The Twilight Zone “A Small Town”

I don’t know if I just never noticed it before or the black-and-white helps, but Damon Wayans Jr sure does look a lot like his dad from some angles.

Basic Premise:  A man discovers he can manipulate his small town by doing things to a scale model in a church attic.

Writers:  Steven Barnes and Tananarive Due

Commentary:  We are told, as the episode opens, that Littleton had this wonderful mayor who fought to keep an interstate from being built next to the town, one that would have no clear exit and economically devastate the town, but then she died unexpectedly, and the town’s treasurer (David Krumholtz) became mayor and he let the highway go through, economically devastating the town.

I don’t know why he would do that.  My guess is they were elected separately.

Anyway, a year later, and the late mayor’s husband is living in the church attic, acting as the handyman, when he finds a scale model of the town, and when he sprays it down to remove dust, it starts to rain outside until he stop spraying.  Yes, he can manipulate the town itself by picking up or removing things there.  He paints the local diner, removes trash, and beautifies the town.  He’s happy to help…until the mayor, a man he doesn’t like, gets credit for the work from the townsfolk.

It goes from there.  The handyman does more good for the town while also attacking the mayor by dropping a rock on the mayor’s expensive car or dropping an tarantula onto the model to attack the mayor when he is walking alone down middle of the street on night and…who does that?

Anyway, the handyman explains the truth when the mayor accuses a local boy with a talent for drawing of destroying the town’s power grid.

The Twist:  When the mayor thinks he can change Littleton into the next Vegas, a scuffle breaks out and the model falls over.  The town’s wrecked, but no one died somehow.  Plus, the handyman dropped his gold wedding ring into the model before it fell, so there’s a giant gold ring right there to pay for repairs.  Win win?

What about Jordan?  He’s standing outside with an umbrella.