Eye of the Beholder

The suspense, the message, the performance; WOW! The whole thing is just genius!

The story (and THAT punchline!) is brilliant. However, the Direction is what really makes the episode so stunning. The photography, the camera angles, the shadows all add to the sense of surrealism which mimics the patient's POV. The anti-fascist message is wonderful, too. Well-deserving of its rating on IMDB, and its fame in the SF world. Watch this to see what great writing and direction can achieve!

Maxine Stuart is the voice viewer hears as Janet Tyler, a bandaged patient in a hospital who is undergoing her eleventh and final operation in order to make her look normal, as this society doesn't tolerate any deviation from its norms, and its carefully chosen and protected ideas of beauty. Janet is desperate to look normal, but the odds are against her, though her sympathetic doctor(played by William D. Gordon) does what he can for her, even after the bandages are removed, and the truth found out... Unforgettable episode is masterfully directed by Douglas Heyes, who cleverly hides the faces of the cast to grand effect, and the final reveal and end narration by Rod Serling still packs a wallop.

There were so many notable episodes of "The Twilight Zone", it really took a lot of effort to make one that really became famous and this is one of them. What's truly fascinating is the way the pacing in this episode is done. I had heard of the twist ending before, but still loved it. It is kind of obvious that something's amiss when NO ONE's face is shown at first (except of course for our host, Rod Serling). I knew this episode's title just by reading the plot. A lesser show would have just stopped this episode when the reveal was made, but they keep on going with it until it reaches a pretty satisfying ending which is probably bittersweet.

I guess it was mostly one big lesson about our standards of what's normal and what isn't. The plot's very basic, with a woman in a hospital with bandages over her face to look "normal". The filming is done very well with all the shadows. As Rod notes, it really doesn't matter where or when this story takes place. It's just telling us what the title promises. I really can't say much more to people who don't know the ending, even though I'm sure most do. It really is better to just see this one outright. ****

I've just finished watching this episode of The Twilight Zone, and am still trying to catch my breath. What I thought was going to turn out to be just a deviation on the French classic 'Eyes without a Face' turned out to be something much, much more! As the title suggests, this tale is based on the old saying 'Beauty is in the eye of the beholder', and we are introduced to a woman dressed in bandages. She's in a hospital, and it soon becomes apparent that she is the victim of a horrible facial disfigurement. However, it seems she has undergone some of surgery to reverse the disability; and it's almost time for the bandages to be removed. This episode is great because it presents a real dream-like atmosphere, and it's easy to believe that this story really is taking place in the 'The Twilight Zone'. Our heroine is kept wrapped up in bandages for almost the entire running time, and with that in mind it's not unreasonable to expect a huge payoff once the bandages are removed. To say it delivers would be an enormous understatement - Eye of the Beholder gives the audience their due payoff and then some! I'm not going to say any more - just see this as soon as possible.