History Recap / TheTwilightZone1959S3E3TheShelter

!!The Tropeter:

* ChildrenAreInnocent: Even as their parents are screaming and arguing around them, the kids present are busy eating eat the leftover food from the party. This ends up being {{Deconstructed}} as well, as part of the reason everyone is so desperate to survive is that they all have children, one of whom is only three months old, so whose are more deserving to continue living?

* FairytaleMotifs: This episode is a [[DarkerAndEdgier darker]] version of "Literature/TheGrasshopperAndTheAnts". Bill and his family are the ants, having prepared for the worst ahead of time. The neighbors are the grasshoppers, having done nothing to plan for the worst. The story revolves around the latter trying (and failing) to convince the former to let them share the shelter, regardless if they worked for it.

* FairytaleMotifs: This episode is a [[DarkerAndEdgier darker]] version of "Literature/TheGrasshopperAndTheAnts". Bill and his family are the ants, having prepared for the worst ahead of time. The neighbors are the grasshoppers, having done nothing to plan for the worst.

* OddballInTheSeries: This is one of only five episodes not to feature any sci-fi or fantasy elements. The others are "[[Recap/TheTwilightZone1959S1E1WhereIsEverybody Where is Everybody?]]","[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS2E61TheSilence The Silence]]" "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E82OneMorePallbearer One More Pallbearer]]", and "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS5E149TheJeopardyRoom The Jeopardy Room]]".

* AndThenWhat: As they're gathering supplies for the shelter, Grace wonders what the point of gathering supplies at all amounts to if they're destined to live in a ruined world, surrounded by the bodies of their friends and neighbors. Bill tells her Paul is their reason, because even if that's the world he'll inherits, he's still only twelve years old.

* IWarnedYou: During a heated discussion with Jerry about whether the latter and his family can use the shelter, Bill points out that their being unprepared for the bomb lies solely at ''their'' feet, having told them time and time to "get ready and make the admission to [themselves] that the worst was possible."

It's evening in a typical suburban community, where Dr. Bill Stockton is enjoying his birthday party with his wife Grace, their son Paul, and their group of friends from all over the neighborhood. Bill is a beloved member of the community, a good friend and doctor to them for over twenty years, healing them and even delivering their children. Everything is fun and jovial, even when mention is made of the fallout shelter Bill has in his basement, until Paul comes in and informs his father that a Civil Defense announcement is on.

Bill turns to it and everyone is horrified to learn that unidentified flying objects have been detected on route for the United States. In this day and age, it can't be anything but nuclear missiles. They have between 15 minutes to half an hour before they hit.

Bill, Grace, and Paul begin stocking their shelter when their neighbors come in one by one, all asking if there's room in the shelter for them. Bill gives them the same answer: there's only enough room, air, and supplies for three people. He offers them his basement, but they're convinced that the shelter is the only way to survive. Eventually, they all start crowding into his house trying desperately to think of a solution. They also realize that not everyone can fit in the shelter, and start turning quite hostile to one-another. Both angry words and punches are tossed around as everyone now plots to get into the shelter using a makeshift battering ram. They tear apart Bill's house as they clamor into the basement and begin ramming the shelter door.

Just as they break through and begin forcing their way inside, another broadcast comes on to inform everyone that there are no nukes on the way. The unidentified objects were just harmless satellites. Everyone breathes a collective sigh of relief.

As Bill and his family emerge from the shelter, everyone apologizes for how they acted and what they said, and offer to pay for the damages, but Bill responds by asking if anyone knows what those damages really are. One of them might be finding out what kind of people we really are. He concludes by wondering, even though they were spared a bomb tonight, if they weren't destroyed without it.

->'''Creator/RodSerling''': No moral, no message, no prophetic tract, just a simple statement of fact: for civilization to survive, the human race has to remain civilized. Tonight's very small exercise in logic from the Twilight Zone."

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* AllForNothing: Even if the whole ordeal wasn't a false alarm, the shelter wouldn't even be any good to the neighbors after they've rammed down the door.
* AnAesop: "For civilization to survive, the human race has to remain civilized."
* AnalogyBackfire: When Frank tries to apologize to Marty over his earlier remarks, Jerry voices he doesn't think Marty could ever hold it against him, just like Bill won't hold a grudge against them forever. The thing is, Bill '''''does''''' hold it against them. So for all they know, if Bill's angry at them, then chances are it will be a long time before Marty ever forgives Frank.
* AndThenWhat: As they're gathering supplies for the shelter, Grace wonders what the point is if they're destined to live in a ruined world surrounded by the bodies of their friends and neighbors. Bill tells her Paul is their reason, because even if that's the world he inherits, he's still only twelve.

