Show cover for The Twilight Zone

The Best Episodes of The Twilight Zone Season 3

Every episode of The Twilight Zone Season 3 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of The Twilight Zone Season 3!

A series of unrelated stories containing drama, psychological thriller, fantasy, science fiction, suspense, and/or horror, often concluding with a macabre or unexpected twist.
Genres:Sci-Fi & FantasyMysteryDrama
Network:CBS

Season 3 Ratings Summary

"Two" is the best rated episode of "The Twilight Zone" season 3. It scored 7.5/10 based on 3452 votes. Directed by Montgomery Pittman and written by Montgomery Pittman, it aired on 9/15/1961. This episode is rated 0.3 points higher than the second-best, "The Arrival".

  • Two
    7.5/103,452 votes

    #1 - Two

    Season 3 Episode 1 - Aired 9/15/1961

    A man and a woman, on opposite sides of a future war, encounter each other in a deserted town.

    Director: Montgomery Pittman

    Writer: Montgomery Pittman

  • The Arrival
    7.2/102,798 votes

    #2 - The Arrival

    Season 3 Episode 2 - Aired 9/22/1961

    A plane lands safely, but all its passengers, pilot and crew are missing!

    Director: Boris Sagal

    Writer: Rod Serling

  • The Shelter
    8.6/103,753 votes

    #3 - The Shelter

    Season 3 Episode 3 - Aired 9/29/1961

    When a nuclear attack appears imminent, several suburban friends and neighbors fight over control of a single bomb shelter.

    Director: Lamont Johnson

    Writer: Rod Serling

  • The Passersby
    7.5/102,805 votes

    #4 - The Passersby

    Season 3 Episode 4 - Aired 10/6/1961

    On the road home from the Civil War, a Confederate soldier stops at a burned-out house and gets to know the owner, a recent widow.

    Director: Elliot Silverstein

    Writer: Rod Serling

  • A Game of Pool
    7.8/103,196 votes

    #5 - A Game of Pool

    Season 3 Episode 5 - Aired 10/13/1961

    Championship pool player Fats Brown returns from the grave for one last game.

    Director: Buzz Kulik

    Writer: George Clayton Johnson

  • The Mirror
    6.5/102,576 votes

    #6 - The Mirror

    Season 3 Episode 6 - Aired 10/20/1961

    After a poor but ambitious Central American farm worker overthrows his country's tyrannical leader, he believes he sees assassins everywhere. A look in the mirror reveals his most dangerous enemy.

    Director: Don Medford

    Writer: Rod Serling

  • The Grave
    7.4/102,861 votes

    #7 - The Grave

    Season 3 Episode 7 - Aired 10/27/1961

    Before he died, notorious gunslinger Pinto Sykes put a curse on hired-gun Conny Miller. Miller returns to town and is challenged to visit the grave of Sykes, despite the curse.

    Director: Montgomery Pittman

    Writer: Montgomery Pittman

  • It's a Good Life
    8.6/104,787 votes

    #8 - It's a Good Life

    Season 3 Episode 8 - Aired 11/3/1961

    Little Anthony Fremont controls an entire town with his ability to read minds and make people do as he wishes. Which is a real good thing.

    Director: James Sheldon

    Writer: Rod Serling, Jerome Bixby

  • Deaths-Head Revisited
    8.1/103,312 votes

    #9 - Deaths-Head Revisited

    Season 3 Episode 9 - Aired 11/10/1961

    A former Nazi SS Captain returns to the ruins of a concentration camp to reminisce, and is met by one of his victims.

    Director: Don Medford

    Writer: Rod Serling

  • The Midnight Sun
    8.4/104,030 votes

    #10 - The Midnight Sun

    Season 3 Episode 10 - Aired 11/17/1961

    The Earth's orbit has been changed, drawing ever closer to the sun and promising eminent destruction.

    Director: Anton Leader

    Writer: Rod Serling

  • Still Valley
    6.5/102,299 votes

    #11 - Still Valley

    Season 3 Episode 11 - Aired 11/24/1961

    Confederacy scout Sgt. Joseph Paradine finds a town full of Union soldiers, and an old man who claims he used witchcraft to paralyze them.

    Director: James Sheldon

    Writer: Rod Serling

  • The Jungle
    6.8/102,443 votes

    #12 - The Jungle

    Season 3 Episode 12 - Aired 12/1/1961

    Alan Richards plans to build a dam in Africa on a tribe's ancestral land. The tribe's voodoo doctor puts a curse on him.

