The Twilight Zone Review: Nightmare at 30,000 Feet (Season 1 Episode 1)
On The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 1, “Nightmare at 30,000 Feet,” Justin Sanderson’s very real fear makes him the enemy.
The Adam Scott-starrer is a high stakes affair, where the layers peel back gradually to reveal that the threat comes from within. There’s a level of profiling and bias in Justin’s decisions, where he sees enemies coming from every corner when he, himself, is that enemy.
This causes the episode to be fascinating as a character study, and as a thriller. The podcast is the only real supernatural element apart from everyone surviving the plane crash, and so while the mystery is intriguing, it’s all about Justin and Joe where the episode finds its most interesting parts.
Chris Diamantopoulos is fantastic as the confident Joe, whose very telling line about air marshals needing to think like terrorists is a quick hint of his intentions. He’s pounding back small alcohol bottles in nearly every scene he occupies, and his manipulation of Justin through believing him is such a smart way to turn the whole event to his advantage.
For the episode to turn Justin into the villain through his own fear of protecting the plane and its passengers, it becomes a wonderful cautionary episode. His paranoia of keeping everyone safe is the very undoing of everyone’s safety.
It’s an easy message, but it’s done so remarkably well.
Adam Scott’s performance is full of equal parts panic and suspicion, but the standout moment is when Justin is in the bathroom, trying to convince himself down from the fear occupying his mind. Scott’s the perfect lead for the episode, where his kind demeanor brings out a leading man whose need to do better is an ironic detriment.
The episode plays on the terror and the claustrophobia of the plane expertly, director Greg Yaitanes delivering on the tense experience by really getting into Justin’s head. It’s done subtly, through close-ups on Adam Scott, to his casual but guarded wandering down the aisles, to the flight crew ignoring his concern.
It’s especially telling in how Justin keeps going back to the podcast, the thing that started the paranoia and the fear in the first place. The peculiar audio device is shot with a slow zoom in, as though it’s an artifact to be studied in the frame.
But it’s in the hijacking by Joe where the episode’s best visual trickery lies. The glitches in the lighting and cockpit cameras, and the way the light down the hallway turns red, all help solidify Justin’s breakdown in a visual way, and makes the sequence a visual treat as things go haywire.
That we hear all the passengers but one, Justin, survive, it’s cause to see Joe as a figment of Justin’s imagination. He’s a personification of his paranoia, and is the very thing planting the doubt in his mind.
The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 1, “Nightmare at 30,000 Feet,” is a solid start, where the mind is the villain, a powerful manipulator whose hold is too great on Justin.
Some stray thoughts on the episode:
- As Justin and Joe talk at the magazine stand, one of the magazines just above the one they discuss has Samir from The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 2, “The Comedian,” on the cover. It’s a fun little nod that everything is connected on The Twilight Zone.
What did you think of this episode of The Twilight Zone? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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The Twilight Zone is available for streaming Thursdays on CBS All Access.
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Kevin Lever
Kevin Lever has been following television closely for most of his life, but in starting to cover it, he has grown a further appreciation. He strives to give the blockbusters their due, and give the lesser known shows a spotlight to find more fans.