The Twilight Zone (TV Series) Execution (1960) User Reviews

Worth watching if you have time

[darrenpearce111 · 7/10 · 20 November 2013]

Albert Salmi (who went back in time in series four,(Of Late I Think Of Cliffordville) and Russell Johnson (who went back in time in series two,Back There) each travel back in time to series one to make yet another TZ about (how did you guess?) time travel. Salmi plays Caswell,a wild west murderer about to hang for one of his crimes. Johnson plays Mannion, a scientist who unwittingly brings Caswell forward in time, literally from the instant of the execution. The two actors contrast well. Mannion is so urbane in his manner ,while Caswell is so uncouth. I liked the western being on TV by chance.

Good middle-ranking TZ.

"Execution" is very well-executed

[chuck-reilly · 8/10 · 8 February 2008]

Albert Salmi plays Joe Caswell, a murderer about to be hanged from a tree somewhere in the Old West. It's established right away that he's very deserving of the death sentence and he shows little remorse to the assembled authorities. He escapes his doom, however, when as part of a 20th Century scientific experiment, he's miraculously transported to present-day New York City and into the laboratory of a certain Doctor Manion (Russell Johnson, the professor on "Gilligan's Island"). The doctor has used his own "Time Machine" successfully for the first time and (at first) he's happy to make Caswell's acquaintance. Unfortunately, after noticing the stretch marks on Caswell's neck, the good doctor quickly surmises that his Time Machine experiment has brought back a very bad fellow. Manion makes a grave mistake, however. He inexplicably informs Caswell that he wants to return him to his previous dilemma at the end of a rope---without considering the consequences. Not enthused about that idea, Caswell does what comes natural for him; he brutally kills the doctor.

The interesting part of this story is Caswell's subsequent venture out into the noisy and hectic Manhattan mean streets. The blare of snarled traffic horns, the loud television and the whole unnerving scene of the modern metropolis is enough to drive Caswell over the edge. He's the ultimate "fish out of water" and his complete demise follows rather quickly. You might say that there's more than one bad guy in this town. Rod Serling wrote the teleplay for this entry and he gave it his usual spark of intelligence and insight. Salmi is very good as the Wild West bandit who doesn't cut it in the "Big City."

Give someone enough rope.

[BA_Harrison · 7/10 · 13 December 2017]

Albert Salmi plays 'fish out of water' Joe Caswell, a vicious Wild West outlaw from 1880 who is plucked from the hangman's noose by 20th century New York scientist Prof. Manion (Russell Johnson), inventor of a time-machine. When Manion realises that he's brought a wrong'un into the present, he threatens to send Caswell back (not a brilliant idea), resulting in the outlaw braining the scientist with a lamp.

Fleeing from the scene, Caswell finds himself in a nightmarish world of noise and lights. After destroying a juke box and a TV in a bar, he returns to the lab, where he encounters a small time burglar Paul Johnson (Than Wyenn) at work. The pair struggle, with Johnson winning the fight (despite him being considerably smaller than Caswell!), choking the cowboy to death with a curtain cord (poetic justice part 1). The thief then continues to look for valuables, activating the time machine and stepping into its capsule by mistake, thereby transporting himself back to 1880 to meet his fate at the end of a rope (poetic justice part 2).

A strong central performance from Salmi and a double-whammy twist ending, with not one, but two violent thugs getting what they deserve, all goes to make Execution a thoroughly entertaining, if not exceptional, episode of The Twilight Zone. Sure, the plot is conveniently vague about certain aspects, but what time-travel story is perfect (the very nature of time-travel brings up all manner of awkward questions)?

King Kong, TZ Style

[dougdoepke · 1 July 2006]

Time machine transports outlaw Albert Salmi from 1880's hangman's rope to 1960's New York City.

Time travel was of course a series staple, only here it's explored with more humor and insight than most. Two elements stand out for me. Salmi's portrayal of the crudely inarticulate cowboy is stunningly realistic from archaic speech patterns to crackling voice quality to squinty-eyed stare, all of which suggest a hard life on the trail. I doubt any of the many cowboy shows of the time produced quite this level of authenticity. There's also the unexpectedly funny details of transporting a "19th century primitive" into a "20th century urban jungle", as the script puts it. The barroom scene with Salmi and a flummoxed Manhattan bartender is as comically inventive as any in the series. Having the cowboy react frantically to the intolerable noise level of the city is both grimly humorous and tells us a lot about a hundred years of "progress". Too bad the episode is marred by a highly implausible struggle between a scrawny Than Wyenn and the burly Salmi, for which the director should take the blame-- what was he thinking. Anyway, it's a very entertaining and revealing half-hour with the usual TZ dollop of irony thrown in.

