The Twilight Zone (TV Series) Blurryman (2019) User Reviews

What Was the Point?

[drmidnite-78896 · 5/10 · 2 June 2019]

The original show always had a point, a moral compass that at least pointed you in the direction of understanding what lesson it was trying to impart to you. This episode was all over the map, made for the sake of Easter eggs and a cameo of the creator of this series. Still...what was the point? What was Sophie being taught? Why was she being haunted? I knew who the Blurryman was almost instantly. Wasn't that hard to guess.

But, why was he attacking her? Why Sophie? WHO was she in relation the story and WHAT was she supposed to do?

Good idea, poor execution.

[alihandemiral · 5/10 · 27 June 2019]

The only great thing about this episode is the fact that Rod Serling - a heavy CGI Rod Serling, was a part of it.

The idea is really good and the episode itself starts with a good twist. But in the end, it comes short of what it was trying to communicate for 40 minutes. It comes short of making a point. Peele says in the episode that "the meaning is (already) there", but it actually isn't.

Decent job though, I mean the season. Peele wanted to cement his position as a horror icon with this show. But honesty he could do better.

too late for 'meta' excuses for a bad series inappropriately humble bragging

[Rob-O-Cop · 5/10 · 31 May 2019]

This might have worked better if it hadn't come after a run of terrible heavy handed stupid-and-unaware-of-it episodes.

The section where they talk about how important and deep the series is after delivering a bunch of unimportant and silly episodes sat really badly, and then they tried to rest on the laurels of the original by dragging Sterling into this sorry mess.

As always great production values, just nothing insightful to say when that's the whole point of the show. This is style over substance.

An efficient nightcap to season 1 of an uneven reboot

[jimmer85 · 7/10 · 31 May 2019]

A disclaimer. I was born 20+ years after the original went off the air. However, after growing, learning, and understanding the climate of that era, it's easy to see how amazing the original was. Yes, there was also the added personal side effect of being something I'd watch with my father (those New Year's Day marathons on Sy-fy network) before he passed away. The stories and backdrop alone made for a journey that you felt lucky to be a part of, and at the end, you felt like you'd learned something innate about the human condition. Maybe you'd feel something you never felt before. That, in and of itself, made the journey that much more rewarding. It's not easy to make tales of fantasy that are effective morality tales, yet Rod Serling delivered week after week. This reboot proves how difficult it is to recreate that magic. Yet, the fact that they are trying, for better or worse, to keep that idea alive, is admirable. This episode reads to me like a confession. That it has been so difficult to be in Mr. Serling's shadow and effectively create those kind of tales for a new generation. The idea put forth by this episode that he would approve of the reboot is a bit pretentious. Bordering on disrespectful. The heart is in the right place though. Rod Serling believed in the rights of all people. He told tales about persecution, paranoia, and so many other cautionary tales. This episode makes me believe in the spirit of this reboot, in the sense that the motives are noble. This finale is a sweet love letter to the OG and a lot of this season has bordered on ridiculous parody, maybe more suited to a Key and Peele sketch. Yet, there were a couple that made the subscription worth it, and the finale has actually sold me on the prospect of watching a second season. Serling was almost an early version of a punk rock star because so much was taboo back then. This show (as well as the other reboots) has the unenviable task of trying to recreate that rebellion in a meaningful way. That's a testament to how far we've come though. Keep it going folks. I expect next season will be more focused, and even better

Hard to rate this one without being in the Twilight Zone

[itaylor-50665 · 3/10 · 1 June 2019]

Some folks may say this was the best episode so far. It certainly was the craziest. OK, I get it - a story about the writers and actors of the Twilight Zone actually being in the Twilight Zone when writing for it and acting in it. Cute idea. Had great potential. But it was just too confusing to watch. Half way through you kinda start to get the idea but it wan't an enjoyable ride getting there. I gave up at that point and fast-forwarded to the end to see if I was right. When Rod showed up, that confirmed my suspicion. However, even ghost Rod didn't make the episode a winner.

