Twilight Zone episode review — 5.1 — In Praise of Pip

Patrick J Mullen
Sep 2, 2018 · 2 min read

Episode 5.1 “In Praise of Pip”
Original air date: September 27, 1963
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Joseph M. Newman

Rating: 6/10

With season 5, the series went back to its original half-hour format — which is a much better fit for these kinds of stories. This isn’t the best example of what can be done with a half-hour episode, of course, but whatever.

This episode is most notable for its story revolving around the Vietnam War, which back in 1963, was pretty early as far as commentary is concerned.

Anyways, Max Phillips (Jack Klugman), wakes up from a nightmare of his son, Pip, getting severely injured in Vietnam. Max is a bookie, and he’s convinced a young man to place a bad bet, and they both meet with Max’s boss, who needs his money.

Max gets a telegram saying that his son is dying, and he suddenly realizes that he’s wasted his life in his job, and could have been a better father to his son. He returns the money to the young man, and gets in a fight with his boss and his men. He gets shot, but is able to kill a couple of guys with a knife.

Wounded, he stumbles to an abandoned amusement park, where he finds Pip (Billy Mumy) as a young boy. They play around and enjoy themselves in a pretty touching scene. At the end of it, Max prays to offer his own life in exchange for his son.

In the next scene, an adult Pip (Bobby Diamond) is hanging out at the amusement park, reflecting on how great his father was to him.

It’s relatively touching, and it’s very well acted by Klugman. But it’s not the best story, and the ending is predictable. Even though in an odd way it focuses on the second chance theme that Serling was so fond of, it doesn’t feel like a true Twilight Zone episode the way the best of the series would.

As Vast as Space and as Timeless as Infinity

This blog will be dedicated primarily to horror and sci-fi media, chiefly film and television.

Patrick J Mullen

Written by

As Vast as Space and as Timeless as Infinity

This blog will be dedicated primarily to horror and sci-fi media, chiefly film and television.

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