The revived Twilight Zone brings it first season to a curious and confusing conclusion.

Title: “Blurryman”

Cast and Crew

Director: Simon Kinberg
Writer: Alex Rubens

Zazie Beetz as Sophie Gelson
Seth Rogen as Adam Wegman/himself
Betty Gabriel as herself
Zibby Allen as Julie
Jordan Peele as himself
Caitlin Stryker as Anna
Byron Noble as Owen
Jefferson Black, Mark Silverman, and Ryan Hesp as Rod Serling
Carlena Britch as Charlie
Camille Hollett-French as Amy
Romy Cutler-Lengyel as Mother
Matthew Mandzij as Father
Takaya White as Young Sophie
Darien Martin as himself
Jason Priestley as himself
David Epstein as Blurryman

Premise

A writer for The Twilight Zone questions her sanity as she finds herself, seemingly, in a particularly mystifying and dangerous episode of the show,

High Point

We have an actual character grounding the madness– even if someone keeps pulling the ground from under her. Zazie Beetz does an impressive job as Sophie, who deals with a genuinely beguiling mystery…

Low Point

…which still feels a little padded. Sophie could have reached the same ending in less time, and without a lot of impressive but ultimately pointless special effects. The mystery and the apparent danger feel real enough without throwing everything in the room at the protagonist.

At least she wasn’t in the kitchen.

The Scores:

Originality: 2/6 The original series ended its first season by playing metafictionally (and comedically) with the show’s own premise. The characters even responded to Serling’s closing narration. This episode crosses into similar territory, but in a darker and more meandering manner. The titular Blurryman, meanwhile, bears a fuzzy resemblance to a number of horror characters, including the web’s Slender Man. Sophie’s predicament, meanwhile, recalls an episode of the 1985-86 series, “Personal Demons.”

Effects: 5/6 The effects work on their own terms, but most of them add very little to the story.

Acting: 6/6 The show features a strong lead and several real-world celebrities playing broad versions of themselves.

Story: 4/6 The show has a clever premise that would have been served by a shorter running time and a tad less self-indulgence.

Production: 6/6

Emotional Response: 5/6

Overall: 5/6 The precise meaning remains open-ended. I remain a little confused, but that’s probably a better response than the ones I had to some of the bluntly didactic conclusions witnessed this season.

In total, “Blurryman” receives 33/42