7/10
a mixed bag
14 April 2016
Warning: Spoilers
"Wordplay": I wanted to like this one. I really did. Unfortunately, its fatal flaw lies in the attempt to portray a real-life medical condition as some type of sci-fi/fantasy phenomenon. A middle-aged man gradually develops a language processing disorder and starts to freak out. In the real world, someone would have rushed the guy to a hospital, but since nobody in this corner of the Twilight Zone seems to know anything about strokes or brain tumors, his wife and co-workers just let him run around until he's ready to calm down. Ironically enough, the climax of the narrative does happen in a hospital, but it's not the main character who gets poked and prodded by doctors.

"Dreams for Sale" reminded me of Philip K. Dick's works that deal with altered perceptions of reality and dystopian visions of the future. Like "Wordplay," we start with a character who shows symptoms of some neurological disorder, only this time, the narrative is backed up by a good sci-fi premise. By far the best segment of this episode.

"Chameleon": A forgettable story involving a shape-shifting alien that hitches a ride to Earth aboard the Space Shuttle. Interesting concept, but the execution was just too dull.
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