If you had to select one episode of “The Twilight Zone” that sums up everything the show does well, and showcases everything it was capable of doing, there is only one option. “The Monsters are Due on Maple Street” is a stone-cold classic. A slow-burn tale of terror. A piece of high-minded science fiction. A parable built upon brutal, incisive political commentary. And yes, a big twist ending that redefines everything you’ve just witnessed. It’s the total package.
And like many episodes of the series, it has such a low-key, deceptively simple start: A suburban neighborhood loses power after what appears to be a meteorite flies overhead. But cool heads start to turn hot as the neighbors gather to determine what happened and come to the conclusion that something sinister, and perhaps alien, is afoot. Social constructs crumble. Violence breaks out. The monsters aren’t an external threat — they were lurking within our own selves the entire time.
The worst episodes of “The Twilight Zone” are those that preach a social message without delivering the genre bona fides to back it all up. But “The Monsters are Due on Maple Street” is perfect. The final lesson lands with such force because of the terror we’ve just experienced. We buy it because we saw the truth with our own eyes.