Rod Serling’s groundbreaking anthology series The Twilight Zone is widely regarded to be one of the greatest TV shows ever made, if not the very best. Some of the most brilliant sci-fi and horror writers who ever lived penned episodes of the show, providing audiences with haunting premises culminating in shocking plot twists.
Almost every episode of The Twilight Zone is worth watching — especially from the Serling era (his role as executive producer became virtually non-existent after season 3) — but there are a few timeless classics that capture the show’s unique spirit perfectly and stand out as truly must-see installments.
Where Is Everybody? (Season 1, Episode 1)
The first episode of The Twilight Zone set the template for every episode that followed. It starts off with an intriguing premise that can’t be easily explained: a man wanders into an unfamiliar town and finds that it’s completely empty — there isn’t a single person in sight.
Throughout the episode, the isolation drives him crazy before the plot twist, playing into the then-current quest to send a man into space, which reveals that that was the point all along.
Five Characters In Search Of An Exit (Season 3, Episode 14)
In season 3’s “Five Characters in Search of an Exit,” a ballerina, a U.S. Army major, a clown, a hobo, and a bagpiper all find themselves in a giant metal cylinder, unaware of how they got there or why they’re all together.
None of their theories seem to add up and all of them except for the clown lose their ability to reason. It builds to a real rug-pull of a twist.
Mirror Image (Season 1, Episode 21)
The primary inspiration behind Jordan Peele’s Us, a horror masterpiece about how our greatest fear is actually ourselves, came from The Twilight Zone episode “Mirror Image,” in which a woman is plagued by her doppelganger in a bus station.
Playing on the same themes as Dostoevsky's The Double, this woman fears that her doppelganger is trying to replace her, and everyone she brings this information to thinks she’s losing her mind.
The Invaders (Season 2, Episode 15)
Seemingly, season 2’s “The Invaders” begins with a paranoid old lady living in a remote farmhouse that is invaded by tiny aliens. However, it becomes startlingly apparent that the old lady is a giant alien and the tiny invaders are humans from Earth.
As with all the best Twilight Zone twists, this one forces the audience aware of the assumptions they make at the beginnings of stories.
Nightmare At 20,000 Feet (Season 5, Episode 3)
While the final two seasons of The Twilight Zone missed the contributions of series creator Rod Serling dearly, season 5 did offer one classic installment, “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet,” in which a paranoid plane passenger is convinced he can see a gremlin on the wing.
This episode was later adapted into the final segment of The Twilight Zone’s film adaptation by George Miller, redeeming what was until then a pretty lame cinematic offering.
To Serve Man (Season 3, Episode 24)
A Twilight Zone episode is only as good as its twist ending, and season 3’s “To Serve Man” has one of the show’s most memorable twist endings.
Aliens arrive on Earth promising peace, with only a book to communicate with humans, and of course, their true motives eventually begin to show.
The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street (Season 1, Episode 22)
At the height of McCarthyism and the Red Scare, Americans were scared that their neighbors could be Soviet spies. This led to seminal science fiction stories like Invasion of the Body Snatchers and The Twilight Zone's “The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street.”
In the episode, the residents of a seemingly quaint, unthreatening suburban community are made paranoid by strange occurrences.
It’s A Good Life (Season 3, Episode 8)
In season 3’s “It’s a Good Life,” a six-year-old boy with godlike abilities and an underdeveloped emotional complex uses his powers to torment an entire town and keep its residents living in fear.
From the three-headed gopher to the jack-in-the-box transformation, “It’s a Good Life” is filled with iconic moments, and Anthony is a great example of a monster who doesn’t look like a traditional monster, making him all the more terrifying.
Time Enough At Last (Season 1, Episode 8)
Season 1’s “Time Enough at Last” gave fans of The Twilight Zone the show’s first really earth-shattering plot twist. It’s about a bank clerk who wants nothing more than to read. It’s a simple desire, but his boss and his wife won’t let him do it.
When a nuclear holocaust wipes out everyone in the world while he happens to be protected by the bank’s vault, he can finally read all the books he wants to read without interruption — but then, in a tragic turn of fate, his glasses break and he can’t read anything.
Eye Of The Beholder (Season 2, Episode 6)
In addition to contemporary social issues, The Twilight Zone occasionally tackled universal topics like beauty. In season 2’s “Eye of the Beholder,” a woman undergoes a surgical procedure to make her look “normal.”
The episode is a fascinating meditation on just what it means to be normal, and the way that human society judges people by their looks.