The Twilight Zone Review: “The Blue Scorpion”

“The Traveller” was perhaps the best outing this season, and the same author’s second script also scores high among the new Twilight Zone episodes. The premises feels like The Twilight Zone and, despite Peele’s epilogue, which emphasizes one particular interpretation of the episode, “The Blue Scorpion” could be about many things.

Title: “The Blue Scorpion”

Cast and Crew

Director: Craig William Macneill
Writer: Glen Morgan

Chris O’Dowd as Jeff Stork
Amy Landecker as Anne
Adam Korson as Jeff Dolin
Dean Aylesworth as Range Manager
Amanda Burke as Mrs. Ruger
Lloyd Cunningham as Browning
Luisa d’Oliveira as Grace Niu
Keaton Fish as Kyle
Joseph Gallaccio as Jeff Wesson
Callum Gow as Jeff Presnell
David Hardware as Jeff Hamner
Lexie Huber as Pam
Ava Johnson as Professor
Thabo Ketshabetswe as Uniformed Officer
Darcy Laurie as Lt. Bludworth
Paul Lazenby as Jeff Barrett
Kiefer O’Reilly as Dylan
Jordan Peele as our host

Premise

After his aging former rocker father commits suicide, a man inherits the weapon, an ornate, one-of-a-kind pistol—and the disturbing mystery that accopanies it.

High Point

Whatever your feelings about the new Twilight Zone, it hangs its episodes on some incredible acting talent. This week, those actors deliver a story that feels like the classic show.

Low Point

I’ll allow any number of supernatural shenanigans, but I had some trouble with the arbitrary event that sets up the conclusion. A man with a history of burglarizing homes decides to attack some guy in a car in plain view? (even granting that it is night). And, so far as the burglar knows, his victim has little in the car worth taking? It’s not impossible, but it really feels like a forced way to taxi the plot to a conclusion.

The Scores:

Originality: 2/6 We’re in The Twilight Zone, and someone has found a cursed/magic/mysterious object.

The episode also shares a little bit of its plot with Taxi Driver.

Effects: 5/6

Acting: 6/6

Story: 5/6

Production: 6/6

Emotional Response: 5/6

Overall: 5/6

In total, “The Blue Scorpion” receives 34/42