    Director: William Claxton

    Writer: Charles Beaumont

  • Once Upon a Time
    7.2/102,768 votes

    #13 - Once Upon a Time

    Season 3 Episode 13 - Aired 12/15/1961

    Woodrow, a janitor living in the year 1890, accidentally activates a time travelling helmet which transports him to 1962 - then promptly breaks down!

    Director: Norman Z. McLeod

    Writer: Richard Matheson

  • Five Characters in Search of an Exit
    8.5/104,053 votes

    #14 - Five Characters in Search of an Exit

    Season 3 Episode 14 - Aired 12/22/1961

    A hobo, clown, bagpipe player, ballerina and military officer are trapped in a huge cylinder.

    Director: Lamont Johnson

    Writer: Rod Serling

  • A Quality of Mercy
    7.2/102,491 votes

    #15 - A Quality of Mercy

    Season 3 Episode 15 - Aired 12/29/1961

    A gung ho young soldier gets a new viewpoint on war when he inexplicably changes places with a Japanese officer trying to stop his superior from leading a charge against American forces.

    Director: Buzz Kulik

    Writer: Rod Serling, Sam Rolfe

  • Nothing in the Dark
    8.3/103,573 votes

    #16 - Nothing in the Dark

    Season 3 Episode 16 - Aired 1/5/1962

    A lonely old woman refuses to leave her apartment for fear of meeting "Mr. Death."

    Director: Lamont Johnson

    Writer: George Clayton Johnson

  • One More Pallbearer
    7.3/102,471 votes

    #17 - One More Pallbearer

    Season 3 Episode 17 - Aired 1/12/1962

    Paul Radin has invited three people to join him in his bomb shelter.

    Director: Lamont Johnson

    Writer: Rod Serling

  • Dead Man's Shoes
    7.4/102,449 votes

    #18 - Dead Man's Shoes

    Season 3 Episode 18 - Aired 1/19/1962

    A vagrant steps into a murdered gangster's expensive shoes and is taken over by the dead man's ghost, who vows to remain on Earth to seek revenge against his killer.

    Director: Montgomery Pittman

    Writer: Charles Beaumont

  • The Hunt
    7.9/103,081 votes

    #19 - The Hunt

    Season 3 Episode 19 - Aired 1/26/1962

    On a hunting trip, Hyder Simpson and his dog Rip dive into a lake after a raccoon. When he gets home he finds that no one can see or hear him.

    Director: Harold D. Schuster

    Writer: Earl Hamner, Jr.

  • Showdown with Rance McGrew
    6.3/102,290 votes

    #20 - Showdown with Rance McGrew

    Season 3 Episode 20 - Aired 2/2/1962

    The star of a Western TV series suddenly finds himself transported back in time to the real Wild West, and face-to-face with the real Jesse James.

    Director: Christian Nyby

    Writer: Rod Serling

  • Kick the Can
    7.5/102,805 votes

    #21 - Kick the Can

    Season 3 Episode 21 - Aired 2/9/1962

    A retiree living in a rest home thinks he has discovered the secret of youth — acting young, and in particular playing a children's game called "kick-the-can".

    Director: Lamont Johnson

    Writer: George Clayton Johnson

  • A Piano in the House
    7.5/102,564 votes

    #22 - A Piano in the House

    Season 3 Episode 22 - Aired 2/16/1962

    Fortune discovers that a piano he bought his wife for her birthday has magical properties - the music that it plays makes people reveal their true essence.

    Director: David Greene

    Writer: Earl Hamner, Jr.

  • The Last Rites of Jeff Myrtlebank
    7.1/102,463 votes

    #23 - The Last Rites of Jeff Myrtlebank

    Season 3 Episode 23 - Aired 2/23/1962

    Jeff Myrtlebank comes back to life at his own funeral and soon begins to act very strangely...

    Director: Montgomery Pittman

    Writer: Montgomery Pittman

  • To Serve Man
    9.0/105,477 votes

    #24 - To Serve Man

    Season 3 Episode 24 - Aired 3/2/1962

    The Kanamits, 9 foot tall aliens, arrive on Earth with one lofty goal: To Serve Man.

    Director: Richard L. Bare

    Writer: Rod Serling, Damon Knight

  • The Fugitive
    7.5/102,589 votes

    #25 - The Fugitive

    Season 3 Episode 25 - Aired 3/9/1962

    Old Ben, who is able to transform himself into anything, tries to help a crippled little girl.

    Director: Richard L. Bare

    Writer: Charles Beaumont