Twilight Zone - Season 2 (2020)

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐½

Jordan Peele's reboot of the classic Twilight Zone series in 2019 was a mixed bag at best. While its production values and performances for all its episodes were generally good and high quality,  I had issues with many of the stories as they were side tracked with trying to preach all sorts of political messages from racism, to gun control, to anti-Trump satires. Happily Season 2 is devoid of any such pretentious political messages. Even though Jordan Peele appears as the host and narrator to introduce and conclude each episode with his deadpan boring manner, none of his trademark "black lives matter" themes surfaced. All episodes stuck very much to the spirit of the classic anthology series which is to present amazing stories that pretty much keeps the viewers guessing what will happen next creatively. The running time for the episodes have also been trimmed down with many episodes running at less than 40 minutes. This has made each episode feel really concise and focused. A perfect motivation for binge watching all 10 episodes over the weekend.

I really liked this season as many of the stories presented were quite unusual and showcase some really good performances. One of my favorite episodes was the introductory episode Meet In The Middle with the excellent Jimmi Simpson (of HBO's Westworld) giving a sympathetic performance as the lonely bachelor who carries out a romantic affair remotely through an unexplained telepathy with a very spelling binding voice performance by Gillian Jacobs as Annie. The other standout episode was The Who Of You which Ethan Embry in a performance of a lifetime as he takes on the body (and role) of multiple characters when he discovers the ability to jump from body to body through just eye contact. This is taking the performance of someone with multiple split personality (like what James McAvoy did in Split) to a new level. The episode Try, Try is another memorable brain twisting groundhog day theme episode with the contrasting feel of a sweet romantic encounter, mixed with feeling of dread and harassment. Finally, the episode Downtime reminded me of what a typical Black Mirror episode used to be as it explores the possibilities how advanced technology may result in unexpected outcome in an imaginary future.

Promotional posters for each of the 10 episodes for Twilight Zone Season 2

There is much to like in this new Season and I look forward to more in future installments. As in any good anthology series, each episode feels like an independent mini movie and you often have no clue as to what you are about to witness, and the new season has succeeded in making each episode special and entertaining. Twilight Zone has regained my confidence in its delivery of strange and unusual tale and being true to its promise as "you unlock the door with the .key of imagination ..."