Our season two Twilight Zone coverage ends with a barbed take on a familiar premise
TV Reviews Recap
A few weeks from now—on July 10th, in fact—Hulu will debut Palm Springs, an Andy Samberg comedy with a Groundhog Day-like premise. Before the world shut down, Palm Springs was going to have a wide theatrical release and then land on Hulu, which in my opinion is where a film so lovable yet so minor was always going to thrive. It’s the kind of movie fans are—appropriately enough—going to watch again and again.
As I write this, most of you—maybe all of you—haven’t seen Palm Springs yet. (I saw it and enjoyed it at the Sundance Film Festival.) But like the movie Happy Death Day in 2017, like the Netflix hit series Russian Doll last year, and like this year’s Twilight Zone episode “Try, Try,” Palm Springs represents a new way of handling a storytelling premise that had previously been just about played-out.
Palm Springs shakes up the Groundhog Day concept by starting the story after the looper’s been repeating the same day for years (and also by adding another looper that the hero has to mentor). Russian Doll is about how life for some people goes in cycles even when they’re not in a loop. Happy Death Day is partly a murder-mystery. As for “Try, Try,” it essentially reimagines Groundhog Day from the perspective of Andie MacDowell’s character—copping to the creepier implications of a man spending his repeating eternity stalking one woman.
The woman’s name is Claudia, played the magnificent Kylie Bunbury. (Bring back Pitch!) On a solo outing to a natural history museum, Claudia nearly steps into traffic, but is pulled to safety by Marc (Topher Grace), a friendly and upbeat guy who’s also headed to the museum, and who pays for her admission before she can protest.
As they walk through the exhibits, Marc impresses Claudia with his sense of humor and his gently philosophical bent. She even likes that his first name ends in “c” and not “k,” because she had a secret crush on a “Marc” when she was a girl. But during their conversation he occasionally says curious things, such as, “How do you still surprise me?” He also does curious things, such as climbing into a canoe on display, because he knows just when the security guard will look away, and for how long.
Eventually, Marc admits what astute viewers will have already figured out: that he’s lived through this impromptu “date” with Claudia many, many times. He’s studied her reactions to his jokes, and has made adjustments accordingly. He knows her tastes, her likes and dislikes, and all the relevant stories from her childhood… like how she’s always wanted to climb into a canoe at a natural history museum. What he doesn’t know—he reluctantly confesses—is how to get her to fall in love with him.
It was a masterstroke to cast Topher Grace in the role of Marc (if that is his real name… he could be faking that to appeal to Claudia). Grace has a boyish charm that slides easily into menace. He’s good at playing characters who are always performing, just a little bit.
Once Marc lets his mask slip with Claudia, he can’t fit it back on. For the rest of their time together, she knows something’s “off.” His playful gestures—grabbing an ancient native American oar off the wall, using it to swat her on the butt—now strike her as insensitive and entitled. His stories about how hard he’s worked to fine-tune the timing of this day become more unsettling than flattering. And she really hates hearing him boast about how he’s actually taken her to bed a few times.
Worst of all: When Marc realizes this day is going to be another loss, he becomes not just cranky but downright dangerous. He admits that he doesn’t really think of Claudia as a real human being, because she resets at the end of each day. And if she’s not “real,” he could do anything to her.
“Try, Try” doesn’t go as dark as it could. Instead, it ends with Claudia beating the crap out of Marc, Marc getting arrested, and the suggestion that when the day resets he’s going to start leaving her alone. It’s an ambiguous ending, and maybe even a bit of a cop-out. But viewers can extrapolate the possibilities.
The fun of any Groundhog Day story is in seeing what the characters do when there’s no consequences. “Try, Try” doesn’t spoil that. It is fun to hear Marc describe his past attempts to woo Claudia. As for Groundhog Day itself, the movie remains a classic comedy about a self-centered man given infinite opportunities to lead a better life. While a big part of the hero’s journey in Groundhog Day involves impressing a woman, his real breakthrough comes when he starts helping the citizens of Punxsutawney.
