shot by white policeman.

That was for real:)

This reboot consistently condescends to the audience

[jimmer85 · 4/10 · 14 April 2019]

The writers probably accomplished what they wanted here. Race baiting and stirring peeps up on both sides. Police brutality against African Americans is a serious issue, worthy of a TZ episode and much more exposure, clearly. Execution of this story is terrible here though. Sanaa Lathan provides a powerful performance, as the frightened mother but most of the other characters and dialogue prove stiff and one dimensional. I know I'm a millennial, but I do still remember subtlety in storytelling. It was amazing! Rod Serling had a formula that made you rethink things in a way you wouldn't have expected before. This series through a few episodes is just self indulgent and tends to over explain the plot. If these episodes were shorter, like the original TZ, they could cut a lot of dead weight and make it a more cerebral experience.

Some people just can't step into another persons shoes

[Mkmllr83 · 9/10 · 5 May 2019]

All these people who are saying that this is just a liberal race baiting propaganda can't understand what it's like to live in another person's shoes. This was an excellent episode and I can't believe it has such a low rating. Some people just can't accept the brutal honesty of other people's everyday reality without feeling it's a direct attack on themselves. Some people called this episode controversial but that doesn't even make sense to me. It was deep and powerful and great all around.

Pretty good

[prankster36 · 7/10 · 28 April 2019]

One of the better episodes of this show so far. Extremely tense and well-acted. Sure, it's politically heavy-handed, but hey--that's always been the Twilight Zone for you, and in this case it tapped into real-world fears that were extremely relatable.

Also kudos for resolving the story in a way that's unsettling without being bleak (or unrealistically upbeat)

Replay

[bobcobb301 · 4/10 · 12 April 2019]

Look, I understand that TV in 2019 is going to get political. I don't have a problem with that. But we need a good story here.

This was nothing but Jordan Peele wanting to share his opinion on police brutality, which is obviously a big problem, but this was not The Twilight Zone. This was just a bad afterschool special.

I liked it.

[drewmckenna-60753 · 9/10 · 25 April 2019]

Most of the complaints about this episode seem to want some deeper meaning or more positive aspect. Personally I believe remembering racism and telling stories, simple or not, must be done so each generation won't forget what humans are capable of doing to each other.

I thought it was well filmed, kept me on the edge and in the end it was a surprise and a nice one.

Much better than the last two episodes

[disrickeh · 6/10 · 19 April 2019]

While the plot was pretty obvious and the direction of the episode was easy to predict. I think it was really wholesome and a very relevant piece of social commentary. I enjoyed it, the actors performed well. Good stuff but not Great

More writing on a kindergarten level with zero enlightenment

[dhenderson-9 · 1/10 · 12 April 2019]

Wow, another dud. And this one's a real shame. The idea was interesting, but the device used to propagate the idea doesn't work.

Said device is backwater racism. The only real redeeming facet to this story is that the actor portraying the racist didn't come across as a stereotypical hick. But the message was clear, especially when all the other white cops show up: white people don't want black people to go to college. This could have been a great episode, uniting black and white people as simply people who care for each other and help each other against race-agnostic evil. I'm not going to get preachy here, but I'm a white guy and the more black and white and, well, just people that go to college to learn a craft and have a career, the better off we all are. More college graduates means a better economy, a stronger country and fewer lower income slums. I want everyone to be the best possible version of themselves. And I'm not alone.

So if the writers of this show wanted to be avant-garde and stick with the outside-the-box patina of the original series, maybe they could show the seldom-Hollywood-backed point of view of unity over race division. Instead of saying things like "we all need to come together" with the implication that it's one race uniting, they could espouse the view that all races should bind against evil and, therefore, become humans and advance as a society, civilization and people. Instead of focusing on differences to keep us apart, focus on commonalities that unite us. Help us garner an attitude of helping one another and caring for our fellow man.

Instead, they chose a political, divisive path that has become stale and volatile over the years. We need less towing the party line, more leading the way to a brighter future.

