History Recap / TheTwilightZone1985S2E2

Christine Copperfield (Creator/MimiKennedy) is a news anchor who has recently turned 40, and her newfound age leaves her fearing that her younger boyfriend Marc (Creator/ChristopherMcDonald) may leave her for a younger woman. Her colleague Shauna Allen (Barbara Horan) tells Christine of a type of bottled water called "Aqua Vita", which can rejuvenate someone's apperance to make them as young as they need to be. Christine purchases a supply of the water and is told that the youthful effects need to be activated with one glass per day. When she misses her daily glass, Christine discovers that she has begun rapidly aging. She orders another batch of Aqua Vita, but learns that the second batch costs several thousand dollars while the first one was free, forcing her to choose between her youth and her finances.

* KarmaHoudini: Whoever's in charge of Aqua Vita, they get away with screwing Christine, Shauna, and likely hundreds more out of their cash and youthful apperances, and are free to keep doing so by the end.

* MsFanservice: The young, attractive, sweaty, spandex-clad fashion models Marc is eagerly seen shooting at one point, working out on or around various pieces of excercise equipment. Christine and Shauna visit the scene while Marc is preoccupied, the latter stating that the evidence Marc isn't going to leave her doesn't look good.

* LampshadeHanging: Upon hearing that missing a daily glass of Aqua Vita causes rapid aging, and that each extra bottle after the initial shipment costs 5 grand, Christine tears into the sinister man who delivers the water, claiming that she can legally have them inspected for their dubious business practices. She doesn't follow through with this since she doesn't want the water to stop coming.

* LieToTheBeholder: A being of pure light appears to Alex and his son Jeff, thirty years apart, in the form of a young boy named Mike. Alex always thought that Mike was simply his imaginary friend, but learns that wasn't nessecarily the case when he sees him again as an adult. Mike tells Alex that he got the form he takes from Alex's mind when he was a child.

Freshly-divorced Alex Mattingly (Creator/TomSkerritt) and his young son Jeff (Creator/FredSavage) move to a cabin in the woods for a fresh start. After expressing how unhappy he is that he no longer has any friends to play with over the summer, Jeff meets a boy named "Mike" (Creator/LukasHaas) who offers to play with him, namely by producing anything they need for a game out of thin air. When Alex tries to introduce Jeff to some of the children already in the area, Jeff become angered, only wanting to spend his playtime with Mike, who Alex seems to recall a certain history with.

-> "There is indeed a fountain of youth, but not the one Ponce de Leon dreamed of. The true fountain of youth lies in the human heart, and its healing properties are without price. An oasis flowing everfresh from the headwaters -- of the Twilight Zone."

* OlderThanTheyLook: Christine's friend and co-worker Shauna appears to be in her mid to late 20s, but is actually 46. She tells Christine that she drinks Aqua Vita, a brand of bottled water which makes anyone who drinks it look much younger than their actual age. When Christine orders some for herself, she is surprised when the 30-ish deliveryman calls her "missy", and quickly realizes that he is much younger than he looks. However, when she asks him for his true age, he advises her not to ask. After Christine has been using Aqua Vita for several days, she discovers that it has a side effect that Shauna didn't mention: you must keep drinking it day after day, or you age rapidly in appearance.

* IJustWantToHaveFriends: Alex has these hopes for his son Jeff, wanting him to live a little with other kids his age after the divorce. Fortunately, this is what Mike has in mind for the kid, as he and Jeff play all sorts of fantastic games with them, but Mike then pretends to say he hates them so Jeff will forget about him and make friends with ''real'' kids.

* CruelToBeKind: Jeff new "imaginary friend" Mike tells him that he was only pretending to be his friend and that he hates him. He did this after realizing that his presence is preventing Jeff from becoming friends with ''real'' children, and thus knew that it was the only way to convince Jeff to stop playing with him.

Freshly-divorced Alex Mattingly and his young son Jeff move to a cabin in the woods for a fresh start. After expressing how unhappy he is that he no longer has any friends to play with over the summer, Jeff meets a boy named "Mike" who offers to play with him, namely by producing anything they need for a game out of thin air. When Alex tries to introduce Jeff to some of the children already in the area, Jeff become angered, only wanting to spend his playtime with Mike, who Alex seems to recall a certain history with.

Christine Copperfield is a news anchor who has recently turned 40, and her newfound age leaves her fearing that her younger boyfriend Marc may leave her for a younger woman. Her colleague Shauna Allen tells Christine of a type of bottled water called "Aqua Vita", which can rejuvenate someone's apperance to make them as young as they need to be. Christine purchases a supply of the water and is told that the youthful effects need to be activated with one glass per day. When she misses her daily glass, Christine discovers that she has begun rapidly aging. She orders another batch of Aqua Vita, but learns that the second batch costs several thousand dollars while the first one was free, forcing her to choose between her youth and her finances.

Freshly-divorced Alex Mattingway and his young son Jeff move to a cabin in the woods for a fresh start. After expressing how unhappy he is that he no longer has any friends to play with over the summer, Jeff meets a boy named "Mike" who offers to play with him, namely by producing anything they need for a game out of thin air. When Alex tries to introduce Jeff to some of the children already in the area, Jeff become angered, only wanting to spend his playtime with Mike, who Alex seems to recall a certain history with.

* PapaWolf: Alex is strongly protective of Jeff, who is all he has left after his divorce. He becomes wracked with fear when Mike leaves him to die after being crushed by an abandoned fort.

* AgeGapRomance: Discussed by Christine, who shoots down Marc's insistence that he loves her no matter what by saying everyone around them will look at them with suspicion.

* BirthdayHater: Christine is depressed at the thought of turning 40 because she believes that she'll be replaced as a television anchor by a younger woman. She laments to Marc that birthdays are fun when you're 10, but not when you're constantly worried about crow's feet and keeping your job. Despite this, Christine isn't angry at him for throwing her a surprise party, genuinely appreciating the sentiment.
* BittersweetEnding: The Aqua Vita company is free to keep screwing people over, and Christine is still unemployed and permanently looking old. But she finds that Marc drank some of the water as well, so at least Christine will still have the love of her life by her side.

* GreaterScopeVillain: The head of the Aqua Vita company is hinted to be one, as they ship out magical rejuvenating water that dramatically ages anyone if they miss a daily glass, and sells each extra bottle at a hefty $5,000.

* MsFanservice: The young, fit, attractive, sweaty, spandex-clad fashion models Marc is seen shooting at one point, working on or around various pieces of excercise equipment. Christine and Shauna visit the scene while Marc is preoccupied, the latter stating that the evidence Marc won't leave her doesn't look good at this point.
* ObviouslyEvil: The Aqua Vita deliveryman certainly has the part down, with his menacing tone of voice and highly vague remarks to Christine, especially as he tells her not to ask how old he really is.