What a stupid title.
"Pip... that's a strange name."
Well, try not to laugh, Mr. Medical Officer, because that young soldier is dying from a wound.
Great line, huh? Nice writing decision too: give a dying kid a stupid name so that it... amplifies the tragedy of the opening scene? Or diminishes it. So stupid...
Klugman was trying so hard to win an Oscar with this... except that no Oscars are given out to TV show episodes... The incessant Serling speeches and heavy-handed Elia Kazan dialog/mood are enough to drive anyone to madness, or at least towards using the fast-forward button. If the unnatural dialog doesn't kill you then the boredom will. Serling projecting his inner playwright: clearly, an unfulfilled wish. He must have fantasized being the next Arthur Miller. Some fantasy...
If you can survive the pathos and shear drudgery of the first half (or so) then you might slightly like the 2nd half.
The first twist is alright, and at least something is happening in these latter stages.
"Pip... that's a strange name."
Well, try not to laugh, Mr. Medical Officer, because that young soldier is dying from a wound.
Great line, huh? Nice writing decision too: give a dying kid a stupid name so that it... amplifies the tragedy of the opening scene? Or diminishes it. So stupid...
Klugman was trying so hard to win an Oscar with this... except that no Oscars are given out to TV show episodes... The incessant Serling speeches and heavy-handed Elia Kazan dialog/mood are enough to drive anyone to madness, or at least towards using the fast-forward button. If the unnatural dialog doesn't kill you then the boredom will. Serling projecting his inner playwright: clearly, an unfulfilled wish. He must have fantasized being the next Arthur Miller. Some fantasy...
If you can survive the pathos and shear drudgery of the first half (or so) then you might slightly like the 2nd half.
The first twist is alright, and at least something is happening in these latter stages.