The Storyteller
"Two women, a man, a chase down library steps. And so, our story begins. Like life, all stories have a beginning, a middle, and end. But the distances between beginning and end, between story and life, can sometimes be deceptive. Especially when viewed through the shifting prisms — of the Twilight Zone."
Dorothy Livingston (Glynnis O'Connor) comes across an old man with a distinguishing scar on his right cheek. Confiding in her niece, Dorothy claims to recognize him as Micah Frost (David Faustino), one of her students from her teaching days in 1933. Remembering the circumstances as to how she and Micah met, Dorothy recounts that his parents had died and he was living with his grandfather, who he refused to introduce her to. After some investigation, Dorothy discovers that Micah's grandfather was actually his great-great-great grandfather (Parley Baer), who the members of his family have been telling part of a story to every night, keeping him alive through the sheer anticipation of what happens next. While Dorothy is skeptical, she is forced to tell her own story to the old man when Micah injures himself and has to spend the night at the doctor's office.
Tropes
- Ambiguous Situation: Going by what the ending reveals, did Dorothy and Heather really find out if Micah's grandfather was still alive, or was it all just a story made up for Dorothy's mother?
- Bookworm: In his youth, Micah would always be busy reading and writing stories to tell his great-great-great grandfather. As she steps off the bus for her first day teaching, one of her fellow teachers tells her about Micah and how she must never refuse him access to the library.
- Distinguishing Mark: Micah fell from a tree and cut his right cheek on a rock in 1933, leaving him with a prominent scar. In 1986, Dorothy, his former teacher, is able to recognize him as an adult because of this scar.
- Long-Lived: As a boy, Micah admits to Dorothy that his family has managed to keep his 141-year-old great-great-great grandfather alive for so long by telling him a story every night, but not finishing it until the next night. For generations, the Frosts have believed that the only thing keeping him alive was the sheer anticipation of what happens next. Dorothy is extremely skeptical and questions whether or not it's ethical to keep someone alive past their natural years. After Micah falls from a tree and breaks his arm, he has to spend the night with the local doctor and his wife, and is very concerned that his grandpa will die without his nightly story. Although Dorothy isn't convinced, she tells him the rest of the previous night's story, and then begins another one as she does not want to risk the old man dying. In the final scene, the now-elderly Dorothy appears to have taken up the Frost family's special talent, and is revealed to have been telling her apparent sighting of the adult Micah to her mother, not finishing it in order to keep her mother alive for one more night.
- Nested Story: Dorothy sees a man with a prominent scar on his right cheek while visiting Heather in 1986. She tells Heather that she believes this man to be Micah Frost, whom she taught back in 1933 and claimed that he was able to keep his 141-year-old great-great-great grandfather alive by telling him serialized stories every night. After following the adult Micah to a hotel room, Dorothy opens the door to see if his grandfather is still alive at almost 200. It then turns out that the episode itself is a story that Dorothy is telling to her mother, whom she has managed to keep alive in the same way Micah had. As such, it's not made clear whether Dorothy's encounter with the adult Micah really happened, or if it's something she made up for her mother's benefit.
- No Ending: Dorothy and Heather follow the man they believe to be Micah to a hotel room in order to determine if he has managed to keep his great-great-great-grandfather alive by telling him stories and not finishing them until the next night. If he had done so, his grandfather would be almost 200 years old in 1986. As Dorothy is about to open the door, it's revealed that the episode itself is a story that she is telling her mother, keeping her alive just as Micah did. As such, the episode ends with Dorothy saying that she'll have to wait until the next night to hear the resolution.
- Schoolmarm: Dorothy was a teacher in her youth, and her first assignment was in the small, isolated town of Powder Ridge, West Virginia, where she taught students of all ages in a one-room school.
- Story Within a Story: The episode plays the trope twice. It first does this by showing Dorothy's past encounters with Micah and his grandfather in 1933, then how she and her niece Heather suspect a man the former comes across to be the now-adult Micah, which is later revealed to have been a story Dorothy is telling her elderly mother, the anticipation keeping her alive just as it did with Micah's great-great-great grandfather.
- Tuckerization: Dorothy lives in the town of Beaumont, a reference to original Twilight Zone writer Charles Beaumont.
Nightsong
Andrea Fields (Lisa Eilbacher), a radio DJ working the graveyard shift, has been left depressed ever since boyfriend, struggling musician Simon Locke (Antony Hamilton), mysteriously disappeared five years ago. Simon had left his sole record "Nightsong" in Andrea's collection, but when she plays it, Simon suddenly appears from nowhere in her studio. Disappearing and reappearing at random points in Andrea's life, she questions Simon as to why he disappeared in the hopes of giving their relationship a fresh start, prompting Simon to personally show Andrea just where he's been all these years.