"It's my mortal neck that concerns me now".

[classicsoncall · 7/10 · 21 March 2010]

In my review of an earlier Twilight Zone episode, #1.24 "Long Live Walter Jameson", I put forth the idea that one of the unintended consequences of immortality might be the inability to mentally process the advanced technology of future generations. That idea is put to the test here with Joe Caswell (Albert Salmi), an 1880's cowhand at the end of his rope suddenly transported to the once future world of 1960. It doesn't take long for Caswell to literally go out of his mind in reaction to juke box tunes and Manhattan street noise, even if he's a 'free' man. An alternate twist ending here could have had Caswell committing suicide in response to that sensory overload, the same deathly fate he faced before his time travel experience. Instead the tables were turned on an equally culpable victim, the type of justice summarily meted out in the surreal confines of the Twilight Zone.

He Had HIs Chances!

[Hitchcoc · 8/10 · 1 October 2008]

This is pretty well done. It's the whole business of the Frankenstein monster brought back. You can dress him up but you can't take him out. He is bad to the bone. Albert Salmi ends up rescued from the rope, but then stupidly kills the man who saved him. This leads to a series of events which he cannot handle. His efforts to blend in with the new culture get him assaulted and confused. When I first saw this I thought I had it all figured out; then Serling threw one more curve. This is a very entertaining example of the man in the wrong place at the wrong time. Done other times, it throws in a third party who should have stayed home.

Execution

[Scarecrow-88 · 6/10 · 22 August 2011]

"..I get the feeling I've taken a 19th century primitive and placed him in a 20th century jungle. And heaven help who gets in his way."

Scientist George Manion(Russell Johnson; the professor on "Gilligan's Island") teleports a cold-blooded killer, Joe Caswell (Albert Salmi) from 1880 at the moment of his death, hanging from a noose for shooting a young man in the back by a "necktie party", to the 20th century..Manion does not know the kind of human monster he has brought into his time until it's too late. To be honest, I didn't really think this particular episode, "Execution" was any great shakes but it is a fine showcase for the underrated Salmi who is very good at playing a roughly-hewn, conscienceless, volatile killer who doesn't belong in the urban streets of any modern city, much less New York City.

A different approach to a time travel episode, the ending is more than a bit contrived and hard to swallow (another no-good hood gets involved at the end to sort of "take Joe's place", which isn't that believable), but seeing Salmi's misplaced Caswell unable to tolerate the sound of honking horns and speeding cars and the bright lights of the big city, dysfunctional in a time he doesn't belong, is fascinating if you enjoy "fish out of water" stories.

"Execution" feels every bit the anti-time travel tale, perhaps saying that maybe people should stay in their own time. Salmi's fate, at the hands of another criminal, is ironic but silly considering what is used to "subdue" him (the hood is smaller and less strong than Salmi yet can overpower him; it doesn't work). Lackluster Twilight Zone, but even a lesser episode of this series is better than some of the best other series of the same type have to offer. Johnson's character is basically an afterthought despite his importance in Salmi's transportation to the 20th century, but the violence of it is pretty startling. Probably the best scene has a distraught Salmi entering a diner, destroying a juke box because of the music, shooting a television because of a western television show featuring a gunslinger about to draw his weapon, soon exiting firing a bullet into a taxi cab. That intensity is always present in Salmi, both quiet and explosive—quite a performance.

Tampering with time

[Woodyanders · 8/10 · 2 June 2017]

Scientist Dr. Manion (well played by Russell Johnson) decides to test his time machine and accidentally transports crude 19th century convicted murderer Joe Caswell (a strong and credible performance by Albert Salmi) to the present day.

Director David Orrick McDearmon relates the compelling story at a brisk pace and gets a lot of neat mileage out of the fish out of water premise (the scenes with Caswell being driven mad by the noisy hustle and bustle of the big city are extremely effective). Rod Serling's smart script makes a potent point about the basic human need to survive and comes up with a real doozy of a genuinely startling surprise twist ending in which justice gets served in a most ironic and unexpected way. Than Wyenn contributes a sturdy turn as small-time hoodlum Paul Johnson. But it's Salmi's remarkably intense and convincing portrayal of a brutish and inarticulate cowboy psychopath that really makes this episode stand out.

