The Second Soul

An alien race, the N'Tal, make the first contact with Earth's public at large following weeks of behind the scenes diplomatic negotiations with the plea that the aliens get dead human bodies to use as hosts for them. This, of course, doesn't sit well with a lot of public citizens who rise up out of fear and hatred to rebel against what they see as an aberration. Micheal Alders (Mykelti Williamson best known as Bubba from "Forrest Gump") is tasked by the president of America to procure suitable disease-free dead carcasses. He does his job fairly well even if his personal feelings are conflicted, a problem that only increases with the death of his best friend's wife (Rae Dawn Chong). This episode started off well enough and all the right ingredients for a compelling good outer limits episode were there (parinia, fear, hatred, etcetera), but somehow it comes all unglued at the end, feeling a bit rushed, a tad to forced. I did enjoy this episode, just not as much as I should have if the story was given more time to truly breathe.

My Grade: C+

Surprising this story has not been made into a feature film already. Logical and plausible situations. Refreshing.

An alien race suddenly makes its presence known. Of course, the government is a bit suspicious at first, but the aliens ask just one thing. They want the bodies of dead people who died without severe physical damage. Once they have the bodies, they transfer their own beings into the corpses, re-animating them. They have no trace of the memory of the deceased. The person supervising this process is disgusted by his work, but carries on because his superiors have forced him. All goes reasonably well. He maintains a working agreement with the alien representative who gets frustrated with the slowness of the process. The interplanetary visitors are seen as parasites and demonstrations are actually held in the streets against the robbing of graves. All is reasonably well until the death of the wife of a coworker at the agency. He wants his wife back, even if she is only a walking shadow. This leads to his boss allowing the procedure against his better judgment, but the man insists on following the woman/alien around. The conclusion is interesting but a bit much.

This episode really could have been something special. ALL the makings are there - a solid cast lead by Mykelti Williamson, Rae Dawn Chong, and D. W. Moffett in an intriguing story about an alien race making contact and asking for Earth's help, as well as some realistic-feeling story beats - but it's all kinda squandered by foolish script decisions which ultimately leave the ending feeling really kinda flat. What SHOULD have been a great episode with some powerful human moments, ended up being all smoke and mirrors.

Perhaps if Hollywood's creatively bankrupt Remake Machine turned its sights on shows like this, and remade some of these episodes to fully reach their potential, they'd be in a better financial position...

A gaseous alien race that has remained without a mother planet seeks a refuge on Earth. They do not pose any threat and the only thing they are looking for is to inhabit the bodies of deceased people, because they can survive in a gaseous state only for a short time. A government organization is formed to transfer aliens into corpses and they are slowly integrating into society. But, as expected, not everyone agrees with the new situation and problems are inevitable.

This episode is very good in every aspect, from idea to realization, but 45 minutes is simply not enough for this kind of story to develop properly. It needs at least two hours movie, and has a serious potential for a great series. In this form, it is in range of the average "The X-Files" episode.

7/10