What are the best episodes of the original Twilight Zone TV series?
It’s an affecting, suspenseful meditation on the nature of war, hope, hatred and death. The episode is set shortly after the end of the Civil War, a young widow in the South sits on the front porch of her ruined manor, watching an endless stream of soldiers make their way down the road, heading for home.
A Confederate Sergeant stops and asks if he can rest and drink from her well, and they talk about the war and their lives. It becomes clear that she’s lost and bitter none of them really know what they’re going to do next.
She shares her anger at the Union over the war, and over her husband’s death in it. That night, a Union soldier rides by, and the Sergeant recognizes him from a battle. He remembers a shell bursting right next to the man’s face, and can’t believe he survived, then the widow emerges from the house with gun, tells the Union soldier that this is for her husband, and shoots him. Nothing happens, and the Sergeant insists that she couldn’t have missed. The soldier replies that it “doesn’t matter”, and continues down the road.
In the morning, the Sergeant says he’s stayed too long, and it’s time for him to leave. The widow begs him to stay, it’s clear how lonely she is and desperate for someone to stay with her and help her, but the Sergeant insists that there’s something about that road that’s compelling him, and he needs to see what’s at the end.
Soon after he leaves, she sees her husband coming down the road. She’s overjoyed to find him alive, and tearfully embraces him, telling him that they’ll rebuild, and everything will be like it was. He tells her that he can’t stay, and she needs to come with him. He explains that he died in battle, just as she heard, and she died several days ago of a fever. She was still there because she couldn’t accept that she was dead, but that road was all that was left to them, and they had to travel it. She can’t bring herself to leave her home and begs him to stay, but he tells her that he has to go.
As he walks on down the road, she collapses in tears, torn between wanting to go with him and being devastated of leaving. She can’t make up her mind, and is caught in a decision she can’t possibly make. Just then , a final figure comes along the road behind her…
It’s Abraham Lincoln. And the concept sounds hammy, even ridiculous, but I swear, in that moment, it works perfectly. He walks up next to her, helps her to her feet, and speaks to her gently. He explains that he’s the last person on the road, the last casualty of the Civil War. He tells her that, as much as they want to hold on to life, this world is no longer for them, and all that’s left for them is to move along and find out what’s still ahead of them.
It’s a moving moment, particularly because her hatred for the Union was made very clear, and this is probably the man in the world she has the most reason to hate. But, as he speaks to her, it becomes clear that none of those old hatreds matter any more. They’re all passing on together now, and he helps her to accept that. The episode ends with her running down the road to catch her husband, as Lincoln solemnly continues behind her as the last traveler on the road.
