Line #8 Recap/TheTwilightZone1959S2E17TwentyTwo


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/twenty_two.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:''[[ArcWords "Room for one more, honey..."]]'']]
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4	->'''Creator/RodSerling''': This is Ms. Liz Powell. She's a professional dancer, and she's in the hospital as a result of overwork and nervous fatigue. And at this moment, we have just finished walking with her in a nightmare. In a moment she'll wake up and we'll remain at her side. The problem here is that both Miss Powell and you will reach a point where it might be difficult to decide which is reality and which is nightmare, a problem uncommon perhaps but rather peculiar to the Twilight Zone.
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6	Air date: February 10, 1961
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8	Elizabeth Powell (Barbara Nichols), an "exotic dancer" who's been hospitalized for exhaustion and overwork, is sleeping in her hospital bed when a loudly-ticking clock wakes her. She reaches for a glass of water on her nightstand, only to accidentally break it. Immediately following the crashing glass, the sound of footsteps echoes from the hallway. Liz gets out of bed and follows them, spotting a nurse disappearing into an elevator. She runs after the nurse and gets out on the lower floors of the hospital, where a pair of swinging doors labeled with [[TitleDrop the number twenty-two]] and the word "MORGUE" lie. As Liz stares in horror, the nurse emerges and, with a [[PsychoticSmirk creepy grin]], tells her "Room for one more, honey." Liz screams in fear and rushes back into the elevator.
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10	The next morning, Liz speaks with her agent Barney Kamener and doctor about the previous evening's events, where it's revealed that the whole incident was a dream that she's been reliving again and again. Liz states the details of the dream are always the same, and she feels compelled to act them out no matter what. The doctor [[CassandraTruth summarily dismisses]] the nightmare as having any succinct meaning, bringing in the actual night nurse to prove his point. The nurse unfortunately looks nothing like the mysterious woman in the morgue. Seeing that she is not convinced, the doctor suggests a new tactic: willing herself to break the pattern of the dream and thus escape its power. Liz reluctantly agrees to give it a try.
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12	That evening, Liz, back in the dream, hears the clock and almost reaches for the glass of water, but stops herself. After a few moments, the footsteps do not sound, prompting Liz to breathe a sigh of relief. She decides to reward herself with a cigarette from a pack sitting on the nightstand, but as she goes to get it, she nudges the glass and it breaks again. The rest of the dream plays out as it always does, driving Liz into a further state of panic. The next morning, the doctor is disappointed to hear that his plan did not work, although he ''has'' come to a realization: it's remarkably odd that Liz correctly identified Room 22 as the hospital morgue, as she's never seen it and no one has even mentioned it to her.
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14	The episode skips ahead to a few months later. Liz, having made a full recovery, is standing in an airport, waiting for a flight to Miami Beach. As she picks up her ticket, the agent informs her that she'll be on Flight 22, which rattles her. As she tries to calm down, the chime from a clock on the wall begins echoing in her ears, and in her distressed state, she inadvertently bumps into a woman carrying a vase, which falls to the ground and makes the exact same sound as the shattering glass in the dream. The panicked Liz nevertheless slowly walks toward the plane, across the tarmac, and up the stairs... where a stewardess who looks identical to the nurse from her dream emerges. With that same horrible smile, she remarks "Room for one more, honey."
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16	Liz screams, rushes back down the stairs, and collapses inside the airport, sobbing her heart out. The stewardess looks on with a calm expression as she pulls the door of the plane shut. As concerned patrons rush to comfort Liz, Flight 22 makes its way down the tarmac... and [[RealAfterAll violently explodes, killing everyone on board]], revealing that Liz's dream was actually a psychic warning that prevented her own death.
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19	!!Room For More Tropes, Honey:
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21	* AmbiguouslyEvil: The nurse/flight attendant Liz sees in her dreams, as well as reality. She's creepy as hell, but if Liz hadn't seen her, she'd have been on Flight 22 when it exploded.
22	* ArcWords: ''"Room for one more, honey..."'' uttered by the phantom nurse/flight attendant numerous times throughout the episode.
