Everything Worth Watching from Jordan Peele’s 2019 Version of ‘The Twilight Zone’

There’s no doubt that Rod Serling’s 1959 classic The Twilight Zone left an indelible mark on television history. Since the uneven Twilight Zone from 2019 faced the same mediocre reviews and quick cancellation as the other revivals of the series, there are quite a few solid episodes worth checking out. Here are the main highlights of the 2019 first season!

Directed by Greg Yaitanes (Frank Herbert’s Children of Dune)

Based on the classic Twilight Zone episode “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet,” the first good episode of the new iteration comes from the show’s developers, Simon Kinberg, Marco Ramirez, and Jordan Peele. Adam Scott, playing an investigative journalist who of course is a nervous flyer, finds an MP3 player by his seat that claims the plane he is on will crash mid-flight. While a rip-off of the original show sounds like a bad place to start, this version takes an entirely new direction.

Directed by Gerard McMurray (The First Purge)

“Replay,” a classic take on the mystical object cliché from the original show, ends up being one of the best because of its updated social commentary. The 1959 show was also known for progressive views for its time, when Serling had to fight for his views on censorship and inclusion of discussions on race and war.

Directed by Ana Lily Amirpour (A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night)

An unexpected visit from a strange individual is another classic Twilight Zone trope, and the visitor played by Steven Yeun is just one great part of a well-made episode.

Directed by Jakob Verbruggen (Black Mirror: “Men Against Fire”)

With a better budget and production for a space-centered episode, “Six Degrees of Freedom” looks great and is a memorably gripping take on isolation paranoia.

While the last two episodes of the first season are closer to average in quality, they are the only other episodes worthwhile from the first ten. “The Blue Scorpion” is an extremely serious take on the cursed object ploy (this time, it’s a gun), and “Blurryman” is a meta look at the purpose and legacy of The Twilight Zone.

Because of the remaining four episodes, the whole season averages out to be not amazing, but like the original show, picking selective episodes makes for a near-perfect experience. All episodes of the new and old shows are available on Paramount Plus!