Downright horrible developments collapse this second ventriloquist dummy episode (a far cry in quality to the overwhelmingly superior "The Dummy") of the Twilight Zone. Jackie Cooper isn't to blame for the downright cruelty in the writing or the mistreatment of a man falling on hard times. To encourage his further tumult, there's this incorrigible, nasty little girl who stays in the same apartment building as Cooper, looking to pin something on him out of sheer spite. Morgan Brittany is a real peach, a little girl with a dark soul, just placed in the episode to cause Cooper more trouble than the dummy that instigates his downfall. I have no idea why this story wishes to put Cooper through the ringer. An Irish ventriloquist who came to America hoping to make it in showbiz, betrayed by a dummy who can talk and think, with only unpleasantness its mission it seems; Cooper's pleading Caesar to tell the cops he wasn't to blame for the robberies he was led to by the dummy is outright painful to witness, as the actor deserves credit for gaining our pity. The Twilight Zone doesn't typically do this to people who endure suffering in a cruel world, but Strassfield's script is overtly evil towards Cooper. That the dummy and little girl escape without a single punishment and that there is no twist that can at least give us something thought-provoking to glean from the episode leaves a bad taste. Easily one of the worst (if not receiving top honors) episodes of the entire series. Sarah Shelby is the only character of any value in the episode who gives an inkling of humanity as the landlady. Cooper should have sold that dummy for $25 bucks in the pawnshop when he had the chance...
Review of Caesar and Me
