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"The Wunderkind" is the fifth episode of season one in The Twilight Zone series.
Synopsis[]
A down-on-his-luck campaign manager (John Cho) is determined to get a kid (Jacob Tremblay) elected as the next President of the United States.
Plot[]
Opening Narration[]
"Meet Raff Hanks, a wunderkind. Once the most successful campaign manager of his generation. Now Raff finds himself in a valley of booze and regret. One filled with bad choices and even worse polling. He's about to embark on a misguided road to redemption. And on his way back to the top, he'll have to take a dark detour... through the Twilight Zone."
Act 1[]
Raff Hanks is a political wunderkind that managed the reelection campaign of President Stevens, the most unpopular president in United States history. He begins celebrating the “comeback of the century”, revealing a book he has been written about his success. His celebration turns out to be premature, however, as Stevens loses state after state, including his own home state of New Jersey. Stevens angrily blames Raff for his loss declaring his data and polling to be meaningless.
Two years later, Raff is seen drowning his sorrows in a bar, unable to make his rent, and using a copy of his book as a coaster. The news reports that the new president’s approval ratings are tanking due to his mishandling of the economy, environmental issues, and foreign policy and Americans are losing all faith in government. Meanwhile, an eleven year old boy named Oliver Foley has generated over eight million views for his YouTube video where he declares his candidacy for president of the United States. Raff is amazed with how much attention Oliver has gotten and the patrons in the bar suggest Raff should run Oliver’s campaign. Sensing an opportunity, Raff goes to Oliver’s house and talks his parents into actually letting their son campaign and allowing Raff to manage it.
Act 2[]
Oliver starts to gain support with his music video campaign ads and promises of longer weekends, longer vacations, and dessert before dinner but at his first debate, he becomes overwhelmed by the difficult questions and has to be carried offstage by his mother. Raff quits the campaign and returns to the bar. However, after airing a video about his beloved dog Homer who is dying of cancer, Oliver wins the Iowa caucus. Raff returns to Oliver’s side and on Inauguration Day it is Oliver that is sworn in as the President of the United States.
Act 3[]
Soon, Oliver has forced video game companies to give away their products, installed a basketball hoop in the Oval Office, outlawed “old doctors”, and has penguins on the White House lawn. Raff tries to talk to the Secretary of Defense and Oliver’s mother about his increasingly bossy, bratty behavior but none of them are willing to listen.
Oliver confronts Raff about his supposed treason, telling him that he doesn’t get to think but only back him unconditionally. Oliver grows frustrated over a game of miniature golf, wanting to make a hole-in-one. Oliver tips bucket of balls onto the green and orders Raff to declare it a hole-in -one. When Raff stands up to Oliver and refuses, Oliver shouts that Raff has a gun and two Secret Service agents shoot Raff.
Raff awakens in an operating room with a ruptured spleen and a punctured lung. He is told that the president has assigned his own doctor to perform the surgery. The doctor, who is a young boy since the new law prevents adults from being doctors. The doctor starts indiscriminately stabbing into a screaming Raff with a knife, wanting to finish quickly and get back to his video games.
Closing Narration []
"Society is a fragile ecosystem. Razzle and dazzle people with the right lies and eventually they'll go blind to the madness right in front of their faces. Raff Hanks made a living selling the American dream. But, once sold, he created a true nightmare that he couldn't buy back. Especially not here... in the Twilight Zone."
Cast[]
- John Cho as Raff Hanks
- Jacob Tremblay as Oliver Foley
- Kimberly Susted as Helen Foley
- Lane Edwards as Joseph Foley
- Aaron Douglas as Mitch
- Allison Tolman as Maura McGill
- John Larroquette as James Stevens
- Erica Tremblay as Lily Foley
- Shawn Ahmed as Orderly
- Logan Zenith Oung as Child Doctor
- Graeme Duffy as Senior Aide
- Ben Wilkinson as Senior Advisor
- Michael Patrick Denis as Mustached Man
- Monique Phillips as Stern Woman
- Alvin Sanders as Tommy
- Rob Carpenter as Skinny Man
- Elizabeth McCarthy Meek as Woman in Bar
- Dion Riley as Campaign Person #1
- Arjun Malik as Campaign Person #2
- Emily Henney as Campaign Person #3
- Michael Meneer as Newscaster (National)
- Alison Matthews as News Commentator (Iowa)
- Sophie Lui as Newscaster #1
- David Quinlan as Newscaster #2
- Den Kuznetsov as Russian Newscaster
- Sonia Beeksma as Newscaster #4
- Shalyn Ferdinand as Young Intern
- Brent Fidler as Male Interviewee #1
- Deborah Ramsay as Female Interviewee #1
- Brent Chapman as Male Interviewee #2
- Trilby Jeeves as Female Interviewee #2
- Cameron Forbes as Male Interviewee #3
- Ava Julien as Female Interviewee #3
- Kwesi Ameyaw as Male Interviewee #4
- Parmiss Sehat as Female Interviewee #4
- Marc Gaudet as Male Interviewee #5
- Maria J. Cruz as Female Interviewee #5
- Madeleine Kelders as Female Interviewee #6
- Donal Thoms-Cappello as Male Interviewer
Trivia[]
- John Larroquette previously worked in the Twilight Zone: The Movie segment "Time Out" as a KKK.
Media[]
Video[]
| v • e The Twilight Zone (2019) episodes | |
|---|---|
| Season 1 | "The Comedian" • "Nightmare at 30,000 Feet" • "Replay" • "A Traveler" • "The Wunderkind" • "Six Degrees of Freedom" • "Not All Men" • "Point of Origin" • "The Blue Scorpion" • "Blurryman |
| Season 2 | "Meet in the Middle" • "Downtime" • "The Who of You" • "Ovation" • "Among the Untrodden" • "8" • "A Human Face" • "A Small Town" • "Try, Try" • "You Might Also Like"
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