The Professor makes an unfortunate acquaintance.
Rod Serling: Witness a theoretical argument, Washington, D.C., the present. Four intelligent men talking about an improbable thing like going back in time. A friendly debate revolving around a simple issue: could a human being change what has happened before? Interesting and theoretical, because who ever heard of a man going back in time? Before tonight, that is, because this is the Twilight Zone.
Air date: January 13, 1961
Peter Corrigan (Russell Johnson) is spending a quiet evening playing bridge and chatting with his friends at the Potomac Club in Washington, D.C. The topic of their recent conversation is time travel, and when one of his buddies speculates on the possibility of traveling back into the past, Peter sticks to the principle of Ontological Inertia, namely that one can't go back and change the past because if they changed it, it wouldn't have happened that way for them to change.
In any event, Peter bids his friends goodbye, bumping into a club attendant named William on the way out. Peter steps outside, everything suddenly goes fuzzy... and Peter instantly finds himself in 1865. And not just any day, but April 14, 1865, the night Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth. Knowing what he must do, Peter tries to hurry over to Ford's Theater and prevent the assassination. He keeps warning citizens that the president will be shot tonight, but many don't believe him. One citizen, however, follows the warning of Lincoln's assassination quite intently.
Tropes There:
- Accidental Time Travel: Peter suddenly finds himself in 1865 as he exits the club, without any reason whatsoever.
- Artistic License – History: Clara Harris, the woman going to the production of "Our American Cousin" refers to her escorting officer, Henry Rathbone, as "my husband". Harris and Rathbone were only engaged on the night of Lincoln's murder, although they did later get married.note
- Bittersweet Ending: Peter is never able to save Lincoln from getting shot, but his attempts in doing so helped allow a policeman to become a millionaire and his descendant William, formerly an attendant at the Potomac Club, to inherit his fortune and become a full-fledged member.
- Cassandra Truth: Peter keeps trying to warn the people of 1865 that Lincoln is going to be shot, but they think he's insane.
- Chekhov's Gun: The sign out front denoting Peter's gathering spot as the "Potomac Club" tells the viewer that the setting is Washington, D.C.. Then, after someone specifically points out that it's April 14, it's not hard to guess what's going to happen to Peter.
- Exact Words: After drugging Peter (supposedly for his own protection), Mr. Wellington admits to him that he is beginning to believe his claims of Lincoln being murdered. However, since Wellington is actually Booth, what he means is that Peter's claims are stiffening his resolve to actually kill Lincoln.
- Historical Domain Character: Clara Harris, Henry Rathbone, and John Wilkes Booth all appear.
- Irony: The policeman's superior tells him he'll never be promoted if he believes Peter's story about Lincoln. Believing his story not only got the officer promoted to the Chief, and later a councilman, but paved the road for him to become a millionaire.
- Law of Time Travel Coincidences: A man living in Washington, D.C. travels back in time and happens to end up on April 14th, 1865, the day President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. His attempts to prevent the assassination fail.
- Match Cut: One of them transitions to Peter pounding on the window in despair to him pounding on the door of the club, having returned to 1961.
- No Name Given: The policeman who believes Peter's story and who turns out to be William's great-grandfather is not named.
- Only Sane Man: The unnamed policeman, later revealed to be William's great-grandpa, suggests placing an extra guard on Lincoln in response to Peter's warnings, just in case.
- Ontological Inertia: During a discussion with his friends about traveling back in time to the day before the Wall Street Crash of 1929, Peter argues that history can't be changed as the events of October 24, 1929 are a part of established continuity. When he is sent back in time himself, he learns that some small things can, in fact, be changed. Case in point, while Peter was unable to prevent Lincoln's assassination, he inadvertently changes history in a more minor way: the police officer who believed his story made a name for himself by seemingly predicting the assassination. As a result, he became Chief of Police, a councilman, and a millionaire after investing in real estate. In the original timeline, his great-grandson William was an attendant at the Potomac Club, but the new timeline has made him a full-on member of the club.
- Ripple Effect Indicator: Unless Peter thinks it was all a dream, he finds when he returns to 1961 that William the club attendant has turned into William the club member, now a lot richer than he used to be.
- Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory: Although Peter's actions in 1865 changed William from a humble attendant to a rich man and a full-fledged member of the club, Peter still remembers him as an attendant.
- Set Right What Once Went Wrong: Upon finding himself on April 14, 1865, Peter tries to save Abraham Lincoln from being assassinated. He fails, but his actions still pave the way for good fortune for William in the future.
- Slipping a Mickey: Booth drugs Peter's drink, causing him to fall unconscious and thus render him unable to stop the assassination.
- Smoky Gentlemen's Club: The film opens with Peter and his well-to-do friends in the Potomac Club, playing bridge and shooting the breeze about time travel in a smoky-hazed atmoshphere.
- Time Travel Episode: One of several Twilight Zone episodes involving time travel, this one featuring a man who suddenly travels to April 14, 1865.
- Title Drop: When musing about the possibilities of going back in time and stopping the Wall Street Crash of 1929, Peter says "I really don't belong back there."
- Token Good Cop: Only one of the nineteenth-century police officers actually believes that Peter is a time-traveller and takes steps to prevent Abraham Lincoln's assassination.
Rod Serling: Mr. Peter Corrigan, lately returned from a place 'back there', a journey into time with highly questionable results, proving on one hand that the threads of history are woven tightly, and the skein of events cannot be undone, but on the other hand, there are small fragments of tapestry that can be altered. Tonight's thesis to be taken, as you will... in the Twilight Zone.
