Mirror Image

Mirror Image is the kind of creepy, nightmarish episode that delves deep into your subconscious and stays there for years, ready to leap out into your conscious mind and scare you when reminded of its terrifying premise. The idea that a "double" can steal your identity and replace you is inherently unsettling. Think Invasion of the Body Snatchers - a movie with a similar premise. And as in Body Snatcher, the idea that no one believes what you know is true and that you are viewed as "going insane" adds to the horror of the protagonist and the empathy of the audience.

I particularly liked the ending because, although disconcerting, it represents the expanded possibility of an alternate reality over the smug, narrow-mindedness of conventional wisdom and leads to the question, who's crazy now?

The setting for this episode is a town somewhere near Binghamton, New York which is Rod Serling's home town. Binghamton is mentioned several times as well as other nearby upstate towns such as Cortland, Syracuse, and Buffalo. I found this to be particularly intriguing having lived in Binghamton myself and still, from time to time, go from New York City to Buffalo (Vera Miles' destination) by way of this route and have experienced extended delays in old stations like this one. It is obvious that the setting and dialog are influenced by memories of one who has been there and remembers it well. This episode definitely brings you close to Rod Serling's roots.

Mirror Image concerns a woman who discovers a double of herself during an overnight stay in a bus station. Is she losing her mind, or does the double actually exist? One of the series' earliest dealings with the question of identity - man's (or woman's) struggle to hold onto it and how it can be attacked by natural or supernatural means. That question of identity would be revisited several times in the series' run. This one is particularly notable for the fact that the protagonist is a woman, and she generally keeps herself from degenerating into hysterics despite the circumstances. That's notable for 1959-1960 television. Very good episode.

Although I have always been a fan of The Twilight Zone, it is only recently that I have decided to try and watch all of the episodes. I had never seen or even heard of "Mirror Image" before, but I am so glad that I got to see this episode tonight. This is easily one of the best episodes, not only of season one, but maybe the whole series.

Millicent Barnes is in a bus stop waiting for a bus that is late. Strange things start happening while she is waiting. The workers in the station tell her that she has been doing things that she has no memory of doing. Her bag moves around the building. And she sees something very interesting in the mirror that even gave me a start.

The Twilight Zone is one of the only television series in which it is generally more enjoyable when you cannot figure out what is going on. This episode will take your mind into several interesting places. As the other reviewers have mentioned, it is imaginative, suspenseful and even a small tad scary. I am surprised I had never heard of it before because it ranks up near the top of the list of good episodes, on par with all the classics.

A woman (Vera Miles) awaits a bus in a deserted station and undergoes a strange experience.

Perhaps the creepiest of all the episodes. The dimly-lit old station presided over by a grouchy ticket seller is the very model of a late night bad dream, the kind of place where sounds echo off the walls and different dimensions come together. Then too, no one in 1959 was better at portraying afflicted women than Vera Miles, which is probably why producer Houghton got her for the show. Watch the subtlety of her expressions as she drifts deeper into emotional torment-- no wonder she was a Hitchcock favorite. The direction by Gothic ace John Brahm is also outstanding. In fact, his movie career specialized in just such psychologically troubled subjects. Also hard to say enough about Bernard Hermann's wonderfully eerie score that blends in with developments at exactly the right moments, leading us ever further into the suspense. Even the cop car abduction adds to the overall effect with an unnerving police-state abruptness about it. Baby-face Martin Milner registers too, as a concerned stranger or is he just "on-the-make"-- certainly the thought must have crossed his mind as he sits down next to her. Perhaps that was his big mistake.

Almost a perfectly wrought little gem from that marvelous first year of the series.