Jack Warden is perfectly cast as the man condemned to live on an isolated planet alone. The range of emotions he goes through in this episode is amazing, from eagerness to have even a brief visit with anyone from Earth, to bitterness at his living death sentence, to wonder and fear when he meets Alicia for the first time, to real affection and devotion over time.
SPOILERS AHEAD: When he unpacks the mysterious crate, and reads the instruction manual, and looks in amazement at the beautiful woman standing a short distance away, the entire scene is so utterly real. When she introduces herself and he nervously tells her to go away, and she looks hurt, but tries again, his angry denunciation of her for not being real, but a thing that mocks his loneliness by her very presence, and his shame and contrition when he shoves her away and she falls down. The moment when she looks up at him with tears in her eyes and says, "You hurt me, Corry", his sudden overwhelming awareness that she really is a woman, as the instruction manual stated, with emotions just like his. The humble way that he apologizes and helps her to her feet, and gently leads her into his shack, and the scenes that follow, of Corry slowly establishing a real relationship with her, are tenderly moving.
This very early Twilight Zone episode stands as one of the all time best of the series, both in writing and acting. I just wish it had a happy ending.
SPOILERS AHEAD: When he unpacks the mysterious crate, and reads the instruction manual, and looks in amazement at the beautiful woman standing a short distance away, the entire scene is so utterly real. When she introduces herself and he nervously tells her to go away, and she looks hurt, but tries again, his angry denunciation of her for not being real, but a thing that mocks his loneliness by her very presence, and his shame and contrition when he shoves her away and she falls down. The moment when she looks up at him with tears in her eyes and says, "You hurt me, Corry", his sudden overwhelming awareness that she really is a woman, as the instruction manual stated, with emotions just like his. The humble way that he apologizes and helps her to her feet, and gently leads her into his shack, and the scenes that follow, of Corry slowly establishing a real relationship with her, are tenderly moving.
This very early Twilight Zone episode stands as one of the all time best of the series, both in writing and acting. I just wish it had a happy ending.