The Twilight Zone is packed with episodes with surprising and heartbreaking twists, but there’s a 64-year-old episode that has the saddest twist in the whole show. One of the most influential and best TV shows of all time is The Twilight Zone, created by Rod Serling. The Twilight Zone aired for five seasons, and it was rebooted in 1985, 2002, and 2019.
Every episode of The Twilight Zone is a different story, often bringing together sci-fi, horror, drama, and fantasy, with the occasional comedic episode. The Twilight Zone is best known for its surprise endings with a moral and plot twists, which more often than not leave the audience either shocked or heartbroken.
Many of the best Twilight Zone episodes have heartbreaking twists, which have been key to their episodes’ legacies, but there’s one that earns the title of the saddest plot twist in the first run of Serling’s iconic show.
“The Midnight Sun” Is Easily The Most Heartbreaking Twilight Zone Twist
Mrs. Bronson and Norma looking scared in The Twilight Zone’s The Midnight Sun
Warning: major spoilers for The Twilight Zone’s “The Midnight Sun”.Written by Rod Serling and directed by Anton Leader, “The Midnight Sun” aired in November 1961, as part of The Twilight Zone’s third season. The events of the episode are caused by a strange phenomenon that caused a change in Earth’s orbit, making it slowly approach the sun. By the time the episode begins, there’s no more darkness, and the survivors prepare for the worst.
Among them are artist Norma (Lois Nettleton) and her landlady, Mrs. Bronson (Betty Garde), the last remaining residents in their New York apartment building. As the temperature rises, water usage is limited, electricity is gradually cut off, food is scarce, and the police have been moved out of the city, with residents warned about looters.
When one of the looters breaks into Norman’s apartment, the audience learns more of the extent of the situation, as he tells them of the deaths of his wife and newborn child. After becoming delirious, Mrs. Bronson dies, and Norma sees the thermometer reaching its highest point and her paintings melting, collapsing in shock and desperation.
The twist in “The Midnight Sun” comes right after this, as it’s all revealed to be a dream Norma had while in bed with a high fever. As it turns out, the Earth is not moving closer to the sun, and it’s actually moving away from it. This is foreshadowed in the first minutes of the episode, when Norma says she keeps having the thought of waking up in a cool bed, and it would be night outside.
While it’s not uncommon for episodes of The Twilight Zone to not have uplifting endings, the one of “The Midnight Sun” is especially heartbreaking as it shows that there’s no way for the Earth’s population to be saved. “The Midnight Sun” presents two catastrophic, nightmarish scenarios, with none better than the other.
Even 64 Years On, The Episode Is Still Flawless
Norma sweating and looking worried on the window in The Twilight Zone’s The Midnight Sun
Despite being a decades-old episode, “The Midnight Sun” is a timeless The Twilight Zone thanks to its believable portrayal of the end of the world. The episode gradually builds tension, but also desperation and sadness as we see the characters succumbing to the effects of the intense heat in different ways.
The twist is so perfectly executed that first-time viewers won’t see it coming, and it’s a twist that completely changes the entire episode. Norma, Mrs. Bronson, and the rest of the world had no way out in the dream nor in the real world, staying true to The Twilight Zone’s style of sending a message (environmental collapse, in this case) while presenting nightmarish yet relatable scenarios.
John Brahm, Buzz Kulik, Douglas Heyes, Lamont Johnson, Richard L. Bare, James Sheldon, Richard Donner, Don Medford, Montgomery Pittman, Abner Biberman, Alan Crosland, Jr., Alvin Ganzer, Elliot Silverstein, Jack Smight, Joseph M. Newman, Ted Post, William Claxton, Jus Addiss, Mitchell Leisen, Perry Lafferty, Robert Florey, Robert Parrish, Ron Winston, Stuart Rosenberg
Writers
Charles Beaumont, Richard Matheson, Earl Hamner, Jr., George Clayton Johnson, Jerry Sohl, Henry Slesar, Martin Goldsmith, Anthony Wilson, Bernard C. Schoenfeld, Bill Idelson, E. Jack Neuman, Jerome Bixby, Jerry McNeely, John Collier, John Furia, Jr., John Tomerlin, Lucille Fletcher, Ray Bradbury, Reginald Rose, Sam Rolfe, Adele T. Strassfield
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