Blurryman

[Prismark10 · 6/10 · 18 August 2020]

A meta textual approach or an ironic confession that this new series of The Twilight Zone does not hold a candle to the original series?

It starts off conventionally enough with Seth Rogen as the gust star seeing the apocalypse. However it is when Jordan Peele appears things change. Peele does not like his lines.

The writer Sophie Gelson (Zazie Beetz) needs to quickly come up with a rewrite. Something from within her heart or soul. This is a show she loved to watch as a child, under pressure, someone has noticed that there is a blurry figure in the scenes that were shot.

There is a clip from Time Enough at Last starring Burgess Meredith. I saw this episode in the early 1980s and still remember it, particularly the cruel ironic ending. I cannot remember much of the the new series a few hours after I have seen it.

At least this one will be more memorable even if it is just for the reveal of the Blurryman.

Sorry but...

[mpc5150 · 4/10 · 4 June 2019]

The nuclear storyline would of been more interesting.

A fun, if not hollow, episode

[itsbrianduh · 8/10 · 26 June 2020]

I hate to compare the show to Black Mirror, since I know TZ predates it by a long shot, but this episode is like the "Black Museum" episode of Black Mirror. It's full of fun callbacks to the season, and gives you some incentive (maybe?) to go back and watch the season again to spot the Blurry Man. The reveal of the Blurry Man was pretty obvious. I called it the second they introduced the idea, but it was fun nonetheless. Masterpiece? Not by a long shot. Fun? Sure.

Blurryman

[bobcobb301 · 6/10 · 1 June 2019]

I like the show mocking the idea of its ridiculous narrations and giving us a look behind-the-scenes, but it didn't seem to go anywhere.

Honoring the great Rod Serling was the right thing to do, but this didn't make any sense, especially if this won't be referenced in the second season.

Is this the best you got??

[cagdas-21-315073 · 1/10 · 2 June 2019]

Seriously fire all the writers and reset the show!!!

A love letter to The Twilight Zone

[zorrodg-316-238330 · 10/10 · 30 May 2019]

This episode is basically just a long homage to classic Twilight Zone, but it's done with such reverence and flair that the episode doesn't suffer from it. Good performances, a fun concept and loads of Easter Eggs, combined with some stellar atmospherics and a faster pace make this easily the strongest entry of the season. Looking forward to Season 2.

Not bad. Not bad at all...

[mf2812 · 7/10 · 30 May 2019]

I would say this is probably the best episode in this series so far. Really spooky at points and great acting. Also well shot as all the episodes have been to be fair.

Spitting On A Legendary Grave

[jacob_birney · 1/10 · 23 July 2019]

Screw you, just... Screw you. Bringing Rod Serling back from the dead to prove a point about how much your show matters? Talk about patting yourself in the back. So ashamed of everyone involved

Great behind the scenes type of episode

[cappa-89654 · 7/10 · 14 June 2019]

I just love how it starts out and then you suddenly become drawn into the episode rather than viewing from the outside. The scene with the broken glasses on the library steps was a brilliant addition to the true "Zone" fans that will know the significance. Pity Rod looked a bit less human than he could have....there is plenty digital software out now that could have brought "Him" to life rather than the average quality CGI...nevertheless, great job writers, directors, cast, crew.

Some grey areas

[Lejink · 5/10 · 10 October 2019]

I'm using the last episode of this remake of the iconic "The Twilight Zone" to review the whole series. I'm concurrently working my way slowly through the original black and white series produced by Rod Serling so it was interesting to compare the two. I do like that the 2019 version retains the original title font, theme music and the introductory and closing narration. The choice of acting talent and production values of the show are high and the new episodes are normally at least fifteen minutes longer. However I think the latter point works against the show's effectiveness as the shorter running time of the original tended to make the stories being told punchier and faster-paced.

Many have commented here on the reboot's political agenda and certainly a few of the episodes put polemic over thrills, I'm thinking particularly of the episodes with the racist policeman terrorising the black mother and her son, the one where an all-American housewife and mother was abducted from her family, the too-obvious Trump satire which puts a kid into the White House or the one where a form of man-rage in a small town apparently attributable to a meteorite storm turned out to be nothing of the kind. Some were just slow and boring like the sub-2001 episode about the tensions aboard a mission-to-Mars rocket crew, the series opener concerning an aspirant comedian whose act in the telling seems to edit out significant people in his life or the show featuring the arrival at Christmas time of a mysterious stranger at an Alaskan police station.

