Change Your Image
mitch-meyer
Reviews
The Twilight Zone: Walking Distance (1959)
Serling's therapy for nostalgia
As an 18-year-old transitioning into adulthood, I often feel frightened about the future. I worry about getting a job, finding a wife, maintaining friends, staying healthy, keeping happy--basically I just worry about being an adult and shedding off my youth and childhood. I feel like this episode shows me in my thirties, missing all the good things that made childhood memorable. Often I'll wish I could go back and relive my past, and often in my mind I will visit those memories. In this episode, Martin really does get to visit his past. When he discovers where he is (or when he is), all he wants to do is tell his young self to enjoy his childhood. As kids, we never really appreciate our youth. It's not until we're well past night-lights and kisses from Mom goodnight that we realize how special that time was. Martin knows this and just wants to share this knowledge with his past self. He realizes after talking with his dad that he can't stay in the past. He can make new memories in the present to look back on in the future. It's not a happy ending because it won't end. We'll always be looking back on our past with fondness, neglecting most of the negatives and focusing on the special parts. The thing is just not to dwell on it too much. Like Martin, we can't keep living in our past. There's no room for us there. And like Martin we sometimes need not to indulge in the old sweets of the past, symbolized with the 35-cent ice cream, and move on with our lives. Toward the end of this episode I had tears in my eyes and a new appreciation not just for the past but for my present, as well as a new hope for my future. Not many TV shows hit you with such strong emotions and messages. "Walking Distance" is a real treasure as a show and as a therapeutic experience. Thank you, Serling.