The Twilight Zone (2019)

Clever, addicting and weird in a good way, this is the type of reboot for which viewers hope. It’s one that honors the legacy of something great but moves it in a new direction.

The very nature of the anthology series allows for reinvention, and the reboot quickly regains ground after an uneven introduction. What’s most important is that the show’s ethos, one that was optimistic even as it shed light on another one of our foibles, remains intact. Disturbing and insightful, The Twilight Zone strips us of most of our bearings even as it offers a grounded center.

No, the new Zone isn’t as mind-bendingly innovative as the best Black Mirror episodes--it’d be nice to see future installments break further away from the original template and blaze a new trail--but it’s gripping enough on its own terms.

The Twilight Zone isn’t a filtered down version of the original, nor of its narrator’s own work. Peele’s stamp is all over it, but so are the many welcome imprints of various writers, directors, and stars. It’s an inclusive space as much as a creative one, making the 2019 Twilight Zone a new machine built to last.

Serling would be proud. And I'm hooked again. [15-28 Apr 2019, p.13]

This Zone never entombs itself in nostalgia or fan service and makes a point of pulling Serling into 2019. This incarnation is as of-the-moment as Serling’s original, from the more varied filmmaking styles on display to the use of profanity and frank sexual language.

Together, the four episodes point to a new Twilight Zone that is confident in its sheer variety, and that’s key.

So yes, at times (at least in those first four episodes), the new Twilight Zone comes across as a really good cover-band update, not exactly bursting with originality — but if you’re going to try to do a reboot and then sprinkle in some 2019-fresh elements, why not build on the foundation of a classic?

Fine reboot that gets better in two later episodes.

Peele's presence on the show is an important step for television: He's unifying multiple audiences just by being there, and he's so good in the role that he immediately gives the reboot the credibility and authority of the original.

In its best moments, this reimagined “Zone” features some of today’s most intriguing actors and swerves from fun to disturbing and back and is just as provocative as the original.

It manages to find some middle ground between the typically cynical, technology-obsessed Black Mirror and the original Twilight Zone. The stories have been updated for the modern era in theme and content (sometimes people swear, which is honestly a little jarring), but the visuals continue to suggest more than depict.

The episodes are well-cast; the performances are good. Every episode looks great, each with its own palette and atmosphere; the fact that they're in color rather than the noir-expressionist black and white of the original does not make them any less creepy.

The new “Twilight Zone” satisfies a few curious viewer’s concerns, nailing the overall atmosphere implied by the title as well as inviting us to weigh the surreptitiously conveyed alternate meanings within the two-episode series debut. But there’s probably more to love here for Serling zealots than the drive-by viewer who’s still deciding whether the “Black Mirror: Bandersnatch” experiment lives up to the hype.

The episodes do not prove uniformly coherent, but they do reward close scrutiny.

“The Twilight Zone” has a lot to recommend it, but it’s hard not to feel that if the generally hour-long episodes were cut in half, the show’s overall quality would zoom up several notches.

Peele’s update is fresh, smart, entertaining and inspired. It’s just a shame to see it relegated to such a tiny corner of the cultural conversation.

It often looks good, with fantastic performances by Lathan, Yeun, and others framed in oblique close-ups to augment the paranoid, aberrant atmosphere, but the muddled, on-the-nose writing is stuck chasing Rod Serling’s shadow.