Twilight Zone episode review — 4.3 — Valley of the Shadow

Episode 4.3 “Valley of the Shadow”
Original air date: 1963
Writer: Charles Beaumont
Director: Perry Lafferty

Rating: 9/10

“Valley of the Shadow” is one of the most interesting episodes of the series, and definitely a highlight of the fourth season. The story concerns a man named Philip Redfield (Ed Nelson) who stumbles upon a small town with a secret. The setup is perfect. Serling explains in his narration: “ You’ve seen them. Little towns, tucked away far from the main roads. You’ve seen them, but have you thought about them? What do the people in these places do? Why do they stay? Philip Redfield never thought about them. If his dog hadn’t gone after that cat, he would have driven through Peaceful Valley and put it out of his mind forever. But he can’t do that now, because whether he knows it or not his friend’s shortcut has led him right into the capital of the Twilight Zone.”

Redfield gets lost taking a shortcut and ends up at Peaceful Valley needing gas. When he stops to get some, his dog escapes to chase a cat, and he follows it, only to see it disappear after a little girl points some kind of device at it.

The little girl’s father goes to help and makes the dog reappear while using the same device when he’s certain Philip isn’t watching him. Redfield is ready to leave, but chooses instead to snoop around, at this point intrigued by the odd things he’s noticed. The town restaurant is closed, and the town hotel, run by Ellen Marshall (Natalie Trundy) has no vacancies. Redfield finally gets ready to leave, but unfortunately, the gas station attendant has already called for someone named Dorn, and as he’s driving out of the town, his car hits something invisible and gets totaled. While he remains uninjured, his dog dies.

A number of people from the town come over to help him and tell him that they’re taking him to a doctor, and that his dog and car will be taken care of. He’s taken to meet the Mayor, Dorn (David Opatoshu), and his two councilmen. Dorn explains that his dog is okay and that his car is being worked on.

They ask Philip a bunch of questions including whether or not anyone knows he’s here. He says no, but that plenty of people will know he was here. He is a reporter, and he’s hoping to draw attention to this strange town. Dorn is disappointed to hear that, and says that he cannot leave.

Redfield tries to escape, but Dorn points that device at him, and he disappears, and then appears back on a chair. Dorn explains that this is a device that allows him to disassemble something’s matter, and then reassemble it.

Dorn then explains the technology. A hundred years ago, a scientist came to the town with formulae that had never been dreamed of. He developed technology that allowed people to duplicate objects, essentially creating them out of thin air, but that he said that this technology could never leave Peaceful Valley.

Redfield doesn’t yet understand, so they take him downstairs to show him, even demonstrating its time reversal capabilities by Dorn stabbing one of his councilmen, only to have it reverse time so that he’s okay.

Dorn uses a machine and a sheet of paper with the chemical makeup of a sandwich to create a sandwich. Redfield insists that this information needs to reach the outside world because it could cure diseases and feed starving people, but Dorn insists that it would also be used for evil and destruction. When Redfield senses that they’re going to kill him, he calls them hypocrites, acting no differently than what they despise. Dorn agrees, and says that they can keep him in town and assimilate him.

Redfield has a house constructed for him, and is taken to it by Ellen, whom he detects is different from everyone else in town. When she leaves, however, he finds that he’s been barricaded into his home by an invisible wall.

Ellen comes back later to check on him, and he tells her that they can help people if they escape. she prepares their escape, and Redfield stops at the Mayor’s office to take the papers with the chemical makeups of various items so that he can show this information to the world. Before he does that, however, he creates a gun. He ends up shooting the Mayor and his two councilmen, and escapes with Ellen.

When they’re at the town limits, he looks through the papers to find that they’re blank. Ellen then points her device at him, and he disappears.

Back in the basement where the machines were, Redfield is with the Mayor, his two councilmen, and Ellen. The two councilmen have an I told you so moment in which they acknowledge that the first thing he did was create a weapon. Dorn says that Ellen had participated because she believed he would prove them wrong, and that Dorn himself had had some hope, as well. Dorn says that he’ll now be executed, and that he’s found a way that should please their anti-violence laws.

They use the machine on Redfield, and suddenly he’s back in his car paying for gas, with no memory of what had happened. Ellen steps out of the hotel to look at him, and he has a brief moment of familiarity, but he passes it off as nothing but deja vu. He then leaves town.

I like this episode a lot. It’s really interesting and tells a compelling and unique story while raising some interesting moral questions. It’s definitely out there as far as science fiction is concerned, but it’s very entertaining, as well.