I was a teenager when the TZ originally aired and have seen just about all of the episodes, most many times. I am a fan and think that I appreciate just about all of them as small masterpieces, each in its own way. This episode may be appreciated for its irony, for its tricky ending, for its cleverness even though there are some plot holes (especially the lack of even short term communications) but what makes it perhaps the one I recall most often is the sadness. It is purely a story of love, love without reason and without end. It is the end of an episode but not the end of the love. The hero is able to do the heroic, unthinkable thing and sacrifice himself not once but twice. Even though one can rewrite the ending by letting him sleep while his love ages, that would not linger as bitterly. There is a similarity to Forever Young, the Mel Gibson movie about cryogenics,but here the sadness is even greater because of what the hero knowingly sacrifices to be with his love rather than to avoid experiencing his loss. A keeper.
Review of The Long Morrow
