Twilight Zone episode review — 3.4 — The Passersby
Episode 3.4 “The Passersby”
Original air date: October 6, 1961
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Elliot Silverstein
Rating: 6/10
“The Passersby” is a decent, but unremarkable episode. It takes place in April of 1865, shortly after the end of the Civil War.
A wounded Confederate Sergeant (James Gregory) heads home, but stops at a house owned by Lavinia (Joanne Linville), whose husband had gone off to fight. She’s still better against the Union, though the Sergeant is just sort of done with the whole thing.
They see many soldiers of both armies crossing, heading home. The Sergeant and Lavinia become pretty close, with the Sergeant singing and playing his homemade guitar for her, a song that she says her husband used to sing. A Union soldier on horseback stops by asking for water. The Sergeant goes to help him and recognizes him as someone that had saved his life. Lavinia pulls a rifle on him and fires after the Sergeant tries to take it away from her. She hits the Union soldier but it has no effect. Then the Sergeant remembers that he had seen this man die, and the two of them see a facial wound once he’s in better light.
The Sergeant is convinced this isn’t a normal road, and wants to see what it leads to, but Lavinia tries to get him to stay. Her husband then arrives, and the Sergeant understands that they’re all dead, and are walking to the afterlife.
The final victim of the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln, shows up, and speaks some words of comfort to Lavinia as they proceed. It’s a great looking Lincoln, I think.
This is a predictable episode. It’s really easily predictable once Lavinia meets a disillusionsed soldier that she had heard was dead. It’s still respectable, though. It’s an episode that I think benefits hugely from its art direction, and some grotesque (for 1961) makeup on that one dead soldier. It’s alright.