That really just leaves the ones that I did like such as the remake of the famous "Nightmare At 30000 Feet" episode starring Adam Scott, the Chris O'Dowd-starrer concerning a haunted gun and the series closer, a thoughtful, daring existential story within a story, which broke the fourth wall throughout and sought to link up the preceding episodes with an ominous-seeming "blurry-man" whose identity I guessed before the reveal. I also really liked the time-shifting premise of the "Replay" episode but as stated it overdid the right-on P.C. anti-racism message. It made me think of the Rosa Parks episode from the last Dr Who series which brilliantly and more daringly took on a similar subject.

I agree with others that few if any of these new episodes will live as long in the memory as many of those from the Serling era but i saw enough to persuade me to watch the second series which I see has now been commissioned.

Pretty Good.

[pretentiousfanboy · 7/10 · 1 June 2019]

I'll be honest, I hated most of the episodes of this season - The Comedian, Nightmare at 30,000 Feet, A Traveler, Six Degrees of Freedom and The Blue Scorpion are the only ones I find to be genuinely good in their own ways but then again, I haven't watched the other Twilight Zones shows.

Not to beat a dead horse, but putting an obvious, blatant and disrespectful agenda screaming out of the other episodes obviously hasn't worked and I hope the writers and showrunners take the criticisms and feedback to heart for the second season.

Gee, I wonder who the Blurryman is 🤔

[danielortiz26 · 1/10 · 19 June 2019]

It was obvious who it was and the CGI was trash sandwich. Very disappointed in a series that cannot come close to matching the originals.

Best of the season

[danielstanner-29627 · 10/10 · 30 May 2019]

Very good episode. Very original. It was a cool idea and executed great

Bigotry made a lot of Accounts to Review this show.

[megaruda · 6/10 · 19 February 2020]

Everyone is so obssesed with it being PC or not, they simply are unable to have an opinion for themselves, it has to be all black or white, republican or liberal. Pretty much none of the reviewers in here are able to separate this, the episode was confusing in a bad way, the ending was overly ambiguous, overwritten, too much dialogue trying to explain the philosophy behind it instead of showing us. But, it has nothing to do with political correctness or not, the ¨Not all men¨ episode is one of the most solid ones narratively and yet is the lowest score in here. They got big shoes to fill, thats what I understood from this episode and that is fine, i hope they do this better on the next attempt, 40 mins episodes are a no go for me. Go back to telling your story in 23 minutes.

Started out good, then, not so much

[kat-o-nine-lives · 4/10 · 30 May 2019]

After a pretty bad start to the series, I had thought the episodes were getting better. A bit heavy handed in the morality, lacking the finesse of the original series. Then comes this pretentious, incomprehensible episode (that actually started out promising). I'm about ready to give up on the series.

Now THAT'S a classic Twilight Zone!

[nancy-gail · 9/10 · 31 May 2019]

I've enjoyed this series, however, it's been a little disappointing overall. (In all fairness they picked some pretty big shoes to fill.) But this episode was awesome and my favorite out of all of them this season. I love the twist intro and the classic ending. One thing I miss most overall is Rod's voice. This episode satiated that need. :-)

I did some research after this ep

[ThunderKing6 · 6/10 · 26 March 2020]

I knew nothing of Joran Peele other than that generic movie called Get Out. I thought he was just some horror film director. Little did i know he was on Madtv and he was funny and has "personalities".

However in this series and episode he is as dull as a can of stale coca cola. Why tho?

Anywas this whole episode was basically a horror episode like all TTZ eps are. Its top 2 after the camcorder episode.

Nevertheless, its still a weak unTwilgiht episode.

Best of the new series but still a long way to go

[dhenderson-9 · 5/10 · 31 May 2019]

First let me say, I was so grateful this episode wasn't what it was set up to be at the beginning. When it went meta I was thrilled, because before that it was going nowhere.

