The Twilight Zone “A Human Face”

Jenna Elfman and Christopher Meloni as a bickering married couple?  Yeah, I can see it.

Basic Premise:  A married couple debate what to do about the alien taking the form of their dead daughter.

Writer:  Alex Rubens

Commentary:  Huh.  Not sure what to make of this one.  Married couple Richard and Barbara are in the process of moving out of their house, discussing whether or not their late daughter Mags was scattered or not.  Mentally or something.  A cosmic flare hits the house, weird stuff happens, and there’s what looks like a gooey, human-sized termite eating a table downstairs.  The thing turns into a human later, namely their dead daughter.

Said daughter knows them too.  Knows the dead girl’s memories.  Knows the combination on Jimmy’s wallsafe.  Knows all kinds of things.

Is it really their daughter back from the dead?  Barbara thinks so.  Richard thinks it’s a trick.  Why, the thing even admits it was sent as the first step in an invading force, but it also discovered love, knows what Mags knows, loves her parents, will they love her, or is it all a trick?

The Twist:  It’s…not a trick?  “Mags” is being sincere, and as Jordan Peele explains in his closing narration, love beat the alien invasion.  It is also apparent that Richard and Barbara are not the only ones who had this happen…there sure are a lot of families with dead relatives in their neighborhood.

What about Jordan?  He’s seated on the edge of Richard and Barbara’s bed, visible when the camera pans back but missing when they go by seconds before.