Young Man's Fancy

Alex Nicol plays Alex Walker, who has just gotten married to his long-in-waiting wife Virginia(played by Phyllis Thaxter). Both have returned to the home of his recently deceased mother, and are planning to sell the house, but as Alex takes a nostalgic tour before selling, finds the happy childhood memories taking hold of him once again, alarming his wife, who only wants to leave as soon as possible, fearing the spirit of his dominating mother is calling him back to her, but as it turns out, something even more tragic is going on here... Nearly forgotten episode never takes off like it should, but the idea is there, and episode retains a most sad and inevitable aura of doom about it that still makes it work.

Two good points of interest here in what otherwise is a TZ to forget.

One is that Richard Matheson has put a darker spin on a theme that Rod Serling used several times. The wish to return to childhood happens in 'Walking Distance', 'Kick The Can', 'Horace Ford', with variations of this theme elsewhere in the Zone. This time is different because we see this story through the wife who becomes fearful of her husband slipping away.

The second point of interest is Phyllis Thaxter in the role of the anguished Virginia trying to finally claim her husband as her own. The thinner plots in TZ were often held together by the lead actress. This minor star (to be found in a few Alfred Hitchcock Presents) provides a very sympathetic character and was always so expressive and watchable. The mother-in-law was clearly no monster, but for the sake of sanity we side with poor patient Virginia. Husband Alex (Alex Nicol) starts to act weak in a real creepy manner. Come on Virginia ! - but what's the girl to do?

Predictable storyline and some decent effects. The acting was fairly good, but there wasn't a strong message and the characters were unlikeable.

Alex Walker and Virginia Lane Walker are newlywed and visit the house of the deceased Mrs. Henrietta Walker before traveling in honeymoon. He needs to take some clothes and meet the real estate agent Mr. Wilkinson to sell the house. But Alex has always been mama's boy and his recollections do not let her go.

"Young Man's Fancy" is not a good episode of "The Twilight Zone". The behavior of Alex Walker is deplorable, with a strange treatment of his wife. The character is a mama's boy and maybe inside the closet in 1962. The ages of the lead cast Phyllis Thaxter (43) and Alex Nicol (46) is highly above the thirties, but it seems that the productions in the 60's did not pay attention to this type of detail. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "Coisas do Passado" ("Things from the Past")

Here we have a husband and wife who are trying to sell the husband's house he grew up in. The husband looks through all his old stuff. I admit that the ending was kind of predictable. Maybe it's just because I've been binge watching this show. When you see so many twists over and over, you can guess them after awhile. I still loved how relatable it was.

We all wonder about the stuff we used to have as a kid. It can be pretty painful having to sell your old home. I managed to get that done! It is admittedly a little slow too, but it's not bad. It's a fairly sincere episode. They've just done better. ***