- Bookends: The first and last episodes feature rowdy teenagers as their protagonists.
Joy Ride
Alonzo, his brother Greg, and their girlfriends Adrienne and Deena (Rob Knepper, Brooke McCarter, Heidi Kozak, and Tamara Mark) are four enthusiastic teens who aim to enjoy a late night of fun. They soon lock eyes on the stylish classic car owned by the late Charlie Taylor, breaking into it and hot-wiring it for a joy ride. As he's driving the car, Alonzo suddenly becomes aware of facts regarding the car that he and the others can't possibly know, and the surroundings outside of the car change to resemble unrecognizable streets in the 1950s. A policeman pulls the car over to inform the teens that a nearby store was robbed, which prompts the now-crazed Alonzo to shoot the officer and gun it, turning what was meant to be a harmless joy ride into a high-speed pursuit.
Tropes
- The Alleged Car: Charlie's old car is a variation. It isn't broken or shoddy, but it's possessed by his spirit, who forces Alonzo and the others to relive his robbery of Chadway's and his murder of the police officer.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: The teens hijacked the late Charlie Taylor's car for a joy ride. They end up getting a ride, but it gradually stops being joyful and starts being dangerous.
- Call-Back: The same music that was played in the beginning of "The Shadow Man" from Season 1 plays in the opening of this episode.
- Cool Car: Charlie's vintage hot rod, which the teens take for a joy ride. It's possessed by the spirit of its late owner, who forces the teens on an unwanted car chase.
- Cop Killer: Charlie is revealed to have killed a cop after robbing Chadway's Five & Dime in 1957. After his death 30 years later, his spirit possesses his old car as Alonzo drives it, and his guilt forces Alonzo to relive the experience.
- "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: Had the teens decided to do something other than break into a vintage car and take it for a joy ride, the episode could've been avoided.
- Dwindling Party: During the chase, the teens exit the car one by one to escape the madness. Alonzo is the last to go, being forcibly removed from the car by a fireman who pries the door open.
- Foreshadowing: Alonzo is introduced pretending to mug Greg and Adrienne with a starter pistol. As he's gradually possessed by Charlie's spirit, he finds his real gun under the driver's seat, using it to murder a police officer who questions him about the Chadway's Five & Dime robbery.
- Haunted Technology: Alonzo, his younger brother Greg, and their girlfriends Deena and Adrienne steal a classic car owned by the recently deceased Charlie Taylor for a joy ride. They are stopped by a cop who is investigating the robbery of Chadway's Five & Dime earlier that evening. Alonzo denies any involvement, but he shoots the cop out of the blue with a gun he finds under the seat. A car chase ensues, where it becomes clear that Alonzo isn't in control of his behavior. It turns out that the teenagers were trapped inside the car the entire time, and none of what they experienced was real. The car was possessed by Charlie's spirit, who robbed the shop and killed the cop in 1957, and Alonzo believes that their experience was Charlie's way of confessing to his crime from beyond the grave.
- Karma Houdini: As far as we can tell, the teens suffer no consequences for stealing Charlie's old car. Unless they were charged with grand theft auto after the episode ended.
- Karma Houdini Warranty: Charlie robbed Chadway's Five & Dime and killed a police officer in 1957, which he kept secret until the day he died. His spirit possesses Alonzo as he drives his old car as a way of making a posthumous confession.
- No Immortal Inertia: Alonzo finds Charlie's old gun as he and his friends relive his killing of that cop. When he's brought back to the present and claims he killed a cop with it, the police who rescue him find that the gun has been long rusted, no longer in firing condition.
- Old Shame: Charlie's robbery of Chadway's and his murder of that police officer weighed heavy on him even 30 years after the crime, possessing his old car so he can finally confess to the police who attempt to rescue the teens.
- Take That!: While looking for something fun to do for the night, Greg sarcastically asks Adrienne if she wants to vegetate like her mother and watch Dynasty (1981) all day.
- Urban Legend: The cops who inspect Charlie's car and work to save Alonzo comment on the legend of how he used it to rob Chadway's and kill the cop in 1957.
