"You Might Also Like" is the twentieth episode of the 2019 series of The Twilight Zone and is the finale episode of the second season. The title is based off the usual "You might also like" messages under certain content.
Synopsis[]
A housewife living in a surreal suburb anticipates the arrival of a life changing product, only to learn it comes with an unpleasant truth.
Opening Narration[]
The Narrator points out the eerie tune
Submitted for your approval, Mrs. Janet Warren. A woman who would seem to have everything. Every thing. But possessions have weight. We can't carry them all at the same time. Especially when taking an unscheduled trip into the Twilight Zone.
Plot[]
Act I[]
An eerie tune plays over black. A commercial plays for The Egg, a futuristic item that "will make everything ok again... and this time forever."
A housewife named Janet Warren wakes up alone in her bed. She does not feel like herself and searches the house for any unusual smells. She tells her neighbor Mrs Jones about a strange whooshing feeling she's experiencing: at random times Janet will hear a certain string of music (the eerie tune from the beginning) then instantly wakes up in her bed. Mrs Jones rambles on about her fulfillment hour, a designated time for her to pick up her Egg. Janet, whose fulfillment hour is much later, ponders on why they're not allowed to see what the Egg looks like until they pick it up. Mrs Jones senses Janet isn't as excited about The Egg's arrival, so she reiterates how it will make life simpler. Janet hushes her, believing she's about to hear the eerie tune.
After Jordan Peele (The Narrator) relays the Opening Narration, he points up. The eerie tune plays and the lights go out, leaving a blue box of light to illuminate the room.
Act II[]
An anxious Janet finds herself in a TV commercial with her husband Dick and her two sons. Dick talks about bringing the boys to an Immolation Station — a bizarre stadium event where guests can watch things light on fire. This is followed by another commercial for The Egg, where a little girl carrying a baby doll walks through a woodsy area. She opens up a box revealing a prehistoric looking egg. A voiceover beckons “It's your Egg, and you want it more than anything.”
Part One: It's Ugly 11:30am
Mrs Jones
Janet and Mrs Jones wake up in Janet's bed with no idea how they got there. Mrs Jones wonders if they hit their heads; while checking herself, Janet finds a twig in her hair. She swears to have seen the previous commercial and The Egg, calling it ugly. An appalled Mrs Jones insists a “centerpiece for every American home” would not be designed to be ugly. Janet convinces herself The Egg has something to do with what the surreal events in her house. An uncomfortable Mrs Jones wants to leave after Janet accuses her of wanting one because everyone else has one. Mrs Jones runs out of the house yelling “We do not have the same problems!” as Janet tries to grab her. Janet remains on the floor and ponders her twig.
Part Two: Real. Human. Being. 12:15pm
Janet and the twig
While checking her meds, Janet calls her husband's office but his secretary Megan tells her he's in a meeting. Megan passes a message from Mr Warren reminding Janet of her fulfillment hour, prompting Janet to ask her why she wants her Egg. Megan only says “Because it's coming out” and assures her Eggs are needed in every household due to a bad state the world is currently in.
Janet calls the Fulfillment Center later but gets put on hold. As she stares up at the trees in her backyard, a neighbor named Marge Stevens arrives home after picking up her Egg. Janet rushes outside and politely asks to see The Egg. Marge, who has it wrapped in a blanket, insists she has to get it inside. She runs into her home and slams the door behind her. Meanwhile, a customer service rep — also named Megan — finally picks up her phone call. When Janet asks to cancel her family's Egg, Megan coldly says she will “process the request” then hangs up. A concerned Janet goes back inside and takes note of a dirt mark on her window sill. She then walks into her baby daughter's room and takes out a baby monitor. She places it on her bedroom TV stand and turns it on.
Later on, Janet is relaxing in the kitchen when the eerie tune plays again. After a brief fade to black, she finds herself in a surreal paper towel commercial wiping her own tears off the kitchen counter. Suddenly, she wakes up back in her bed. She checks the baby monitor and watches herself float across the room as the blue light illuminates her bedroom.
