Twilight Zone episode review — 2.21 — The Prime Mover
Episode 2.21 “The Prime Mover”
Original air date: March 24, 1961
Writer: Charles Beaumont (based on an unpublished story by George Clayton Johnson)
Director: Richard L. Bare
Rating: 9/10
“The Prime Mover” is a really clever episode with well developed characters. The episode opens at a diner run by Ace Larsen (Dane Clark). He’s in love with his girlfriend, waitress Kitty (Christine White). Also working there is Jimbo Cobb (Buddy Ebsen, The Beverly Hillbillies). Ace uses a slot machine and loses, and eventually bets a customer his last quarter, losing it. When leaving, the customer uses the slot machine and wins a bunch of coins, giving the quarter back.
They hear a car accident after Kitty leaves, and Ace and Jimbo go outside to help. The car has been flipped and is right next to a power plant, potentially exploding at any second. Jimbo moves the car with his mind, saving the people inside.
Ace asks Jimbo about this power, and he says he always had it, but doesn’t use it often because he used to get in trouble a lot in school because of it, and always gets in headaches. Ace soon realizes that he can use Jimbo’s power to win at gambling, and they go to Vegas with Kitty.
Kitty is shocked at how casually Ace is betting everything he has, but with Jimbo’s help, he continues to win. Jimbo eventually tells him he has to quit, due to a headache. When collecting his cash, Ace hits on a cigarette girl. At their hotel room, Jimbo is still in pain, and tries to get Ace to stop because he doesn’t like that they’re cheating. Ace promises to quit after just one more game. Kitty continues to be disgusted, and leaves for home.
Jimbo tries to get Ace to go after her, saying that she’s “worth more than all the money in the world.” Instead, Ace finds the cigarette girl from earlier, Sheila (Jane Burgess), and pays her to come work for him. He then tracks down the biggest gambler in town, Big Phil Nolan (Nesdon Booth), and sets up a game.
When Jimbo hears about this, he tries to persuade Ace to back out, saying that Nolan is a gangster from Chicago.
They gamble in Ace and Jimbo’s hotel room. They roll some dice, and Ace quickly wins $10,000. As the winnings pile up, Sheila enters, upsetting Jimbo, who tries to get Ace to quit. Ace then bets it all, and loses. Nolan and his men collect the money and leave, and Jimbo apologizes, saying that he somehow lost the power. Sheila then leaves Ace.
Ace and Jimbo return to the diner, and Ace is a changed man. He gets some people to collect the slot machine from the diner, and finally proposes to Kitty, who says yes. As they kiss, Jimbo uses his telekinesis to pick up his broom, revealing that he never lost the power, but instead used it to teach Ace a lesson.
The episode is a lot of fun. The performances are good, and I like the message. This is certainly a better Vegas-set episode than “The Fever,” if nothing else.
