Thoughts on "The Mirror"? Worth a watch? Watch Twilight-Tober Zone 2021 Compilation - ruclips.net/video/JrE9RbprFQo/видео.html Follow Walter on Twitter - twitter.com/Awesome_Walter Follow us on Twitch - www.twitch.tv/channelawesome
I guess I just don't know history very well because I genuinely had no idea this was supposed to be about Castro when I saw it. Did they ever do another episode about a person who can see who's gonna kill them? It's a good concept for an episode that deserves to be in a better one.
Absolute power corrupts absolutely. I love how this episode shows just how paranoid those in power can be that those around them are trying to take advantage of them or even kill them
Columbo: "Uh, pardon me, General Clemente. Just one more thing. I know you executed the former El Presidente, all of your top advisors, and ordered the executions of your citizens before throwing your gun with one in the chamber and the safety disengaged at the superstitious mirror to off yourself and make it look like an accident. My superiors will seem to agree. That's my specialty, you know? I'm Lieutenant Columbo, L.A.P.D. Homicide."
I know! When I saw his name at the end of the credits I was like was that actually him as the lead? My mom didn't recognize it was him either. I don't think he was recognizable at all. Plus I didn't find the acting over the top or silly.
Columbo: "Uh, pardon me, General Clemente. Just one more thing. I know you off'ed the former El Presidente, all of your top advisors, and ordered the ending of your citizens before throwing your weapon with one in the chamber and the safety disengaged at the superstitious mirror to off yourself and make it look like an accident. My superiors will seem to agree. That's my specialty, you know? I'm Lieutenant Columbo, L.A.P.D. Homicide."
@Richter R. It is critical of power corrupting and those who seek it. Almost like a certain narcissistic orange man with a cult of personality who says he is above the law and constantly purged and fired his cabinet/staff and drooled over dictators and joked about wanting their power.
Peter Falk did a great job!!! It also invites us to see what it would be on the side of the dictators paranoid mindset. Also the fact that mirrors are supposed to be portals to other worlds so this is potentially a real story.
I think the writing, especially the dialog was fairly strong. My favorite lines are from the last friend Falks character kills. He is honest and says that he would kill him if/when he shows himself to be too weak to lead. Then when he gets shot he just muses on how lonely his friend will now be...
I feel like they could have come up with a better twist here? Maybe the mirror doesn't show you who will try to take power from you, but magnifies what doubts you have about others and shows you these doubts at their worst. With them going to kill you. After the priest tells him the greatest enemy he as a tyrant has is himself, he slowly, reluctantly, looks towards the mirror one final time now that this seed of doubt has been placed in his already overly paranoid mind. Only to see his own reflection, pointing a gun at himself. I'd also make the mirror unable to be damaged, least of all by bullets. So after trying to shoot his own reflection to no effect, in final fit of paranoia, he turns the gun in the one direction he thinks it will work to kill this one, final, enemy.
That's exactly what this episode needed, a twist. Without that it just didn't seem like a Twilight Zone episode. When I saw the beginning of this video, the first thing I thought was "Oh, he's going to be paranoid and shoot everybody. Now what's the twist.." just to have it end and be like "Oh. I guess he was just paranoid and shot everybody." It just didn't feel like a Twilight Zone episode to me. Hell, build the whole thing up like there's going to be something there, just to have him be paranoid and have _that_ be the twist. Where he thinks the mirror is cursed or something, just to have it where it was his own paranoia that did him in. But to give it away at almost the very beginning, just to have it end exactly as you expected? What Twilight Zone is this?
@@ChakatStripedfur Well, blame it on Rod Serling for having written a pathetic and illogical script for the episode of "The Mirror" because it is one of the few "Twilight Zone" stories that lack anything like a plot twist. Furthermore, I also HATED it for being an anti-Fidel Castro diatribe as well.
@@robertpolanco1973It wasn't just an anti-Castro diatribe. A Castro lookalike was cast next to a Che Guevara lookalike, symbolizing dictators and their fates. The reason why the mirror shattered instead of being bulletproof is because the mirror is symbolic of one's own paranoia. Nothing special, sinister, or magic. But a reflection of one's fears, phobias, and paranoia. When put to the test, it shatters, and along with it, their reign. If the mirror was special magic, why didn't Clemente shoot his soldiers in the mirror? Either magic or fate would've eliminated the threats to his life. Maybe his loyal advisors wouldn't turn on him throughout the rest of their lives. Maybe the mirror would bounce the bullets off its surface and end the threats. But why the mention of public executions and the priest arriving to be the ghost of the people? The give warning to him that he is his own worst enemy. He deposed of those who helped him rise to power. Then he deposed the citizens that supported him in power. What good is power when people oppose you or you end up with an empty nation? But that wasn't the point. The point was with a dictatorship, there is NOBODY you can trust, not even yourself. All it takes is one feeble mistake and it'll be your own downfall. It takes a lot to be a great leader. Wisdom, knowledge, the ability to endure the pain inflicted upon society and the humility to steer society onto a good path. It takes a phenomenal leader to guide future generations to do likewise. For if not, this tale becomes a word of warning to what happens to society that fall to dictatorships.