So as with Palm Springs and the other recent Groundhog Day redos, it’s fascinating to see how “Try, Try” gets back to the core of what that movie’s about: How should we spend our time? It’s not about taking advantage of a fantastical situation to get what you most want. It’s about figuring out what other people want—and knowing when it’s not you.
Stray observations
- Our last press kit easter egg quote: “He’s a consummate failure in almost everything but is a good listener and has a prominent jaw.” That’s from “Mr. Dingle, The Strong,” an episode about an ordinary dude who’s granted super-powers by space aliens and then disappoints them when he his newfound strength turns him into a self-aggrandizing jerk.
- The credited writer on this episode is Alex Rubens, who also penned the hit-and-miss “A Human Face” this season. In season one, Rubens also had his name on a pretty good episode and a pretty crummy one. Glad I’ve been able to write a positive review of at least one of his episodes in each season.
- The director is Jennifer McGowan, best-known for her film Rust Creek, a sort of backwoods noir about a college kid who gets lost in the Kentucky hills and then finds herself threatened by dangerous men involved with the local meth trade. McGowan certainly knows how to tell gripping stories about women fighting off untoward advances.
- Thanks for following along with these season two reviews. I’d say on the whole that this batch of episodes was better than last year’s, primarily because the running times were shorter and the stories were focused just as much on the emotional resonances of their stories as on their sociopolitical meaning. A good Twilight Zone should have a point to make; but a strong point alone doesn’t always make for a strong episode. With that said, here’s my final rankings for season two (with running times in parentheses):
1. “Downtime” (33 min.) … A-
2. “Try, Try” (42 min.) … A-
3. “The Who of You (46 min.) … B+
4. “You Might Also Like” (41 min.) … B+
5. “A Small Town” (35 min.) … B
6. “Among the Untrodden” (40 min.) … B
7. “Meet in the Middle” (43 min.) … B
8. “A Human Face” (33 min.) … B-
9. “8” (31 min.) … C+
10. “Ovation” (42 min.) … C-
38 Comments
This was definitely the best episode of the season for me. Great actors playing strong characters with a solid plot. The story feels like a good Twilight Zone take using sci-fi/horror to illustrate human monsters and failings on topical matters. Plus the buildup of dread and eventual cathartic moment when she punches him out worked really, really well.
I totally disagree with you on this episode, but it’s been a joy to read your thoughts on this season, maybe they’ll be a third and I’ll have n av comments section to read again.
This episode was the season highlight for me. I agree that the average is higher this season, as well. I count six of ten which are at least good, which far outstrips the three or four from the first season.As I imagine these threads will become unsolicited top tens, I’ll offer mine.1. Try, Try2. The Who of You3. A Small Town4. Meet in the Middle5. Among the Untrodden6. Downtime7. You Might Also Like8-10. The other three, in whatever order a series of coin flips divines.
1. You Might Also Like 2. The Who of You3. A Small Town4. Try, Try 5. A Human Face6. Downtime7. Meet in the Middle8. 89. Among the Untrodden10. Ovations
I can’t do a top-10, but I’ll break it down as:It worked: Downtime, Among the Downtrodden, Meet in the MiddleCould have been classic, but dragged down by a meh ending: Try Try, A Small TownBad: Ovation, Human FaceThe rest are just whatevers for me.That’s not really sorted by preference, because I didn’t love “Meet in the Middle” or even “Among the Downtrodden”. I liked them, and I just don’t know if anything would improve them.And “The Who of You” gets a whatever from me because I don’t think bad guys in the Twilight Zone should get off basically scot-free. There should be more consequences than what we saw.And “Try, Try” and “A Small Town” were both good, but were ultimately disappointing because they really should have been better.