Part Three: The Mad Woman in the Oxygen Tower 1:33pm
Desperate for any answers, Janet calls her spiritual friend Chantal Stargazer and confesses her belief that she might've been abducted by aliens. Chantal reads a horoscope that instructs Janet to untether herself and to resist gravity; Janet gets the idea to tether herself to an arm chair with a tether ball.
The eerie tune plays again. The lights go out and the room is illuminated by the blue box. Janet falls asleep and her body floats out the window, but the arm chair tethers her and causes her to get stuck in a tree. A flying saucer hovers above the tree as three Kanamits watch from the ground. Through telepathy, they talk about whether they want to eat Janet's legs “original or extra crispy”. After briefly discussing their hive mind, they ponder what to do about “the mad woman in the oxygen tower” just as Janet begins to wake up. They confess fear in humans and their ability to make their own choices. Janet demands to know what the aliens are doing with her; they simultaneously say “We don't know. We only work here.” Janet demands, “Take me to your supervisor!”
Act III[]
Part Four: Like the Great Glittering Cities of Your World 2:49pm
The Kanamits
Up on the flying saucer, the Kanamits watch a recording of Janet revealing personal details such as her childhood dream of skating in the Olympics and the horror of giving birth to a stillborn baby two years ago. In another room, she talks with the Queen Kanamit and asks why the Queen is afraid of her. The Queen reveals her species can't change minds like humans can due to their collective consciousness. She tells Janet how they've been watching Earth since the 1940's; among many aspects of life, the Kanamits have found television and commercials fascinating in the belief they show what humans want the most. Janet laughs at the idea the aliens are sitting around watching TV while adding nobody even pays attention to ads anymore. The Queen confirms they created The Eggs (and the various associated commercials) to be desirable to humans and that they will eventually “make everything better again”.
Mrs Jones arrives home with her Egg. As soon as she brings it inside, something breaks out of it and attacks her off screen. A red cloud sprays blood droplets on a portrait of Mrs Jones and her family.
The little girl from the commercial is seen again reaching into the box where she previously found an Egg, but instead puts her baby doll inside.
Kanamit Queen
Back on the saucer, Janet asks to go back home. The Queen reiterates their takeover plans then reminds Janet of her previous attempt to cancel her Egg; Janet, however, has accepted her fate and wants to spend a moment holding an Egg even if it is brief. She is suddenly teleported back to her bed; satisfied, she steps into her daughter's room and says “It would be much much better if you were coming home with me today.” She heads to the Fulfillment Center as the world around her dives into madness. A neighbor with an Egg runs by Janet, rambling about how they will make everything better and that Janet deserves one. Janet smiles and starts sprinting toward the Fulfillment Center alongside many other excited people. Several flying saucers hover above as the chaos unfolds.
Closing Narration[]
Existential dread got you down? Well, Mrs. Janet Warren finally found relief, albeit for a limited time only. But buyer beware, all sales are final, here in the Twilight Zone.
Cast[]
- Gretchen Mol as Janet Warren
- Greta Lee as Ellen Jones
- Gil Bellows as Dick Warren
- Colleen Camp as Chantal Stargazer
- Charlotte Kavanagh as Megan #1
- Donna Dixon as Megan #2
- Tara Pratt as Marge Stevens
- George Takei as Kanamit #1
- Osgood Perkins as Kanamit #2
- Sheyi Ryane as Kanamit Queen
Trivia[]
- This episode marks the return of the Kanamits from the classic episode "To Serve Man". However the two episodes do not appear to be in continuity with each other, because both feature first contact between humans and the Kanamits.
- Episode writer/director Osgood Perkins makes a cameo appearance as one of the Kanamits.
- The eerie tune heard throughout the episode is a nod to the score from the original Twilight Zone series.
- The story references the episode The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street. In the first few minutes a registration form for Jane S. Doe shows her address as 12345 Maple Street in Anytown USA. Anytown USA was the name used to describe the town seen in the episode as described by the narrator in the opening narration.
| 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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