Okay episode but a great ending...

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 3 October 2009]

This episode was one that perhaps was too short an idea for a 30 minute show. While I liked it a bunch, some of the stuff in the middle seemed a bit unnecessary. However, despite this, it sure ended well! Albert Salmi played a character typical for him. He was an unrepentant sociopath who was about to be hung for one of many murders he committed in his miserable life. However, as he's hanging, suddenly he's transported from 1880 to 1960 via a time machine created by nerdy scientist, Russell Johnson. Johnson playing a scientist isn't exactly a stretch, as he played such roles many times before--including his regular weekly role on "Gilligan's Island"--as well as in another episode of "The Twilight Zone".

In a case of not exceptional writing, Johnson realizes by the rope marks on Salmi's neck and his demeanor that he was an evil man. BUT, and here comes the stupid part, Johnson tells Salmi what he's deduced and says that he must send him back to 1880 to complete the execution! So is it at all surprising that Salmi then brains Johnson?!? I sure would have told him something different--like the time machine booth was the entrance to a brothel or Candy Mountain or something--not the means for taking him back!! After this murder, Salmi mostly runs around for the next 10 minutes or so shooting at things, smashing stuff and overacting. It really is overdone. Fortunately, however, there is a great twist ending when he meets another man from 1960 just like him. I won't say more--it would spoil the suspense.

If it weren't for the ending, I'd give this one a 4, but because it worked so well late in the episode it salvaged itself quite well and is well worth seeing because of this.

Saving your neck

[safenoe · 8/10 · 28 December 2023]

Execution is one of the last episodes of season one of The Twilight Zone. Albert Salmi's character is saved from the noose and he feels very alienated in the modern world which is 1960s New York City that's for sure. The ending was quite alienating.

This episode plays upon alienation, and Marc Scott Zicree, in his superb Twilight Zone book, theorizes that The Twilight Zone's appeal was that it dealt with themes of alienation, particularly after world war two when the triumphant defense personnel returned and married and moved their families to tracts in the suburbs, where people kept themselves to themselves.

Eerily violent and ahead of its time for early TV.

[mark.waltz · 7/10 · 20 February 2019]

This is one Twilight Zone episode I am surprised of the sensors did not demand cuts or changes. It has themes and situations that could easily have been made into a theatrical movie as it is much grittier and certainly far more disturbing than other episodes I have seen. As the episode begins, convicted murderer Albert Salmi is being prepared to be hanged in the old west and all of a sudden the noose is empty. What happened to the body?, The on-lookers wonder. He goes about 100 years into the future and ends up in a science lab in New York City where scientist Russell Johnson has brought him into the present date sparing him his fate yet creating a nightmare for modern society. Salmi is easily disturbed by every noise he Encounters in the big city, going crazy every time he encounters something he is confused by and tearing apart a bar, smashing a stool against a jukebox and shooting up a TV that ironically is showing a western. Salmi goes back to Johnson's lab where he ends up once again facing his own Twilight Zone...

This episode appears to be closer to a later R-rated movie in the likes of "The Wild Bunch" or "Easy Rider" in its extremely dark view of the animalistic side of mankind. Salmi doesn't get one chance to even breathe, and it is obvious that he was probably exhausted after filming this episode. Russell Johnson, four years before "Gilligan's Island", plays a different kind of Professor, one who is messing around where he should not be, and ultimately paying for it. This episode could be a metaphor for people coming to the big city from quiet places far too early in their lives but could also be seen as a view of how two different lifestyles in two different eras can impact those not used to those lifestyles or eras.

It should have a higher rating

[ericstevenson · 10/10 · 10 July 2018]

This is a fairly lesser known episode that shows a guy in the Old West about to be executed. It turns out he's teleported to eighty years in the future with a time machine. It's weird looking at that, because it's now been about sixty years since this episode aired! You could re-use that plot in modern times! The guy who brought him there suspects that he's a criminal. That's why his neck was like that.