Second, once you see the blurry man you'll know exactly who he is and basically, due to a short rant from the main character, what the story is about.

I enjoyed this one. I love it when art gets the well-deserved shot of humility stabbed into it. I knew a girl once who claimed to be a literary writer. She didn't like genre fiction and pretty obviously thought the horror that I wrote was pedestrian and pointless. Say what you will about my writing, but the genre is valid and deserving of respect. The fact is all writing has the potential to be literary. Who knows what will stick in the minds of those treading through the future or what will be prophetic or poignant to generations yet unborn. I mean, Bill and Ted wrote songs that changed the entire universe, so take care to eschew hubris in the nobility of art.

The middle was a bit of a mess. It was mostly Sophie being reactionary to the violent hurtling of objects by her stalking shade. The intent was to frighten her, we understand rather quickly, or more to the point, to show her the value of horror, but that could have been accomplished in much more creative ways. This being The Twilight Zone, we should have expected it to have been.

The performances were decent, the production values pretty good. I liked the feel of the opening as the camera panned up the street to the window. It reminded me of the '80s Twilight Zone. Something very Spielbergian to it.

Rod Serling is a hard man to directly imitate. He was quirky, brilliant and one of the better writers ever to grace the earth. I've seen notes he wrote on scripts. Things like - and this is not a quote because my memory is fuzzy on things from 10 years ago - darkness grabbed her like cold, smoky tendrils, poisoning her with dread. That much thought put into a note to try to get an actor to get the emotion necessary to make the scene work is astounding. To him it was natural.

This episode gave him the credit he deserves for the paradigm-busting work he did in television and writing that forever changed the landscape of the possible and inspired - and still inspires - many to delve into creative pursuits without fretting over labels like genre or literary.

Ironically, this episode attempts to negate Sophie's idea of an artist's social responsibility by teaching her the truth of the possible and the merits of embracing the impossible for the sake of campfire storytelling. In truth, this series has been largely about perceived social responsibility rather than actual, visceral storytelling. So in a way, this episode preaches that the first nine episodes were preachy caricatures of stories rather than actual enjoyable tales that create resonance. There are so many original Twilight Zones that are iconic, including the one shown as a clip in this episode. I can't imagine, however, any of this season's episodes reaching that echelon of greatness. Without resonance, in a week or so, no one cares. In ten years no one remembers. In 50 it might as well not have been. We're 60 years down the line from the original show and people still love it. That's great storytelling. That's resonance. This season will not enjoy that.

This was easily the best episode of this series to date, but there was a lot of filler and timewasting and unoriginality and nothing that truly sparked horror. The ending, while cool and a great tribute, was a bit threadbare cohesively. A ten for the season, but only about a five when compared to what television should be.

"It was just a story."

[classicsoncall · 6/10 · 17 May 2023]

I knew from the beginning who the Blurryman would turn out to be. Otherwise, why do this tribute episode? I thought the flashback scene of the childhood Sophie was a neat way to tie the current series back to the Rod Serling original with that clip of Burgess Meredith in "Time Enough at Last". Only thing is, with classic episodes like 'Time Enough', "Eye of the Beholder", and "To Serve Man", the memory of those stories has stayed with me decades after watching them for the first time. Nothing that memorable occurs with this rebooted series and the stories are pretty much forgotten after I've written a review for each episode. Jordan Peele doesn't have the gravitas of Serling either, but he is a bit better than Forest Whitaker who hosted the 2002 reboot. All told, this wasn't a terrible episode, but it did try to be too cute with the early break into the presumed story to deliver Sophie Gelson's (Zazie Beets) existential crisis.

Better by comparison

[Jacobs43 · 5/10 · 16 June 2019]

By comparison to the rest of the garbage heap that is this series, this was a decent episode. However, the mystery of the Blurryman is instantly obvious and it played out more like a horror film than a Twilight Zone episode. Considering what preceded this episode in this series, the writers seem to have completely missed the point of their own conclusion.