21 Days of Spooky: Time Enough at Last (The Twilight Zone episode, 1959)

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21 Days of Spooky is not about pop culture that sets out to fright you with brain-eating, viscerae-hanging, slash-killing scenes, but with thoughts that linger and persist on your life long after you've watched them. Or are just downright creepy. Tonight's spooky: The Twilight Zone's "Time Enough at Last". Some spoilers ahead.


What's it about?: This Twilight Zone episode narrates the story of a bookworm who happens to live a life in where no one gives him the time to read a book. But little does he know that his life is soon gonna change...

Most of you Pop Culturers are big fans of books. Heck, there is a feature here about it! So, it shouldn't be a surprise if most of you see the world of poor Henry Bemis (Burgess Meredith) as a living nightmare. He tries to read David Copperfield at work, and gets berated by his boss after giving a customer the wrong change because of said book's attracting distraction. His wife literally inks over the text of his poetry book, that damn monster. So, when one day he's at the bank's vault and a 99,999%-of-people-killing megabomb strikes, his life suddenly takes a turn for the better. He's all alone now.

But, unlike what our sociopathic sarcastic sense of selves would say, he isn't delighted in the slightest about it. He has enough (mostly canned) food to last a lifetime, but what is a lifetime if not to share with others? Yes, his boss and wife were big bags of flaming turds, but they weren't the only people in his world. Landscapes, now empty; rubble everywhere. Not a single smile remains, nor he will be able to traverse long distances without bus drivers or jet pilots, plus the roads are probably filled with corpse-ridden cars. The sense of dread strikes. There's no danger, but there's no thrill, no joy either.

Think about it, from a pop culture fan point of view. I'm an audiophile, I have a lot of songs who could last me a lifetime if a situation such as this one would happen, but wouldn't I reach a point in where the same songs over and over would become tedious, and I would find myself wishing someone somewhere would exist to sing me something, or to hear me sing something to them. The same could be applied to books, movies, TV shows, or even wrestling. Bemis here had the luck that his books remained after the bomb, but you're toast if you expect to have electricity running in order to watch movies in this new world.

Bemis does have time now, but didn't he always have time, anyways? If he had really been a book devotee, he could have Into The Wild-ed out and hopped on a van with his favorite literature, and read it in various points of America as he went by. He was living that pre-bomb life for the people that were with him. His wife was his wife for a reason, book thrashing and all. His boss was probably not a reason to live, but what about his co-workers, the customers visiting every day, with their stories, transactions, and various emotions? What about the things Bemis still had to live? Retirement, grandchildren to read to.

What could he do now, other than eat the canned food, roam around for very little miles, and sit in rubble. And that is, if he doesn't get squashed by falling debris, poisoned by the canned food (good luck getting a doctor or a pharmacist there!), or dehydrated due to the surely toxic water (whether it is by radiation or, y'know, endless marine animal corpses). Being alone isn't dangerous but, after an apocalyptic event, the outside is still as full of nasty stuff as if it was before.

And, of course, Bemis was not alone. He was with himself. He was with the memories of those who are now gone. Parents, friends, pets, children who won't see tomorrow. How do you live with yourself after that? It wasn't Bemis' fault, but isn't it a burdening feeling to know you're the last one standing, literally? So, Bemis takes action and prepares to commit suicide with a found revolver... until he spots a public library at the distance. Finally, all the time in the world, and all the books he can read! Or: some books he hasn't read, some he has and doesn't want to read again, and some who are re-readable.

I made a promise not to spoil the endings of the spooky pop culture I tackle here and I'm gonna keep it. But, think of this: even if you could be like Bemis and spend the rest of your life in a deserted world reading a selection of books, would you be able to really dedicate yourself to read them, knowing that there won't be any more books written, or no more people left to enjoy them?

Tomorrow: It's double trouble with Kim Jee-woon's A Tale of Two Sisters.