Twenty years before Columbo, Peter Falk was a pretty intense actor, typecast in low-level-gangster movies-- And for an entire generation that's grown up never having heard of the Lieutenant, I can only imagine what they'd think of the storytelling grandpa from Princess Bride. 😲
@Mr. Matchbox - Well, NOT EVERYONE feels the way you did about "The Mirror" because it IS THE WORST among other episodes of "The Twilight Zone." After all, I had always wondered about where did Rod Serling's politics lie instead.
When your the most powerful person in the room, everyone else is a threat. I can't help but wonder if you were a good person, how little youd worry about your life, surrounded by friends.
It might not mean much, if there's someone evil that has intentions to rule. Even if it means deposing of a good leader. The downfall is the blood and suffering of the people for whom pay the price of one's evil treachery.
I love the idea that a tyrant’s greatest fear is themselves, it’s like Stalin, he was so paranoid that he killed his own Russian men. It’s cool to see them focus on that idea in the Twilight Zone, because it is scary! I love the theme when ever the General looks in the mirror, that feels like classic Twilight zone music to me!
Not just Stalin, but every socialist/communist tyrant after him killed their own citizens. Now America is infected with the same cancer. And guess what will soon happen.
I was thinking that guy looked exactly like Fidel Castro. But then again this seems like it's way too obvious for a show that usually is more subtle about what it's going for...
I said this in a couple of previous videos, but someone needs to make a compilation video of all of the times people died in The Twilight Zone from either falling off a building/window or out a vehicle since I bet that would be a good 4 minutes long.
You were talking about how it was obvious what it was based on, as someone who doesn’t know much about that kind of history, I honestly would not have ever figured out what this meant.
But that's because you're viewing it from 50+ years out. Imagine if you were watching a story in 2019 about the Trump "regime" and then in 2020 the Capitol is raided by terrorists...
When I first saw this episode when syfi was doing their new years twilight zone marathon I never new that it was peter falk since I've never seen him young before and only seen him as columbo from clips and the princess bride
Having seen the full episode, I get what you're going at regarding the episode's major weak points. The dialogue is hammy, the comparison to contemporary events of the time are too close, and the pacing between the main character's ascension to power and him beginning to suspect his underlings of treacherous ideas goes too fast. However, I don't think the lack of visual spectacle is a downside. There's nothing wrong with simply showing a mirror deceiving the protagonist with images of his cohorts attempting to kill him via various means. It's a simple yet powerful metaphor over the paranoia of tyrants. Also, I thought the ending where he sees nothing changing in the mirror yet realizes he himself is an enemy and kills himself anyway was a great one-up to the conclusion of the Picture of Dorian Grey, even if it is very predictable.
@JLev - Well, I HATED the "Twilight Zone" episode of "The Mirror" because of the plot and theme involving a full complete anti-Fidel Castro diatribe and I also do not know whether it had something to do with the kind of politics that creator, Rod Serling, had been involved with and that is rather unfortunate.
Also, despite his outfit and the fact he overthrows the previous dictator to "give the people what they want", I don't think the protagonist was meant to be an expy of Castro. The man was already mentioned in the episode, and he lived in the Caribbean, not Central America. I think the fact that Serling mentioned that specific region meant he had a different person to reference in mind, namely the president of Guatemala at the time. I looked up his Wikipedia page, and he's described, apparently by a CIA official, to be moody and distrustful of his advisors while also not being successful at commanding loyalty and was subject to various attempted coups.
If i Wrote this Episode, It would be Aliens who are the Main Characters and the Mirror was a Weapon by the Humans to Defeat them with there own Fear. Telling Not even Aliens are Invincible at being a Tyrant. What do you think?
This has one of my favorite Rod intros. Because Clemente refers to his aides as "The Strong One", "The Dedicated One," etc. when they show Rod I always add "And we cannot forget Rodman, The Narrative One!" Sometimes the episodes are on the nose and this one is well ...the nosiest. But at the time I can see why. Castro was the new frightening enemy on the block. The Cuban Missile Crisis was about to hit in October, 1962 and after the Bay of Pigs
Y'know this episode really dives deep into Tahu's character. His internal struggle between his duty as a Toa and his lust for POOWAAAAH is very compelling
I thought this was a really good episode as it shows how absolute power corrupts and how the paranoia that comes with it can make you see knives in the hands of your closest friends.
