The Twilight Zone (1959) s01e06 Episode Script
Escape Clause
Meet Melina Croner a young woman out for a late-night walk.
Unaware that she's about to reach a fork in the road where she'll face a life-altering decision that can only be made in the Twilight Zone.
Jerk! Come on, Vigo.
Let's go home.
Come on.
Come on, Vigo, stop that.
You're traveling to another dimension a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind.
A journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are only that of the imagination.
You're entering Hey! You didn't just walk him, did ya? I wasn't tired, and he needed out.
It's just late.
I wish you'd wait for me to do that.
I love when you get manly and overprotective but Vigo was my bodyguard Iong before you came on the scene.
Is that in one of those rule books on how to make your fiancé feel important? Tell him your dog makes you feel safer than he does? Hmm? That's not what I meant.
Have you ever seen a bus go down our street? What more can I do? It is beautiful, isn't it? You wore tie-dye to your wedding.
I don't think you're an objective observer.
About my only daughter? Of course not.
I have to go.
I'm giving a comp lit lecture in twenty minutes.
I want to check your registry.
Aren't you curious how many place settings you've got so far? It's been eating at me all day.
When did you register? I don't know.
Two months ago.
Well, you're not in here under your name or Adam's.
That's strange.
Do you remember who helped you, what they looked like, dear? You know, I can't remember.
Hi, Melina.
Hi.
Come on, Vigo.
Let's go now.
Should I leave you and that merlot alone? You gonna tell me what's wrong? No.
It's stupid.
Melina, we're getting married.
I'm not allowed to admit that anything you say or do is stupid, so you're safe.
I was walking Vigo and this woman was coming home from work.
I've never met her before and she said hello to me by name.
Well, Melina is an unusual name, very easy to remember and you definitely make an impression.
That's not what I mean.
I don't know her.
I'm a teacher.
I make a point of remembering names and faces.
OK, so? And I saw that bus again.
What bus? The one that I saw last night.
Oh, that bus.
It keeps stopping on the corner and waiting and I don't even remember seeing a bench there before.
We have buses goin' down our street? I've never seen it before yesterday.
Why is this botherin' you? I don't know.
Forget it.
No.
Vigo, want to go for a walk? It's buggin' you, it's buggin' me.
So the bus stops here and then what? Then they just stare at me like I'm a kid in grade school and I'm holding up a field trip or something.
Well, Mel I don't see any bus.
Maybe it only runs certain nights.
It could've been anything maybe a charter takin' little old ladies to Vegas for the weekend.
It wasn't a charter.
What are you doing? I'm unlocking the door.
Honey, we live over here.
Oh, too much wine and suddenly I'm the neighborhood prowler.
You're so cute.
"Because I could not stop for death "he kindly stopped for me.
"The carriage held but just ourselves and immortality.
" Ms.
Croner, I just want to say I love your class.
Emily Dickenson is so goth.
I take it your paper's late.
Just a few hours.
Some people say that Emily's just a depressing old spinster but I say she really understood death.
Thank you, Theresa.
Information? I need the number for the transit department information.
One moment, please.
Hold for that number.
I'll hold.
Tell me you weren't waiting for that bus.
What bus? I called public transit.
There is no bus route that runs down our street.
I told you I didn't think there was.
Well, what a relief that it's just in my head.
Mel, no one's sayin' that.
I think there's somethin' more goin' on here.
Huh? I'm starting to forget things.
What kind of things? Adam, how did we meet? You've forgotten that? Just tell me, please.
We were freshmen at UCLA.
It was a party at your dorm.
Are you sure? Mel.
Right.
OK.
Fine.
Is this some kind of pre-wedding test? No.
No.
This is harassment.
I'm gonna call the police.
What do you want from me? We're waiting for you.
Leave me alone.
It's ridiculous.
When I try to put it into words, it sounds like The Legend of Sleepy Hollow or something.
You're seeing a headless horseman? No.
I am seeing a bus on my street.
I think it's full of dead people and the bus driver wants me to get on.
Oh, Melinayou've always had the best imagination.
Honey, the dream's a metaphor.
You're just thinking that marriage is going to kill your social life, that's all.
It's not a dream.
It is real.
The other night I almost got hit by a car.
That's the first time I saw the bus.
Oh, honey, oh I'm still not following you.
I think the car did hit me and I died but my life's so good right now, I don't want to let it go.
And the bus is death? Yeahand if I get on I give up on my life completely.
WellI always thought the public transportation system was going to hell, but-- Mom, I am serious.
