episode #21, segment 1: Need to Know
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episode #21, segment 1: Need to Know
#21a: NEED TO KNOW written by Mary Sheldon; Directed by Paul Lynch
This was a late episode of the first season and is not on many favorites lists. Most fans of the show regarded it well, but there are always a half-dozen other episodes which they prefer. But I prefer this new TZ episode segment because it touches upon the ultimate mystery and the ultimate question of our existence. What is the meaning of it all? Why are we here? What is the purpose of existence? This is really the toughest and most intriguing question(s) to tackle on a TV show and this episode managed to strike the right tone in suggesting that the answer is too profound, too unsettling, too surprising, too disturbing, just too plain scary and, in the end, too simple. That's the mind-blowing paradox: as depicted here, the answer is very simple - yet, so simple that it causes madness in most minds, as if we are prepared only for something very complex.
In the plot, an investigator (William Petersen) is sent to a small town where insanity seems to be spreading. The first half of the episode is basically a detective story, tinged with a hint of the fantastic. The investigator teams up with a local woman (Frances McDormand), whose father is one of the latest victims of the strange malady. Their strategy is to try and trace down the cause by working backwards - going to see people who last had contact with the maddened person. Eventually,
But, what elevates this episode to the forefront of all the better TZ shows is the impression it left on me as it ended - a powerful, strange impact with its mind-blowing ideas. I started to think about this terrible, unknown sentence-as-an-idea, this small collection of words which overwhelm people entirely, driving them mad. I began to wonder on how I would approach such an idea and how I would react.
Would I still want to hear this answer, knowing that it would drive me mad? Would the quest for answers - for knowing the answer to the ultimate question - supersede my desire to avoid madness? Would I believe that, perhaps, I was someone - one of those rare few - who could handle such ultimate knowledge? Would I Need To Know, despite the destruction of my mind? These are the thoughts that may keep me up at night and into the early hours, as I wait for the darkness to fade...
-- BoG's Score: 9 out of 10
This was a late episode of the first season and is not on many favorites lists. Most fans of the show regarded it well, but there are always a half-dozen other episodes which they prefer. But I prefer this new TZ episode segment because it touches upon the ultimate mystery and the ultimate question of our existence. What is the meaning of it all? Why are we here? What is the purpose of existence? This is really the toughest and most intriguing question(s) to tackle on a TV show and this episode managed to strike the right tone in suggesting that the answer is too profound, too unsettling, too surprising, too disturbing, just too plain scary and, in the end, too simple. That's the mind-blowing paradox: as depicted here, the answer is very simple - yet, so simple that it causes madness in most minds, as if we are prepared only for something very complex.
In the plot, an investigator (William Petersen) is sent to a small town where insanity seems to be spreading. The first half of the episode is basically a detective story, tinged with a hint of the fantastic. The investigator teams up with a local woman (Frances McDormand), whose father is one of the latest victims of the strange malady. Their strategy is to try and trace down the cause by working backwards - going to see people who last had contact with the maddened person. Eventually,
- Spoiler:
- the trail leads to professor Jeffrey Potts (Robin Gammell), who had recently returned from the far east (Tibet?). Potts readily explains to the investigator that he had found out the answer to everything - God, the devil, meaning of existence - and this answer is summed up in one simple sentence. If one whispers this sentence to a person, the person will not be able to handle this information and will go completely insane. Potts himself is deranged, of course, and plans to spread this 'word' on the radio airwaves.
But, what elevates this episode to the forefront of all the better TZ shows is the impression it left on me as it ended - a powerful, strange impact with its mind-blowing ideas. I started to think about this terrible, unknown sentence-as-an-idea, this small collection of words which overwhelm people entirely, driving them mad. I began to wonder on how I would approach such an idea and how I would react.
Would I still want to hear this answer, knowing that it would drive me mad? Would the quest for answers - for knowing the answer to the ultimate question - supersede my desire to avoid madness? Would I believe that, perhaps, I was someone - one of those rare few - who could handle such ultimate knowledge? Would I Need To Know, despite the destruction of my mind? These are the thoughts that may keep me up at night and into the early hours, as I wait for the darkness to fade...
-- BoG's Score: 9 out of 10
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