1.02 --- A Little Peace and Quiet

Directed by : Wes Craven Written by : James Crocker Starring : Melinda Dillon, Greg Mullavey First aired : 27th of September, 1985. Penny (Melinda Dillon, Slap Shot, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, A Christmas Story) is an overworked housewife, tending every day to four children and a husband (Greg Mullavey). She is seemingly able to cope with stress of it all, however the incredible noise around her is slowly taking its toll (hey, this rhymes). One day, while working in her garden, Penny digs out a little chest containing a gold medallion in a shape of a sun clock. She starts wearing it, thinking it's just a nice piece of jewelry, but soon enough she realizes it carries certain powers. Namely, while wearing it, Penny can freeze time - which she discovers as the frustration eventually gets the better of her and she yells out a big "SHUT UP !" while surrounded by her family members. They promptly freeze, just like everybody but her, and are only reactivated upon Penny saying "start talking". Realizing the power she's suddenly wielding, Penny starts living a more relaxed life, freezing time as she sees fit, either to silence people around her, or shop for groceries without checking out. Her mild-mannered personality also takes a turn for the sinister, as she pulls a cruel prank on a couple of young anti-nuclear activists who ring her doorbell. However, it's all for naught. The very same night, as she's comfortably relaxing in her bathtub, Penny is summoned to the bedroom by her frenzied husband - the nuclear armament negotiations, which are the subject of all radio and TV broadcasts featured during this episode, have broken down, and Russia has launched the first nuclear missile towards the US. Realizing those are their very last moments, they hug each other, but just as the missile is about to strike, Penny yells "SHUT UP !" and freezes the whole thing. She then walks outside - amidst scores of people and cars frozen in time, and walks to a nearby movie theater, calmly observing the nuclear missile in mid-air which can be seen above. *** Craven's second entry in the Twilight Zone opus (and there was a fair few of 'em) is an improvement compared to Shatterday, if only a minor one. Melinda Dillon is pretty convincing in her role of a frustrated (desperate ?) housewife on the brink of mental collapse, who slowly transforms herself into a self-styled bitch as the episode progresses. Yet, even with her fine performance, the episode is somewhat inconclusive - there is no hint given if Penny is willing to resume life in a frozen world, or just undo her spell and let it all finish in one blow. Some set pieces in this episode are rather impressive - most notably the ending, in which Craven pulls a tracking shot around the main city square, with plenty of frozen people and cars, all looking very, very real. The nuclear missile could've looked better though. Worth noting that the movie theatre at the end of this episode is showing a double bill of Fail Safe and Dr. Strangelove, both movies dealing with nuclear destruction.