News of Jordan Peele’s reboot of the beloved Twilight Zone series sent shockwaves around the television world. Just the name alone was enough to draw some of the biggest names in Hollywood. And though details of the series were kept, unsurprisingly, under wraps, it stands beside Game of Thrones as one of the most anticipated series of 2019. Fans across the internet have been chomping at the bit to get a glimpse into Peele’s iteration of the series. And CBS didn’t hold back on the first night, dropping two episodes to kick off the revival.

‘The Comedian’

Kumail Nanjiani stars in the first episode as Samir Wassan, a struggling comedian. After a particularly bad set, Samir meets J.C. Wheeler (Tracy Morgan) a legendary comedian in this fictionalized world. Wheeler waxes poetic to Samir, giving him some cryptic advice for his next set before the two men toast. With this toast, Samir only thinks he is accepting some niceties from a personal hero who didn’t have to offer his wisdom. But, he soon learns something much stranger is taking place.

During his next set, Samir is bombing as always before he remembers Wheeler’s advice and makes the set personal. He talks about his dog named Cat and how it peed on his pizza. This receives uproarious laughter and Samir leaves pleased with his set. However, upon arriving at home he finds Cat to be missing. His girlfriend doesn’t even remember the dog and a confused Samir takes to the streets with missing posters the next night.

He enlists the help of his girlfriend’s nephew, who also doesn’t remember the dog, as they plaster posters up before Samir’s set. He brings the boy along to the club with him that night and, as expected, begins bombing. As everyone turns their attention to their phones, Samir begins talking about his girlfriend’s nephew and again, starts receiving uproarious laughter. But, this time the boy disappears right before his eyes. Neurotic after he can’t find any traces of him, Samir rushes home to question his girlfriend, who doesn’t even remember having a nephew.

Realization sets in as Samir recalls the words of Wheeler who told him whatever, or whoever, he shares on stage will disappear forever. From there, Samir uses this to his advantage. He mentions high school bullies and tells stories about those who wronged him in college. His act becomes worrisome as he begins looking up names of people he didn’t like to share on stage but, they’re bad people so its ok right? Things go from bad to worse though when Samir shares the name of his girlfriend’s mentor, David, in a jealous fit.

Without David, his girlfriend’s successful career as a lawyer is erased. This, mixed with Samir’s newfound ego, causes the two to break up as his girlfriend, though she doesn’t remember her life as a lawyer, resents Samir’s success. Upon his return to the comedy club, he and another comedian, DiDi Scott (Diarra Kilpatrick), are up for the last spot on a ‘comedy hour.’ Then, he has another strange interaction with Wheeler, who appears seemingly out of nowhere in the green room. Samir questions the morality of making people disappear in exchange for their own gain. But Wheeler quickly shuts this down, reminding Samir that this is exactly what he asked for, no matter the cost.

After this, Samir goes entirely off the rails, erasing DiDi before basically having a breakdown on stage. His act devolves into him screaming out the names of people he doesn’t like before his (now-ex) girlfriend confronts him mid-act. She found his notebook of so-called jokes that only contains random names. Samir seems as if he is going to take the plunge and erase her for the last punchline, sending him into the comedy stratosphere. However, he instead turns the final joke on himself, spending a few minutes lampooning his life before speaking his own name.

With that, everyone he’d erased is brought back and the damage undone. The only remnant of Samir is a painting of him sitting in the crowd of a mural on the back wall of the club…

In this cautionary tale, Samir learns the price of success. Overall, the episode feels like a throwback to the Twilight Zone of old, in both good and bad ways. Samir’s story sucks you in, it’s a compelling tale you immediately relate with, even if you’re not a comedian. But, by about the halfway mark, you definitely feel like you know exactly where Samir’s story will end. It’s by no means a bad episode though. In my opinion, it’s the perfect episode to kick off the revival as it brings us back into the fold, reacclimating us to the Twilight Zone.

‘Nightmare At 30,000 Feet’

The second episode, however, throws us head first into the Twilight Zone. Adam Scott plays the role of Justin Sanderson in this episode, an investigative journalist traveling from D.C. to Tel Aviv. In an airport bookstore, Justin meets a mysterious man named Joe (Chris Diamantopoulos). After that, Justin boards his flight, #1015, at 10:15 PM, on 10/15. Once aboard the plane, he finds a mysterious MP3 player in the seat back pocket in front of him. On the MP3 player is a podcast detailing the disappearance of the very flight he’s currently sitting on.

As he listens, the podcast begins predicting strange happenings on the plane. He tries to relate this to the flight crew but is repeatedly dismissed by everyone. Everyone except Joe. Joe reveals that he’s a pilot and stokes Justin’s fears by confirming a bird flew into the engine, just like the podcast said. Justin grows increasingly agitated as the crew grows equally frustrated. He is ultimately arrested by an air marshall aboard the flight as the minutes tick down to the time of the flight’s supposed disappearance.

Once the crew unknowingly distracts the marshall, Joe takes this opportunity to play on Justin’s fears once more. As they approach the 11:15 PM deadline, Justin is desperate to do anything he can to ‘save’ the flight. So, he schemes with Joe to take control of the plane. However, once Joe is in the cockpit, he reveals his plan. Joe was set on taking the plane down all along to “escape the past” and Justin helped him do it. Surprisingly though, the passengers and crew all survive the plane’s oceanic crash.

Justin wakes up on a seemingly deserted beach next to the MP3 player. It now contains a follow-up podcast that details the passengers’ rescue after the crash. One notable passenger didn’t make it though: Justin. As he listens to the podcast note the survivors’ insistence that he disappeared, they begin circling around him and his fate becomes clear. Blaming him specifically for the plane crash, the crew and passengers mob Justin, killing him on the beach.

This ‘Nightmare’ is a nice reimagining of the classic William Shatner episode (‘Nightmare at 20,000 Feet’) that updates the story by tapping into the current podcast-craze without seeming forced. Scott perfectly emulates Shatner’s borderline-psychotic performance from the 1963 episode without going overboard. It also steers straight into the strangeness and unpredictability that the best Twilight Zone episodes employ. It was definitely the better of the two episodes if only for this reason alone.

Overall, Peele’s revival is off to a great start and it seems like it’ll only get weirder from here. Check back into Def Pen later this week for a deep dive on the two episodes, combing for hidden details. And be sure to stay plugged in as we cover every episode of the series this season. Up next, ‘Replay’ on April 11th.

The Twilight Zone is available exclusively on CBS All-Access.

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