This and That – A Stop at Willoughby.

Greetings!

As a child, The Twilight Zone was one of my favorite TV shows! Sometimes insightful, sometimes a wee bit frightening, but always entertaining, the show is a classic.

Rod Serling, the show’s host, stated that “A Stop at Willoughby” was his favorite show of the first season. The storyline is this: A businessman, tired of his ungrateful, domineering boss and miserable home life, falls asleep each night aboard a commuter train on his trek home.

Each night, he dreams about an idyllic little town called Willoughby. He then wakes up. Was the town real? Could I seek refuge there, he wonders?

A few nights ago, I rewatched this show. With the world seemingly in free-fall, I could not help but think how lovely it would be to hear a kindly conductor say, “Willoughby…next stop Willoughby.” However, not necessarily the “real” Willoughby in the story.

The show ends with another of Mr. Sterling’s evocative closings: “Willoughby? Maybe it’s wishful thinking nestled in a hidden part of a man’s mind, or maybe it’s the last stop in the vast design of things—or perhaps, for a man like Mr. Gart Williams, who climbed on a world that went by too fast, it’s a place around the bend where he could jump off. Willoughby? Whatever it is, it comes with sunlight and serenity, and is a part of The Twilight Zone.”

Later Twilight-Zone-Loving Gaters!

(Originally posted June 30, 2020)