* ABirthdayNotABreak: Bill's birthday party turns into a mad scramble for survival in the span of a few minutes.
* BittersweetEnding: The apparent missiles were just a false alarm and everyone is quick to apologize for what happened, but it's clear Bill's sense of trust in his neighbors has been severely damaged.
* BottleEpisode: The entire episode takes place in and around the Stockton house.
* ChildrenAreInnocent: Even as their parents are screaming and arguing around them, some of the kids eat the leftover food from the party. This ends up being {{Deconstructed}} as well. Part of the reason everyone is so desperate to survive is that they all have children with them, one of whom is only three months old. So whose are more deserving of survival?
* DramaticallyMissingThePoint: Towards the ending, everyone tries to sweep under the rug the recent happenings, including mobbing Bill for his shelter. Understandably, they're just trying to salvage the previous normality they had before the nightmare began. Bill's the only one to soberly bring up that, as of now, they're ''past'' the point where their lives or their damaged friendship can ever go back to "normal".
* EasilyForgiven: Averted with both Bill and Marty, who seemingly give no outward indication that they forgive the people who respectively wronged them.
* EmergencyBroadcast: A CONELRAD broadcast informs them of the unidentified objects on the way, and later reveals that there's nothing to worry about as they were satellites as opposed to missiles.
* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt: Everyone fears that this will be the result when the bombs hit.
* FairytaleMotifs: This is a [[DarkerAndEdgier dark]] version of "Literature/TheGrasshopperAndTheAnts". Bill and his family are the ants, the neighbors are the grasshoppers, and the bomb is winter. No prizes for guessing what the shelter is.
* FalloutShelterFail: The crux of the conflict, given that there's only enough space and resources to sustain three people, and fighting breaks out over what little is available - to the point that the neighbors try to batter down the shelter doors. And then the whole thing turns out to have been a false alarm.
* GoodCannotComprehendEvil: Played with. While it's a grey-vs-grey issue, the neighbors grow increasingly aggressive when compared to Bill and his family, to the point they mob to break down Bill's shelter. When all's quiet for the time being, Grace worriedly wonders who these people are anymore, so shaken by their viciousness that she nearly forgets they were their friends. Bill can only soberly answer that those were their neighbors, haunted by the notion that they've hidden their true nature from them all these years.
* HumansAreBastards[=/=]HumansAreFlawed: Both are on full display here. All the neighbors are desperate to ensure their families survive, but their fear mixes with their pent-up emotions and all kinds of ugliness comes out. [[{{Jerkass}} Frank]] is particularly antagonistic. Not only is he the first to advise breaking into the shelter, but he makes some racist remarks at Marty and even physically assaults him. He does apologize after the crisis though. Even Bill delves into this, [[WithFriendsLikeThese scorning Jerry for not taking the time to build his own shelter]] ''[[WithFriendsLikeThese in the middle of the crisis.]]''
* IWarnedYou: During a heated discussion with Jerry about whether the latter and his family can use his shelter, Bill goes into this kind of spiel. He points out that their being unprepared for the bomb lies solely at their feet: he's told them time and time to "get ready and make the admission to [themselves] that the worst was possible."
* IdiotBall: It's {{lampshaded}} several times that the neighbors are wasting their time trying to convince Bill to let them in instead of securing some other kind of shelter for themselves.
* {{Mundanger}}: There is nothing supernatural or science fiction in this episode. All the danger comes from the natural human reaction to panic.
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: After it's revealed there are no nukes on the way, all the neighbors are quick to apologize for their behavior and want to make amends. It does little to repair Bill's broken trust in his friends.
* NonSpecificallyForeign: After the crisis begins, Frank is continually racist towards the foreign-born Marty, describing him as a "pushy, grabby, semi-American" and later refers to "you and your kind." However, it is never stated what country Marty is from.

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Bill gives one or two smaller ones in the first half of the episode, pointing out that they should've prepared when they had the chance. Later, after it turns out there's no bomb, he gives his neighbors an especially scathing one about how they allowed themselves to be "a lot of wild, naked animals who put such a hefty price on survival that they clawed their neighbors' eyes out just for the privilege".

* {{Symbolism}}: Light has a notable motif in this episode. In the beginning, everything is well-lit to establish how everyone is "civilized". When the power goes out as Bill and his family load up the shelter, it marks the beginning of the metaphorical [[WhatYouAreInTheDark darkness]], and the instant his neighbors' civility will start to decline from here on. (And decline it does.) At the climax, the power comes on the very instant Bill's neighbors have broken into the shelter, a chilling indication that they only resumed their "civility" because the threat is no longer real.
* ThatManIsDead: When Bill tries to turn away him from entering his shelter, Marty angrily guilt-trips the good doctor with the fact that allowing somebody to die by a radioactive bomb would be violating the Hippocratic oath. After a moment of contemplation, a guilt-ridden Bill soberly makes it clear he no longer considers himself a doctor in this dire hour, but rather a desperate father and husband trying to protect his own family from certain death.
-->'''Bill:''' That was a million years ago... a million years ago...
* ThousandYardStare: Bill has one once he emerges from the shelter, having seen and heard everything going on with the people he considered friends for twenty years.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: The story ends on an ambiguous note concerning what Bill and his family ''will'' do after everything he witnessed that night. On one hand, there's a slim chance he'll continue to endure living alongside [[WeUsedToBeFriends the animals he thought were his friends]]. On the other hand, there's a more likely chance [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere he'll move away]] to escape the sour memory of their true nature.
* WhatYouAreInTheDark: A rather dark look into what humans are when faced between certain death and shelter from that death. Towards the end, Bill lampshades how his neighbors ultimately ''failed'' to remain human when there really was no danger.
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* DramaticallyMissingThePoint: Towards the ending, everyone tries to sweep under the rug the recent happenings, which mobbing Bill for his shelter among them. Understandably, they're just trying to salvage the previous normality they had before the nightmare began. Bill's the only one to soberly bring up that as of now, they're ''past'' the point where their lives or their damaged friendship can ever go back to "normal".