This really is an intense episode as we see the guy go crazy at modern technology. Hmm, I wonder if someone from 1960 would go crazy being teleported to this time? Things don't seem to have changed as much as they did from that period than from 1880 to 1960. Okay, that's not as much of a gap but still. The ending's a little predictable, but it's still a classic episode. Everyone got what they deserved, more or less. ****

A Hanged Man

[AaronCapenBanner · 6/10 · 25 October 2014]

Albert Salmi plays old west outlaw Joe Caswell, who is about to be hanged for murder when he unexpectedly finds himself transported to the modern day room of a scientist(played by Russell Johnson) who has used time-travel to bring Caswell forward in time, not realizing just how murderous and savage he is, until it is too late... Salmi gives a most believable performance as an immoral man out for himself, and his reactions to the modern world are authentic and well-thought out. Unfortunately, the plot itself is filled with holes and contrivances, undermining him, but episode remains a passable if mediocre effort, falling short of its potential.

Not exactly Back to the Future.

[nicholsonlarry-72025 · 5/10 · 22 May 2022]

So how do you grab a guy in Montana with a 'Time Machine' that never leaves New York?? And since it was located in a skyscraper how did it trap Caswell who was at ground level ? From H. G. Wells Time Machine to Doc Brown's Time DeLorean it's common sense you'll end up where you left from and be inside the machine.

And a burglar playing with the dials just happened to reset them to the exact second in the past?

Out-of-time Outlaw

[Lejink · 7/10 · 2 December 2022]

I found this to be a superior episode of the classic TV series. Albert Salmi is the no-good, murdering cowboy who is literally at the end of his rope when by a bazillion-to-one chance, he's transported forward 80 years in time to the laboratory of scientist Russell Johnston whose newly-made timemachine has saved the condemned man from his fate.

It's no great surprise though when the initially grateful renrgade reverts to type by K. O.-ing the professor and taking the unconscious man's gun (seems like every American citizen carried a gun with them everywhere even then) and rushes out into the night where he not unnaturally struggles to stay sane when bombarded by everyday inventions of today. I'm sorry to report that a wonderful looking old jukebox was grievously harmed during the making of this programme and you can throw in a wall-mounted TV while you're at it. A frazzled Salmi shoots up the set when the barman turns it on only to coincidentally tune in on a gun-toting cowboy apparently drawing a gun on him.

There's just room for one more coincidence when Salmi returns to the laboratory only to be disturbed by an armed robber. Both these ne'erdowells duly get their just desserts (that's if you believe in the death penalty) with the cowboy ironically suffering his originally planned fate by alternative means.

As I hinted, coincidences loom large in this episode but at least there was an explanation for what triggered the action, which I've found isn't always the case in the zone.

Well-acted and fast-paced, I really enjoyed this one.

BE IT EVER SO HUMBLE, THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME?

[tcchelsey · 10/10 · 5 May 2022]

David MacDearmon directed this fascinating episode, and a few others for the series, who later handled many sitcoms, such as BEWITCHED. Definitely a touch of dark comedy at play here, and a story all of us kids back in the day loved -- time travel!

Actually, the story has more of a contemporary slant with scientific theories today and "what if" scenarios. Bottom line, another gem from Rod Serling. Impossible not to watch.

Russell Johnson portrays a character he is so associated with, a scientist, who invents a time machine. He brings a killer from the 1800s into his contemporary lab -- just as he is about to be hung! Incredible, and with shades of FRANKENSTEIN (a criminal brain!), this guy is one desperate character. Had this been a law-abiding denizen of the old west, the results may have been quite different, and not as thrilling.

Albert Salmi is perfect as the bewildered desperado and, in a way, perhaps as Serling may have wanted, ending up with what he ultimately deserved. Never forget Mr. Pip (Sebastian Cabot) who welcomed a killer to his own fate in another classic TZ episode.

Best of the best finds Salmi on the loose in the city, and all the noise and the confusion. A totally different world he would never expect. And to spend the rest of his life there --minus the hangman's noose? Interesting concept.

The ending is a knockout, again leaving all us hungry fans to marvel at imperial writing and acting. One of the final episodes from legendary SEASON 1. Get the remastered dvd box set for your collection.

Actors playing familiar characters

[kellielulu · 6/10 · 20 September 2022]

Russell Johnson ( professor from Gilligan's Island , playing one here ) and Albert Salmi playing another rough villain.

The professor here has a time machine and it brings Joe Casewell to 1960 . Interesting the professor is not surprised it worked there is no particular joy in the achievement for him. Casewell is from 1880 Montana . He's about to hang but gets a reprieve. The professor records his observations and knows he didn't get a model or even average person for his experiment. He's already told Casewell about modern life and looking out the window of a skyscraper Casewell is unsettled by the lights and noise.

They exchange their feelings on life a bit but it's not given much time. Casewell is still violent and attacks the professor killing him.