If you would like to see another film where Topher Grace lives the same day over (in a sense), you can see The Beauty Inside here. Also remade by the Koreans as well, also worth seeing.In looking for this trailer, I see they also got that Korean TV series of the same premise off the ground too.
I’ve seen the Korean version of that film. It was really well done, especially as Yi-Soo realises that, no matter how much she cares about Woo-Jin, it takes a huge toll on her to adjust to him changing all the time. There’s a scene where Woo-Jin tries to make Yi-Soo “guess” who he is that is legitimately really tense and uncomfortable.
I cringed when reading the initial premise but this ends up sounding like a very smart take. I also have the impression this show works the best when it addresses big issues on a more intimate scale.Dating and obsessing over someone can be such a toxic moebius strip. When I was young and very shy I got the worst advice from other men but also some horrible, appallingly sexist advice from women. At one point I’d dated enough to actually develop a reliable strategy for a “good” date and it made me ill. I decided to just be myself and let the chips fall where they will because in the end its the only way to really connect with someone. I mean, yeah, be extra thoughtful and show you’re interested but god, don’t play games. Also, if you realize it’s not going to work out then be honest and a gentleman (or whatever term suits you) and say so but also thank that person for the nice times you had and wish them the best. I’d rather have fewer dates if they are more meaningful.
I don’t particularly care for or hate this genre, I liked Happy Death Day but disliked that couple of films where aliens made different length time loop domes. The “Groundhog Day from Rita’s perspective honest trailer” thing was alright, but, uh, it could get a lot more horrifying.
This just felt so…safe. And the ending resolved nothing. He spends an eternity where he always
wins gamblingdoesn’t get the girl. Except he can choose any other woman. He can spend eternity harassing different women til he finds one to put up with his shit. He’s too kultsy to rape and kill her…this time. I guess the psychopath was the bad guy all along. Is the twist that she just has to put up with his shit forever until he moves the fuck on?And it’s miscast, Topher Grace is, uh, pleasant and relatable in our minds as goofy 70s guy, and he doesn’t come across as “totally crazy” as men do in real life that it seemed like it wanted (see: The Toadies Possum Kingdom).
Overall, the best part of this season was watching the original episodes referenced, then watching other original episodes. Seems like an expensive and roundabout way to up to view count for the original series on Netflix, but I’m down. I just watched What You Need and was pleased that it was more brutal than the 2019 TZ (our protagonist is a murderer who gets it right the first time), but sad that the lady needed a man.
I agree..this one had an interesting premise, but kind of fell flat for the reasons you describe. She is not really in he Twilight Zone premise..he is. I guess it is an interesting take to base a story on someone who is interacting with someone stuck in the “Twilight Zone”, but these stories usually land their punch by knowing that SHE is trapped too. Since I would assume in her mind she moves on and wakes up to a new day regardless of how her “date” with the stuck in time guy goes, at best it is a bump in the road for her.That was why in Groundhog Day Andie McDowell’s character did not mind the revelation Phil lived the same day 10,000 times, or that he struck out with her like 1000 times before he succeeded..because in her mind it was not “her”. This guy the next day (for him) he can be sweet as pie to her again and she wouldn’t know she punched him yesterday..so the premise is kind of empty.
Yeah, the thing with most time loop stories is that there’s two different ways to look at them:1) Time keeps being rewound, forcing everyone to live the same stretch of time over and over again, with only one person retaining their memories after each rewind.or2) Time is proceeding in its normal, linear fashion, but there’s one person with a precognitive ability, letting them experience highly detailed simulations of how the future will unfold (depending on their actions).For your Phil Connors-esque character, it feels like the former, while for anyone else it’s probably going to seem like the latter.
