Number 12 Looks Just Like You

But what is wrong with you if you don't want to? This is the social price that we pay for not conforming, when people are buffled with our unwillingness to take part in something that is mainstream. The idea depicted in this episode, is merely an example for the perils of an individual mind in our society. The story of Marilyn is so easy to relate. In some societies you would be an outsider if you did not want to have plastic surgery to achieve a certain standard, and in other societies you would be an outsider if you did not want to get married or have children... It all comes down to people being judgemental. And perhaps the story of Marilyn is so sad because it is too familiar.

This dystopian tale of a future society dominated by superficiality and conformism hits very close to home. Much of what was presaged on THE TWILIGHT ZONE has come to pass, and one feels this particularly acutely with "Number 12 Looks Just Like You." Never mind that Collin Wilcox' appearance and hairstyle eerily foreshadow the '70's (the episode was made in 1963); the more crucial point is that we are fast evolving into a society very much like the one depicted in the episode. True, we haven't gone as far as signing into law mandatory cosmetic "transformations." But we are not much less stultified than the zombie-like human beings portrayed here. Obsession with youth? Check; see middle-aged mothers trying to look like their teenaged daughters. Narcissistic? Check; walk down a city street today and see the young people: pale androgynous figures ambling along in unisex clothing (rather like the spandex jumpsuits worn in the episode), eyes fixed upon their electronic devices, anesthetized in total self-absorption. Lack of emotion? Check; as television and movies attest, we are evolving into a culture wrapped in a gauze of snark, in which sincerity of feeling barely exists. A post-literate age? Check; bookstores are closing down, libraries are doubling as computer labs, and school children are fed political propaganda instead of the classics. Our motto could well be Val's in this episode: "Life is pretty, life is fun, I am all and all is one."

It has been often said that "Number 12" is a meditation on beauty and individuality. I would argue further that it is a meditation on the true *nature* of beauty. Is beauty merely a pleasant symmetrical arrangement of features; or are character and personality essential elements? The synthetic kind of beauty represented by Lana and Val, while outwardly alluring, turns out to be vapid because it is not animated by feeling and intelligence - qualities possessed in abundance by Marilyn. Marilyn is a lone flame burning in the encroaching darkness; will the darkness overcome her?

The episode maintains a successful balance between futuristic camp and serious socio-philosophical content. Among all the principals, Wilcox shines brightly as Marilyn, and it's a pleasure to see Richard Long again (after his buoyant performance in Season 3's "Person or Persons Unknown"). I can't go so far as to say that "Number 12 Is Just Like You" represents TZ at its very finest as another reviewer stated; visually I find it a bit flat and lacking the pure cinematic brilliance of other ZONES. But whatever the episode's shortcomings from an aesthetic standpoint, it jumps to the head of the pack of the most prescient, ahead-of-its-time episodes the series produced.

In sum: unsettling as it may be to say, "Number 12" looks just like us.

Collin Wilcox stars as 18 year-old Marilyn Cuberle, who is pressured to undergo an operation to transform the way she looks into one of several possibilities. This occurs at 19, but Marilyn doesn't want the operation, feeling she is beautiful the way she is, and because of her late and much loved father, who opposed it. Sadly, he is gone, and Marilyn learns to her existentialist horror that no one in her life, or indeed in society itself any longer, can understand how she feels, and how unbearably alone she really is... Stunning episode turns its sparse production to its advantage, portraying a future society where everyone is expected to be the same in chilling detail. Wilcox delivers an entirely heartfelt, believable performance that makes its inevitable outcome all the more devastating, and may bring a tear to the eye. A perfect companion piece to the more famous 'Eye Of The Beholder', this episode is a masterpiece, whose reputation has at least risen with time. One could substitute beauty with thought and lose none of its point. Holds a mirror to our modern society like no other...

I just saw this episode for the first time since I first saw it back in the 1980s. I remember loving it back then, but now, probably 25 years later, and more than 40 years after it originally aired, I'm completely floored by it. I even teared up. It is probably more relevant now than ever before. Society -- and not "the state", as another commenter said but, rather, our consumer, corporate-profit-driven society -- pressures people, particularly girls, through their friends, media images, products, even their own families, to look and act a certain way. Now, young people don't read Shakespeare and Keats, and it's not because the works have been banned -- they don't read them because society tells them it's incredibly uncool and completely unnecessary. Collin Wilcox gives a subtle, convincing performance of a girl who is certainly, very, very beautiful on the inside. This is the Twilight Zone at its very finest.

This is truly one of the best Twilight Zone episodes. I absolutely love every last bit of it. It is eerily similar to the world we live in today, and for that reason I find it incredible to be from the sixties. It is almost as if Rod Serling and his wondrous cast of writers had a crystal ball with which they looked into the future.

As someone said before, there are a series of books by Scott Westerfield entitled "Uglies", "Pretties", "Specials", and "Extras". I read them when I was younger before I ever saw this TZ episode.

It is identical in every way. In fact, I whole heartedly believe Westerfield's mind was sparked by this episode. Otherwise he and this episode's author must have been smoking the same. LOLZ only kidding.

Nevertheless, one of the best TZ hands down--and that is coming from a true fan.

I totally recommend you to watch it.