23	* ArmorPiercingResponse: Liz is in pretty good spirits at the airport, until the agent tells her where to go.
24	-->'''Agent:''' Flight 22 is loading now.
25	* BittersweetEnding: A lot people died on the doomed flight, but at the very least, Liz narrowly evaded death.
26	* CassandraTruth: The doctor thinks that Liz's dream is nothing more than a symptom of nervous fatigue. It's [[DownplayedTrope downplayed]] though, as neither he nor anyone else in the hospital are in any danger; the psychic warning is specifically for Liz, and she ends up avoiding getting on the flight anyway.
27	* CruelTwistEnding: Of a sort. While Liz ''does'' survive, everyone else on Flight 22 is killed.
28	* DirtyOldMan: Liz's doctor is very lecherous, telling her that she makes an old man wish that he were a young intern before giving a creepy laugh. As she is leaving the hospital, he hopes that she will be performing next time he sees her, and that she will throw a wink in his direction.
29	* DreamingOfThingsToCome: The entire plot of the episode. Liz's recurring nightmare is actually a psychic premonition that helps her avoid death.
30	* GirlsLoveStuffedAnimals: Liz has a stuffed leopard with her at all times while she's in the hospital.
31	* TheGrimReaper: A possible theory of the mysterious nurse/stewardess' identity, as she's present in two areas linked to death and seems to not be entirely human.
32	* HospitalHottie: The nurse/stewardess who keeps beckoning Liz to her death is an extremely attractive young woman. Liz even comments on her beauty despite being terrified of her.
33	* InsistentTerminology: Liz's agent Barney refers to her as a stripper, and she immediately corrects him, calling herself a ''dancer.''
34	* KubrickStare: The nurse/stewardess repeatedly gives one to Liz, along with a SlasherSmile
35	* LateToTheRealization: The doctor heard Liz describe the dream. After Liz suffers another panic fit that night, he suddenly recalls how she knew the exact room number for the morgue. Patients aren't allowed down there, so he has no idea how she would know it.
36	* NothingIsScarier: Who in all of creation is the nurse/stewardess, and why does she have a fixation with seeing Liz die?
37	** As is typical for the series, we never discover why Liz suddenly develops PsychicPowers. It's just a horrific sequence of events with no logical explanation.
38	* OrWasItADream: It's not clear if the dream Liz experiences every night is an actual dream, or whether it's actually occurring as she lives it.
39	* PetTheDog: The doctor tries to explain the psychic dream as nothing more than a delusion. However, he ''does'' admit that Liz's knowing that Room 22 is the morgue seems far too impossible to be a coincidence, implying that he's giving some credence to a possibly supernatural explanation.
40	* ProtagonistCenteredMorality: Subverted. While we're glad that Liz survives the exploding plane thanks to her psychic dream, the death of everyone else on board Flight 22 is ''not'' ignored: everyone who sees it reacts in horror, and it's clear that they're very distressed over the loss.
41	* RealAfterAll: Liz's dream wasn't a delusion, but a psychic warning that prevents her death.
42	* ScreamingWoman: Liz, both in the dream and at the airport after hearing the ArcWords. The ending proves she was right to be terrified and to run away.
43	* ThereAreNoCoincidences: Liz is certain it's not a dream because she's had it six nights in a row and no details ever change.
44	* ThisIsGonnaSuck: After being told the flight's number, Liz is a bundle of nerves, feeling a constant sense of dread while making her way to the plane. The second a familiar face says a familiar line, she runs away screaming.
45	* TheUnSmile: While discussing her dream, Liz comments on the usualness of the supposed nurse's smile.
46	* VideoInsideFilmOutside: This is the fourth of six episodes recorded on videotape instead of film in order to reduce costs.
47	* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: The mystery nurse/stewardess is shown closing the plane door as Liz runs away, which means that she died, too... [[TheGrimReaper if she could die at all]].
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Context Recap / TheTwilightZone1959S2E17TwentyTwo