That was why in Groundhog Day Andie McDowell’s character did not mind the revelation Phil lived the same day 10,000 times, or that he struck out with her like 1000 times before he succeeded.I dunno, maybe to some women that idea is kinda creepy. A man so obsessed they’ll try over and over again to get it “right.” Not because that’s who they are, but that’s what they think you want in exchange for a relationship. It’s the extreme version of not taking no for an answer, with the added element that you don’t even know how many times you’ve already rejected them.And did McDowell ever actually learn he was trapped? Because the one scene I specifically remember was him slipping and making a note to himself for the next time and she took it as “What are you studying me?” and broke it off.
Well, in these kind of romantic cliches anything can be argued as “creepy” depending on the context and how the object of the person’s affection responds to it. I remember Tommy Lee (Motley Crue drummer) went to Mexico where Pamela Anderson was staying just to try to get her (he did not know her then) ..and he married her. Most people would consider that to be rather stalk-y, but she thought it was romantic. There are clickbait articles everywhere about how romantic comedies and drams are “secretly” disturbing..if you look at it in a certain way.
She didn’t while he was doing that. It wasn’t until later when he had stopped trying to win her and moved on to helping people in town and actually being a good guy. Then he told her about being trapped (after they had spent some time together) and she suggested she spend the rest of the day with him and stay in his room and see if she is there when he wakes up.
Andie McDowell’s character most certainly was creeped out when she noticed he was taking mental notes about things she liked to use on her the next time he lived the day. If he had continued to do that and then confessed like Topher’s character did in this episode, she would have done the same thing as what happened here. She didn’t because he stopped doing that and when she did finally end up spending time with him, he wasn’t doing anything to try to “win” her. He was just living. He had changed.
I know you’re trolling but I just can’t not respond…anyone watching the twilight zone should know that Rod Serling was way into social justice? This starts at 10:05 and escalates quickly but there’s another good bit at 25:30 ish that really drives home a minute later and I think effectively ends the interview and shows what he may think about Green Book winning an Oscar.
Jordan Peele’s really the best at trying it, and it’s not the first attempt, all of the 1980s and 2002 versions are available full length on Youtube if you really wanna see someone mess up the twilight Zone.
People mad about politics in art fail to realize all art is political and they just didn’t notice it until those politics ran contrary to their beliefs.
Thank you so much for posting this great conversation. It was both refreshing and depressing.
And it’s miscast, Topher Grace is, uh, pleasant and relatable in our minds as goofy 70s guy, and he doesn’t come across as “totally crazy” as men do in real life that it seemed like it wanted (see: The Toadies Possum Kingdom).First, watch him in Predators.Second, that’s kinda the point. He’s the stereotypical “Nice Guy” who’s mask drops the second you don’t give him what he wants in exchange.
I love Predators! My favorite death is Trejo but the whole thing is hilarious. He was more “guy who hates humanity” than “guy who hates women”. It’s a difficult discomfort climbing to fear to describe, some guys evoke it, some guys don’t. He’s got the nice guy part down, and he’s perfect for “med scientist in a b horror”. He doesn’t have that other part, the part that makes men scary, the anger and rage beneath their pleas for you to stay or that arm grab. When you realize “the implications”, or how limited your options are, now that you’re alone late at night in an empty maze. It wasn’t bad or wrong, it just didn’t land.
I felt like Topher played that perfectly. A true Nice Guy does just what he did (especially if he was given the opportunity to “practice”) and works to make your “meeting” as meet cute as if it were a romantic comedy. And they are good at hiding who they are until they find out that you aren’t going to give them what they want or you are ambivalent for too long. And he was just a little creepy almost from the beginning, but not in a way that you would necessarily notice if you were the target.
“because the running times were shorter”For god’s sake, just make the show half an hour. The classic was best at that length, everybody cites length as this incarnation’s chief flaw while otherwise admiring what it sets out to do. Maybe let yourselves go over when the story demands it, but don’t fill things out to fit the length. CBS, Mr. Peele, somebody please…
Same thing with Netflix shows. A good premise ruined because it needs to be stretched to a season length instead of however many episodes the show needed to deliver.