I feel like a far better, more Twilight Zone twist would have been that when the former president said the mirror would show him "his assassins", he specifically meant his own, not their's. The episode decides to have them kill the former president, thus making them assassins, thus showing them in the mirror. The killing of his comrades would be revealed as having happened for absolutely no reason. But I do get what they were trying to say here.
Unlike De Cruz, caricature of previous Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista, who was obviously brought to justice, Batista managed to escape from Cuba in 1959 and lived in Portugal until his death in 1972, never having answered for his crimes.
I wonder how many people would have been critical of this episode if it had been set in Nazi Germany and had starred a guy based on Hitler instead of Castro. It probably would have been judged one of the best episodes ever.
Difference here is that those kind of episodes were set in real life places and directly mocked real life people while this was meant to be allegorical. Had the episode took place in Cuba and mocked Castro directly, it wouldn't get as much flack for unoriginality.
I have to disagree that Falk was too recognizable. I just watched this episode with my mom and neither of us would have guessed that was him. Seeing his name in the credits was a shock. This also seems to be the consensus of many of the people commenting here. Also for me maybe because I don't know too much about Castro, I didn't see anything wrong with Falk's acting. I didn't think it was too over the top or silly. I think some of your criticism was a bit too harsh, I really didn't find anything wrong with the episode. But the TZ episodes that are trying to convey a message instead of telling a story like this one are not usually my favourites. The subject matter is too serious and they don't have much of a twist ending. But I still think it's commendable that Rod wasn't afraid to put his views or touchy topics into some of the episodes.
I think the episode could have been saved with a different actor in the lead playing a character who wasn’t so obviously a stand-in for Fidel Castro. I know Rod was passionate about hiring black actors, so he could have also championed an actual Hispanic actor for the lead role. And making the character less like Castro would have still sent what is actually a good message without making the episode way too topical, and dated.
Funny thing is that Castro survived many real assassination attempts, U.S. wanted to overthrow him but failed and he lived until 90. The previous dictator Batista didn't concern them much, interesting...
can someone clear something up for me? did Not Fidel Castro throw his gun at the mirror and it went off right at him killing himself? or did he break the mirror and off camera shoot himself? cause the former would have more poetic irony but I think the latter is what happened
I think the one problem with this episode is that it's more dated than timeless. The idea of so many Twilight Zone episodes is that they could have happened to anyone at any time, while this one feels a little too specific
That’s understandable, I don’t have that issue because my family is Cuban and the regime is still going on. So until Cuba changes, this is still timely at this point for us.
It was actually pretty prophetic. Many people blame Fidel for the plane crash that killed Cienfuegos and some blame him for not doing enough to help Che in Bolivia.
Even if he's pretty broad, Antony Carbone is very good in this too. If he's funny to me in it, it's because of those Roger Corman horror comedies that I know him from.
This reminds me of a story from Sergio Aragonés’s “Boogeyman”. About a kid who becomes so afraid of the titular cryptid that he takes all the power just to feel safe. Yet he doesn’t.
A bad opinion from the same moron who said that "Scrubs (the show about an ER) doesn't work when it's trying to be serious", despite it's serious episodes being widely agreed upon to be some of the greatest moments in television history, and made a recent review criticizing and laughing at The Mist, one of the greatest modern horror movies ever? I wouldn't be surprised.
It's somewhat interesting how generitized obviously meant to be Fidel Castro parodies have become, there even was one on the TMNT 2007 movie for seemingly no reason. But, yeah, when this came out they knew who they were referring to. Kinda feels like that time in Star Trek when Captain Kirk "solved" Vietnam War analogue by just keeping on escalating the conflict.
Oh boy... yeah, file this under Hasn't Aged Great. I get it, the material conjured from current events was too tempting to pass up, but really now. The real mirror is the comparison with The Passersby which I watched just before. I was concerned that episode was going to highlight a simplistic mid 20th century viewpoint of the Confederacy, but that's what they did for the Cuban Revolution instead. Maybe time really is key for crystalizing a historical perspective. And to be clear, I think Castro was a monster, but to both handwave the precursor factors that led up to the Cuban Revolution AND have Clemente go full tyrant in 10 minutes does no favors for this script. I'm a little more forgiving for Falk's acting, and I like the tension of the showdown between Clemente and Cristo, but the premise in general is flawed. Consider the titular magic items from "The Man in The Bottle" or "A Most Unusual Camera," you can understand why the characters kept using those things because of the potential to bring them good fortune. Why would Clemente keep the mirror after everything De Cruz has just said. Smash it, cover it, store it in the basement; there's no good reason to keep this stupid looking glass after De Cruz has just goaded him. Want to improve this episode? In the scene depicted at 4:56, have the camera stay focused in a medium shot on the mirror. Don't cut back to Clemente unless it's an extreme close up of his face. The reflection draws a gun and it puts the barrel to his forehead. Out in the hall, Father Tomas and the guard hear a gunshot, they burst into the room, they find Clemente dead, and the mirror is shattered. There! I'd argue this makes the episode so much more interesting. Did Clemente's paranoia get the better of him, did the mirror actually kill him? Just having *some* element that wasn't so obvious would've made this one more interesting. It's not the worst episode, just rather weak and one-note.
