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The Best Episodes of The Twilight Zone Season 1

Every episode of The Twilight Zone Season 1 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of The Twilight Zone Season 1!

A 2002 revival of Rod Serling's 1950/60s television series, The Twilight Zone, with actor Forest Whitaker assuming Serling's role as narrator and on-screen host.
Genres:Sci-Fi & FantasyMysteryDrama
Network:UPN

Season 1 Ratings Summary

"Evergreen" is the best rated episode of "The Twilight Zone" season 1. It scored 6.4/10 based on 579 votes. Directed by Allan Kroeker and written by Jill E. Blotevogel, it aired on 9/18/2002. This episode is rated 0.7 points higher than the second-best, "One Night at Mercy".

  • Evergreen
    6.4/10579 votes

    #1 - Evergreen

    Season 1 Episode 1 - Aired 9/18/2002

    When rebellious teenager Jenna and her family move into an exclusive gated community that her parents hope will help them better control the troubled teen, Jenna soon discovers the dark truth behind how her new neighbors deal with discipline problems.

    Director: Allan Kroeker

    Writer: Jill E. Blotevogel

  • One Night at Mercy
    7.1/10486 votes

    #2 - One Night at Mercy

    Season 1 Episode 2 - Aired 9/18/2002

    A young doctor meets a suicide who claims to be Death incarnate. When Death insists he wants to stop his killing ways, the doctor is forced to contemplate what life would be like without death.

    Director: Peter O'Fallon, Robert Parrish

    Writer: Christopher Mack, Rod Serling

  • Shades of Guilt
    6.6/10485 votes

    #3 - Shades of Guilt

    Season 1 Episode 3 - Aired 9/25/2002

    Matt McGreevy is driving when a black man runs up to his car and begs for help. Matt drives away as a gang falls on the man and beat him to death. When he arrives home, Matt first bleeds from the cuts the dead man suffers, then his skin changes. By the time he gets back home he has transformed into the dead man, a college professor...

    Director: Perry Lang

    Writer: Ira Steven Behr

  • Dream Lover
    6.1/10428 votes

    #4 - Dream Lover

    Season 1 Episode 4 - Aired 9/25/2002

    To help overcome his writer's block and make his life easier and more relaxed, an artist named Andrew wills his dream woman Sondra to life, but the lines between reality and fantasy quickly begin to blur. Sondra soon starts hitting on the cable guy and gaining a life of her own.

    Director: Peter O'Fallon

    Writer: N/A

  • Cradle of Darkness
    7.4/10522 votes

    #5 - Cradle of Darkness

    Season 1 Episode 5 - Aired 10/2/2002

    Hoping to undo the horrors of WWII, a woman, Andre, sacrifices her own future when she goes back in time to stop Adolf Hitler by killing him when he is a baby.

    Director: Jean de Segonzac

    Writer: Kamran Pasha

  • Night Route
    7.0/10436 votes

    #6 - Night Route

    Season 1 Episode 6 - Aired 10/2/2002

    A young woman's seemingly happy life unravels after a close call with a speeding car. The woman, Melina, begins to forget details of her lfie and how she met her fiance. Worse, she is haunted by strange phenomena: a mysterious bus that follows her and people who know her name that she's never met. Finally her fiance disappears without a trace, leaving her in a desolate life where she knows no one.

    Director: Jean de Segonzac

    Writer: Jill E. Blotevogel

  • Time Lapse
    6.5/10362 votes

    #7 - Time Lapse

    Season 1 Episode 7 - Aired 10/9/2002

    After an unconscious high-security patient arrives in his ward, Doctor Zack Taylor finds himself suffering from blackouts. On each occasion he wakes up partway along a byzantine assassination plot to kill the President's daughter with a plastic gun. He gets to the target's location, pulls out his gun, and...shoots an assassin behind the girl...

    Director: John T. Kretchmer

    Writer: James Crocker

  • Dead Man's Eyes
    6.5/10371 votes

    #8 - Dead Man's Eyes

    Season 1 Episode 8 - Aired 10/9/2002

    A distraught widow and former rehab patient on the verge of a total mental collapse, heavily invested in finding her husband's killer, discovers that her murdered husband's eyeglasses reveal the last moments of his life and possibly the identity of his killer...

    Director: Jerry Levine

    Writer: N/A

  • The Pool Guy
    7.2/10397 votes

    #9 - The Pool Guy

    Season 1 Episode 9 - Aired 10/16/2002

    A pool cleaner loses the ability to distinguish dreams from reality.

    Director: Brad Turner

    Writer: N/A

  • Azoth the Avenger is a Friend of Mine
    5.7/10383 votes

    #10 - Azoth the Avenger is a Friend of Mine

    Season 1 Episode 10 - Aired 10/16/2002

    A bullied boy, Craig, deciphers a coded message that allows him to summon his comic book hero, Azoth the Avenger. This long-haired Conan-like barbarian beats up the bullies that plague Craig, but is defenseless against his abusive father. Azoth returns to whence he came but inspires Craig to take a stand against his father - intoning the same spell as before and sending his father...somewhere, leaving him and his mother in peace.