Casewell goes out into the city and nothing about it makes him curious just overwhelmed. He do like the noise or flashing neon lights. In a bar he shoots both a jukebox and a television. The television show that's on is unfortunately a cliche , a western with a gunfighter a d a drawn gun . We know where this is going. The only thing he likes that is familiar is booze . He makes his way back to the laboratory thinking the professor is just knocked out and can still help him. He's not of course. Suddenly though Casewell isn't alone a petty thief is there with a gun. They size one another up and struggle . Interesting the thief kills Casewell when he becomes tangled from the cord for the window blinds! And the thief ends up in 1880 in the noose when he ends up in the time machine..

Interesting in a way but could have been better. I don't know why the professor is killed off so quickly. Casewell's reaction to the modern world was interesting in that we probably don't think of how much louder life is now and the lights were also too much for him. It's ironic in a way that such a violent character could be so easily overwhelmed by modern life. I don't know if he would have so easily been killed by a much slighter man and probably a less violent one.

The reactions of the people back in 1880 were well done especially when the man from the future took Casewell's place.

A scientist teleported an outlaw named Joe who was about to be hanged and finds out a rude surprise

[nicholasfiumara · 10/10 · 2 May 2020]

The future was a shock when a scientist teleported an outlaw name Joe from 1880 who is about to be hanged. It was a surprise when scientist wanted to send him.back.

The Professor Gets Beaten Instead of Stranded

[DKosty123 · 7/10 · 8 May 2018]

Russell Johnson's first Twilight Zone episode has him as the inventor of a time machine which is not very good at doing things right. He tries to run the machine back 80 years to snage someone and bring them into the future. What happens is somehow he chooses a murderer and saves him from the hang man's noose.

Then he beats up the Professor, goes out of the modern labatory and into the modern big city streets where al the noise and bustle nearly drives a man from 80 years ago insane. Yet he survives to come back to the dead professor's lab where the man from the pat is confronted by another crook from the future.

This is the kind of theme that would get used later often in other films and movies. There is nothing wrong with that and later efforts turn out better than this one. It is a good show, and Serlings teleplay based on a novel is very good. The justice is tossed out on equal issues.

Very good episode, until the 1950s thug at the end

[spenrh · 8/10 · 4 December 2018]

The end of this episode is what had me subtract 2 points. A not very big "modern" guy wins over Joe Caswell, a large and brutal outlaw from the ruthless late 1800s Wild West. This little punk is able to, with a window blinds string, successfully murder a man who has murdered in cold blood over 20 men not including scientist Russell Johnson who brought him to 1959 in his time machine.

It was a very good episode most of the way through, I loved the dialogue between Joe, the priest, the sheriff, and the father of the his latest murder victim at the start of his necktie party. Then Joe disappearing from his noose and the priest exclaiming "what kind of devil's work is this?", and then Joe and Russell's dialogue was all great from the moment he appeared in 1959 in front of the scientist to the moment he killed him before running out into the streets of 1959 New York, which also was fascinating stuff.

Russell immediately suspects something wrong when seeing the deep rope marks on Joe's neck and he talks into the tape recorder saying "I got one observation, hardly scientific, I don't like his looks, I don't like the expression. I get a feeling that I've taken a 19th century primitive outlaw, and placed him into a 20th century jungle, and heaven helps whoever gets in his way". Then, Russell starts questioning Joe on right and wrong and justice, and Joe responds that "another man's bread, or another man's jacket is all that stands between you and staying alive". He then tells Russell "you go back to where I was with your words on "right and wrong" and "justice", they're gonna sound different!!" Joe was used to having to fight hard for everything, but he, much like many other 19th century outlaws, lost some marbles and got into the ugly habit of brutal force and violence even when survival was not a reason (which is revealed at the episode's start when he's hung because it was said that he shot a man in the back, that is not killing for survival). It could be said though that Joe killed Russell for survival since he was telling Joe that he was going to send him back to the very moment in the 1880s that he was hanging from the rope. But, Russell's concerns are understandable since Joe had killed over 20 men already, he just shouldn't have told Joe that. He should've either tricked him into getting back into the machine, or gone to the police saying that there's a potentional dangerous man threatening him (the former would've made the episode more interesting).