Shelter Skelter
Gun shop owner and survivalist Harry Dobbs (Joe Mantegna) has constructed a state-of-the-art fallout shelter in preparation for nuclear war, as well as spending many hours training his young son how to use a gun. While his wife and children are away, a drunken Harry gives his employee and friend Nick Gatlin (Jon Gries) a tour of the shelter, and admits that he's looking forward to nuclear war in the hopes that all the degenerates on Earth can be killed and he and his son can start over in a newly "purified" world. After watching an emergency news broadcast, a massive explosion rocks the shelter, trapping Harry and Nick inside. Weeks soon pass, leading the shelter's power supply to run out and Harry to go mad in his struggle to survive what he thinks is the end of the world. But unknown to Harry, the situation may not be what exactly he thinks it is.
Tropes
- And There Was Much Rejoicing: Sally ends the episode smiling after learning that her abusive husband Harry has been buried alive when their hometown of Dunston was destroyed by the accidental detonation of a nuclear cruise missile, she and the children now being free of his oppressive survivalism and misogyny.
- Apocalypse Not: As it turns out, there was no nuclear war. Dunston was destroyed in a Broken Arrow incident from the nearby airbase, and the town's destruction led the rest of the world to step back from the brink of war and declare peace.
- As You Know: The ending twist is spelled out by an announcer at a memorial service for Dunston's victims.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Harry's last words to Sally were a warning to her not to tell anyone about his fallout shelter. As a result of this (and as an act of karma for his abuse), Sally holds onto that promise, refusing to let rescuers surveying the ruins of Dunston dig Harry and Nick up.
- Crazy-Prepared: Harry's shelter is thoroughly sealed to protect against all forms of radiation, and was secretly built while he was having a pool put in so as to not tip off the neighbors. Harry also tells Nick that it was built by illegal immigrants, having fooled them into doing it by telling them it was for a wine cellar. It has an antenna system designed to push up through a ton of debris. Unfortunately, it's left up when the nuke at the air base goes off, leaving them unable to contact the outside world, as the shelter even blocks radio waves.
- Crazy Survivalist: Harry is thoroughly convinced that nuclear war is imminent. As his hometown of Dunston is only a few miles away from Wakefield Air Force Base, a likely target, he has a fallout shelter built in his basement. It has a lead lined door, four-foot thick concrete walls, and outside temperature and radiation gauges. Harry has kept it a secret from his neighbors and warns Sally not to reveal it to her sister Wendy. However, he later tells his friend and employee Nick about it as he considers him to be practically part of the family. When the base is destroyed by a nuclear blast, the two of them take refuge in the shelter and wait to see whether the radiation will die down so that they can go outside again. In the final scene, it's revealed that the base was not destroyed by an attack during World War III, but by an American cruise missile which accidentally detonated aboard a B-1 bomber. Dunston was destroyed, but the horror and the loss of life pulled the world back from the brink of nuclear war. A radiation proof dome, which has come to be known as the Peace Dome, was constructed to contain the fallout, which Harry has been left buried under.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: Nick dies of radiation poisoning after leaving the shelter, and Harry refuses to let him back in to prevent himself from being contaminated.
- Death World: The radiation gauge in the shelter reads that the surface levels never drop, despite Harry's suggestion that it would take at least a month for them to do so. He concludes that the nuclear powers cut loose and the world above has become a microwave oven. When Nick leaves the shelter, the outside is a desolate, charred hellscape with no sunlight. This is because the Peace Dome was erected over the radioactive ruins of Dunston.
- Despair Event Horizon: Nick doesn't share Harry's survivalist ideals and was only in his shelter by chance. He doesn't see a point to surviving in a dead and barren world, especially not when stuck with someone like Harry, and decides to leave the shelter after ten months. This ultimately gets him killed via radiation exposure, leaving Harry alone.
- Domestic Abuse: Harry verbally abuses his wife Sally on a regular basis, belittling her, ordering her around, and bullying her into going along with his wishes. Before she goes to Kansas City, the abuse turns physical as he roughly grabs her by the arm and warns her not to tell her sister Wendy about his fallout shelter.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: By doing as Harry told her and not telling anyone about his fallout shelter, Sally and her kids are freed from his abuse, bigotry, and obsessive survivalism.
- Emergency Broadcast: Harry and Nick watch a news report about an escalating crisis in the Middle East. According to the report, the President and First Lady have left the White House by military helicopter, and Russian cities are being evacuated. They later hear a radio bulletin stating that the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz is in position in the Gulf of Sidra, the Armed Forces have been placed on red alert and an emergency cabinet meeting is taking place at an unknown location. It's also reported that the President has issued a statement saying that he wouldn't hesitate to use force to prevent the situation in the Middle East from escalating.
