Topher Grace and Kylie Bunbury star in what appears to be a sweet romantic episode that turns into Groundhog Day from Andie MacDowell’s point of view as Grace’s character reveals that he’s stuck in a time loop and has been spending cycle after cycle trying to get Bunbury to fall in love with him for being a nice guy.
Look, I get it… this episode was trying to make a statement on the “nice guy” phenomenon where men think that, if they’re nice, women are obligated to love them. The Twilight Zone likes to make commentary on modern problems but the problem is that the commentary is so incredibly transparent, it’s practically twerking in front of you the entire time.
This type of episode might actually work had the plot done anything entirely memorable with the strangely cliched plot. It’s not helped by the fact that Topher Grace is a completely threat-free villan and, while I understand that was probably the point as he turns out to be a toothless predator, but I never actually believed that Bunbury was actually in danger.
Don’t get me wrong, I actually like Topher Grace, but he’s not believable as a villain… at least, not with the material he’s been given so far.
So, in the end, we’re left with an episode that bores, it sleepwalks through a plot we’ve seen before many many times, and an enemy laughably free of menace. The commentary is obvious and heavy handed and very little about the episode works at all.
This is the worst episode of The Twilight Zone‘s sophomore season.
Jason Gaston 