User Reviews

Well, aside from the alien that abducts them-- ha ha.

But the story of the lead character Cody is compellingly plausible, and casting someone who at a glance you wouldn't expect to have any significant high school problems at all, it becomes rather haunting. It's written and played very well, creating a very believable character.

A couple of complaints... the students Cody course were all stereotypes, which actually makes perfect sense. However, the science nerdy kid is either written badly or is a poser.

Secondly, the alien's voice was hard to understand.

I found this episode to be a very rare gem in a mostly okay final series. I've seen all the Outer Limits episodes and to me very few of them were ever this good. Okay, a few of the characters were stereotypical, but so what! I don't get at all why people always go on like that's such a bad thing. Sometimes you do get stereotypes in real life, even, you know? Not everyone has to be a big revelation. Some people are probably happy to fall into some kind of social mold. I know I would be! The alien in this episode looks so cool! He looks just like the monster from Wishmaster crossed with the classic image of death-JinnReaper!!! Jesse Cadotte really stole the show didn't he? His screen credits may be few, but Jesse, this is one to be proud of. It was exactly the right way to conclude it at the end when Cody goes to the Principal's office to face the consequences of his actions. It would have been a major mistake and might possibly have ruined the entire episode had they done otherwise. This episode is of course kind of controversial. I think that whenever the subject of school violence comes up in anything on TV, it always is. I believe that is because it is just too painful a thing to be reminded of. Too real and fresh in everyone's memories... But to me this episode beautifully and very sensitively handles a most terrible subject. Abduction effortlessly conveys the points and emotions that I believe 80's thriller The Boys Next Door tries and fails to, and cheap manipulative horror movie The Final is desperate to, all without(unlike those two)concentrating at all on the horror aspect of the situation, horrific though it may be. It is also the only thing I've ever seen that explores well the sad reasons why. I think the phrases spoken in the episode:"I'm stuck in a role just like you are", and "If I hurt you, then you need to forgive me for that" are very important ones to hear. It is only a shame that children in real life can't be taught the same lessons. A profoundly uplifting episode of hope, and the hope for change. Peace.

Aliens have been studying human life on Earth for millions of years, and an experiment will be conducted using five students representing different classes in high school: the science nerd (Jesse Moss), the snob with looks (Meghan Ory), the Christian (Kandyse McClure), jock athlete (Zachery Ty Bryan, of Home Improvement fame), and outcast (Jesse Cadotte).

They are attending school like any other morning when a bright white beam shines through the halls and "removes" all of the faculty and students except the five chosen by the aliens for their particular experiment. One of the alien representatives (Eric Schneider, in a robe with a crystalline staff) tells them (attempts to escape from either entrance/exit of the hall sends them right back into the school as this field around the building prevents escape) this, not mincing words or placating their fears about its presence. The experiment: in five hours the five students must choose one among them to die! The majority of the episode has the teens arguing amongst themselves on how to get out of the decision no normal human being would wish to face.

Heated discussion, pointed comments, criticism of each person's standards and their cliquish tendencies, debate on not accepting the terms the alien specified (if there isn't a victim chosen, all five will die), and the argument that despite their differences the value of human life is precious. Interestingly, I expected there to be manipulation among some of them to save their own skin, but that doesn't happen…instead it seems the outcast is central to who might or might not die. I think it does preach from the pulpit regarding the school violence that was sad news in America with the Columbines and such, but the episode has a sincere message about defying the aches and rage that exist in kids who feel they must use a weapon to prove a point regarding how they're treated by others. It does cry aloud about acceptance, the value of life, and not succumbing to using violence all because you are rightfully in pain. This might not be the ideal Outer Limits episode for those not in the mood for a lecture in the vein of the afterschool special, but the message has merit…this addressed real crimes and young lives lost.

A good concept, but mediocre execution. So these 5 high schoolers are stuck in the empty school and must pick one of them to die so that the other 4 can survive. The voting concept is obviously super interesting. And it's interesting to see them try to find a way out of school. But besides this all the points of the episode fall flat and don't work in this format.

There is the prototypical hot girl, the religious girl, the jock, the school shooter, and the nerd. Basically everything here is a caricature. That can work if you make fun of it and play up the comedic element. Instead they go full out cringe fest with the points and ideas as everyone is overly serious yet also silly as we know these badly written characters already. All characters act exactly the way you'd expect a flat pointless character to act like. There are some good elements here though. The religious girl is a really great character and she is calm and believable in her role. So she's a blast to watch. Unfortunately not much happens with her. Instead mainly the jock, nerd and school shooter try to outscream each other by shouting their flat character dialogue. The school shooter then votes for a person while the others refuse to vote. They get mad at him and find a gun on him plus their photos in his backpack. Clearly showing that he planned to kill them.

There are some good ideas here and the empty school is a really cool setting. The issue is how silly it all ends up being. We could have seen social manipulation to win votes or some deeper idea. The school shooter concept just doesn't work because it's an arrogant boy in black clothes. It's not a realistic school shooter. It's some sarcastic loser who at the end votes for another person to die - so clearly he cares way more about his own life than all the others and seemingly wouldn't go on some crazy suicide mission. This caricature of a school shooter as an emotional loser wearing black clothes is too lazy. School shooters are proactive and violent. This one is a meager loser. So who is he even?

In this episode they are all let go at the end and the school shooter gives his gun to the principal. Again illustrating how "just talking it out" will make such a person understand the wrong he is about to do. Yeah... right. Good job Hollywood.

Besides the plot not working there are the huge issues with characters constantly shouting and behaving in silly predictable ways. For example, the hot girl talks and shouts about being attractive/popular and that is all cringe in itself. But her terrible acting makes it so much worse. So you have crappy script writers, crappy actors and a crappy director making them all shout their lines as loud as possible. Only the concept is good.

Practically, I like the ideas here, but the execution is terrible. People who grew up with this kind of B 90's TV will find it cute. But most modern viewers will notice too much of the crap and bad acting to fully enjoy it. Even though it does have that cute and innocent 90's style to it that is for sure very enjoyable today where everything needs to be super serious and political.

I don't know what it is about this episode, but it just really moves me. I guess because of the epidemic now of senseless school shootings that have occurred. The acting's great, the dialogue might be a little corny & cliched sometimes, but the ending is so impactful, it makes up for all its shortcomings. I was Jesse. Not violent, but I really hated the world & myself as a teen so I can relate about feeling hopeless. I definitely wouldn't have shot anybody except I could relate to his suicidal feelings back then. Great show & I know they tried to bring it back recently, but its just not the same as the last ones.