Twilight Zone episode review — 2.16 — A Penny for Your Thoughts
Episode 2.16 “A Penny for Your Thoughts”
Original air date: February 3, 1961
Writer: George Clayton Johnson
Director: James Sheldon
Rating: 8/10
If you’ve been following my reviews, you’ll know that I don’t typically like the comedic episodes of The Twilight Zone, but this is an exception.
This is the first episode credited to writer George Clayton Johnson, though “The Four of Us Are Dying” and “Execution” were both based on his stories. It’s a good script, with a good sense of fun. As with most comedic episodes, it doesn’t quite fit in with the overall Twilight Zone themes and ideas, but it still works in its own way.
The episode starts on a street corner, with Hector Poole (Dick York, Bewitched) flipping a newspaper boy a quarter for his paper. The quarter lands upright, on its side, and the newspaper boy says, “This must be your lucky day, mister. That’ll never happen again in a million years.”
After this, Poole walks by a bunch of people and is able to hear their thoughts. He doesn’t understand it, of course, and initially thinks people are just talking. He then gets hit by a car, and the driver is very apologetic, only to be nasty to him in his thoughts prevented through voiceover. Poole is confused, and heads to work at the bank.
As he shows up late, we see his boss, Mr. Bagby (Dan Tobin), talking on the phone with his mistress, Felicia. Poole goes to apologize for being late, and Bagby is uneasy, with Felicia waiting for him on the phone. Poole repeats his thoughts back to him, and he thinks: “Weekend? Can he know about Felicia? Impossible. I’ve been so careful, so discreet.”
Poole then leaves and goes up to a few different people, frightening them by responding to their thoughts. In one of my favorite jokes not just of the series but of virtually anything, he then goes up to a blonde woman holding a bunch of cash, and hears nothing.
Poole then meets with a client whose loan has been approved for $200,000, though he discovers through his thoughts that he’s planning on betting it all on horse races. The client gets angry at the accusation, and Bagby handles the situation, promising to talk to Poole later.
He overhears a colleague, Helen (June Dayton), feeling sorry for him and thinking he needs to be more assertive. He thanks her for her thoughts, which confuses her. Another colleague comes up and says something, and then adds a nasty thought about Helen and the other women they work with. Poole then pours his water on him, and Helen thinks that he had it coming.
At his desk, Poole hears an elderly coworker, Mr. Smithers (Cyril Delevanti) planning to take a bunch of money from the bank at 4:30 pm, and head to Bermuda. Feeling conflicted, Hector eventually goes to Helen to tell her his situation. She thinks he’s coming on to her, but he tells her he thinks somone is going to rob the bank. She tells him he should do something about it.
He then goes into Mr. Bagby’s office, and tells him Smithers is planning to rob the bank. Bagby initially doesn’t believe him, but then talks himself into it, thinking that it will likely be the man he least expects. Now 4:30, the two of them watch Mr. Smithers, and Bagby and the security guard apprehend him when he returns from the vault. They find that there is no cash in his briefcase, and Bagby is infuriated at Poole.
Poole understands that he’s fired, and when he apologizes to Smithers, the old man responds, “How did you know?” Smithers says he was thinking of robbing the bank, and that it’s a little dream he has nearly everyday, but that he’d never act upon it.
Helen tries to comfort Poole, thinking that he needs medical help. He says that it’s not a delusion, and that he’s learned that people think things without any intention of acting upon them. Bagby rushes to him to tell him that the client that Poole had scared away has been arrested at the track for gambling with company money. He offers him his job back, and Helen thinks that he should demand to be the head of the accounts section, and move into a proper office.
He makes these demands, and Bagby doesn’t want to give in, but he checks his watch, thinking that Felicia is waiting for him. He then whispers to him that he knows about Felicia, and he gets the promotion. He then makes one final demand, wanting the bank to buy a round trip ticket to Bermuda for Mr. Smithers.
Poole then leaves, walking Helen home. He stops and buys a late afternoon paper, and accidentally knocks his quarter down. The newspaper boy recognizes him, and Poole realizes he cannot hear people’s thoughts any longer, getting excited.
This is a very fun episode. I’ve never seen an episode of Bewitched, but I must say I like Dick York a lot in this comedic role, in addition to having liked him in his dramatic role in “The Purple Testament.” It’s clever, and has a very good comedic premise.