- Evil Is Hammy: Harry, as expected of a maniacal doomsday prepper who verbally thrashes his wife and ignores his young daughter.
- The Extremist Was Right: While Harry's a crazed survivalist who terrorizes his family with his rampant jingoism, he turns out to be right in building his shelter when a nuke goes off at a local air base and the shelter protects him and Nick. It's later subverted, since while they're both certain the world has been destroyed, the world was actually pulled back from the brink of war after seeing the explosion, and they had a massive dome built to seal off the radioactive ruins of Dunston, which has since become an enduring symbol of peace.
- Fallout Shelter Fail: Harry builds a state-of-the-art fallout shelter under his house in preparation for World War III, complete with radiation gauges and a communication antenna. When the war apparently arrives, he and his friend Nick think themselves to be safe there, but because they didn't retract the antenna before the blast, their communication equipment is useless, and Harry's too suspicious of violent scavengers to call for help when he hears voices upstairs. Also, the gauges are somehow still reporting lethal radiation levels weeks after the radioactivity should have dropped to safe levels. It turns out that the apocalypse never happened: a nuclear accident at the nearby Air Force base leveled Dunston, forcing the US Government to erect a concrete dome over the ruins to contain the radiation. The "scavengers" Harry heard were a survey team looking for survivors to evacuate before the dome was built. Because he didn't call out to them, nobody knows he's down there, and without the antenna, no one ever will. For all intents and purposes, Harry ends the episode Buried Alive in his impromptu tomb.
- Fleeing for the Fallout Shelter: Harry believes that his shelter will allow him and his family to survive the inevitable nuclear war, even though his obsession ends up driving his wife away. After seeing a news report that suggests World War III is imminent, Harry goes upstairs to call his wife, though she dismisses the call as a case of him Crying Wolf. At that moment, a nuclear detonation lights up the town. Harry immediately runs back downstairs, frantically counting down his remaining time aloud as the furniture bursts into flames around him, and though the blast wave knocks him over, he's able to get himself and his friend Nick into the shelter without sustaining injury. Unfortunately for Harry, it wasn't a nuclear war, just an accident at the local Air Force base that leveled the town and spread no further. Doubly unfortunately, the ruins are encased in a concrete dome to prevent the radiation from spreading, leaving Harry and Nick effectively buried alive.
- Foreshadowing:
- A few minutes after seeing a news report about an incident regarding Libya, a nuke seemingly goes off and destroys Dunston without any warning. This is because, instead of a war, there was a Broken Arrow incident at the nearby airbase.
- At one point, Harry and Nick hear people milling around above the shelter. Harry believes them to be scavengers looking for supplies, but it turns out they're a survey team scouting out the ruins of Dunston to rescue survivors before the Peace Dome is built.
- Months after the explosion, the radiation outside never drops. That's because the men are inside the Peace Dome, which was designed to contain the radioactive ruins of Dunston.
- Hated by All: Harry's wife and her sister clearly find him loathsome behind closed doors.
- In Vino Veritas: Though he forced his wife and kids not to tell anyone outside the family about the shelter, Harry reveals it to his best friend Nick while they share drinks.
- It Is Beyond Saving: Harry believes that the world has been overrun by drugs, terrorism, and pornography, among other things. He tells Nick that he sometimes wishes that World War III would happen, simply so the "scum of the Earth" will be destroyed, and people like him and his son can build a better world.
- Jerkass: Harry is an angry, paranoid, misogynist survivalist who is just gushing with toxic masculinity. He's obsessed with surviving the apocalypse mainly because it means all the people he hates will be gone, and he and his son Jason can start over in a "purified" world. The only factors that keep him from being a full-on Hate Sink is that he genuinely loves Jason and his best friend Nick.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Harry, the Crazy Survivalist who believed that the world was a degenerate pit, is left entombed in the shelter he had built, which is now housed under the radiation-proof Peace Dome when the world moved away from war.
- Misanthrope Supreme: Harry despises the populace of the world, particularly pimps, cowards, pornographers, bureaucrats, rock stars, and hairdressers, and often prays that nuclear war happens so they can all be eradicated and he can start over in a purified world with his son.
- Morton's Fork: Harry's situation is unable to end on any positive note, as he's doomed to either starve to death, kill himself out of despair, or brave the desolate wasteland in search of supplies, no doubt contaminating himself with the radiation.
- The Night That Never Ends: When Nick tries to return to the shelter, he tells Harry that there's no daylight anymore.
