Shadow Play
"Adam Grant, a nondescript man found guilty of murder, and sentenced to be hanged by the neck until dead. Like most other criminals caught in the wheels of justice, he's scared, right down to the marrow of his bones. But it isn't prison that scares him; the long, silent nights of waiting, the slow walk to the hanging room, or even death itself. It's something else that holds Adam Grant in the hot, sweaty grip of fear. Something worse than any punishment this world has to offer. Something found only — in the Twilight Zone."
Adam Grant (Peter Coyote) is in court, where he is found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to death by hanging. Hearing the verdict, Adam starts laughing brokenly, figuring his execution won't matter. He believes this to be the case since everyone in the courtroom, including prosecutor Mark Ritchie (Guy Boyd) and his attorney Erin Jacobs (Janet Eliber), that nothing they know is real and they're only part of his dream. While incarcerated, Adam shares with his fellow prisoners and his visitors specific details that don't normally occur in reality in an attempt to convince them all that he's dreaming.
Tropes
- Adaptational Job Change: Adam's defense attorney Erin Jacobs is the first person who begins to suspect that he is telling the truth about reality being his nightmare. In the original episode, her equivalent character Paul Carson was a newspaper editor.
- Adaptation Name Change: In the original episode, the district attorney is named Henry Ritchie, Adam's fellow prisoners are named Jiggs, Coley, and Phillips, and the priest who visits him before execution is Father Beaman. In this version, the DA is Mark Ritchie, the prisoners are Flash, Jimmy, and Munoz, and the priest is Father Grant (his late father in the real world).
- All Just a Dream: Adam tries his damndest to convince everyone around him that they're all just part of his continuing nightmare, but they write him off as delusional. It turns out that he's right.
- Artistic License – Law: In trying to prove that reality is only his dream, Adam lampshades to Mark that he was convicted and sentenced to death on the same day, which doesn't happen in reality. He is also executed very shortly after his conviction, nor is he given the chance to plead his case, which is illegal in the 20th century United States.
- But You Were There, and You, and You: The roles of the people Adam knows or previously knew in his waking life are reassigned to different characters whenever he's executed and placed back in court.
- Captivity Harmonica: Adam's fellow prisoner Munoz plays the harmonica while Adam is waiting to be hanged.
- Dies Differently in Adaptation: In both the short story "Traumerei" by Charles Beaumont and the original episode, Adam's recurring nightmare always ends with him being killed in the electric chair. In this version, it's death by hanging.
- Dream Apocalypse:
- Mark and Erin become concerned that Adam is telling the truth, and they will cease to exist when he is executed since their reality is nothing more than his dream.
- It's actually worse in this version, since it's implied that unlike the original episode, where Adam was simply having the same nightmare every night, this is a nightmare he has yet to wake up from.
- Dream People: Several of the people in Adam's nightmare are drawn from his real life. For instance, Father Grant, the priest who visits him before his execution, is his father, who has been dead for years in the real world. In the previous iteration of the dream, he was the judge, while he becomes the foreman of the jury in the next. Mark Ritchie's wife Carol, who is eager to see Adam dead, is his sister, who always hated him, and she is the only character in the dream whose role never changes. Outside of his own life, Adam got his fellow prisoner Flash from a bad movie that he once saw.
- Gender Flip: Adam's defense attorney Erin Jacobs goes to visit Mark about her concerns that Adam may be telling the truth about all of them being characters in his nightmare. In the original episode, the matter was first raised by newspaper editor Paul Carson.
- A Glitch in the Matrix: Adam has the same nightmare about being executed again and again. He knows that it's all a dream, but he points out the telltale signs to Mark. Most notably, he was sentenced and due to be executed on the same day, which would not happen in reality. Although she is a character in the dream herself, Adam's defense attorney Erin begins to notice them too. She points out to Mark that there were no press or spectators present in the courtroom during the sentencing, even though it was a big murder trial. Later, she discovers that neither Mark nor his wife Carol have any idea how long they have been married, and don't even remember getting married in the first place.
- Here We Go Again!: In the end, Adam finds himself back in court and being sentenced to death, albeit with everyone's roles switched around.
- Laughing Mad: As he's sentenced to death for the umpteenth time, Adam just chuckles brokenly before attempting to leave.
- Plagued by Nightmares: Adam happens to suffer from a never-ending nightmare where he is convicted of murder and hung.
- P.O.V. Cam: The camera takes on the perspective of a condemned prisoner going through the process of being hung as Adam describes the sensation.
- Recurring Dreams: While this was the case in the original episode, this version hints that the nightmare is ongoing rather than recurring.
- Related in the Adaptation: Two characters in Adam's nightmare, Father Grant and Carol Ritchie, are his late father and his sister in the real world. In the original episode, the priest was Father Beaman, an actual priest who died when Adam was ten years old. It is never said whether or not Carol is based on anyone from Adam's real life.
- Tomato in the Mirror: Mark and Erin come to believe that Adam is telling the truth, and that they and everyone else in reality except for Adam, are Dream People. They are indeed said people, since they vanish when Adam is executed.