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Dude: I LOVE this episode. It's one I've gone back to many times, including just the other day. I was anticipating a positive review of this one, but: everyone likes something a little different.
Castro's Aide : But presidente, America tried to kill you! Fidel Castro : Ah, they're not so bad. They even named a street after me in San Francisco! [Aide #2 whispers something into his ear] Fidel Castro : It's full of what?
Walter, a fellow cast member of NC. You might remember him as Parody Zach Snyder, the Priest, and the Batman actor in the THE BATMAN review earlier this year
I guess I'm kind of sorry to hear that this isn't one of your favorite episodes. It's actually one of mine. Yes, it is very much a parable about fidel, but it's also a good story on its own merits and I don't know, I found the ending particularly poignant. Perhaps the reason why I like the episode far more than you is because I'm notably older than you. If nothing else I think this episode is at least very good and what it does with regards to what the Twilight Zone did best. Present people with Parables that are timeless, and the message that this episode has I think does a good job of that
Thoughts on "The Mirror"? Worth a watch?
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The episode is still relevant to this day if you really think about anyone who is on top will stop at nothing not to lose that power
It's a very powerful episode!
I guess I just don't know history very well because I genuinely had no idea this was supposed to be about Castro when I saw it.
Did they ever do another episode about a person who can see who's gonna kill them? It's a good concept for an episode that deserves to be in a better one.
It was wonderful, and shows how anyone can be corrupted by power.
Definitely worth a watch. Don’t care it resembled Castro, dude was a horrible man in real life.
I imagine rod serling had a long list of governments and political groups he planned to criticize via twilight zone episodes. Truly a legend.
Precisely, he's truly remarkable to use this show to criticise politics he doesn't agree with!
What would some of them be?
An idea can be more powerful than any weapon.
@@trinaq We never said it was an original idea
A jew propagandist
Absolute power corrupts absolutely. I love how this episode shows just how paranoid those in power can be that those around them are trying to take advantage of them or even kill them
My girlfriend, who doesn't like sci-fi or horror, found this episode easy to follow. It's one my favorites.
It’s true what they say we are our own worst enemy especially when paranoia gets the best of us
@@wstine79 she must brain melting hot if you can look past that. Lol
"Absolute power does not corrupt absolutely. Absolute power attracts the corruptible."-Frank Herbert
Hahaha funny how Fidel Castro was actually right
This is one of my favorites. I refer this episode to anyone looking for an example of how being a powerful leader has its bad side.
You: "Falk is too recognizable.."
Me: "Holy crap, that was Falk?"
Columbo: "Uh, pardon me, General Clemente. Just one more thing.
I know you executed the former El Presidente, all of your top advisors, and ordered the executions of your citizens before throwing your gun with one in the chamber and the safety disengaged at the superstitious mirror to off yourself and make it look like an accident.
My superiors will seem to agree. That's my specialty, you know? I'm Lieutenant Columbo, L.A.P.D. Homicide."
I know! When I saw his name at the end of the credits I was like was that actually him as the lead? My mom didn't recognize it was him either. I don't think he was recognizable at all. Plus I didn't find the acting over the top or silly.
I had a loud, "WHAT??" when you said Peter Falk. I literally just finished watching A Murder With Too Many Notes so this was a happy coincidence
Columbo: "Uh, pardon me, General Clemente. Just one more thing.
I know you off'ed the former El Presidente, all of your top advisors, and ordered the ending of your citizens before throwing your weapon with one in the chamber and the safety disengaged at the superstitious mirror to off yourself and make it look like an accident.
My superiors will seem to agree. That's my specialty, you know? I'm Lieutenant Columbo, L.A.P.D. Homicide."
I feel like there's no sense of time in this episode. It feels like he kills off his former best friends over the course of a couple days
Power has never corrupted a single soul. But it has revealed a lot of them
this one is actually one of the best episodes of the twilight zone, idk why so many do not like it
Hammy acting, unintentionally funny scenes, unsubtle satire and distracting bad fake beards. Love Peter Falk but even he couldn't save this one.
I think it's one of best.
@Richter R. It is critical of power corrupting and those who seek it. Almost like a certain narcissistic orange man with a cult of personality who says he is above the law and constantly purged and fired his cabinet/staff and drooled over dictators and joked about wanting their power.
It's really predicable and boring.