I really liked this episode–one of my favorites of the season. And like another one of my favorites of the season (“A Small Town”), it doesn’t quite stick the landing, but I let it slide because I could see the episode ending in the exact same way if it was in the OG Twilight Zone.
Haven’t seen the last episode yet but this season seems more consistent than the previous. This one in particular was… okay, I feel like between Russian Doll and my excitement for Palm Springs I’m not really ready to go down this road but I appreciate the interesting take and I like Grace. It was totally predictable he was stuck in a loop from early on. Among the Untrodden still my favorite so far, I just didn’t see the totally telegraphed twist coming and it worked so well.
Loved it. Was like my other favorite ep, “Meet in The Middle” but with better acting.Rubens is also easily the reboot’s best writer.
Wait is this a Groundhog Day episode? Fuck yeah okay I stopped reading, I’m totally watching this. Time loops are the best genre. Can’t get enough of that stuff. (Bring on Edge of Tomorrow 2 already!)
Why does the coverage end with this one anyway and not the Egg episode? Or is that coming, I’m confused.
The critics apparently got screeners for 1, 3 & 10. So the review for 10 has already been up for a week, but the avclub’s structure (if we want to call it that) can make it easy to miss if you don’t specifically go looking for it.
Oh look, another story shaking its head at some entitled guy.
There’s another series in the genre, the 2018 Korean comedy series ‘Feel Good to Die’ where a young women experiencies her boss dying over and over again. There’s an unexpected twist to the story, though. The actor who played the boss is currently service prison time for a particularly nasty indecent assault conviction against two women employees of his talent agency. So watching that rapist SOB getting killed over and over again in the series is particularly gratifying.
This free DJ’s music mp3 finder is principally a kind of free mp3 music obtain websites. This is mainly a sort of search engine which collaborates results from completely different sources and then put them collectively on one web page. In this manner, it offers you better results than Google itself relating to searching newest music. The truth is, I tried to download some songs through this site and it was so easy to make use of. With just one click after the search, you possibly can simply download as many songs as you need. You’re getting all these options comprised in a site without the worry of registration in addition to fees. Free mp3 Music Cramble is a free method towards making the DJ’s mp3 songs out there to every users for free & download tech house. With the assistance of four assets websites like YouTube, Beatport, Traxsource, and Zippyshare, results are acquired rapidly on this site. Aside from being quick Free Mp3 Music Cramble is a type of free mp3 music download websites which gives quality songs choices too. Website https://musicramble.com/
I liked the premise of this episode and thought Topher Grace was good in the role (although It wasn’t as delightfully bizarre as his Black Mirror appearance). I just found this episode a slog to get through. Maybe Grace and Bunbury don’t have chemistry (which I guess is the point?), but most of the runtime was an incredibly boring date. I wanted more montages of the dates and how he calibrated each date to be perfect. It was 1/2 average date and 1/2 villain monologue. A little more action would have been nice. I found the moment where he pushes her in front of the bus particularly funny. Overall, good spin on the genre, boring execution.
To me this could also come off as commentary on parasocial relationships people form with celebrities. Especially in the age of social media.He obsessed over her in these loops and thought he knew everything about her, but she didn’t know him or isn’t the person he assumed her to be. Like how a stalker/fan would analyze every detail of a poster’s life and come out the other end thinking if they’d met in person they’d be best friends/lovers.
The camera lingered so long on her handbag and phone forgotten in the canoe that I felt sure her having left them behind was going to turn out to be important. Nope.
I literally just watched Groundhog Day before this episode.
“if that is his real name… he could be faking that to appeal to Claudia)”After he admits everything to her, he says that his name is actually Mark-with-a-K and that he said it was with-a-C once he learned about her childhood crush.
“It was a masterstroke to cast Topher Grace in the role of Marc (if that is his real name… he could be faking that to appeal to Claudia).”
He did change his name. He tells Claudia his name is actually Mark, but he changed it to “Marc with a C” because of a guy named Marc she once had a crush on.