Spur of the Moment

What lingers from this otherwise ordinary episode are several arresting visuals. While on a routine horseback ride, debutante Diana Hyland suddenly encounters a menacing black clad rider silhouetted against the sky. In a close-up, we see the ravaged face of a middle-age woman, her features twisted into a grimace. The figure swoops down from the hill top to chase after the fleeing Hyland. But who is this figure of doom and why is she pursuing such a harmless looking lass as the about-to-be-married Hyland. These first few minutes amount to an intriguing set-up, very well filmed, the color contrast between the riders both arresting and misleading. The rest of the episode may not equal this early plateau; however, the solution remains reasonably satisfying, and one, I suspect, many would like to apply to their own lives. The cast is notable for the presence of Hyland, an excellent actress who unfortunately died young, and for Marsha Hunt as the mother, the victim of a decade or so of political blacklisting.

The eighteen-year-old Anne Henderson is riding a horse, when she sees a scary woman wearing black calling her and riding to her. She flees to her house, where her parents Mr. And Mrs. Henderson and her fiancé Robert Blake are waiting for her. Mr. Henderson calls the police, while her mother and Robert comfort her. Out of the blue, her former boyfriend David Mitchell invades her house and tells to Anne that he loves her. Twenty-five years later, Anne remembers that day talking to her mother.

"Spur of the Moment" is an episode of "The Twilight Zone" about the regret for mistakes in the youth that everyone has certainly committed. Unfortunately, the present cannot change the past, but only the future. Anne Henderson will certainly regret that day for the rest of her life. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Impulso Repentino" ("Sudden Impulse")

I thought I had seen most Twilight Zones until I caught this one on a Newfoundland station at 2:00 am. It surprised me...and in a good way. A frightening visual to start. A strong twist midway through (not at the end as usual with The Zone). Also the story took the characters outside the series usual sets and back-lots. The characters show Serling's usual level of humanism but with a disturbing realistic edge for the series. Finally, it becomes a very personal story and leaves out the moralizing which could sometimes bog down the series. In many ways a perfect short story with just enough to fill out 24 minutes. The only flaw...the direction was a bit heavy handed at times.

An eerie opening makes this one seem a lot more promising than it turns out to be. Anne (Diana Hyland),age 18, is out riding when she gets pursued by an older, black-cloaked, scary woman also on horseback screaming 'Anne'. Poetic, haunting sort of imagery for what was also a great plot idea idea from the great Richard Matheson. Unfortunately it all gets done in such a soap-like way. The characters don't generate much interest, not even Anne ,a spoiled rich girl, who needs to be more sympathetic for this to work. The chance is wasted to explore the subject matter deeper. If only this had been in the first series when Rod Serling saw to it that almost all the stories received a polished production! There is a clever dual perspective about it, but sadly it gets somewhat unseated in the middle.

A young woman in white is out horseback riding near her father's estate. On a ridge she sees a maniacal black figure. A middle aged woman who screams and then pursues her back to the house. She backs off as the young woman gets to her destination. The young woman is to be married soon to an accountant. As her father and fiancé try to comfort her, a handsome young man comes to the door to see her. Apparently, he is quite taken with her but has been told to stay away. There is obviously a spark still there. The father eventually pulls a gun on him. The father is a dominating figure and always gets his way. The rest of the episode is about the future results of these actions. We have two figures of the same person at different times in their lives; yet they are in the same time dimension. We get to see what will happen and it is not pretty. Quite a good episode with a lot of unanswered questions about what can be and what will be.