The strange occurrences in episodes of "The Twilight Zone" usually happen for no apparent reason and completely out of the blue. That's why I really like "A Penny for your Thoughts", because there's an actual clarification for the weird gift that suddenly overcomes lead character Hector Poole, albeit it's a very simplistic one, of course. Our protagonist is a well-mannered and law-abiding citizen. His job as a bank clerk doesn't offer many perspectives and he's too introvert to even notice that his cute colleague Miss Helen Turner fancies him. But when he tosses a penny towards a paperboy and it remains on its side, something that only happens once in a million times, Hector can suddenly hear the thoughts of everybody around him. It doesn't bring him much happiness throughout the day, though, and he's even too well-mannered to take advantage of his gift. But sometimes, and exclusively in the twilight zone, good things happen to good people. "A Penny for your Thoughts" is a modest but delightful little episode with a very apt ambiguous title and some nice performances by Dick York, June Dayton and Dan Tobin as the sleazy bank director.
Review of A Penny for Your Thoughts
