The Mirror - Twilight-Tober Zone 

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I imagine rod serling had a long list of governments and political groups he planned to criticize via twilight zone episodes. Truly a legend.

Absolute power corrupts absolutely. I love how this episode shows just how paranoid those in power can be that those around them are trying to take advantage of them or even kill them

This is one of my favorites. I refer this episode to anyone looking for an example of how being a powerful leader has its bad side.

You: "Falk is too recognizable.." Me: "Holy crap, that was Falk?"

I had a loud, "WHAT??" when you said Peter Falk. I literally just finished watching A Murder With Too Many Notes so this was a happy coincidence

I feel like there's no sense of time in this episode. It feels like he kills off his former best friends over the course of a couple days

Power has never corrupted a single soul. But it has revealed a lot of them

It’s a historical curiosity to look back at things that were acceptable at the time but became outdated years later.

Peter Falk did a great job!!! It also invites us to see what it would be on the side of the dictators paranoid mindset. Also the fact that mirrors are supposed to be portals to other worlds so this is potentially a real story.

I think the writing, especially the dialog was fairly strong. My favorite lines are from the last friend Falks character kills. He is honest and says that he would kill him if/when he shows himself to be too weak to lead. Then when he gets shot he just muses on how lonely his friend will now be...

this one is actually one of the best episodes of the twilight zone, idk why so many do not like it

With all the assassination attempts that Castro survived, maybe the Mirror worked after all 😂

Another great episode that is timeless no matter what anybody says

I feel like they could have come up with a better twist here? Maybe the mirror doesn't show you who will try to take power from you, but magnifies what doubts you have about others and shows you these doubts at their worst. With them going to kill you. After the priest tells him the greatest enemy he as a tyrant has is himself, he slowly, reluctantly, looks towards the mirror one final time now that this seed of doubt has been placed in his already overly paranoid mind. Only to see his own reflection, pointing a gun at himself. I'd also make the mirror unable to be damaged, least of all by bullets. So after trying to shoot his own reflection to no effect, in final fit of paranoia, he turns the gun in the one direction he thinks it will work to kill this one, final, enemy.

When my Cuban mother saw this episode with me, she saw the dictator she was like ‘Oh its Fidel’ and I laughed hard

If you didn't tell me it was Peter Falk, I wouldn't have realized it. Calling him recognizable is not what I want, NOT WHAT I WANT!

Twenty years before Columbo, Peter Falk was a pretty intense actor, typecast in low-level-gangster movies-- And for an entire generation that's grown up never having heard of the Lieutenant, I can only imagine what they'd think of the storytelling grandpa from Princess Bride. 😲

I dont dislike any episode of the og TZ. They all have their charm.

It's definitely not on the list of worst episodes, I enjoyed it.

I said this in a couple of previous videos, but someone needs to make a compilation video of all of the times people died in The Twilight Zone from either falling off a building/window or out a vehicle since I bet that would be a good 4 minutes long.

When your the most powerful person in the room, everyone else is a threat. I can't help but wonder if you were a good person, how little youd worry about your life, surrounded by friends.

That old saying is so true: power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

I love the idea that a tyrant’s greatest fear is themselves, it’s like Stalin, he was so paranoid that he killed his own Russian men. It’s cool to see them focus on that idea in the Twilight Zone, because it is scary! I love the theme when ever the General looks in the mirror, that feels like classic Twilight zone music to me!

They did nail that castro would turn into a new Batista

I was thinking that guy looked exactly like Fidel Castro. But then again this seems like it's way too obvious for a show that usually is more subtle about what it's going for...

You were talking about how it was obvious what it was based on, as someone who doesn’t know much about that kind of history, I honestly would not have ever figured out what this meant.

This is actually one of my favorite episode

Super amazing video

when I first saw this episode was the first time I noticed Falk’s glass eye and I’ve been a fan of him since childhood

What are you talking about? This is one of my favorites.

This episode is profound. I never forgot it. Falk did a great job.

This is a pretty good episode, involving a corrupt dictator, whom sees those that want to kill him in a mirror.

When I first saw this episode when syfi was doing their new years twilight zone marathon I never new that it was peter falk since I've never seen him young before and only seen him as columbo from clips and the princess bride

...oh, just one more thing. ;)

Oh my god, there are TOO many episodes of Twilight Zone where people die by falling out a window smh

Also, despite his outfit and the fact he overthrows the previous dictator to "give the people what they want", I don't think the protagonist was meant to be an expy of Castro. The man was already mentioned in the episode, and he lived in the Caribbean, not Central America. I think the fact that Serling mentioned that specific region meant he had a different person to reference in mind, namely the president of Guatemala at the time. I looked up his Wikipedia page, and he's described, apparently by a CIA official, to be moody and distrustful of his advisors while also not being successful at commanding loyalty and was subject to various attempted coups.

