Of the approximately 100 "Twilight Zone" episodes I've seen thus far, this was only the first where I genuinely had the impression the script was too ambitious and too intelligent for its own good. Richard Matheson's ideas are intriguing but very convoluted, and there isn't enough time to let everything unfold like it should. This would have made a great novel, probably.
As said, the basic premise is beyond fascinating, or at least that's how it felt to me. A group of telepathically gifted parents make a pact and decide they'll raise their children exclusively via telepathic communication. But what then happens if the parents die in a horrible accident, like a house fire, and their timid and mute child is taken in by strangers? This overcomes 12-year-old Ilse Nielsen in a little Pennsylvanian town. The "strangers" are people with the best intentions, and also still struggle with the loss of their own daughter, but they are unable to communicate with the girl, and quickly suspect that Ilse got emotionally and mentally abused by her parents.
Despite the complete lack of any action or supernaturally uncanniness, "Mute" is absorbing from start to finish, and thrives on the immensely powerful performance of Barbara Baxley as the tormented mother/housewife Cora Wheeler. My main (and only) complaint is that I wanted to know more... How exactly do you raise a child telepathically? What happened to the other parents in the initial Düsseldorf group? How exactly did telepathy rescue Ilse from the fire? How did the teacher figure it out so quickly? Matheson really should have made a novel out of it.
As said, the basic premise is beyond fascinating, or at least that's how it felt to me. A group of telepathically gifted parents make a pact and decide they'll raise their children exclusively via telepathic communication. But what then happens if the parents die in a horrible accident, like a house fire, and their timid and mute child is taken in by strangers? This overcomes 12-year-old Ilse Nielsen in a little Pennsylvanian town. The "strangers" are people with the best intentions, and also still struggle with the loss of their own daughter, but they are unable to communicate with the girl, and quickly suspect that Ilse got emotionally and mentally abused by her parents.
Despite the complete lack of any action or supernaturally uncanniness, "Mute" is absorbing from start to finish, and thrives on the immensely powerful performance of Barbara Baxley as the tormented mother/housewife Cora Wheeler. My main (and only) complaint is that I wanted to know more... How exactly do you raise a child telepathically? What happened to the other parents in the initial Düsseldorf group? How exactly did telepathy rescue Ilse from the fire? How did the teacher figure it out so quickly? Matheson really should have made a novel out of it.