Twilight Zone episode review — 5.30 — Stopover in a Quiet Town

Episode 5.30 “Stopover in a Quiet Town”
Original air date: April 24, 1964
Writer: Earl Hamner, Jr.
Director: Ron Winston

Rating: 10/10

“Stopover in a Quiet Town” may be the best episode of the fifth season. It’s some great stuff, and has some great mystery to it, and a memorable if silly twist ending.

Bob and Millie Frazier (Barry Nelson and Nancy Malone) wake up hungover in an unfamiliar house. They assume somebody took them in after they got in a car accident, but when they go downstairs, they find that no one else is home. They also find that the home is basically the model home from Arrested Development, as the food there is all fake, and the phone isn’t connected to anything.

They go outside and find the town is empty. The grass is fake, the trees are fake, and all the houses and churches are unoccupied. They eventually find a train and board it hoping to leave the town, but the train arrives back at the station it had left from.

A giant hand comes at them and they run, but don’t escape. The episode then reveals that there is a giant alien girl playing with her new pets.

It’s definitely silly, but it’s also quite great. And the buildup in the plot’s mystery is fantastic.