Rod Serling: A most cordial welcome to this nocturnal arcade, featuring canvases that are sometimes a bit on the peculiar side. Sometimes uncommon, sometimes a few frescos of freakish.
Midnight Never Ends
Written by: Rod Serling
Directed by: Jeannot Szwarc
Rod Serling: Tonight's first selection, a painting suggesting solitude, or at least, solemnity, as viewed during the midnight hour. It tells a tale of two young people caught inexorably in a recurring nightmare, with a finale on the jolting side. Our painting, with the somewhat familiar face, is called: Midnight Never Ends, and this is the Night Gallery.
While driving on a long stretch of deserted highway, Ruth Asquith (Susan Strasberg) stops to pick up Vincent Riley (Robert F. Lyons), a hitchhiking Marine. A series of events prompts a sense of déjà vu to overcome the pair, such as Vincent whistling a tune he just wrote that Ruth already recognizes, yet there are also notable gaps in their memory. The pair then stop at the Blue Danube Café, which Ruth incorrectly guesses is closed. The owner, Joe Bateman (Joseph Perry), questions Vincent's uniform, hinting at his own service, yet seemingly unable to remember it. At that point, the sheriff enters the diner as tapping sounds emanate from the ceiling. When the officer asks for ID, neither Ruth nor Vincent have any. In the midst of a philosophical rant, Vincent tries to leave and is shot dead by the sheriff, ultimately revealing the truth about their situation.
Tropes
- Author Avatar: In-universe, Vincent is actually the author of the unfinished novel his fictional self resides in. Similarly, Ruth is his wife in the real world, though he got the idea for both her and his characters from an old play and a TV western, respectively.
- Bookends: Given the segment's rather meta reveal, the beginning and ending are exactly the same scene.
- Creator Cameo: Rod Serling himself is depicted in the segment's painting, which he notably points out in his narration.
- Foreshadowing:
- Related to the above, Serling's presence in the painting acts as a hint to the segment's twist, being a meta painting for a meta story.
- Vincent seems to have a feeling of knowing what's going to happen before it occurs, but then has nothing in mind when he needs an idea of what it actually is. The ending reveals that he's the author of the in-universe story, and is struggling with an immense case of writer's block.
- In the Blue Danube Cafe, there are mysterious tapping sounds emanating throughout, which we later learn is the real Vincent typing on his typewriter. During these periods, the characters stop and stare as their next actions are given to them.
- The Cafe itself appears to close when Vincent and Ruth get there, prompting Vincent to declare the early closing "a mistake", and wondering if "we'll have to start again".
- "Groundhog Day" Loop: The fictional Vincent and the rest of the characters are stuck in such a loop because the real Vincent, struggling with his writer's block, keeps rewriting the story over and over.
- Here We Go Again!: Vincent ends the episode starting his novel over, wiping the characters' minds and making them repeat the opening scene.
- Jerkass: Joe, owner of the Blue Danube Cafe, tells Vincent and Ruth to get lost when he closes for the night, though he becomes just as confused as them with their predicament.
- Meta Fiction: The events of the story all take place within the novel the real Vincent is working on, and they're incomplete because he's struggling with writer's block.
- No Ending: Per the meta motif, we don't know if the real Vincent finishes his novel, and therefore what happens to the characters within.
- Rage Against the Author: The fictional Vincent is rather critical of the real thing, calling him out for his lack of talent and direction, as well as the idea that he can just create "puppets" with the inability to choose their own destinies.
- The Reveal: All the characters are fictitious products of the real Vincent's imagination, with the real Ruth being his wife. The loop they're stuck in is due to the fact that he's suffering from writer's block and endlessly rewriting the scene they're in.
- Spot the Thread: The segment's narrative feels incomplete, as the characters only have general ideas of what they're doing, but don't know anything concrete. The ending reveals that Vincent, author of the in-universe story, is similarly grasping at straws at this point.
- Writers Suck: The real Vincent has strong writer's block, forcing him to rewrite the novel that the characters we've seen live in again and again, explaining the time loop and their lack of general ideas as to what they're supposed to be doing.
Brenda
Original story by: Margaret St. Clair
Teleplay by: Douglas Heyes
Directed by: Allen Reisner
Rod Serling: There's something rather remarkable in the scope of imagination peculiar to children. They project and dream and fantasize with beauty and simplicity and faith, in a manner that somehow eludes us as we grow older. This is: Brenda, and Brenda has a playmate. It comes to her in part because of loneliness, and what I wish for you, is that you never get that lonely.
Brenda Alden (Laurie Page) is a bratty and misbehaved 12 year-old girl with terrible social skills, currently on vacation with her parents. After stomping on local girl Fracnes Anne's sandcastle and being rebuffed when she tries to make friendly conversation, Brenda notices a creature resembling a walking lump of seaweed in the woods. In a mix of fear and curiosity, Brenda challenges the creature to chase her. When it comes after her, the creature falls in a pit and can't get out by itself. Brenda initially teases the creature for falling in, but then decides to lend it a hand. That night, Brenda leaves her summer house's front door open for her new "friend" to come and visit. When the creature does indeed visit, it draws the attention of Brenda's parents and their neighbors, who try to chase it out of the house and kill it, all while Brenda watches the spectacle with satisfaction.
