The Twilight Zone
The Encounter
TV Flash files “The Encounter” as hour 151 of 156 in the TV Flash guide — The Twilight Zone (1959–1964) on CBS, season 5, episode 31, aired 1964-05-01, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S05E31: listed hour 151 of 156 in the The Twilight Zone guide, hour 31 of 36 in season 5. It aired 1964-05-01 (30 min). The listed hour before it is “Stopover in a Quiet Town” (S05E30). Next is “Mr. Garrity and the Graves” (S05E32).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
When a World War II veteran is cleaning out his attic, a Japanese American gardener comes by to inquire about having his lawn cut. The pair soon gets locked in the attic and have to come to terms with past prejudices that was brought to the forefront during that fateful time in history.
Viewer FAQ
Where does The Encounter sit in the The Twilight Zone guide?
S05E31 is listed hour 151 of 156 — hour 31 of 36 in season 5, season 5 episode 31.
When did The Twilight Zone S05E31 air?
The Encounter aired 1964-05-01 and is listed at 30 minutes.
Where should I start?
Start with the empty-town opener, then the broken-glasses hour. Isolation first, stolen moral second; those two teach the anthology’s real instrument better than any twist ranking.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Serling used fantasy as a smuggled sermon when sponsors would not let a straight drama talk. Watch for isolation as craft, the twist as a bill coming due, and half-hours built to sit in the blood overnight — not to snack in a dump.
October 1959, CBS: a man walks into an empty town and the country learns a new address. The Twilight Zone did not invent the anthology. It invented the anthology as a national flinch — half-hour moral weather, a host in a dark suit, and a closing turn that was supposed to sting after the sponsor smile. Rod Serling had already fought live-drama censors and lost enough rounds to change weapons. Fantasy was the loophole. Aliens, bargains, small towns that eat themselves: the vocabulary of a writer who wanted to talk…
Filed against
- Rod Serling as Host / Narrator
Rod Serling created and hosted The Twilight Zone — moral fables in a black suit, twist endings that taught America to fear its own reflection. Sponsor and censor battles are as legendary as the episodes. On TV Flash he is prestige…