First of all, the very beginning is bogus from my standpoint, as the pact that is formed, makes the totally unfounded presumption that people originally communicated by telepathy. If those Germans depicted, had any religious background whatsoever, I think they would had remembered the Garden of Eden, and even with very dusty memories of it, know for a fact that the communication going on then was all SPOKEN (even a serpent talking).
In any event, I think it's pretty clear that people were not meant to read minds so to speak, and even with all the superior abilities even demons have in contrast to ordinary human beings, they cannot read minds. Is telepathy still possible though? Perhaps. But if it's actually possible, I think if this episode were anything linked to it's actual execution, it's plain why it's inferior in many respects, simply due to the fact that the mind can be overrun with things it meant not to take in (such as Ilse being overrun with the thoughts of a group of children). To be fair, one can be overcome with too many spoken voices as well, but one can always nullify, if not eliminate too much audible noise. As Hollywood has depicted telepathy, I don't recall there being a way to switch it off, or reduce it, but alas, that's only fantasy.
One thing I found a little silly here, and for people not having to deal with people whom cannot hear, in particular, this aspect for the early going of the episode is a slight bit of plot hole, or call it lack of knowing how to deal with such a subject. That is, they have a very difficult time making themselves understood to her (yet she castes her thoughts to herself perfectly in English, so we can understand her telepathy I suppose, but it does sabotage the notion she doesn't understand English, so some license is used so to speak) yet they never think at any point of WRITING to her. Now if what they think is true, that she was nothing more than a medium, and was otherwise completely unschooled, then it is entirely likely she doesn't understand writing at all, but they didn't even try. I believe the first family that accepts her, and in the end keeps her, had no knowledge of how she was usedl, and only her teacher had a sense Ilse was used as she was - completely uneducated beyond telepathy.
We understand full well, though the German Town residents are ignorant of it, that the original pact was pro-telepathy, and anti-speech, but there wasn't a pact against writing. Naturally, as the original pact members saw things, it's likely they also had hangups, against all forms of communication but telepathy, but it's certainly not stated. They really wanted to focus on telepathy in any case, and you only have to wonder why Ilse's parents would not had also instructed her in writing, if speech is such an awful thing as the pact made rather clear.
It's also clear, as written, that the original pact members had no regard for the future generations aside from anything but telepathy, because, after all, the members already had the ability to read and write, and speak, so why waste time instructing Ilse on such things? Yes, I think this was the intention of the writer, to show how those people were fanatical to the point of not even bothering in the slightest with instructing the young on what they regarded as the inferior ways of communication. This is definitely abuse, because at least how the episode defines it, it seems they cannot contact strangers to telepathy, with being able to hear telepathy, and if so, only to a spotty degree. So you leave a junior high girl completely unable to speak to the outside world, and possibly unable to understand reading and writing? We all need a backup system to communicate, do we not?
Aside from all of that, I thought it was a good episode as it sort of reminds you what a week in the life of Helen Keller might had been like (aside from Isle being sighted, but it scarcely aided her in communication. Yes, I think Ilse could hear, but again, it scarcely seemed to help her very much. If it were possible, you might assume telepathy isn't done in English, but the audience just hears it that way). This episode featured one scene when Ilse was running away, very reminiscent of the previous late season's episode featuring Veronica Cartwright running away on the very same studio lot (even shot from the exact same direction). Definitely one of the more heady episodes anyway.
Generally, any episode that gets you to thinking, is a good episode, even if it doesn't turn out to be one of the very best.
In any event, I think it's pretty clear that people were not meant to read minds so to speak, and even with all the superior abilities even demons have in contrast to ordinary human beings, they cannot read minds. Is telepathy still possible though? Perhaps. But if it's actually possible, I think if this episode were anything linked to it's actual execution, it's plain why it's inferior in many respects, simply due to the fact that the mind can be overrun with things it meant not to take in (such as Ilse being overrun with the thoughts of a group of children). To be fair, one can be overcome with too many spoken voices as well, but one can always nullify, if not eliminate too much audible noise. As Hollywood has depicted telepathy, I don't recall there being a way to switch it off, or reduce it, but alas, that's only fantasy.
One thing I found a little silly here, and for people not having to deal with people whom cannot hear, in particular, this aspect for the early going of the episode is a slight bit of plot hole, or call it lack of knowing how to deal with such a subject. That is, they have a very difficult time making themselves understood to her (yet she castes her thoughts to herself perfectly in English, so we can understand her telepathy I suppose, but it does sabotage the notion she doesn't understand English, so some license is used so to speak) yet they never think at any point of WRITING to her. Now if what they think is true, that she was nothing more than a medium, and was otherwise completely unschooled, then it is entirely likely she doesn't understand writing at all, but they didn't even try. I believe the first family that accepts her, and in the end keeps her, had no knowledge of how she was usedl, and only her teacher had a sense Ilse was used as she was - completely uneducated beyond telepathy.
We understand full well, though the German Town residents are ignorant of it, that the original pact was pro-telepathy, and anti-speech, but there wasn't a pact against writing. Naturally, as the original pact members saw things, it's likely they also had hangups, against all forms of communication but telepathy, but it's certainly not stated. They really wanted to focus on telepathy in any case, and you only have to wonder why Ilse's parents would not had also instructed her in writing, if speech is such an awful thing as the pact made rather clear.
It's also clear, as written, that the original pact members had no regard for the future generations aside from anything but telepathy, because, after all, the members already had the ability to read and write, and speak, so why waste time instructing Ilse on such things? Yes, I think this was the intention of the writer, to show how those people were fanatical to the point of not even bothering in the slightest with instructing the young on what they regarded as the inferior ways of communication. This is definitely abuse, because at least how the episode defines it, it seems they cannot contact strangers to telepathy, with being able to hear telepathy, and if so, only to a spotty degree. So you leave a junior high girl completely unable to speak to the outside world, and possibly unable to understand reading and writing? We all need a backup system to communicate, do we not?
Aside from all of that, I thought it was a good episode as it sort of reminds you what a week in the life of Helen Keller might had been like (aside from Isle being sighted, but it scarcely aided her in communication. Yes, I think Ilse could hear, but again, it scarcely seemed to help her very much. If it were possible, you might assume telepathy isn't done in English, but the audience just hears it that way). This episode featured one scene when Ilse was running away, very reminiscent of the previous late season's episode featuring Veronica Cartwright running away on the very same studio lot (even shot from the exact same direction). Definitely one of the more heady episodes anyway.
Generally, any episode that gets you to thinking, is a good episode, even if it doesn't turn out to be one of the very best.