I also enjoyed the scenes with Joe on the NYC streets. I've read how some people wondered why he got so spooked by the noise of the traffic and horns when he was used to hearing the cracks of gunfire (many from Joe himself), but I believe that loud noises are much scarier when they're unfamiliar, and you don't know what is making the noises or why. Good scene in the bar too, when the minute the TV is turned on, it's not just of a Wild West showdown, but also the gun slinging opponent is facing right at the camera, thus making Joe think that the TV is a window and there's really a man on the other side of it ready to shoot him. All good plot.

Then there's the ridiculous ending with the thug smaller than Joe getting the upper hand during the last few minutes of the episode and killing him. It was a great episode until the cop-out ending, I guess that the writers of this episode ran out of steam and got writer's block ten steps short of the finish line

Enjoyable up until the end

[ma-sm-795-464576 · 7/10 · 17 April 2019]

Having written a story about Old west characters being transported to the 1960s myself, I really liked this concept. Albert Salmi was great as the amoral and violent murderer, who is thrown for a loop by the racket, lights and bustle of modern downtown New York. Him thinking the TV cowboy aiming a gun at him was quite realistic, considering audiences at the 1903 movie, "The Great Train Robbery" also were alarmed at the actor pointing a gun at the camera, thinking they would be shot. The plot contrivance of Russell Johnson's scientist telling Salmi's brutal character - with whom he was alone and defenseless - he would send him back to the hangman's rope was not credible, but necessary to have Salmi attack the scientist.

The ending, where we see a scrawy little crook overcome the hulking Salmi and strangle him in mere seconds with a blind cord ruined this ep for me. It was not just unlikely, but nonsensical. Personally I would have preferred to see Salmi maybe fall out the window and accidentally hang himself to show you can't escape your fate, but of course that would have meant excluding the last scene.

Quite grim.

[vitoscotti · 8/10 · 15 January 2023]

Strong performance by Albert Salmi as despicable Joe Caswell. When he gave his explanation of his 20 murders he said he did what he did to survive. Couldn't he of just got a job instead even if it was 1880? Ironic Albert Salmi's own life ended tragically. I could imagine this story gave kids nightmares watching in the 1960s. Pretty strong stuff for 1960 primetime TV viewing. Treat to see Russell Johnson (The professor from "Gilligan's Island"). Also Minister Jon Lormer who appeared in "The Andy Griffith Show" as Pernell Rigby. A huge flaw I thought was Russell Johnson (knowing Caswell was a killer) telling him he was going to send him back certainly putting his own life in danger.

The noose or the noise, what is worse?

[Coventry · 6/10 · 29 March 2017]

"Execution" is, in my humble opinion, one of the weaker episodes of the overall magnificent first season. It deals with the - for The Twilight Zone, at least - familiar and almost common theme of time- traveling and the irresponsible and bizarre consequences this may have. Somewhere in the Far West in the late 19th Century, hoodlum Joe Caswell is led to the gallows for the grisly murders he committed and he doesn't show any remorse whatsoever. As he's hanging by the neck from the oak tree, during his death struggle, Caswell suddenly vaporizes into thin air, leaving the priest and the local Sheriff flabbergasted and suspecting witchery. Caswell wakes up in the laboratory of Dr. Manion who successfully performed his first and long-awaited time transporting experiment and Caswell just happened to be the random guinea pig. Dr. Manion notices the marks of the hangman's noose around Caswell's neck, but it's too late, as he already picked up his old bad habits and fled into the city. Here, however, Caswell quickly realizes that 20th century society is murderously loud and that there criminals more vicious than he is. Although the idea and basic concept of this episode is once again very good, I personally wasn't too convinced with how it got processed. The time traveling aspect, and particularly the random traveler selection, remains quite vague. I do acknowledge, of course, that TZ episodes are too short to provide waterproof details on all plot aspects. The sequences showing our cowboy criminal struggling in the hectic and noisy metropolis are definitely powerful. The ending is original but abrupt, and the sudden dragging in of a third protagonist I found disappointing. I think I would have preferred if they kept it between Joe Caswell and Dr. Manion.

Didn't make a statement

[Calicodreamin · 5/10 · 31 May 2021]

Unlike the previous twilight zones, this episode didn't make a strong statement. The "science" behind the happening was not explained and the series of event didn't make sense. Overall, a weak episode with a weak storyline.

Solid.

[bombersflyup · 7/10 · 14 August 2019]

I like the premise of Execution and the dialogue's accurate and acting good, more could of happened though. Once the thief strangles our man Joe, you know the thief's fate will be the same, tapering the ending. I was hoping for a shock twist with silly looking dinosaurs or something hah.