Here's the ending of The Twilight Zone episode "The Gift" explained. The Twilight Zone is a classic sci-fi/fantasy anthology series created by Rod Serling. The show debuted on CBS in 1959, with Serling using the series to take about social and political issues in a coded manner. In addition to Serling penning many episodes himself, writers such as I Am Legend's Richard Matheson worked on the show. Many elements of The Twilight Zone have become iconic, including Serling's narration, its theme music and its use of shock twist endings.
The intense workload and clashes with CBS executives over Twilight Zone saw it canceled a couple of times before it finally ended in 1964. The show was brought back several times following this, including a movie anthology - fittingly called Twilight Zone: The Movie - which was then followed by revival TV series. A TV movie called The Twilight Zone: Rod Serling's Lost Classics aired in 1994, which used previously unfilmed material from the show's late creator. Two more reboots came in form of 2002's Twilight Zone, hosted by Forest Whitaker, and the Jordan Peele-fronted revival that aired for two seasons on CBS All Access.
Despite all of these attempts to recapture what made the original run so special, these revivals all faltered in their own way. Twilight Zone "The Gift" isn't considered one of the show's better outings, as it wears its symbolism and themes heavily on its sleeves. "The Gift" is a reworking of creator Rod Serling's "I Shot An Arrow In The Air," which was considered as a potential pilot for The Twilight Zone. Serling later reworked this concept, moving it from America to a small town in Mexico and trimming it to work in a half-hour format. Twilight Zone's "The Gift" sees a humanoid alien named Williams arrive in a Mexican town and befriending a boy named Pedro.
Williams was forced to kill a police officer in self-defense, with the wounded alien being hunted by authorities. Despite looking human, the local doctor quickly deduces he's something else, as a regular person should have died of his wounds. The Twilight Zone's "The Gift" gets its title from a present Williams has brought with him, but he's already fearful mankind won't want to hear him out. This Twilight Zone episode is fairly heavy with its Jesus Christ parables, with Williams coming to Earth with a message of peace and love, but most people are too fearful to hear it out; Williams even compares his plight to Jesus in dialogue.
The Twilight Zone's "The Gift" ends with the bartender selling Williams out to authorities - whom the doctor dubs a "Judas" - and being chased into the street. He implores the villagers to read his message, but they set it on fire and shoot him dead. The doctor then stomps out the fire and reads Williams' gift, which was a formula to cure all forms of cancer. Mankind's fear of the unknown or outsiders is a theme The Twilight Zone and revivals revisited many times, and while "The Gift" is far from subtle, the ending is still an effective downer.