What if I'm dreaming all of this? Then I'm going to pinch you awake because I need you.
Few things are more real than a wedding for 400 people at the Regent.
He found me.
I don't care if it is a dream.
It's mine.
It's mine.
Remember Tim Robbins in Jacob's Ladder? He dies in the beginning and spends the rest of the movie trying to accept his death.
Really? Is that what happened in that movie? Do you understand what happens at the end of Basic lnstinct? Is Sharon Stone the killer or not? This isn't about the movie.
This is about me and the things I've been seeing and the things I can't remember.
Well, what about it? What do you want me to do, Mel? I want to know that you're real that the things we feel are true.
That we have the rest of our lives to look forward to.
I need that.
You know you've got it.
MelI love you.
Adam, I love you so much.
I was so empty before.
If you hadn't moved into the building and come into my life I don't know what I would have done.
I don't know where that came from.
We met in college.
I'm gonna get us some more coffee.
I'd like some refills.
Sure.
Melina! Yeah? Do I know you? Melina, yeah.
You used to work here.
You trained me.
No, you must have me mistaken for someone else.
What, someone else named Melina who looks just like you? Look, I live around the corner.
I come in here to get my coffee.
I've never worked here.
I am an English professor.
OK.
Sorry.
There you go.
-I'd like them both refilled.
-You only gave me one cup.
But there were two.
Well, who's the other one for? Adam?! Adam! Adam! Adam, this joke isn't funny anymore! Vigo, it's you.
Your mama's cracking up.
Vigo? Vigo! Vigo, no, come here! Why are you doing this? We're waiting for you.
"Because I couldn't stop for death "he kindly stopped for me.
" No.
Forget it.
I'm not going.
Just give me back my dog.
He doesn't want out.
Leave me alone.
Just get out of my life! This isn't your life, Melina.
It's the life you could've had.
Hey the dog was gone.
I'd swear the dog was, but he's OK.
Does, uh, anyone know who she is? Her name's Melina.
She worked with me at the Soma Café.
She lives across the hall from me.
She was always walking her dog.
I never heard her say two words.
I always felt like she was starin' at me.
Adam.
Adam.
The busit was life.
I should have gotten on.
Excuse me.
Excuse me.
Pity.
Poor Melina Croner.
She spent her entire life too afraid to live it and lost all hope at happiness.
Makin' the wrong choice can be fatal in the Twilight Zone.
Unaware that she's about to reach a fork in the road where she'll face a life-altering decision that can only be made in the Twilight Zone.
Jerk! Come on, Vigo.
Let's go home.
Come on.
Come on, Vigo, stop that.
You're traveling to another dimension a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind.
A journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are only that of the imagination.
You're entering Hey! You didn't just walk him, did ya? I wasn't tired, and he needed out.
It's just late.
I wish you'd wait for me to do that.
I love when you get manly and overprotective but Vigo was my bodyguard Iong before you came on the scene.
Is that in one of those rule books on how to make your fiancé feel important? Tell him your dog makes you feel safer than he does? Hmm? That's not what I meant.
Have you ever seen a bus go down our street? What more can I do? It is beautiful, isn't it? You wore tie-dye to your wedding.
I don't think you're an objective observer.
About my only daughter? Of course not.
I have to go.
I'm giving a comp lit lecture in twenty minutes.
I want to check your registry.
Aren't you curious how many place settings you've got so far? It's been eating at me all day.
When did you register? I don't know.
Two months ago.
Well, you're not in here under your name or Adam's.
That's strange.
Do you remember who helped you, what they looked like, dear? You know, I can't remember.
Hi, Melina.
Hi.
Come on, Vigo.
Let's go now.
Should I leave you and that merlot alone? You gonna tell me what's wrong? No.
It's stupid.
Melina, we're getting married.
I'm not allowed to admit that anything you say or do is stupid, so you're safe.
I was walking Vigo and this woman was coming home from work.
I've never met her before and she said hello to me by name.
Well, Melina is an unusual name, very easy to remember and you definitely make an impression.
That's not what I mean.
I don't know her.
I'm a teacher.
I make a point of remembering names and faces.
OK, so? And I saw that bus again.
What bus? The one that I saw last night.
Oh, that bus.
It keeps stopping on the corner and waiting and I don't even remember seeing a bench there before.
We have buses goin' down our street? I've never seen it before yesterday.
Why is this botherin' you? I don't know.
Forget it.
No.
Vigo, want to go for a walk? It's buggin' you, it's buggin' me.
So the bus stops here and then what? Then they just stare at me like I'm a kid in grade school and I'm holding up a field trip or something.