- Nuke 'em: A cruise missile housed in the nearby airbase accidentally detonates and levels Harry's hometown of Dunston, Kansas, forcing him and Nick to take shelter.
- Parental Favoritism / Parental Neglect: Harry openly favors his son Jason over his daughter Deidre. While he spends a great deal of time with Jason in his attempts to turn him into a man, he barely even acknowledges Deidre's existence. When he thinks that nuclear war is about to break out, he calls his wife Sally and demands that she send Jason home so that he can survive in his new fallout shelter, making no mention of Deidre at all.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: Harry at one point says Sally is trying to turn Jason into a mama's boy, "or worse," implying that he's homophobic. He also hired workers from out of state to dig his fallout shelter under the pretense that it was for a wine cellar. Nick is confused, since Harry doesn't drink, but he dismisses his concerns by noting "They were illegals, what do they know?"
- Plot-Mandated Friendship Failure: After months spent cooped up in the fallout shelter, Harry and Nick grow increasingly sick of each other; Harry for Nick not sharing his survivalist ideals and Nick when he realizes how much of a self-centered, toxic asshole Harry really is. Harry even starts referring to Nick exclusively by his last name, showing how much they've drifted apart. After ten months, Nick has enough and leaves the shelter, eventually dying of radiation poisoning.
- A Real Man Is a Killer: Harry owns a gun shop, so he believes this very firmly. He's even introduced as he's in the middle of teaching his 7-year-old son to fire a weapon at a target, and advises him not to let his cousin push him around before he leaves.
- Reckless Gun Usage: Zigzagged in Harry's first scene, where he's teaching his 7-year-old son Jason how to shoot a magnum. Even with an adult present, a kid as young as Jason shouldn't ever hold a gun, but Harry does take the time to train him and ensure that he's safe as he practices.
- Shout-Out: Wendy describes her brother-in-law Harry as "Godzilla, King of the Monsters" when he calls Sally at her house.
- The news broadcasts reporting a tense situation in the Middle East, the aircraft carrier Nimitz being positioned in the Gulf of Sidra, and the President, the First Lady, and his cabinet have been evacuated by military planes, are likely references to Countdown to Looking Glass, a Canadian made-for-TV movie detailing a gradual escalation into World War III via news reports that was released three years before the episode.
- Straw Misogynist: Harry verbally and emotionally abuses his wife on a daily basis and clearly doesn't care about his daughter Deidre, to the point where his response to her saying goodbye as she's off to Wendy's house is an absent-sounding "Yeah."
- Time-Passage Beard: After six weeks in the fallout shelter, Harry and Nick have grown full beards. Harry eventually shaves his, but Nick's becomes longer and more unkempt as the months pass.
- Titled After the Song: The episode's title is based on The Beatles song "Helter Skelter".
- Villain Protagonist: Harry, who is hardly what one could call a "decent" person.
- Wham Shot: Near the end of the episode, the camera leaves Harry's shelter and pans over the destruction and rubble among a darkened landscape, before coming across a curved wall. The camera moves past this wall to reveal... a bright, sunny day, with people out and about in a park, where we also see that the curved wall was part of the Peace Dome, which was erected over the ruins of Dunston after an accidental missile detonation leveled it to contain the radiation, effectively leaving Harry buried alive.
- World War III: Harry and Nick see and hear reports about an escalating crisis in the Middle East, and that the US is preparing to take any means necessary to defend itself. Harry witnesses an immense explosion and concludes that the nearby Wakefield Air Force Base has been destroyed, and as a result, World War III has begun. They enter the fallout shelter in Harry's basement to protect themselves from the high levels of radiation. In the end, it turns out that World War III never happened. A nuclear cruise missile housed in a B-1 bomber that was preparing to take off from the base accidentally exploded, destroying much of the surrounding area. The outbreak of nuclear war was avoided, as the destruction of Dunston illustrated the folly of war to the entire world, which worked to seal the ruined town under a massive dome and declare peace.
Private Channel
"Modern technology has staged a revolution in the art of isolation. Turn up the volume on your headphones, and the world outside drops away. Sixteen-year-old Keith Barnes has lived in this public seclusion for some time now. But tonight, the tiny radio on which he depends to keep people out, is about to start pulling them in, thanks to a very special frequency that can only be picked up — in the Twilight Zone."