@@LucianoThePig not really. It’s Predictable, but it works
With all the assassination attempts that Castro survived, maybe the Mirror worked after all 😂
It’s a distortion of reality and propaganda
The American tried to murder castro a hundred times so maybe his paranoia is well justified
Peter Falk did a great job!!! It also invites us to see what it would be on the side of the dictators paranoid mindset. Also the fact that mirrors are supposed to be portals to other worlds so this is potentially a real story.
I think the writing, especially the dialog was fairly strong. My favorite lines are from the last friend Falks character kills. He is honest and says that he would kill him if/when he shows himself to be too weak to lead. Then when he gets shot he just muses on how lonely his friend will now be...
I feel like they could have come up with a better twist here? Maybe the mirror doesn't show you who will try to take power from you, but magnifies what doubts you have about others and shows you these doubts at their worst. With them going to kill you.
After the priest tells him the greatest enemy he as a tyrant has is himself, he slowly, reluctantly, looks towards the mirror one final time now that this seed of doubt has been placed in his already overly paranoid mind. Only to see his own reflection, pointing a gun at himself.
I'd also make the mirror unable to be damaged, least of all by bullets. So after trying to shoot his own reflection to no effect, in final fit of paranoia, he turns the gun in the one direction he thinks it will work to kill this one, final, enemy.
That's exactly what this episode needed, a twist. Without that it just didn't seem like a Twilight Zone episode. When I saw the beginning of this video, the first thing I thought was "Oh, he's going to be paranoid and shoot everybody. Now what's the twist.." just to have it end and be like "Oh. I guess he was just paranoid and shot everybody." It just didn't feel like a Twilight Zone episode to me.
Hell, build the whole thing up like there's going to be something there, just to have him be paranoid and have _that_ be the twist. Where he thinks the mirror is cursed or something, just to have it where it was his own paranoia that did him in. But to give it away at almost the very beginning, just to have it end exactly as you expected? What Twilight Zone is this?
@@ChakatStripedfur Well, blame it on Rod Serling for having written a pathetic and illogical script for the episode of "The Mirror" because it is one of the few "Twilight Zone" stories that lack anything like a plot twist. Furthermore, I also HATED it for being an anti-Fidel Castro diatribe as well.
@@robertpolanco1973It wasn't just an anti-Castro diatribe. A Castro lookalike was cast next to a Che Guevara lookalike, symbolizing dictators and their fates.
The reason why the mirror shattered instead of being bulletproof is because the mirror is symbolic of one's own paranoia. Nothing special, sinister, or magic. But a reflection of one's fears, phobias, and paranoia.
When put to the test, it shatters, and along with it, their reign. If the mirror was special magic, why didn't Clemente shoot his soldiers in the mirror? Either magic or fate would've eliminated the threats to his life.
Maybe his loyal advisors wouldn't turn on him throughout the rest of their lives. Maybe the mirror would bounce the bullets off its surface and end the threats.
But why the mention of public executions and the priest arriving to be the ghost of the people? The give warning to him that he is his own worst enemy. He deposed of those who helped him rise to power. Then he deposed the citizens that supported him in power. What good is power when people oppose you or you end up with an empty nation?
But that wasn't the point. The point was with a dictatorship, there is NOBODY you can trust, not even yourself. All it takes is one feeble mistake and it'll be your own downfall.
It takes a lot to be a great leader. Wisdom, knowledge, the ability to endure the pain inflicted upon society and the humility to steer society onto a good path. It takes a phenomenal leader to guide future generations to do likewise. For if not, this tale becomes a word of warning to what happens to society that fall to dictatorships.
It’s a historical curiosity to look back at things that were acceptable at the time but became outdated years later.
When my Cuban mother saw this episode with me, she saw the dictator she was like ‘Oh its Fidel’ and I laughed hard
I can't think about anyone from any country dont thinking "Fidel Castro" after seeing that guy
I didn't realize that the charecter Ramos Clemente was a parody of Fidel Castro until I saw pictures of Castro on Wikipedia.
@@melissacooper8724 Well, I was wrong.
Well it's a no brainer to think that you know, or humor me and name me another dictator look alike as Fidel and wearing olive greens. Lol.
Another great episode that is timeless no matter what anybody says
Twenty years before Columbo, Peter Falk was a pretty intense actor, typecast in low-level-gangster movies--
And for an entire generation that's grown up never having heard of the Lieutenant, I can only imagine what they'd think of the storytelling grandpa from Princess Bride. 😲
It's definitely not on the list of worst episodes, I enjoyed it.
@Mr. Matchbox - Well, NOT EVERYONE feels the way you did about "The Mirror" because it IS THE WORST among other episodes of "The Twilight Zone." After all, I had always wondered about where did Rod Serling's politics lie instead.
When your the most powerful person in the room, everyone else is a threat. I can't help but wonder if you were a good person, how little youd worry about your life, surrounded by friends.
