Rod Serling: Commonplace—if somewhat grim—unsocial event known as a necktie party. The guest of dishonor: a cowboy named Joe Caswell, just a moment away from a rope, a short dance several feet off the ground, and then the dark eternity of all evil men. Mr. Joe Caswell, who, when the good Lord passed out a conscience, a heart, a feeling for fellow men, must have been out for a beer and missed out. Mr. Joe Caswell, in the last, quiet moment of a violent life.
Air date: April 1, 1960
On November 14, 1880, notorious outlaw Joe Caswell is set to be hanged for murder. Just as he's dropped, his body disappears from the noose. He wakes up in the present, where scientist Professor Manion has used his experimental time machine to pluck a random individual from their own time. Upon learning that Caswell is a condemned man, the scientist tries to send him back to the Old West, but Caswell manages to kill him before he can do so. With no way back to his era, Caswell finds that the hustle and bustle of the 20th century is no better than being hanged.
Tropecution:
- Ain't Too Proud to Beg: After growing confused and terrified of the modern world, Caldwell breaks down and begs Professor Manion’s corpse to return him to his own time. Paul also begs for help when he gets stuck in the time machine and it turns on.
- Asshole Victim: Joe gets murdered by Paul, but given that he’s a criminal who killed more than twenty-one men and shows no remorse over it, he completely deserves it. Paul counts as well, since he’s also a murdering criminal.
- Bookends: The story begins and ends with an execution. The twist is that a different criminal hangs in Caswell's place... one from the future.
- Cannot Tell Fiction from Reality: The temporally displaced Joe Caswell mistakes a scene from a TV Western for reality. When the TV cowboy pulls his gun, Caswell shoots the television.
- Death by Irony: Joe evaded death by a noose, but Paul Johnson kills him by strangulation with a window blind cord. Paul likewise dies an ironic death, getting hung to death right after strangling Joe.
- Disproportionate Retribution: The best part is Caswell's impassioned speech about ethics to the reckless Professor Marion, who has threatened Caswell with going back in time and accept the justice sentenced upon him. Johnson is ironically described as the victim after all intent and purposes putting Caswell out of his misery in cold blood. But by the end of the day, or night, the death penalty was not justice. Justice is predictable and what the necktie party saw was not what they expected.
- "Everyone Dies" Ending: Professor Manion, Caswell, and Paul are all dead by the end of the episode.
- Evil Is Petty: Joe Caswell kills Professor Manion just because he’s irritated by his “self-righteous” attitude.
- Evil Versus Evil: Joe Caswell and Paul Johnson, who are both heartless criminals, get into a fight, with Paul killing Joe.
- Fish out of Temporal Water: Somewhat reconstructed as a poetic Fate Worse than Death for Caswell.
- Foreshadowing: During his first moments watching the future world from the comfort of the scientist's lab, he quietly complains that there's so much noise out there. If he thinks this is unbearable, then you know he hasn't stepped out into the real world yet.
- The Future Is Shocking: Caswell managed to escape execution, but finds that the modern day is no better than purgatory. He's overwhelmed by the noises and confused by the technology. Later, he runs back to Professor Manion's lab, begging the dead scientist to return him to his own time.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Joe may be a cruel man and a wanted murderer, but when Professor Manion brings up the topic of "right and wrong", a bitter Caswell tells him that such a concept isn't so easy to bear in mind when one is poverty-stricken and struggling to survive.
- Lack of Empathy: Rod Serling says in his opening narration that Joe Caswell has no heart, conscience, or compassion for his fellow men, and Caswell shamelessly admits that he’s killed so many people that he stopped counting after twenty.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Caswell finds, much to his horror, that he doesn't know how to get back to 1880 without the time machine's creator, who he's killed. Not long after, he encounters a petty thief named Paul Johnson, who strangles him to death. When Paul scouts out the scientist's premise for anything to steal, he stumbles into the time machine and ends up being brought to 1880, where he's hanged in Caswell's place.
- Obviously Evil: Even before he learned the truth about Caswell, Professor Manion sensed there was something about his expression and the look in his eyes that made him seem like "a barbarian from another time".
- Time Travel Episode: Professor Manion transports Joe Caswell, about to be hanged on November 14, 1880, forward in time to 1960 using his experimental Time Machine.
- Villain Protagonist: This episode’s main character, Joe Caswell, is a heartless criminal who has murdered several people.
Rod Serling: This is November 1880, the aftermath of a necktie party. The victim's name—Paul Johnson, a minor-league criminal and the taker of another human life. No comment on his death save this: justice can span years. Retribution is not subject to a calendar. Tonight's case in point in The Twilight Zone.