Having seen the full episode, I get what you're going at regarding the episode's major weak points. The dialogue is hammy, the comparison to contemporary events of the time are too close, and the pacing between the main character's ascension to power and him beginning to suspect his underlings of treacherous ideas goes too fast. However, I don't think the lack of visual spectacle is a downside. There's nothing wrong with simply showing a mirror deceiving the protagonist with images of his cohorts attempting to kill him via various means. It's a simple yet powerful metaphor over the paranoia of tyrants. Also, I thought the ending where he sees nothing changing in the mirror yet realizes he himself is an enemy and kills himself anyway was a great one-up to the conclusion of the Picture of Dorian Grey, even if it is very predictable.

This has one of my favorite Rod intros. Because Clemente refers to his aides as "The Strong One", "The Dedicated One," etc. when they show Rod I always add "And we cannot forget Rodman, The Narrative One!" Sometimes the episodes are on the nose and this one is well ...the nosiest. But at the time I can see why. Castro was the new frightening enemy on the block. The Cuban Missile Crisis was about to hit in October, 1962 and after the Bay of Pigs

Mirror, Mirror, on the wall, Who's the most popular RU-vidr of all?

His take on a Cuban dictator always made me think of the Roman Marone character in Johnny Dangerously. It’s fargin war!

I remember seeing this episode, but that's it. It has mostly been forgotten in my mind apart from the fact that I've seen it.

Damn, both screams got me! XD

Every time I see a rerun of this, when the former dictator is about to leave, I imagine Falk saying, "Sir, just one more question about mirror..."

Another underrated episode

If i Wrote this Episode, It would be Aliens who are the Main Characters and the Mirror was a Weapon by the Humans to Defeat them with there own Fear. Telling Not even Aliens are Invincible at being a Tyrant. What do you think?

I guess we will have to agree to disagree but I thought this was in story was amazing. Great actors and a great plot.

I wonder if King Henry the 8th had a mirror like this 😏

I thought this was a really good episode as it shows how absolute power corrupts and how the paranoia that comes with it can make you see knives in the hands of your closest friends.

I like this episode. It’s one I remember where a lot of others were forgettable. I guess you can’t please everyone 🤷🏽‍♀️

3:08 The goofy scream would have been even funnier.

Nice

Y'know this episode really dives deep into Tahu's character. His internal struggle between his duty as a Toa and his lust for POOWAAAAH is very compelling

Just one more thing!

I feel like a far better, more Twilight Zone twist would have been that when the former president said the mirror would show him "his assassins", he specifically meant his own, not their's. The episode decides to have them kill the former president, thus making them assassins, thus showing them in the mirror. The killing of his comrades would be revealed as having happened for absolutely no reason. But I do get what they were trying to say here.

Someone has to send this mirror to Russia.

7his episode's coming on METV tonight!

Fantastic episode of a fantastic series. I disagree with your negative review.

400th like!

This reminds me of a story from Sergio Aragonés’s “Boogeyman”. About a kid who becomes so afraid of the titular cryptid that he takes all the power just to feel safe. Yet he doesn’t.

On the nose!

Funny thing is that Castro survived many real assassination attempts, U.S. wanted to overthrow him but failed and he lived until 90. The previous dictator Batista didn't concern them much, interesting...

I think the one problem with this episode is that it's more dated than timeless. The idea of so many Twilight Zone episodes is that they could have happened to anyone at any time, while this one feels a little too specific

*David Hayter voice* Nice shoes.

I honestly didn't know that was Peter Falk.

can someone clear something up for me? did Not Fidel Castro throw his gun at the mirror and it went off right at him killing himself? or did he break the mirror and off camera shoot himself? cause the former would have more poetic irony but I think the latter is what happened

yeah it doesn't hold up well in terms of quality but it is a good time capsule if you ask me

Unlike De Cruz, caricature of previous Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista, who was obviously brought to justice, Batista managed to escape from Cuba in 1959 and lived in Portugal until his death in 1972, never having answered for his crimes.

I'm still waiting for his highlander review

Darn, I can't find this one online. I'll have to skip the review. I don't want it spoiled. Drat!

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I think the episode could have been saved with a different actor in the lead playing a character who wasn’t so obviously a stand-in for Fidel Castro. I know Rod was passionate about hiring black actors, so he could have also championed an actual Hispanic actor for the lead role. And making the character less like Castro would have still sent what is actually a good message without making the episode way too topical, and dated.

Even if he's pretty broad, Antony Carbone is very good in this too. If he's funny to me in it, it's because of those Roger Corman horror comedies that I know him from.