It might not mean much, if there's someone evil that has intentions to rule. Even if it means deposing of a good leader. The downfall is the blood and suffering of the people for whom pay the price of one's evil treachery.
If you didn't tell me it was Peter Falk, I wouldn't have realized it.
Calling him recognizable is not what I want, NOT WHAT I WANT!
I dont dislike any episode of the og TZ. They all have their charm.
I love the idea that a tyrant’s greatest fear is themselves, it’s like Stalin, he was so paranoid that he killed his own Russian men. It’s cool to see them focus on that idea in the Twilight Zone, because it is scary!
I love the theme when ever the General looks in the mirror, that feels like classic Twilight zone music to me!
Not just Stalin, but every socialist/communist tyrant after him killed their own citizens. Now America is infected with the same cancer. And guess what will soon happen.
I was thinking that guy looked exactly like Fidel Castro. But then again this seems like it's way too obvious for a show that usually is more subtle about what it's going for...
Well if Charlie Chaplin and Jack Oakie can lampoon Hitler and Mussolini why not Peter Falk lampoon Castro?
@@melissacooper8724 I just think it really should have been more subtle.
This is actually one of my favorite episode
I said this in a couple of previous videos, but someone needs to make a compilation video of all of the times people died in The Twilight Zone from either falling off a building/window or out a vehicle since I bet that would be a good 4 minutes long.
You were talking about how it was obvious what it was based on, as someone who doesn’t know much about that kind of history, I honestly would not have ever figured out what this meant.
But that's because you're viewing it from 50+ years out. Imagine if you were watching a story in 2019 about the Trump "regime" and then in 2020 the Capitol is raided by terrorists...
I thought I was the only one who found the guy falling from the balcony funny.
This episode is profound. I never forgot it. Falk did a great job.
Super amazing video
They did nail that castro would turn into a new Batista
when I first saw this episode was the first time I noticed Falk’s glass eye
and I’ve been a fan of him since childhood
Every time I see a rerun of this, when the former dictator is about to leave, I imagine Falk saying, "Sir, just one more question about mirror..."
What are you talking about? This is one of my favorites.
This is a pretty good episode, involving a corrupt dictator, whom sees those that want to kill him in a mirror.
When I first saw this episode when syfi was doing their new years twilight zone marathon I never new that it was peter falk since I've never seen him young before and only seen him as columbo from clips and the princess bride
One of my favorite episodes.
Having seen the full episode, I get what you're going at regarding the episode's major weak points. The dialogue is hammy, the comparison to contemporary events of the time are too close, and the pacing between the main character's ascension to power and him beginning to suspect his underlings of treacherous ideas goes too fast. However, I don't think the lack of visual spectacle is a downside. There's nothing wrong with simply showing a mirror deceiving the protagonist with images of his cohorts attempting to kill him via various means. It's a simple yet powerful metaphor over the paranoia of tyrants. Also, I thought the ending where he sees nothing changing in the mirror yet realizes he himself is an enemy and kills himself anyway was a great one-up to the conclusion of the Picture of Dorian Grey, even if it is very predictable.
@JLev - Well, I HATED the "Twilight Zone" episode of "The Mirror" because of the plot and theme involving a full complete anti-Fidel Castro diatribe and I also do not know whether it had something to do with the kind of politics that creator, Rod Serling, had been involved with and that is rather unfortunate.
Also, despite his outfit and the fact he overthrows the previous dictator to "give the people what they want", I don't think the protagonist was meant to be an expy of Castro. The man was already mentioned in the episode, and he lived in the Caribbean, not Central America. I think the fact that Serling mentioned that specific region meant he had a different person to reference in mind, namely the president of Guatemala at the time. I looked up his Wikipedia page, and he's described, apparently by a CIA official, to be moody and distrustful of his advisors while also not being successful at commanding loyalty and was subject to various attempted coups.
If i Wrote this Episode,
It would be Aliens who are the Main Characters and the Mirror was a Weapon by the Humans to Defeat them with there own Fear. Telling Not even Aliens are Invincible at being a Tyrant.
What do you think?
This has one of my favorite Rod intros. Because Clemente refers to his aides as "The Strong One", "The Dedicated One," etc. when they show Rod I always add "And we cannot forget Rodman, The Narrative One!"
Sometimes the episodes are on the nose and this one is well ...the nosiest.
But at the time I can see why. Castro was the new frightening enemy on the block. The Cuban Missile Crisis was about to hit in October, 1962 and after the Bay of Pigs
...oh, just one more thing. ;)
Y'know this episode really dives deep into Tahu's character. His internal struggle between his duty as a Toa and his lust for POOWAAAAH is very compelling
I remember seeing this episode, but that's it. It has mostly been forgotten in my mind apart from the fact that I've seen it.
