{"id":102333,"date":"2021-04-01T15:33:39","date_gmt":"2021-04-01T20:33:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/?p=102333"},"modified":"2021-04-01T15:34:13","modified_gmt":"2021-04-01T20:34:13","slug":"the-twilight-zone-review-uncle-simon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/?p=102333","title":{"rendered":"The Twilight Zone Review: Uncle Simon"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<!-- RSR AD 1 --><br \/>\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display: block;\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1545664804358300\" data-ad-slot=\"7759247395\" data-ad-format=\"auto\" data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins><br \/>\n<script>\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\n<\/script><\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/?p=102333\" rel=\"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/?p=102333\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-102334 size-medium\" style=\"margin-right: 10px;\" src=\"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/uncle-simon-300x225.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/uncle-simon-300x225.png 300w, https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/uncle-simon.png 640w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>By William Kozy<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Uncle Simon sometimes feels like a writing exercise to see how many creative insult monikers Serling can come up with. He\u2019ll use \u201cgarbage head\u201d, \u201cwilting blossom\u201d, \u201cpassionless vegetable\u201d, \u201cangular turnip\u201d, \u201cnight-crawling imitation of the female gender\u201d, \u201ccrooked-seamed grubber\u201d, \u201cscrounging female ape\u201d, \u201cthin-lipped toothpick-legged conniver\u201d, \u201cmoney-sick crone\u201d, \u201clint-headed clod\u201d, \u201ctorpid lotus-eater\u201d, \u201cbovine crab\u201d, and \u201cugly harpy.\u201d Or he\u2019ll expand the task into creating descriptive insults: \u201cyou ancient albatross with a dirty mouth,\u201d from her, and from him: \u201cYou\u2019re the only woman I know who looks as if underneath her clothes, she wore clothes\u201d (ba dump bump) or \u201cYou have all the grace and femininity of a high-button shoe\u201d and \u201cyour spindle-shanked carcass\u201d, and \u201cthat Raggedy Ann carcass of yours.\u201d<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Many of those remarks are patently false though, when later in the episode we see Barbara (Constance Ford) all dolled up to go out on the town. Seeing her transform into a sensual-looking lady from the haggard-looking one due to constant psychological\/emotional beat-downs reinforces our sense of the joys she\u2019s been missing out on all the years caring for her uncle. Yet, I do feel that if the writing focused a little less on creative name-calling and more on plot details like the source of the antipathy between the two leads, then this episode might have received more than only 5 votes in my survey of fans and writers asking, \u201cWhat is your favorite episode of the original Twilight Zone series?\u201d This ties it with 7 other episodes for 117th thru 123rd place of the 156 episodes.<\/p>\n<p>The writing does an end around in managing not to do the work of exploring the characters\u2019 history. It fakes us out by actually raising that very question when Uncle Simon Polk (Cedric Hardwicke) asks his niece Barbara why she stays there. She says she \u201cwas under the impression I was needed.\u201d He follows up with \u201cYou are. But it doesn\u2019t even remotely suggest why you stay.\u201d Instead of an answer, Serling has Barbara lapse back into hate-speak: \u201cI live for the moment when I can see you buried. When I come back from your funeral, I\u2019m going to open a bottle of wine.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Simon seems to have an odd preoccupation with tearing down his niece\u2019s femininity. Sure, he insults her intelligence a lot as well, but it\u2019s his focus on her sexual appearance that seems to give him a distinct pleasure from the way he smiles and works his mouth after every antagonistic exchange with her. Again, we are not given a clue as to where his misogyny comes from. Both characters admit to existences in which their behavioral motives are based in the current administration of torture, or one day observing the others\u2019 demise. When she asks him why beasts like him live on while decent men die, he tells her that he keeps \u201cthis decrepit old heart beating and these over-the-hill lungs breathing, because I know how deeply dedicated you are to seeing me die.\u201d In a sense, neither of them lives for something, they live just to see each other suffer, and that sort of life must be soul-stifling.<\/p>\n<p>It all comes to a head when they argue on the staircase, and he raises his cane to strike her, an action completely uncalled for. She fends off the swing of the cane, and Uncle Simon falls down the steps. It must be the first time he\u2019s ever attempted such an act of violence, because we can tell from Barbara\u2019s mettle, that if that had ever happened before, she would have put an end to that, hard and fast. So why then was he impelled in that moment, when she was mostly silent and he was the one issuing vituperative name-calling in his tirade? The simple answer is that it was a script-writing shortcut to get him to die\u2014but they could\u2019ve accomplished that just as easily without his attempted physical assault which I just didn\u2019t buy. He was a jerk of course, but that just wasn\u2019t his style.<\/p>\n<p>As he lies there at the bottom of the stairs, weakly asking for help, Barbara takes the opportunity to taunt him mercilessly, culminating in her declaration of freedom: \u201cAs of this second, as of this very second, I have quit suffering because of you. I am no longer sowing, Uncle Simon. As of right now, I am going to REAP!\u201d Ms. Ford really tears into that last sentence with a richly organic viciousness. She\u2019s so overcome with her release from servitude she runs from room to room, throwing furniture about\u2014the music score is a uniquely dramatic one that I don\u2019t recall hearing in any of the other episodes. Like Pip in \u201cGreat Expectations\u201d she throws open the drapes that Uncle Simon always insisted remain closed, and she announces to the world \u201cHey world I\u2019m back! I\u2019m really back!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Barbara is next seen sitting in a room with a lawyer named Mr. Schwimmer (Ian Wolfe), who explains the outline of the will to her. She is not to throw anything from the house away. It all goes to her \u201cin perpetuity.