OK, that said, the acting was excellent by all - especially Sanaa Lathan (she is a true lady of the screen with chops like few others). Even through the jejune writing, the actors really pulled out some terrific performances. It's the only redeemable aspect to this episode.

Jordan Peele seemed less robotic, or maybe he's growing on me. Either way, his narration didn't pull me out of the story as much as the previous two episodes.

Excellent episode

[evmcelroy · 8/10 · 11 April 2019]

I enjoyed this episode very much. I love that Twilight Zone technique of giving an object magical properties, in this case, an old camcorder that goes back in time as you rewind it. Excellent choice of Glenn Fleshler as the intimidating cop - he was the lawn-mowing serial killer in True Detective and he is always terrific. Jordan Peele has a great way of using art to explore contemporary issues. This episode was both topical and moving with a great ending.

Replay

[Prismark10 · 6/10 · 1 March 2020]

Nina (Sanaa Lathan) is driving her son Dorian (Damson Idris) to college. They stop by a diner where she is watched by a traffic cop, Officer Lansky (Glenn Fleshler.)

Even though they are just a few miles from their destination, Lansky stops the car and the incident leads to a confrontation. Nina who is recording everything in a camcorder manages to magically rewind the events. Only for the incident to be repeated again and again. Lansky always get in their way.

Replay is an episode of The Twilight Zone with the message that you cannot cheat death. Even in the days of mobile phone footage and officers wearing body cameras.

Dorian was always meant to be a victim of race inspired police brutality. You cannot run away from trigger happy white policemen.

It is a controversial and sadly a topical episode. I can see why some people would find this divisive.

Disappointing

[alexandratrigili · 1/10 · 11 April 2019]

Not only does this episode have a blatant agenda, it does NOT have a Twilight Zone ending. No twist, no gut punch. The original TZ would've ended with Dorian being shot anyway while going for ice cream, leaving his mom with a broken camcorder and no way to rewind. This was a non-ending and a huge disappointment. I like Jordan Peele's work but this time he couldn't get out of his own way.

This is not the Twilight Zone

[paulwattriley · 1/10 · 7 November 2019]

This is not the Twilight Zone, I have nothing against standing up against racism but this is clearly just a political motivated episode that is using the Twilight Zone.

Weird ass reviews

[bitmaid · 10/10 · 21 April 2019]

It's so strange because so far people's favorite episode has been my least favorite and the lowest rated (this one) is my most liked. I think it's very well done. It cinematically presents the perspective better than most videos with this message. There is warmth and humanity. I really feel like I can relate by following the perspective of this family. I believe it's an ongoing struggle and my sympathy grew. Hope more disadvantaged people, whether they're POC or had a rough start will avail all adversities and get better in life. Best wishes.

Seriously? The horse isn't just dead, it is mush.

[epomero · 23 January 2023]

Jordan Peele has got to be the most preachy writer in Hollywood. "Cops hunt and kill black people." That trope was tired in the 90s but still more relevant than today, and the drum is still being beaten by the race-hustlers. I was hoping through the whole episode that there would be an original twist, like the cop was a serial killer, or he was actually trying to save them from something. Nope, they decided to go with the narrative popularized in the 70's and repeated over and over again in shows for the next hundred years. I'm bummed, a cool premise, but such a tired old trope that doesn't even sort of ring true today. Laaaazzy writing.

"Life sometimes goes..., like you don't expect it to."