Oh my god, there are TOO many episodes of Twilight Zone where people die by falling out a window smh
Mirror, Mirror, on the wall, Who's the most popular RUclipsr of all?
Another underrated episode
His take on a Cuban dictator always made me think of the Roman Marone character in Johnny Dangerously. It’s fargin war!
I thought this was a really good episode as it shows how absolute power corrupts and how the paranoia that comes with it can make you see knives in the hands of your closest friends.
I guess we will have to agree to disagree but I thought this was in story was amazing. Great actors and a great plot.
I feel like a far better, more Twilight Zone twist would have been that when the former president said the mirror would show him "his assassins", he specifically meant his own, not their's. The episode decides to have them kill the former president, thus making them assassins, thus showing them in the mirror. The killing of his comrades would be revealed as having happened for absolutely no reason.
But I do get what they were trying to say here.
Damn, both screams got me! XD
Unlike De Cruz, caricature of previous Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista, who was obviously brought to justice, Batista managed to escape from Cuba in 1959 and lived in Portugal until his death in 1972, never having answered for his crimes.
@@miroslavtomic7038
The Last Judgment
I like this episode. It’s one I remember where a lot of others were forgettable. I guess you can’t please everyone 🤷🏽♀️
I wonder how many people would have been critical of this episode if it had been set in Nazi Germany and had starred a guy based on Hitler instead of Castro. It probably would have been judged one of the best episodes ever.
Difference here is that those kind of episodes were set in real life places and directly mocked real life people while this was meant to be allegorical. Had the episode took place in Cuba and mocked Castro directly, it wouldn't get as much flack for unoriginality.
I have to disagree that Falk was too recognizable. I just watched this episode with my mom and neither of us would have guessed that was him. Seeing his name in the credits was a shock. This also seems to be the consensus of many of the people commenting here. Also for me maybe because I don't know too much about Castro, I didn't see anything wrong with Falk's acting. I didn't think it was too over the top or silly. I think some of your criticism was a bit too harsh, I really didn't find anything wrong with the episode. But the TZ episodes that are trying to convey a message instead of telling a story like this one are not usually my favourites. The subject matter is too serious and they don't have much of a twist ending. But I still think it's commendable that Rod wasn't afraid to put his views or touchy topics into some of the episodes.
Someone has to send this mirror to Russia.
Yeah and then north Korea.
3:08 The goofy scream would have been even funnier.
I agree. I also think they should have used the Goofy scream when the waiter fell out the window in "A Most Unusual Camera"!
@@melissacooper8724 I don't they needed too, the scream they used was goofy already.
@@elder-woodsilverstein7716 Good point.
Fantastic episode of a fantastic series. I disagree with your negative review.
I wonder if King Henry the 8th had a mirror like this 😏
I think the episode could have been saved with a different actor in the lead playing a character who wasn’t so obviously a stand-in for Fidel Castro. I know Rod was passionate about hiring black actors, so he could have also championed an actual Hispanic actor for the lead role. And making the character less like Castro would have still sent what is actually a good message without making the episode way too topical, and dated.
7his episode's coming on METV tonight!
Funny thing is that Castro survived many real assassination attempts, U.S. wanted to overthrow him but failed and he lived until 90. The previous dictator Batista didn't concern them much, interesting...
can someone clear something up for me? did Not Fidel Castro throw his gun at the mirror and it went off right at him killing himself? or did he break the mirror and off camera shoot himself? cause the former would have more poetic irony but I think the latter is what happened
yeah it doesn't hold up well in terms of quality but it is a good time capsule if you ask me
Just one more thing!
I think the one problem with this episode is that it's more dated than timeless. The idea of so many Twilight Zone episodes is that they could have happened to anyone at any time, while this one feels a little too specific
That’s understandable, I don’t have that issue because my family is Cuban and the regime is still going on. So until Cuba changes, this is still timely at this point for us.
@@LunaGirl196 that’s a very good point
It was actually pretty prophetic. Many people blame Fidel for the plane crash that killed Cienfuegos and some blame him for not doing enough to help Che in Bolivia.
Darn, I can't find this one online. I'll have to skip the review. I don't want it spoiled. Drat!
I honestly didn't know that was Peter Falk.
Even if he's pretty broad, Antony Carbone is very good in this too. If he's funny to me in it, it's because of those Roger Corman horror comedies that I know him from.
This reminds me of a story from Sergio Aragonés’s “Boogeyman”. About a kid who becomes so afraid of the titular cryptid that he takes all the power just to feel safe. Yet he doesn’t.
Holly cow, i need to get that one
@@vicbaez It’s a four volume anthology series. Pretty good stuff.
And as long as you are looking, I also recommend his “Day of the Dead” comic.
Nice
It wouldn't surprise me if Doug wrote this.
