Season 1, Episode 33
Written by Rod Serling – Directed by William Asher – Starring Orson Bean and Henry Jones
After losing his job, his car, and his apartment on the same day, an eccentric man is given a chance to change his life by his guardian angel.
First, a new opening! I’d never seen the eyeball morphing into a setting sun version before, and it turns out this was a short-lived alternate opening used near the end of the first season.
The Twilight Zone has ventured into comedy more than I expected, and “Mr. Bevis” is probably the most lighthearted setup we’ve seen yet. Orson Bean plays Bevis as an eccentric, endlessly optimistic guy who seems almost incapable of staying down. He’s kind, friendly, and perfectly comfortable being a little odd.
And then he has a bad day.
He loses his job, wrecks his car, and gets evicted from his apartment. That’s when he meets his guardian angel, J. Hardy Hempstead, who offers him a chance to change the course of his life.
What follows is essentially a choice between success and being yourself. Bevis can become more conventional and enjoy the kind of life that society tells him he should want, or he can remain the eccentric person he already is.
Orson Bean goes all in on the physical comedy. There’s almost a Jim Carrey quality to some of his movements and reactions, and the episode clearly gives him plenty of room to play. I haven’t loved the more comedic turns the series has taken so far, though, and much of this didn’t really make me laugh.
What I did like was the message underneath the comedy. Bevis doesn’t need to be fixed. His life may be chaotic, but his kindness and optimism are valuable in their own right. The episode suggests that becoming more successful isn’t necessarily the same thing as becoming happier.
Twilight Zone Verdict: Solid