Well, Mel I don't see any bus.
Maybe it only runs certain nights.
It could've been anything maybe a charter takin' little old ladies to Vegas for the weekend.
It wasn't a charter.
What are you doing? I'm unlocking the door.
Honey, we live over here.
Oh, too much wine and suddenly I'm the neighborhood prowler.
You're so cute.
"Because I could not stop for death "he kindly stopped for me.
"The carriage held but just ourselves and immortality.
" Ms.
Croner, I just want to say I love your class.
Emily Dickenson is so goth.
I take it your paper's late.
Just a few hours.
Some people say that Emily's just a depressing old spinster but I say she really understood death.
Thank you, Theresa.
Information? I need the number for the transit department information.
One moment, please.
Hold for that number.
I'll hold.
Tell me you weren't waiting for that bus.
What bus? I called public transit.
There is no bus route that runs down our street.
I told you I didn't think there was.
Well, what a relief that it's just in my head.
Mel, no one's sayin' that.
I think there's somethin' more goin' on here.
Huh? I'm starting to forget things.
What kind of things? Adam, how did we meet? You've forgotten that? Just tell me, please.
We were freshmen at UCLA.
It was a party at your dorm.
Are you sure? Mel.
Right.
OK.
Fine.
Is this some kind of pre-wedding test? No.
No.
This is harassment.
I'm gonna call the police.
What do you want from me? We're waiting for you.
Leave me alone.
It's ridiculous.
When I try to put it into words, it sounds like The Legend of Sleepy Hollow or something.
You're seeing a headless horseman? No.
I am seeing a bus on my street.
I think it's full of dead people and the bus driver wants me to get on.
Oh, Melinayou've always had the best imagination.
Honey, the dream's a metaphor.
You're just thinking that marriage is going to kill your social life, that's all.
It's not a dream.
It is real.
The other night I almost got hit by a car.
That's the first time I saw the bus.
Oh, honey, oh I'm still not following you.
I think the car did hit me and I died but my life's so good right now, I don't want to let it go.
And the bus is death? Yeahand if I get on I give up on my life completely.
WellI always thought the public transportation system was going to hell, but-- Mom, I am serious.
What if I'm dreaming all of this? Then I'm going to pinch you awake because I need you.
Few things are more real than a wedding for 400 people at the Regent.
He found me.
I don't care if it is a dream.
It's mine.
It's mine.
Remember Tim Robbins in Jacob's Ladder? He dies in the beginning and spends the rest of the movie trying to accept his death.
Really? Is that what happened in that movie? Do you understand what happens at the end of Basic lnstinct? Is Sharon Stone the killer or not? This isn't about the movie.
This is about me and the things I've been seeing and the things I can't remember.
Well, what about it? What do you want me to do, Mel? I want to know that you're real that the things we feel are true.
That we have the rest of our lives to look forward to.
I need that.
You know you've got it.
MelI love you.
Adam, I love you so much.
I was so empty before.
If you hadn't moved into the building and come into my life I don't know what I would have done.
I don't know where that came from.
We met in college.
I'm gonna get us some more coffee.
I'd like some refills.
Sure.
Melina! Yeah? Do I know you? Melina, yeah.
You used to work here.
You trained me.
No, you must have me mistaken for someone else.
What, someone else named Melina who looks just like you? Look, I live around the corner.
I come in here to get my coffee.
I've never worked here.
I am an English professor.
OK.
Sorry.
There you go.
-I'd like them both refilled.
-You only gave me one cup.
But there were two.
Well, who's the other one for? Adam?! Adam! Adam! Adam, this joke isn't funny anymore! Vigo, it's you.
Your mama's cracking up.
Vigo? Vigo! Vigo, no, come here! Why are you doing this? We're waiting for you.
"Because I couldn't stop for death "he kindly stopped for me.
" No.
Forget it.
I'm not going.
Just give me back my dog.
He doesn't want out.
Leave me alone.
Just get out of my life! This isn't your life, Melina.
It's the life you could've had.
Hey the dog was gone.
I'd swear the dog was, but he's OK.
Does, uh, anyone know who she is? Her name's Melina.
She worked with me at the Soma Café.
She lives across the hall from me.
She was always walking her dog.
I never heard her say two words.
I always felt like she was starin' at me.
Adam.
Adam.
The busit was life.
I should have gotten on.
Excuse me.
Excuse me.
Pity.
Poor Melina Croner.
She spent her entire life too afraid to live it and lost all hope at happiness.
Makin' the wrong choice can be fatal in the Twilight Zone.