    Director: Brad Turner

    Writer: Hans Beimler

  • The Lineman
    6.5/10358 votes

    #11 - The Lineman

    Season 1 Episode 11 - Aired 10/23/2002

    Tyler inherits the power to hear people's thoughts after a freak lightening storm. Eventually, he begins to abuse his new gift, using it as a means of acquiring vast wealth and personal gain. But then Tyler learns that his new power comes with a price. Believing Shannon wants a rich man, Tyler uses his ability to play the stock market, but is surprised at the consequences, especially when he tries to touch others' minds when they grow distant from him.

    Director: Jonathan Frakes

    Writer: Pen Densham

  • Harsh Mistress
    6.1/10326 votes

    #12 - Harsh Mistress

    Season 1 Episode 12 - Aired 10/30/2002

    A struggling musician named Cory purchases a rather infamous guitar, which leads to him gaining vast international stardom and wealth, but both come with a surprising price tag.

    Director: Brad Turner

    Writer: David Weddle, Bradley Thompson

  • Upgrade
    7.1/10346 votes

    #13 - Upgrade

    Season 1 Episode 13 - Aired 10/30/2002

    Annie fantasizes about her ideal family, a far cry from the dysfunctional group of people she sees everyday. But when her fantasies seemingly become reality, she is horrored to discover she is next on the replacement list.

    Director: Joe Chappelle

    Writer: Robert Hewitt Wolfe

  • To Protect and Serve
    5.7/10327 votes

    #14 - To Protect and Serve

    Season 1 Episode 14 - Aired 11/6/2002

    A young cop falls madly in love with a prostitute, and he continues to protect her even when they are both killed.

    Director: Joe Chappelle

    Writer: N/A

  • Chosen
    6.9/10355 votes

    #15 - Chosen

    Season 1 Episode 15 - Aired 11/6/2002

    A man is annoyed by two tenacious people he believes to be evangelists and refuses to listen to their claims that the day is Armageddon, but as it transpires the day is Armageddon, and the "evangelists" are Angels in need of help...

    Director: Winrich Kolbe

    Writer: Ira Steven Behr

  • Sensuous Cindy
    6.5/10333 votes

    #16 - Sensuous Cindy

    Season 1 Episode 16 - Aired 11/13/2002

    A man buys a "virtual girlfriend" online simply to satisfy his carnal needs, but ends up becoming somebody else's sex slave.

    Director: John T. Kretchmer

    Writer: James Crocker

  • Hunted
    6.7/10309 votes

    #17 - Hunted

    Season 1 Episode 17 - Aired 11/13/2002

    A cop pursues the last known criminal in Earth's future society. But as it turns out, the criminal is fighting on the same side of the cop, to rid the world of androids.

    Director: Patrick R. Norris

    Writer: Christopher Mack

  • Mr. Motivation
    6.8/10351 votes

    #18 - Mr. Motivation

    Season 1 Episode 18 - Aired 11/20/2002

    A sinister toy doll encourages a timid man to stand up to his boss and take control of his life.

    Director: Deran Sarafian

    Writer: N/A

  • Sanctuary
    6.8/10358 votes

    #19 - Sanctuary

    Season 1 Episode 19 - Aired 11/20/2002

    Stranded in a modern day Garden of Eden, a man and woman cannot resist the temptation of technology.

    Director: Patrick R. Norris

    Writer: James Crocker

  • Future Trade
    6.7/10392 votes

    #20 - Future Trade

    Season 1 Episode 20 - Aired 11/27/2002

    A man with a dead-end job and a dysfunctional family is lured into trading his future for that of a seemingly privileged man with his trophy wife.

    Director: Bob Balaban

    Writer: N/A

  • Found and Lost
    6.4/10333 votes

    #21 - Found and Lost

    Season 1 Episode 21 - Aired 11/27/2002

    A successful businessman is given a second chance - to go back and be with his first love

    Director: Vern Gillum

    Writer: N/A

  • Gabe's Story
    6.7/10335 votes

    #22 - Gabe's Story

    Season 1 Episode 22 - Aired 12/11/2002

    A man suffering from consistent bad luck is given a surprising chance to change his destiny.

    Director: Allan Kroeker

    Writer: Dusty Kay

  • Last Lap
    5.3/10321 votes

    #23 - Last Lap

    Season 1 Episode 23 - Aired 12/11/2002

    A terminally ill young man and his best friend take a final ride in their souped-up racer that results in unexpected consequences for both.

    Director: Brad Turner

    Writer: N/A

  • The Path
    6.5/10328 votes

    #24 - The Path

    Season 1 Episode 24 - Aired 1/8/2003

    Ally, a young writer for a tabloid, meets a man who claims he sees others the path they are destined to follow. His predictions for her prove uncannily accurate and she soon becomes dependent on his predictions to guide her life. When he gets hit by a car and killed she finds herself without hope.

    Director: Jerry Levine

    Writer: James Crocker

  • Fair Warning
    6.1/10318 votes

    #25 - Fair Warning

    Season 1 Episode 25 - Aired 1/8/2003

    Tina, a flower shop clerk, finds herself threatened by a seemingly-deranged man named George who mysteriously disappears after asking him to stop from killing her. When she finds him he has a perfect alibi and claims he doesn't know her. George keeps visiting her and no one ever sees him except Tina. Tina begins to question her sanity.

    Director: John T. Kretchmer

    Writer: David Weddle, Bradley Thompson