The Twilight Zone: Season #1: (1985)

🍸🍸Episode #1: Evergreen🍸🍸 – When rebellious teenager Jenna and her family move into an exclusive gated community that her parents hope will help them better control the troubled teen, Jenna soon discovers the dark truth behind how her new neighbors deal with discipline problems. Jenna’s parents move her to a special community to help curb her rebellious teenage ways. Little do they know that Jenna will be changed in ways they never dreamed possible. The Winslow family is moving into a gated community called Evergreen in order to deal with a troublesome teenage daughter, Jenna (Amber Tamblyn). To get in they must sign a contract putting up everything they own as collateral. On move-in day, Jenna notices a crying couple planting an evergreen tree on their front lawn. She accepts a glass of lemonade from her mother and quickly realizes she’s been drugged. She wakes up in bed to find her tattoos have been removed, the dye in her hair has been washed out and all her jewelry and piercings have been removed. All her clothes are gone and she must wear the Evergreen young girl’s uniform of white blouse, tan knee-length skirt, white knee socks and black shoes. Evergreen’s ominous-looking leader, Mr. Brooks (Paul Perri), preaches that it is all for her own good and that Evergreen is free of crime and drugs and gangs. But Jenna sees all the kids are lollipop freaks. Except for Logan (Jesse Moss), a teenage boy who is also a bit of a malcontent. Jenna befriends Logan and in doing so, earns the scrutiny of Mr. Brooks. Slowly Jenna begins to learn that Evergreen is harboring a dark secret. Apparently, kids who cannot adapt to Evergreen’s strict code of conduct for youngsters are sent to a military school called Arcadia. She spies on Mr. Brooks warning Logan’s parents about his breaking curfew multiple times and watches in horror as Logan is brutally accosted and arrested by secret police. Jenna cannot find an Arcadia Military School anywhere on the Internet and is shocked when Mr. Brooks tells her that Logan violently assaulted police guards. Sneaking to the homeowner’s community gathering center well past kids’ curfew, she sees the parents all voting on whether to send Logan to Arcadia and when the vote is passed, his parents are crying desperately for mercy even as Mr. Brooks assures them that he has had to send a child to Arcadia himself and plant an evergreen tree and that although it is heartbreaking, sending kids to Arcadia when necessary benefits the community as a whole. Jenna sees Logan being loaded into the Arcadia truck and desperately tries to scream a warning to him about a sign on the truck she has spotted. Logan warns Jenna to run, but the divers spot and recognize her. Jenna rushes home and begs her younger sister, Julie (Chantal Colin) to lie to their parents about her whereabouts so the two of them can escape Evergreen. But Julie betrays Jenna and leads her parents and Mr. Brooks to Jenna’s true hiding place, telling Jenna, “You were going to ruin everything… again.” The guards seize Jenna and throw the hysterical girl into the Arcadia truck and her parents turn Julie away as the doors slam and we see that Arcadia is a fertilizer company specializing in waste recycling. Cut to the Winslow’s with Mr. Brooks on the front lawn, planting an evergreen tree in remembrance of Jenna… a closeup of Julie’s hand is shown as she places mulch around the base of the tree… mulch made of the remains of Jenna’s body.

The Winslow’s move to Evergreen, a gated community. Their older daughter Jenna is dressed in punk clothing with tattoos and earrings. She spits gum out as they arrive at their new home, then notices that all the other children in the community are wearing the same clothing. Her father talks about the heart attack that her activities have brought on and why they’re moving there in the hopes she’ll change her behavior. Jenna notices a couple down the street putting mulch around the base of an evergreen tree and crying, as well as a cute boy mowing the lawn. While they’re talking, Mrs. Winslow brings out lemonade for her family, including younger daughter Jules. After they have a quick drink, Jenna starts to take her stuff up to her room… and passes out while her mother apologizes. She wakes up to discover that her jewelry is gone and her tattoos have been removed. She goes downstairs to confront her parents, who are meeting with Mr. Brooks, the head of the Homeowner’s Association. When they refuse to back down and talk about how they sacrificed everything to move there and help her, she runs outside. Jules goes after her and asks Jenna to take her with her if she runs away. That night, Jenna sneaks off to the main gated entrance and sees a black van. The boy she saw earlier, Logan, comes up and knows about her because he sneaked a look at her files. He warns her that the teenagers who don’t behave are sent to Arcadia, what everyone claims is a military academy. He offers to share his drugs and records with her during the upcoming picnic. However, during the picnic Logan never shows up. She goes to his house that night and sees Brooks talking to Logan’s parents, saving that he’s had enough chances. Jules comes up and asks Jenna to behave rather than mess up their entire family. Jenna gets angry with her and then apologizes and tells Jules to go inside. Logan runs up to his house and pounds on the door, but his parents don’t answer. He sees Jenna and tells her to stay away and the community guards in black arrive and take him away.

The next day, Jenna secretly gets online and checks some information, but is called downstairs when Brooks pays a visit. He asks her about Logan, saying he attacked a guard with a knife. Jenna lies and says she tried to get Logan to go to the community leaders and promises to report any further violations. As she leaves, she overhears Brooks asking her parents if she can be trusted. She also overhears Brooks saying that the Homeowner’s Association will decide Logan’s fate at the meeting that night. Upstairs, she sees Jules and says that she couldn’t find any information on Arcadia. Jules is still worried Jenna will ruin everything for their family, but Jenna asks her to trust her. That night, Jenna breaks into the school and watches the parents as they vote on Logan, using a black or a white marble. Brooks counts the votes and then offers his condolences to Logan’s parents as they break down crying. He promises them that Logan will always have a place in the community and they already have his tree chosen. Brooks addresses the entire meeting, saying that while many of them have sacrificed children to the cause, including himself, that they’ve saved many more.

