This a satisfying episode of this series even though it doesn't pay off in the way that one would suspect, given how the story builds. This is a story that could've ended in one of two ways & I think either would've still been fine. This episode chose to end it by leaving it up to the viewer to ponder whether Cogswell really was carrying a gun with him that he intended to stop in an unsuspecting town & murder someone or if he simply came up with the best defense he could when backed into a corner by a man who has now made known his intention to kill Cogswell, just because he's always fantasized about killing someone who got off a train. The episode does a good job of leaving that debate open, while Cogswell (acted with a pitch perfect arrogant naivety by Jeff Goldblum)did seem to be just a curious man met with a surprising & suspicious hostility by the quiet, small town he also SEEMED perfectly fine accompanying a strange old man who had been stalking him into an abandoned building. No one would be that naive, would they? It also ends with Cogswell jumping on a train (that appropriately enough only stops when an emergency flare is on the tracks, hinting that he tossed the flare...perhaps out of fear?) & when asked if he found what he was looking for has a face that is a perfect mix of disappointment & horror.
The other way that this story could've ended would've been more of a twist, which would be with we as the viewer being the only ones aware of the old man's ulterior motives only to have Cogswell in a shocking turn shoot the man & explain coldly how they shared the same fantasy. Of course that would've definitely left us with less to think about after, which I think for horror anthology tales the ones that keep you thinking are always the scariest.
The other way that this story could've ended would've been more of a twist, which would be with we as the viewer being the only ones aware of the old man's ulterior motives only to have Cogswell in a shocking turn shoot the man & explain coldly how they shared the same fantasy. Of course that would've definitely left us with less to think about after, which I think for horror anthology tales the ones that keep you thinking are always the scariest.