History Recap / TheTwilightZone1985S2E7

Jeff [=McDowell=] and his wife Denise (Creator/CliffDeYoung and Margaret Clenck) are disturbed by their young daughter Megan (Jaclyn Bernstein), who claims to have seen a man in her bedroom. Even after tucking his daughter into bed when he sees that there's no man in there, Jeff has a sudden flash to the Vietnam War. These visions continue the next day, growing more vivid to the point where Jeff fully envisions himself as a soldier in the jungle, leading him to believe that they're connected to the time where he fled to Canada to avoid the draft. Denise also encounters a man who looks just like Jeff, only sitting in a wheelchair and missing his legs, and when Jeff sees the legless man for himself, he learns that the man is an alternate version of himself who actually went overseas, who has come to witness what he could've had if he had went to Canada.

Jeff [=McDowell=] and his wife Denise (Creator/CliffDeYoung and Margaret Clenck) are disturbed by their young daughter Megan (Jaclyn Bernstein), who claims to have seen a man in her bedroom. Even after tucking his daughter in to bed when he sees that there's no man in there, Jeff has a sudden flash to the Vietnam War. These visions continue the next day, growing more vivid to the point where Jeff fully envisions himself as a soldier in the jungle, leading him to believe that they're connected to the time where he fled to Canada to avoid the draft. Denise also encounters a man who looks just like Jeff, only sitting in a wheelchair and missing his legs, and when Jeff sees the legless man for himself, he learns that the man is an alternate version of himself who actually went overseas, who has come to witness what he could've had if he had went to Canada.

* CelebrityParadox: Jeff and Denise watch ''Film/TheThingFromAnotherWorld'' on television in the opening. Kenneth Tobey, who previously played Sheriff Haskin in "A Day in Beaumont", is seen in the featured clip.

* AlternateUniverse: A version of Jeff who went to Vietnam and lost his legs crosses over to the normal universe after having spent years wondering what his life could have been like had he not gone to Vietnam, since the normal Jeff dodged the draft and went to Canada with Denise in 1971. While regular Jeff and Denise eventually married and had Megan, the alternate Jeff's Denise was killed in a motorcycle accident. Interstingly, the alternate Jeff isn't angry or resentful as normal Jeff fears, but is content after sharing memories with him and getting the chance to see the life he could have had, while Jeff experiences the alternate self's memories of fighting in 'Nam.

* NiceGuy: Jeff treasures Denise and Megan with all his heart, and is worried his alternate self might try to harm them before they meet. Before that, it's shown that he has a lot of guilt over not answering his country's call to arms in Vietnam, wondering the man who went in his place died.

* AlternateUniverse: A version of Jeff who went to Vietnam and lost his legs crosses over to the normal universe after having spent years wondering what his life could have turned out had he not gone to Vietnam, since the normal Jeff dodged the draft and went to Canada with Denise in 1971. While regular Jeff and Denise eventually married and had Megan, the alternate Jeff's Denise was killed in a motorcycle accident. Interstingly, the alternate Jeff isn't angry or resentful as normal Jeff fears, but is content after sharing memories with him and getting the chance to see the life he could have had, while Jeff experiences the alternate self's memories of fighting in 'Nam.

Jeff [=McDowell=] and his wife Denise are disturbed by their young daughter Megan, who claims to have seen a man in her bedroom. Even after tucking his daughter in to bed when he sees that there's no man in there, Jeff has a sudden flash to the Vietnam War. These visions continue the next day, growing more vivid to the point where Jeff fully envisions himself as a soldier in the jungle, leading him to believe that they're connected to the time where he fled to Canada to avoid the draft. Denise also encounters a man who looks just like Jeff, only sitting in a wheelchair and missing his legs, and when Jeff sees the legless man for himself, he learns that the man is an alternate version of himself who actually went overseas, who has come to witness what he could've had if he had went to Canada.

* SurvivorsGuilt: Jeff dodged the draft in 1971 and ''still'' feels guilty about this decision 15 years later. He often wonders whether the person who went to war instead of him was killed or grievously wounded in his place. Denise, who went to Canada with him, assures him that he has nothing to feel guilty about, as it was a "dirty little undeclared war" that he helped to stop. Jeff manages to come to terms with his guilt when he makes physical contact with his alternate counterpart, who went to war at the cost of a happy domestic life with Denise, and sees his memories of fighting the Viet Cong.

* WarIsHell: The version of Jeff who went to 'Nam was traumatized by his experiences during The Vietnam War, especially losing his legs. He tells his counterpart that he regularly has unspeakably horrific nightmares about the things that he saw there.

-> "We make our choices and, afterwards, wonder what the other road was like. Jeff [=McDowell=] found out and paid the toll. A lesson in courage and cartography, from the mapmakers -- of the Twilight Zone."

* MyGreatestFailure: Jeff is shown to have some pretty clear hesitation and guilt regarding his skipping to Canada, at first believing that the alternate Jeff is the spirit of someone who died in place of him in Vietnam.