A bad opinion from the same moron who said that "Scrubs (the show about an ER) doesn't work when it's trying to be serious", despite it's serious episodes being widely agreed upon to be some of the greatest moments in television history, and made a recent review criticizing and laughing at The Mist, one of the greatest modern horror movies ever?
I wouldn't be surprised.
It's somewhat interesting how generitized obviously meant to be Fidel Castro parodies have become, there even was one on the TMNT 2007 movie for seemingly no reason. But, yeah, when this came out they knew who they were referring to.
Kinda feels like that time in Star Trek when Captain Kirk "solved" Vietnam War analogue by just keeping on escalating the conflict.
Oh boy... yeah, file this under Hasn't Aged Great. I get it, the material conjured from current events was too tempting to pass up, but really now. The real mirror is the comparison with The Passersby which I watched just before. I was concerned that episode was going to highlight a simplistic mid 20th century viewpoint of the Confederacy, but that's what they did for the Cuban Revolution instead. Maybe time really is key for crystalizing a historical perspective. And to be clear, I think Castro was a monster, but to both handwave the precursor factors that led up to the Cuban Revolution AND have Clemente go full tyrant in 10 minutes does no favors for this script.
I'm a little more forgiving for Falk's acting, and I like the tension of the showdown between Clemente and Cristo, but the premise in general is flawed. Consider the titular magic items from "The Man in The Bottle" or "A Most Unusual Camera," you can understand why the characters kept using those things because of the potential to bring them good fortune. Why would Clemente keep the mirror after everything De Cruz has just said. Smash it, cover it, store it in the basement; there's no good reason to keep this stupid looking glass after De Cruz has just goaded him.
Want to improve this episode? In the scene depicted at 4:56, have the camera stay focused in a medium shot on the mirror. Don't cut back to Clemente unless it's an extreme close up of his face. The reflection draws a gun and it puts the barrel to his forehead. Out in the hall, Father Tomas and the guard hear a gunshot, they burst into the room, they find Clemente dead, and the mirror is shattered. There!
I'd argue this makes the episode so much more interesting. Did Clemente's paranoia get the better of him, did the mirror actually kill him? Just having *some* element that wasn't so obvious would've made this one more interesting. It's not the worst episode, just rather weak and one-note.
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*David Hayter voice* Nice shoes.
I have some video ideas for you to make next!
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I believe that the mirror is magic, but it doesn't show your enemies, it shows you who you trust or not.
I disagree. This episode is must viewing for a look at US-Cuba relationships post-revolution/pre-Missile Crisis. A snapshot in time, so to speak.
Dude: I LOVE this episode. It's one I've gone back to many times, including just the other day. I was anticipating a positive review of this one, but: everyone likes something a little different.
The mirror was just messing with him to overthrow him.
Why isn't RUclips deleting those hellish spam bots?!
I'm still waiting for his highlander review
2:59 If you think that's funny, check out "A Most Unusual Camere" I burst out laughing towards the end.
Castro's Aide : But presidente, America tried to kill you!
Fidel Castro : Ah, they're not so bad. They even named a street after me in San Francisco!
[Aide #2 whispers something into his ear]
Fidel Castro : It's full of what?
Who wants to tell him who it is actually named after
This is one I felt that was a bit too heavy handed with the moral.
Columbo in the Twilight Zone would be interesting. Just one more question about one more thing Mr
Serling. There is something that bothers me... :p
Ramos Clemente and his comrades are obviously meant to be caricatures of Fidel Castro, Raul Castro, Che Guevarra, Camillo Cienfuegos and Huber Matos.
At the time of this episode, Cienfuegos was already dead and Matos was in prison.
On the nose!
The mirror should have been another universe or the main character should have been the reflection
*¡enjoyed at 11:13 am Pacific Daylight Savings Time on Sunday, 9 October 2022!*
Serling always with a cigarette in hand 🚬 🚭
It was part of his contract with Chesterfield. Plus the dude smoked like half a carton a day.
Is it me or did the last guy seem like he actually wanted to hurt him
This episode was so spot on excepting for Castro killing himself, dude live until he was a mummy, filled with fear.
Is Doug narrating these, or someone else?
Walter, a fellow cast member of NC. You might remember him as Parody Zach Snyder, the Priest, and the Batman actor in the THE BATMAN review earlier this year
From one caudillo to another one ....
It's funny how how poorly it aged. I mostly watch this for humor.
400th like!
I guess I'm kind of sorry to hear that this isn't one of your favorite episodes. It's actually one of mine. Yes, it is very much a parable about fidel, but it's also a good story on its own merits and I don't know, I found the ending particularly poignant.
Perhaps the reason why I like the episode far more than you is because I'm notably older than you. If nothing else I think this episode is at least very good and what it does with regards to what the Twilight Zone did best. Present people with Parables that are timeless, and the message that this episode has I think does a good job of that