Emphasis on the word 'exactly' in the summary line above is mine, and not the script's. It struck me while watching this episode how brilliant Rod Serling and his writers were. Serling waged a personal war against statist agendas in many of his stories, and championed the ideal of personal responsibility along with individual freedom. I can't say for a certainty what he was getting at with this story, but with the perspective of fifty years of hindsight, it appears that the target here were liberal educators who meant to level the playing field. Forcing Ilse to become 'exactly like everybody else' is a core concept to achieving equal outcomes, contrary to the belief of social conservatives who believe in equal opportunity. Ilse had no right to be exceptional, and Miss Frank (Irene Dailey) is meant to symbolize society's equalizer. Almost five decades later, we've become a nation that doesn't believe in keeping score in youth sporting activities, while awarding medals and ribbons to those who try but fail to win. That mentality has now reached the highest echelons of government service, where a belief exists that America has been guilty of arrogance and deserves to feel guilty for it's past achievements.
Enough of the soapbox stuff. This episode of The Twilight Zone could have gone in a couple of different directions. Not having seen this one before, my resolution would have found Cora Wheeler (Barbara Baxley) developing her own power of telepathic communication to close the link with young Ilse (Ann Jillian). Or perhaps a fellow student her own age with whom she could have forged a connection. Instead, the story relied on Miss Frank (Irene Dailey) to expose the 'evil' nature of the telepathic ability inherited by Ilse from her deceased parents. This was given further credence by the Werner's, though Mrs. Werner (Eva Soreny) stopped short of considering Ilse part of a failed experiment. The story ends with a too quick reminder that love is more important than telepathy, but at least the idea was snuck in before it was all over.
I'll have to watch this story again. I was just so awestruck by Rod Serling's vision with this episode that I couldn't stop thinking about it. He had done as well if not better with similar themes in other episodes of the series, but this one just seemed to leap out without warning. But it came with a warning - beware that you don't wind up like everybody else, a victim of herd mentality after being forced to conform to a mass identity.
Enough of the soapbox stuff. This episode of The Twilight Zone could have gone in a couple of different directions. Not having seen this one before, my resolution would have found Cora Wheeler (Barbara Baxley) developing her own power of telepathic communication to close the link with young Ilse (Ann Jillian). Or perhaps a fellow student her own age with whom she could have forged a connection. Instead, the story relied on Miss Frank (Irene Dailey) to expose the 'evil' nature of the telepathic ability inherited by Ilse from her deceased parents. This was given further credence by the Werner's, though Mrs. Werner (Eva Soreny) stopped short of considering Ilse part of a failed experiment. The story ends with a too quick reminder that love is more important than telepathy, but at least the idea was snuck in before it was all over.
I'll have to watch this story again. I was just so awestruck by Rod Serling's vision with this episode that I couldn't stop thinking about it. He had done as well if not better with similar themes in other episodes of the series, but this one just seemed to leap out without warning. But it came with a warning - beware that you don't wind up like everybody else, a victim of herd mentality after being forced to conform to a mass identity.