Best of The Twilight Zone: ‘Walking Distance’ (Season 1 Episode 5) Review

An ad agent is about to take a stroll through something entirely unpredictable… when he finds himself staring at his home town, just a mile’s walk down the road. And so begins his journey into the seemingly impossible. And a visit to an ice cream shop that will inspire an investigation of mind blowing possibilities.

Gig Young does a great job of losing himself in an almost euphoric trance of favorable memories. For a moment he almost becomes life like, and that’s incredible to see. But what in the world is happening here, and why is there more than one “Marty” in town?

This is one of the more feel good episodes of the series. But it hits you in an interesting way, a little bit of sadness and a little bit of joy washing over the viewer. There’s a piece of all of us who want to return to our childhoods, even if for just a day. But that may not pan out as hoped, as Martin discovers the hard way.

For a one man show, this is a fine episode. Again, no chills here, but a fine story all the same. Young does a fine job of juggling a myriad of emotions, and it looks commendable. It’s an emotional journey, there’s no about that, which makes for a pretty radical turn around from the film’s opening moments.

It’s a great story and while I’ve given you plenty of details, this particular episode is about emotion, mortality, humanity. It’s a relatively intricate piece even though it’s decorated loosely with a basic wrapping paper.

Another solid episode.

Rating: 4/5