Jenna gets out and sees Logan being hauled away. She tries to get him out of the van without success and the guards spot her. Jenna goes back home and asks for Jules’ help. She tells Jules to lie to her parents about where she’s going and then meet her at a different spot so they can run away together. She leaves and waits for Jules, but her sister brings Brooks, their parents and the security guards. Jules says that she doesn’t want Jenna ruining things anymore. The guard puts Jenna into a security van labeled “Arcadia Fertilizer Company”. Later, the Winslow’s are gathered in front of their house where a new evergreen has been planted. Each of them puts a bit of fertilizer around the base and Jules smiles as her parents praise her as a good child.

🍸🍸Episode #2: One Night at Mercy🍸🍸 – A young doctor meets a suicide who claims to be a Death incarnate. When Death insists he wants to stop his killing ways, the doctor is forced to contemplate what life would be like without death. Dr. Jay Ferguson’s headaches at work aren’t helped by putting up with a suicidal man claiming to be  Death and that he’s quitting his job – and neither does a flood of patients who come to Jay in incredible pain when they should have died. Dr. Jay Sullivan is at Mercy Hospital on his second day on the job and working to save his first patient, a gunshot wound. Jay finally manages to seal the patient’s aorta and stop the bleeding, ignoring the nurse’s recommendation to wait for the senior resident. Afterwards, Jay tells the patient’s wife that he will pull through and she hugs him in relief. Paramedics bring in a suicide victim, who was hanging for what a witness reported was 20 hours. The man is alive, but has no ID. They find a journal on the suicide victim, but the pages are empty. When Jay asks the new patient what his name is, the man says that he is Death. After the patient is stabilized, Jay calls the psych hospital, but they can’t send anyone until morning. Wincing at a headache and trying to stay awake after 39 hours straight, Jay has “Death” strapped in and asks him who he is. The man insists that he is Death and promises that he won’t try to kill himself because he realizes that it won’t do any good. Death explains that he’s been feeling depressed since the 1300s and the Black Death and that he can’t take being a mass murderer anymore. He decides to kit and Jay wonders if anyone will die anymore. Death tells him that they won’t, but figures that “they” won’t let him quit. When Jay wonders what he means, Death says that they’re the Celestial Choir.

Jay gets a call and promises Death that he’ll be back later. As he goes, Death says that he admires the fact that the doctors at Mercy never give up. He tells Jay that he’s been there before and that Billy Breem was the first soul he collected at Mercy in 1968. Death tells Jay to look it up if he doesn’t believe him. As Jay goes to check on his next patient, the head nurse, Linda, asks how he’s holding up. Jay admits that he has a headache and Linda gives him some aspirin. Jay asks her to see who the first patient to die was at Mercy Hospital and goes back to his office. He tries to sleep but Linda wakes him up to tell him that Death has disappeared. Jay goes back to the ward and discovers that the restraints are still fastened, as if his patient just slipped through them. Before Linda goes, she tells Jay that the first patient to die was William Breem. Jay considers that and then considers where the real Death would go. The doctor visits the morgue and finds Death there, apologizing to the recently dead for not choosing to quit soon enough to spare them. Death figures that Jay is at least willing to consider the truth and tosses him the journal he had earlier. There are names in it now, but Jay figures that he could have written them on his way down.

Once Death finishes apologizing to the corpses, they go upstairs and Jay finally concedes for the sake of argument that he’s who he says he is. He wonders what it means and Death picks up a discarded newspaper and tells him to check the obituary section. When he does, Jay discovers that it’s empty because no one has died. Jay insists that people die every day, but Death tells him that’s no longer the case. Back in the ward, Jay calls the newspaper and confirms that it isn’t a hoax. However, he still doesn’t believe that his patient is Death. The lights go out due to a power failure and Death takes on the appearance of Jay’s dying mother, praying for Jay to be safe. Jay backs away, startled and Linda comes in. Death is back to his normal non-descriptive appearance. Once the head nurse leaves, Death says that he remembers Jay from the day he came to take his mother and that Jay must have decided to become a doctor because of the loss he suffered. Jay accepts that Death is who he says he is and is happy that there will be no more death in the world. Death warns him that “they” will put pressure on him and try to force him back to work, but Jay tells him to stay strong and figures that they can deal with any problems like overpopulation caused by the absence of death.

Before they can discuss the matter further, Jay is called to the ER. A bus has crashed and the driver and passengers were badly burned. However, none of them are dying but they are all screaming in agony. Jay realizes what a lack of death really means a goes to find his patient. Death is up on the roof, dressed to leave and holding a rose. The doctor insists that he has to go back to work because people will suffer forever and Death admits that he suspected something like this would happen. Death asks Jay when he had last stopped to smell the roses and Jay admits that it’s been a while. His new friend offers him the rose that he’s holding and asks what it smells like and Jay says that it smells like life. Death asks him if he’s sure that he wants Death back in the world and Jay insists. At that, Death takes the rose and it dies. He then tells Jay to look in his journal and Jay discovers that his name is the first one in the book. The doctor winces in sudden pain and sits down. Death touches him and the pain stops and Jay’s spirit emerges from his body. Death tells him that the headaches were symptoms of an aneurysm and admits that he’s tempted to spare Jay. However, explains that’s not how it works. As they prepare to go, Jay asks if he saved his first patient or if Death did by not being there. Death assures him that if Jay hadn’t been there, the patient would have been in his book. He asks Jay how it felt to save a life, something that he’s never done and Jay admits that it felt good. As they talk, they stroll off the roof to Jay’s just reward.