- When the Clock Strikes Twelve: Adam is scheduled to be executed at midnight every night. He believes that since what he's experiencing is a dream, the timing is due to the fact that all he knows about executions is what he sees in the movies, where prisoners are usually executed at midnight.
- Your Mind Makes It Real: Adam doesn't die from his dream executions, but the fear and the pain that come along with the whole thing feels very real to him, no matter how many times it happens.
"We know that a dream can be real, but what if reality is only a dream? We exist, of course, but how? In what way? As we believe, as flesh and blood human beings? Or are we simply playing parts in someone else's feverish, complicated nightmare? Think about it and then ask yourself: Do you live here in this country? In this world? Or do you live instead — in the Twilight Zone?"
Grace Note
"Rosemarie Miletti, oldest of five children. Always responsible, always dependable. Time and dreams sacrificed to family and duty. Rosemarie, soon to receive a gift of time, offered by one who can least afford it. A first fleeting glimpse — into the Twilight Zone."
Rosemarie Miletti (Julia Migenes), the eldest of five children, aspires to become a professional opera singer, but she lacks the time to attend her lessons with the responsibilities that come with having a big family. Her world comes crashing down one day as she learns that her younger sister Mary (Sydney Penny), who is terminally ill, has taken a turn for the worse and has been rushed to the hospital. Making a wish on a shooting star, Mary wishes for Rosemarie to have her dreams for opera stardom to come true. In the process, this allows Rosemarie to travel to the future, where she is already a world-renowned starlet.
Tropes
- A Birthday, Not a Break: Rosemarie's younger sister Mary dies of leukemia several days before Rosemarie's birthday. The last thing she does before she passes on is give Rosemarie her birthday present: a locket with her picture.
- Bittersweet Ending: Rosemarie is given a look into her imminent future as a world-famous opera singer. Mary dies after her trip to the future, but Rosemarie is determined to soldier on so Mary's death is not in vain, knowing now that her destiny awaits.
- Classical Music Is Cool: Rosemarie wants more than anything to be an opera singer, but can never find the time to practice her vocal skills because of the responsibilities of a big family. The entirety of the episode's score is composed of classical music to emphasize her dreams.
- Cool Big Sis: Rosemarie is the oldest of five children, and she has strong relationships with all of her younger siblings, especially the terminally ill Mary.
- Eiffel Tower Effect: The episode opens with a shot of the Statue of Liberty, followed by a shot of the Empire State Building, to establish that its setting is New York City.
- Littlest Cancer Patient: Mary Miletti, in her early teens, is dying of leukemia. She is resigned to her fate, however, and is more concerned about her older sister Rosemarie achieving her dream of becoming an opera singer than her impending death. When she sees a shooting star fly by, she selflessly wishes for Rosemarie to see the success that she will achieve in the future.
- My Future Self and Me: Rosemarie is sent 20 years into the future by her dying sister's wish, where she learns that her dream of becoming an opera star will come true. She watches as her future self performs La Traviata at the Metropolitan Opera, but she does not interact with her older self and can't be seen by her or her younger sister Dorothy. The older Rosemarie does seem to be able to sense her younger self's presence, possibly because she remembers being in the past.
- Newspaper Dating: After she is transported through time, Rosemarie picks up a copy of the New York World and learns that she is now in 1986, 20 years into the future.
- Nice Girl: Young Mary, slowly dying of leukemia and resigned to her fate, selflessly wishes on a shooting star for Rosemarie to become the greatest opera singer the world has ever seen.
- Selfless Wish: Mary could've easily used her wish upon that shooting star for a little more time to live, or even to get better. But instead, she uses it to grant Rosemarie a glimpse of the future she's capable of achieving some day.
- Stable Time Loop: Implied. Rosemarie enters her future self's dressing room after being sent 20 years forward in time. The older Rosemarie and her sister Dorothy are unable to see her, but it is implied that the former knows that her past self is there, as she remembers her own experience of traveling through time 20 years earlier.
- Time-Shifted Actor: Dorothy Miletti is played by Gina Marie Vinaccia as a teenager, and by Catherine Paolone as an adult.
- Time Travel Episode: Rosemarie, an aspiring opera singer, is sent 20 years forward in time to 1986, and learns that she is destined to become a world famous star.
- Tragic Keepsake: Of sorts. On her deathbed, Mary gives Rosemarie her birthday present early: a locket containing a picture of her, so her big sister will never forget her. After what she saw in the future, Rosemarie knows the locket will do its job.
- Wish Upon a Shooting Star: Teenage leukemia patient Mary sees a shooting star from her window, and wishes that her elder sister Rosemarie can see that she will one day become a famous opera star. The next day, after Mary is taken to hospital, Rosemarie is transported 20 years forward in time, and sees her future self performing La Traviata to a sold out audience at the Met.
"To live life fully, one should hear the melody the world makes. Pity those who stumble through their years without ever hearing the song. The greatest gift we can bestow on those we love is to help them hear it. One life ends, another begins. But the song of life fills the universe, even into the last highest darkened balcony row — in the Twilight Zone."