Tropes
- Affectionate Nickname: Ace refers to his fellow DJ Andrea as "the Midnight Queen", because she takes up hosting duties from 12 to 4 am.
- Back from the Dead: Simon's ghost confronts Andrea five years after he crashed and died, and does so in order to make amends for mistreating her and advising her to let him go.
- Bastard Boyfriend: Andrea clearly remembers Simon as being one of these, as he cheated on her with many different groupies and disappeared for long periods of time. Simon's ghost confronts her to apologize for his behavior during the relationship and telling her to let him go.
- But Now I Must Go: Once Simon reveals that he's been dead for five years, he leaves Andrea to help her move on with her life instead of spending it depressed at his death.
- Dead All Along: Andrea is visited by her ex-boyfriend Simon, whom she hasn't seen in five years. She later discovers that he's actually a ghost when he takes her to see his skeletal remains, resting beside the wreckage of his crashed motorcycle at the bottom of a cliff. Simon tells her that he returned in order to convince her to let go of her love for him and move on.
- Dirty Coward: Partially with Simon, as the motorcycle accident that killed him was instigated because he was scared of the success or failure of his potential musical stardom and his relationship with Andrea possibly going to the next level. He does clarify that he wasn't exactly refusing these choices, but he needed to clear his head at the time.
- Drives Like Crazy: In life, Simon had a tendency to drive pretty recklessly, such as crashing the van he intended to sell for more recording time, as well as driving his motorcycle off a cliff five years ago. In the present day, his ghost reveals to Andrea that he had been speeding because he needed to clear his head, since he was afraid of his potential success as a musician and his relationship with her becoming serious.
- The First Cut Is the Deepest: Andrea never got over her tumultuous relationship with Simon. Despite the fact that he repeatedly cheated on her and often disappeared for weeks at a time, she still loves Simon after everything that he put her through, and her mixed feelings have made it impossible for her to pursue a new relationship. Simon returns after a five-year absence to reveal that he died in a motorcycle accident shortly after Andrea last saw him, and came back from the dead to ensure that Andrea is happy again, apologizing for the way he treated her and telling her to let him go.
- Foreshadowing: Andrea reminds Simon that he planned to sell his van for more studio recording time, but that he crashed it because of his reckless driving. This turns out to be the cause of his death once it's revealed he's a ghost, as he takes Andrea to his final resting place: the bottom of a cliff he drove his motorcycle over.
- Friendly Ghost: Simon comes back to reveal that he's been dead for 5 years to Andrea, his former girlfriend, in order to persuade her to let him go and continue living her life.
- Large Ham: Andrea becomes hysterical and grief-stricken when Simon returns, tearing into him for all the misdemeanors he did to her.
- Minimalist Cast: Andrea, Ace, and Simon are the only characters to appear.
- Musical Episode: Andrea discovers that playing the titular song prompts her boyfriend's ghost to comfort her and get her to move on. The song itself was written and performed by members of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, and was included as the final track on their album American Dream.
- Noodle Incident: As he signs off, Ace tells his listeners that tomorrow the station will be continuing their story about a man in Virginia who locked himself in a phone booth with 42 carrier pigeons, who is demanding to have all the money he's lost in payphones over the last 30 years returned to him with interest.
- Redemption Equals Death: After cheating on Andrea multiple times, disappearing for weeks at a time, and building up a long history of reckless driving, Simon's ghost returns to Andrea to apologize for his treatment of her, and persuades her to forget about him so she can move on.
- Shout-Out: Ace signs off and announces Andrea's shift as "our Midnight Queen, Andrea Fields forever", a reference to The Beatles song "Strawberry Fields Forever".
- Small Role, Big Impact: Ace, Andrea's very brief lover who found the "Nightsong" single in a bin at a record store and brought it to the station.
- Tuckerization: Andrea's radio station, KGRR, features the first three initials of George R. R. Martin, who wrote a few episodes for the series.
- Unfinished Business: Simon appears to his ex-girlfriend Andrea as a ghost when she plays his single "Nightsong" on her radio show. He initially doesn't tell Andrea that he was killed in a motorcycle accident five years earlier, but eventually takes her to the crash site to show her his skeleton. Simon explains to Andrea that he returned because she was never able to move on from their bumpy relationship, and the memories are keeping her from living her life. He then disappears, having seemingly moved on to the afterlife. In the final scene, Andrea again plays "Nightsong" and dedicates it to Simon, noting that even though she will always love him, she's finally ready to move on.
