Episode #30 - The Convict's Piano

#30: THE CONVICT'S PIANO (episode #6 of 2nd season)
written by Patrice Messina; from story by James Crocker    Directed by Thomas J. Wright

This starts as a prison story: a convict (Joe Penny) is in the big house because he was found guilty of killing his girlfriend; we get the sense that he's actually one of the innocent ones. He also has a musical background. One day, after a typical courtyard squabble in which he gets a hand injury, he's assigned to light duty in helping an older con (Norman Fell). They uncover an old piano which was planned to be used for a bishop's visit. He finds that when he plays the piano, he is transported to the era of the particular sheet music he's playing - usually the 1920's. If he stops playing, he fades back to his spot in the prison. Now, if he can figure out a way to remain in some other era...

This begins in a rather conventional manner, with the somewhat unexciting premise of time travel via a magic piano, but I admit it finally caught my interest when it's shown how the convict can effect an escape at the end. I simply didn't think of this or expect it; it's another of those clever Zone twists. There was also an odd coincidence in that the older con happened to have a special connection to this piano in the dim past - the old con & the old piano just happened to end up in the same prison.    Ah, well, a twist is still a twist if in the Zone. Some of this also reminded me of The Shawshank Redemption. BoG's Score: 6 out of 10