Come Wander with Me

This is a story about a man and a woman bound to their song of love. The top review calls it a lot of "Gibberish about time loops" and there being morals to it or whatever, but I haven't seen that to be the point of this episode. As an episode not written by Serling, shows a bit more interest in suspenseful and creepy atmosphere, instead of a deeper meaning. I say, don't be bugged by its core message and the fact that it doesn't make all that much sense at first, just sit back, and enjoy the story, the atmosphere, and most of all the song.

Come Wander with Me definitely feels like Twilight Zone material. A lot of Rod Serling's favorite plot devices are put to use here, in a story he did not pen. Ultimately it's all a lot of gibberish about time loops, and the hero not understanding something vital to somebody else, which is his tragic flaw that ultimately destroys him, yaddah yaddah yaddah. There are a few creepy moments, however, such as when the lyrics on the tape recorder spontaneously change to reflect the situation, and the song keeps playing after the recorder is broken. The music is appropriately haunting, as the previous users mentioned, and the atmosphere works out decently enough. Still, a worthy episode.

Gary Crosby plays a hilarious and believable part as a jaded rockabilly star in search of new material in the backwoods. His character is too self-centered to comprehend the bigger picture of the strange situation he finds himself in. (To be fair,I doubt that anybody would understand it or handle it much different than Crosby's character does). Anyway, the whole thing is a weird and rather creepy episode. Crosby plays a hilarious part as a guy used to having his way that has had the tables turned on him in a strange way. Crosby nails his part. The mysterious girl songwriter-singer and her haunting song are a main part to the creepy story. Not the best but still pretty darn good!

To start off with a couple of positive "notes"; I really like the idea about the lyrics of a tear-jerking torch song coming true while they're being sung! That was a nice and original touch for one of the last episodes in the overall derivative and disappoint final season of "The Twilight Zone". Secondly, debuting actress Bonnie Beecher is ideally cast as the cherubic, innocent, and naïve Mary-Rachel. And if that's her real singing, she also sounds like an angel! That's it for the good aspects, I'm afraid, as sadly "Come wander with me" is another typically structured and predictable episode with an unconvincing protagonist and an inconclusive ending.

Bonnie Beecher was best known for being Bob Dylan's teenage girlfriend who helped him write some of his early hit songs. Gary Crosby does some singing too, almost as good as his famous dad. It seems his character, after stopping to cross a shaky bridge, is doomed to a feud with Mary's jealous engaged suitor, it's her song for him he wants to buy. His attempt to escape, stopping to fight too often, wasn't very instinctive. But he seems to be cursed by Mary's song for a violent death from the start. Buddy Holly died in an unanticipated plane crash the same year this was filmed, so the end was a strange departure from what people might expect.