\u201d The house, furnishing, securities, and sizable cash set up in trust for her. She smiles. What\u2019s the catch? She must stay in the house. But that\u2019s fine with Barbara, because after all where would she go? It\u2019s her home. But here\u2019s the real catch: \u201cyou are to care for all of your uncle\u2019s experiments.\u201d This puzzles the two of them, so Mr. Schwimmer reads on: \u201cMy beloved niece, Barbara, would be responsible for the well-being of my latest experiment. She will care for it, look after it, and see to its wants and needs.\u201d And a representative of the law firm will stop by the house once a week to check if that is indeed being done. If it is found that she hasn\u2019t done so, then all his possessions will go to the state university.<\/p>\n<p>Schwimmer and Barbara investigate the laboratory to see what Simon\u2019s latest experiment just might be, and when they open a locked closet, the opening triggers the start-up of a robot (Robby the Robot, who was also seen in the episode \u201cThe Brain Center at Whipple\u2019s.\u201d) The robotic voice intones that it will be a few days before it is at maximum potential, and then it turns to Barbara and greets her by name. This alarms her.<\/p>\n<p>A week later we hear the robot voice stridently calling after Barbara, who strolls downstairs looking all put together nicely, ready to live out her life more fully. The robot tells her she must not go out because Mr. Schwimmer is due to come by, but Barbara mimic\u2019s the robotic voice, assuring the robot that the lawyer will arrive by 8 PM. The robot points out that he is like an infant, evolving, and will soon have all his faculties, and be a whole being. And right before her eyes, the robot shows immediate signs of taking on the traits of Simon as it detects a craving; half-surprised, it reveals that it would like a cup of hot chocolate, just like Simon always called for. Barbara\u2019s expression clearly shows that she does not like where this is going. Ms. Ford does tend to register facial expressions that leave no doubt at all what she\u2019s feeling and thinking, but for the most part her performance rings with a satisfying tone. The doorbell rings and it is Mr. Schwimmer who enters and asks nicely how \u201cMr. Polk\u201d is doing. Barbara can only stare at the robot with trepidation.<\/p>\n<p>Later, the reincarnation enters another phase as the robot has taken the keys to the laboratory and bans Barbara from entering it. \u201cIt belongs to me,\u201d he demands. As she turns to leave, he climbs the steps after her, demanding hot chocolate and that she close all the drapes. The kicker is that his voice has morphed into Uncle Simon\u2019s human voice, and has levied its first insult at her: \u201cyou peanut-headed sample of nature\u2019s carelessness\u201d. Barbara shoves her tormentor down the steps, this time, quite on purpose. It lies at the bottom of the steps clearly damaged, and calling out weakly, \u201chelp me\u2026help me\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p>We come to our last scene. Mr. Schwimmer is politely showing himself out after his weekly stop-by, and he comments, \u201cPity about his leg, but he manages to get around, doesn\u2019t he?\u201d I like Ford\u2019s doomed melancholic responses, \u201cHe makes his wants known,\u201d and \u201cIndeed, he does, indeed he does.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Simon\/Robot enters, walking with a cane and echoing the late uncle\u2019s demands for hot chocolate \u201cin the English bone china cup, and if it\u2019s not hot, I\u2019ll throw it on the floor.\u201d She mutters in defeat that she\u2019ll go fix it for him, and when he commands her to speak up saying, \u201cYou\u2019ll fix it for me what?\u201d She answers solemnly: \u201cI\u2019ll fix it for you now (pause pause pause)\u2026Uncle.\u201d She is indeed defeated, declaring uncle.<\/p>\n<p>I suppose what I find a bit dissatisfying about this episode and a few others like it, is that it\u2019s one of those stories that places a character in a predicament that doesn\u2019t seem all that hard to wiggle out of. You watch it and you can easily devise hundreds of murderous ways to dispatch the robot. Next time for instance, shove him from the top of the stairs not just three steps up. She could then easily tell Schwimmer, \u201coh dear, oh my, I kept warning him to be careful, but he just keeps insisting on using the stairs and this time he tripped.\u201d We\u2019ve already seen that Schwimmer was quite sweet and understanding about the robot\u2019s first tumble. There were no consequences for her despite the will stating that she must take care of the experiment. Or even, what would be the problem with simply not doing anything at all that the robot demands? Surely it doesn\u2019t need hot chocolate to survive, or the drapes closed. So what would be the repercussions of her simply flipping the bird to the robot with a snide, \u201cEh, do it yourself.\u201d What would happen? It would still be in fine working order when Schwimmer comes for inspection. And if the robot complained, a cute little knowing eye roll from the human Barbara to the human Schwimmer would suffice, as she could say with a wink to Schwimmer, \u201cOh yes Uncle Simon, I\u2019ll get you another hot chocolate.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>My\u2026calculations\u2026indicate\u2026a\u2026ra-ting\u2026of this\u2026episode\u2026is a 5.1.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>[si-contact-form form=&#8217;2&#8242;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By William Kozy Uncle Simon sometimes feels like a writing exercise to see how many creative insult monikers Serling can come up with. He\u2019ll use \u201cgarbage head\u201d, \u201cwilting blossom\u201d, \u201cpassionless vegetable\u201d, \u201cangular turnip\u201d, \u201cnight-crawling imitation of the female gender\u201d, \u201ccrooked-seamed grubber\u201d, \u201cscrounging female ape\u201d, \u201cthin-lipped toothpick-legged conniver\u201d, \u201cmoney-sick crone\u201d, \u201clint-headed clod\u201d, \u201ctorpid lotus-eater\u201d, \u201cbovine crab\u201d, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[26105],"class_list":["post-102333","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-boxing-news","tag-the-twilight-zone-review-uncle-simon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102333","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=102333"}],"version-history":[{"count":-3,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102333\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=102333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=102333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=102333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}