Nostalgia Critic's next ideal video suggestions: The Seeker: The Dark is Rising (2007) Cool Cat Save the Kids: Brad Ruins Rob's Day Dark Toons: Firebird Suite (Fantasia 2000) Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas (2003) Dark Toons: D.W.'s Furry Freakout (Arthur) Fun Size (2012)

It wouldn't surprise me if Doug wrote this.

It was actually pretty prophetic. Many people blame Fidel for the plane crash that killed Cienfuegos and some blame him for not doing enough to help Che in Bolivia.

Columbo in the Twilight Zone would be interesting. Just one more question about one more thing Mr Serling. There is something that bothers me... :p

2:59 If you think that's funny, check out "A Most Unusual Camere" I burst out laughing towards the end.

Dude: I LOVE this episode. It's one I've gone back to many times, including just the other day. I was anticipating a positive review of this one, but: everyone likes something a little different.

It's somewhat interesting how generitized obviously meant to be Fidel Castro parodies have become, there even was one on the TMNT 2007 movie for seemingly no reason. But, yeah, when this came out they knew who they were referring to. Kinda feels like that time in Star Trek when Captain Kirk "solved" Vietnam War analogue by just keeping on escalating the conflict.

Oh boy... yeah, file this under Hasn't Aged Great. I get it, the material conjured from current events was too tempting to pass up, but really now. The real mirror is the comparison with The Passersby which I watched just before. I was concerned that episode was going to highlight a simplistic mid 20th century viewpoint of the Confederacy, but that's what they did for the Cuban Revolution instead. Maybe time really is key for crystalizing a historical perspective. And to be clear, I think Castro was a monster, but to both handwave the precursor factors that led up to the Cuban Revolution AND have Clemente go full tyrant in 10 minutes does no favors for this script. I'm a little more forgiving for Falk's acting, and I like the tension of the showdown between Clemente and Cristo, but the premise in general is flawed. Consider the titular magic items from "The Man in The Bottle" or "A Most Unusual Camera," you can understand why the characters kept using those things because of the potential to bring them good fortune. Why would Clemente keep the mirror after everything De Cruz has just said. Smash it, cover it, store it in the basement; there's no good reason to keep this stupid looking glass after De Cruz has just goaded him. Want to improve this episode? In the scene depicted at 4:56, have the camera stay focused in a medium shot on the mirror. Don't cut back to Clemente unless it's an extreme close up of his face. The reflection draws a gun and it puts the barrel to his forehead. Out in the hall, Father Tomas and the guard hear a gunshot, they burst into the room, they find Clemente dead, and the mirror is shattered. There! I'd argue this makes the episode so much more interesting. Did Clemente's paranoia get the better of him, did the mirror actually kill him? Just having *some* element that wasn't so obvious would've made this one more interesting. It's not the worst episode, just rather weak and one-note.

The mirror was just messing with him to overthrow him.

Serling always with a cigarette in hand 🚬 🚭

I have to disagree that Falk was too recognizable. I just watched this episode with my mom and neither of us would have guessed that was him. Seeing his name in the credits was a shock. This also seems to be the consensus of many of the people commenting here. Also for me maybe because I don't know too much about Castro, I didn't see anything wrong with Falk's acting. I didn't think it was too over the top or silly. I think some of your criticism was a bit too harsh, I really didn't find anything wrong with the episode. But the TZ episodes that are trying to convey a message instead of telling a story like this one are not usually my favourites. The subject matter is too serious and they don't have much of a twist ending. But I still think it's commendable that Rod wasn't afraid to put his views or touchy topics into some of the episodes.

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I believe that the mirror is magic, but it doesn't show your enemies, it shows you who you trust or not.

Is Doug narrating these, or someone else?

This is one I felt that was a bit too heavy handed with the moral.

*¡enjoyed at 11:13 am Pacific Daylight Savings Time on Sunday, 9 October 2022!*

Is it me or did the last guy seem like he actually wanted to hurt him

You know the story is also kind of a play on the Portrait of Dorian Grey. I mean, a man sees his fate in a capturing of his own visage and uses it to escape death while becoming the worst version of himself?

I wonder how many people would have been critical of this episode if it had been set in Nazi Germany and had starred a guy based on Hitler instead of Castro. It probably would have been judged one of the best episodes ever.

The mirror should have been another universe or the main character should have been the reflection

Day 5 of asking Channel Awsome to review Coraline

Ramos Clemente and his comrades are obviously meant to be caricatures of Fidel Castro, Raul Castro, Che Guevarra, Camillo Cienfuegos and Huber Matos.

I thought the portrayal of toa tahu was very compelling in this episode

It's not one of my favorite episodes, but I can see why a lot of people say they enjoyed it. I definitely agree on the funny moments and over-the-top acting.

It's funny how how poorly it aged. I mostly watch this for humor.

Any time I see Peter Falk I'm there.

From one caudillo to another one ....