[classicsoncall · 7/10 · 3 May 2023]

This episode might have found inspiration from a handful of Rod Serling's original stories back in the Fifties and Sixties. "A Kind of a Stopwatch" dealt with the time factor, while "A Most Unusual Camera" and "What's in the Box" covered the camera angle. Not precisely of course, but the germ of an idea was recycled here. When Nina Harrison (Sanaa Lathan) discovered that her hand-me-down camcorder had the ability to rewind time, she used it repeatedly to preempt a confrontation between a racist cop and herself with son Dorian (Damson Idris). The first time would have been enough to establish the racism angle along with the stereotype of a fat, white cop harassing black people, but the story kept hammering the message home enough that it wore itself out. With discretion being the better part of valor, Officer Lasky's (Glenn Fleshler) fellow troopers determined it would be better to retreat than be captured on dozens of cell phone cameras recording bigotry for the world to see. The fast forward to ten years in the future established Dorian as a father in his own right, with a curious daughter of his own whose handling of the camcorder put an end to its magical qualities. Not a bad episode even though it handled its message in a heavy-handed manner.

Trying to seem deep - how cynical.

[objviewer · 4/10 · 6 February 2020]

So this is the Groundhog Day / temporal loop theme. You know, one person able to relive events when only they remember. That's the gimmick, the plot device, but to what end?

Now I have no problem with a political or moral message, in fact I prefer fiction that has a message. But to review a drama, no matter how correct, uplifting, or current the message; have to ask - how well was it delivered? Is it insightful? Is it oversimplified? Is it attempting to tack on a weighty message in place of good plotting? I guess the message here is that there is racism and it needs to be stood up against? Or is it that white racist cops are dealing with their insecurities and fears by harassing young innocent black men? Or that racism is intractable? These are worthy themes to explore, but there is no exploration here. There's just that obvious statement tacked onto a hackneyed plot device. It's not enlightening, it's more exploitive of an important issue to try and give a TV show a veneer of profundity.

Powerful

[joshaluke · 10/10 · 14 April 2019]

I love the first series, but this episode is so powerful and the only episode ever of any of these series that has left me emotional. It delivers the message that, so far, no matter what this is something that happens and keeps happening and, no matter how much time has passed, it is still happening. Those who hate it I feel like either don't get it or are offended by the message because they don't agree with it, but it is real.

Difficult to get passed nonsense

[donttouchmeprimate · 6/10 · 26 June 2019]

This had some great acting, and an interesting 'ground hog day' story, the main problem is that it often - as in most stories such as this- lacked logic in characters thinking and actions, SO many solutions to a problem and they always seem to pick the most useless path.

Oh, and there's some SJW political stuff that they deal with a VERY HEAVY HAND.

It's not bad though, bad is standing on a slug in your socks.

Condescending

[UrbanFarmboy · 2/10 · 3 June 2019]

Condescending... that is all.

Um... they are telling me my review is too short, so I'll just add: It's a really disappointing episode. Speaking as a brown man, I feel that everything they did with the character of the Cop was ridiculous, unbelievable, and just awful.

At the end of the day, we are all humans. Humans are flawed. You can explore that with the cop. It would be more interesting. But I feel like it was super racist, all around.

VERY PROVOCATIVE EPISODE... LOVED IT!!!

[mrchocolate-52919 · 9/10 · 7 December 2019]

Based on all the negative comments toward this episode, racism is more prevalent today than ever before. This well written, acted and directed episode of TZ gives vivid detail about what minorities face on a daily basis.

The negative reviews let's us know that evil does not like to see itself. Jordan Peele struck a nerve with this one...as he should.

I am looking forward to season 2 of TZ with more great story telling from Peele and company.

Excellent episode

[jaydogva · 7/10 · 18 March 2020]

An excellent installment for the new Twilight Zone! Actually felt the protagonists were in danger even with a magic camera. A bit too spelled out for us at the end, but still a great watch. Good pacing overall. If only not for Peele's horrible bookends. Some reviewers are saying it's unrealistic that the officer would know where to find the mother and her son. LOL. Have they not seen the original show? The whole point is that they're in the Twilight Zone where thing a like that happen!

The era of great television is over!

[jjsully-90451 · 1/10 · 14 April 2019]

Remember the days when you could come home from work and escape the stressors of everyday life by watching good tv? Well that time has ended. So many shows now are so politically and agenda driven that it has ruined the escapism and wonderful world of television programming. Hollywood just doesn't get it. Sad but true.