Tropes
- A Boy and His X: In this case, a very disturbed young girl and her harmless sea monster friend.
- Abusive Parents: Brenda's father Richard is rather bad-tempered and overbearing toward her. Whether or not Brenda's attitude stems from this treatment, or if he does this to set her straight, is never revealed.
- Ambiguous Ending: The episode ends with an older Brenda talking to the pile of rocks in the pit that the sea monster was buried under. Having outgrown her sociopathic attitude, she cries and apologizes to the monster's grave, telling it that it was the best friend she ever had and they'll be "born together." It's unclear whether the monster is still alive, or what she's going to do now.
- Bittersweet Ending: The monster is buried in a makeshift grave by Brenda's parents and their neighbors, so at the very least it can't bother people anymore. Brenda herself, having outgrown her old personality, visits the monster's tomb and cries to it, clearly having seen the error of her ways and telling it that it was her best friend, while also planning to let it out.
- Bratty Half-Pint: Brenda herself. The only true friend she makes is a shambling sea monster that gets trapped in a pit, and even then, she's pretty mean to it, resulting in the creature getting buried in a stony grave by her parents. It's only years later, after she outgrows that personality, that she regrets it and acknowledges the monster as the best friend she ever had.
- Covers Always Lie: The segment's painting depicts Brenda wearing a white dress and sitting in a field of flowers while surrounded by animals, both extant and extinct, indicating that she's an angelic Friend to All Living Things. She's actually a malicious brat who torments other kids her age, as well as the sea monster she calls her "friend". Thankfully, the ending shows she grew out of that state of mind, albeit too late to save the monster, who she now accepts as her one true friend.
- Creepy Child: Brenda is profoundly mentally unstable and smiles maliciously. The fact that she's played by the 19-year old Laurie Page adds to the effect.
- Enfante Terrible: Brenda, who bullies everyone around her and shows very little concern for their feelings.
- Karma Houdini: Brenda may get punished for stomping on Frances Anne's sandcastle, but she faces no consequences for letting the monster frighten her parents to death, prompting them to bury it in a rocky grave.
- Kill It with Fire: They don't kill it, but Brenda's and Frances Anne's parents lure the monster out of the former's house and into the pit Brenda trapped it in by waving torches at it, after which they bury it with a pile of rocks.
- Lack of Empathy: Brenda. In the first scene, she knocks down Frances Anne's sandcastle and then tries to invite her to play like nothing happened, genuinely not recognizing how upset the other girl is, nor does she wonder why six other kids on the island have alienated her over the years. Near the end, when the monster wanders into her house and scares her parents, she just laughs at them as they panic and try in vain to kill it.
- My God, What Have I Done?: The end of the segment has Brenda, now having matured past her bratty old self, weeping to the pile of rocks the monster was buried under, apologizing for the way she treated it.
- Never My Fault: After stomping on her sandcastle, Brenda complains that it was in her way, while Frances Anne tearfully counters that she went out of her way to stomp on it.
- Non-Malicious Monster: The sea monster doesn't try to hurt anyone, even though it's said to have broken into someone's house, and is more the victim of Brenda's mischief and her parents' fears than a genuine perpetrator. Notably, when the parents are freaking out by its presence in their home and trying to attack it, the monster just stands there and doesn't threaten them at all. They unfortunately jump to conclusions and leave the creature imprisoned in a rocky grave for years.
- No Social Skills: Since she bears the traits of a little sociopath, Brenda doesn't seem to realize why other kids find her alienating. In the opening scene, when she knocks down Frances Anne's sandcastle, then invites her to be her friend like nothing happened, she seems genuinely clueless as to why Frances Anne is so upset, or why this behavior isn't considered acceptable.
- No Sympathy: Until the end of the episode, Brenda uses the only shred of sympathy she has with the monster, not the other kids in town or her parents.
- Plant People: The sea monster Brenda befriends resembles a walking lump of seaweed.
- Slasher Smile: Brenda flashes them to show how deranged she is.
- The Sociopath: Brenda shows definite signs of sociopathy in her youth. Had she not outgrown those traits by the end of the segment, the implications for her future would have been very troubling.
- Time-Passes Montage: One of them occurs during the end of the episode, as the monster's "grave" is rained on, allowing flowers to grow on it by the time Brenda comes back.
- Time Skip: The segment ends sometime in the near future, where a matured Brenda weeps over the monster's "grave" and apologizes for her treatment of it.
- World of Ham: Brenda and her folks hardly lower their voices, but first prize would have to go to Frances Anne, who hysterically screams all her dialogue in the scene where Brenda knocks her sandcastle down.