As he jams to the tunes on his Kawazu-940 portable radio and rhythmically drums on everything with his drumsticks, teenage rocker Keith Barnes (Scott Coffey) moves through the airport to catch a flight. Once he's on board, Keith annoys his fellow passengers with his constant drumming and his refusal to turn his radio off. As he goes to the bathroom, Keith accidentally drops his radio in the sink, just as the plane is struck by lightning. As a result, Keith discovers that the radio now has the ability to tune into other peoples' minds, letting Keith hear their thoughts. When he hears that a disgruntled passenger is plotting to blow up the plane, Keith tries to use his newly-enhanced radio to save the day.
Tropes
- Anti-Hero: Obnoxious rock fan Keith goes from a disruptive smartass to an unintentional hero.
- Big "NO!": Mr. Williams utters one when he realizes that blowing up the plane would ruin so many other peoples' lives, just as his own life was ruined when his wife and daughter were killed.
- Cassandra Truth: The obnoxious Keith gains the ability to read minds with his Kawazu-940 after his flight is struck by lightning. He soon discovers that one of the passengers, Mr. Williams, intends to blow up the plane to avenge his wife and daughter. Keith tries to warn Gloria the stewardess, but she thinks that he's making a sick joke and tells him that he could be arrested for doing so. She is also not inclined to believe him because they had an earlier run-in where he rudely refused to turn off his radio.
- Conveniently Coherent Thoughts: Keith is able to read Mr. Williams' mind using his lightning-enhanced radio and learns that he intends to blow up the plane because the airline company negligently caused a crash in which his wife and daughter were killed.
- Crusading Widow: Mr. Williams plans to blow up his and Keith's plane because his wife and daughter were killed in a plane crash, said to have been caused by the negligence of the airline.
- Episode on a Plane: From his telepathic Kawazu-940, Keith learns that Mr. Williams plans to blow up the plane they're both flying on.
- He Who Fights Monsters: Mr. Williams lost his wife and daughter in a negligence-induced plane crash. He tries to avenge them by blowing up the plane Keith is on, but the boy puts his headphones in his ears to let him hear the other passengers' thoughts about his plot, causing him to realize that he'll be ruining tons of peoples' lives in the same way his own life was ruined. This causes him to break down weeping, allowing the security guards to apprehend him.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Keith is an obnoxious rock fan who noisily drums on whatever he sees, refuses to turn his radio off, and often makes smartass remarks to the flight crew. When he discovers Mr. Williams' plot through said radio, he becomes mortified and decides to stop him by putting his headphones in his ears, letting him hear the terrified thoughts of everyone around him when he announces his plot to blow up the plane.
- Lightning Can Do Anything: When a bolt of lightning strikes the plane, Keith drops his radio into the bathroom sink, allowing the electricity to be routed into the device. He later learns that the radio has the ability to let him hear peoples' thoughts.
- My God, What Have I Done?: When announcing his plans to blow up the plane, Mr. Williams is overcome with remorse when he hears the passengers' thoughts through Keith's radio. One passenger's thoughts about his young daughter Jenny strike a chord with Williams, as he was motivated by a negligent plane crash that killed his own daughter, who was much the same age as Jenny.
- Named After Somebody Famous: Given his rock motif and his frequent drumming, Keith is likely named after The Who drummer Keith Moon.
- Percussive Maintenance: Keith is known to do this for recreation instead of fixing something, spending his whole walk to the plane and his being seated drumming on everything.
- The Rock Star: Keith is a musical young man who has aspirations to become a rock legend, as illustrated when he spends his opening scene beating his drumsticks on whatever's available.
- Stock Footage: The external shots of the plane are taken from Twilight Zone: The Movie.
- Suicide Attack: Mr. Williams plans to blow up the plane by rigging himself with a dynamite vest and detonating it.
- Superpowers for a Day: Keith's Kawazu-940 is affected by an electrical discharge after lightning strikes his plane. He soon discovers that not only does it allow him to read minds, but that the passenger in the seat beside him, Mr. Williams, is wearing a homemade bomb vest and plans to blow up the plane. Keith tries in vain to convince the flight attendants about Williams' plan and pleads for Williams himself not to go through with it. After Williams reveals to everyone present that he has a bomb, Keith places the radio's headphones in his ears so that he can hear the frightened thoughts of the passengers and crew. Keith watches as Williams breaks down sobbing and is led away by security, after which he tosses the radio on the floor and lets the passengers crush it as they depart the plane, preventing himself from reliving the experience.
