The Twilight Zone: Time Enough at Last

Burgess Meredith was one of the best guest stars on The Twilight Zone and his appearance in Time Enough at Last ensures this shows status as the best Twilight Zone episode of the entire series.

Time Enough at Last opens in a bank and focuses in on Mr. Henry Bemis (Burgess Meredith), a bank teller described in the opening voice over by Rod Serling as "a charter member in the fraternity of dreamers". Bemis is servicing a customer of the bank while at the same time reading a book. Of course, he makes a mistake and immediately is called into his boss's office to be reprimanded for being "a reader". Bemis informs his boss that his wife won't let him read at home and that the only time he can read is at work. His boss then him informs him that his wife is an amazing woman and that he better stop reading at work unless he wants to lose his job.

The next day Bemis, unable to curb his appetite for books, takes his usual lunch break in the bank vault with both a book and the newspaper. After reading the book, he them moves on to the newspaper and sees the frightening headline "H-Bomb Capable of Total Destruction". As if on cue, Bemis's watch cracks and there are the sounds of a huge explosion. Of course, this is the aforementioned H-Bomb being detonated.

Bemis, who was protected from the destruction of the H-Bomb by the bank's vault, ventures out into to the post bomb world and finds destruction everywhere. He also discovers that everyone else was killed by the bomb and he is the only person left alive. Even though he finds enough food to last him years, he's not sure he wants to live alone and contemplates suicide after finding a gun.

But then, Bemis spots his salvation -- The Public Library!. Years and Years of books to read and nothing but time. Nobody to stop him from reading and no annoying job to get in the way of his books. But as Bemis prepares for his lifetime of uninterrupted reading, he is unaware of the inevitable Twilight Zone plot twist that will put his reading days in jeopardy.

Time Enough at Last was one of the earlier Twilight Zone episodes from the first season and was also Burgess Meredith's first appearance in a Twilight Zone episode. He would go on to appear in three more episodes (Mr. Dingle the Strong, The Obsolete Man, and Printer's Devil) and while he excellent in all of these, this is certainly his best performance. His portrayal of the "bookish" Henry Bemis is absolutely perfect. He brings just the right amount of nerdiness to the role but in the end creates a character that we can't help but find sympathetic.

Meredith's sympathetic portrayal of Bemis also helps to powerfully convey one of the main themes of this and many other Twilight Zone episodes -- Is life worth living alone? Isolation is one of the themes that appears in many Twilight Zone episodes and is found almost everywhere in Time Enough at Last. From the contemplated suicide when Bemis first realizes his potential life of isolation to the horrible twist at the end (which I won't reveal here, although I'm sure everyone reading this knows what it is) which dooms his reading days and immediately reminds him again of his impending life alone, the concept of aloneness is drive home by Serling.

While there are many great Twilight Zone episodes, Time Enough at Last is propelled to the top of the list by Burgess Meredith's great acting and the impact of it's powerful storyline. Voted the second best episode by IMDB readers, this is absolutely my favorite Twilight Zone episode.

More Reviews of The Twilight Zone: Time Enough at Last

Reviews of Time Enough at Last at TV.com
The Twilight Zone: Time Enough at Last TV Show Review and Information Page at The Internet Movie Database