Recap / The Dick Van Dyke Show S2E20 "It May Look Like a Walnut"

Rob scares Laura by watching an alien invasion thriller on late-night TV. When things the next morning begin suddenly to resemble the events of the movie, he assumes she's trying to get revenge. However, as time passes, Rob becomes less certain and more scared. Are aliens really trying to conquer the planet?

This episode includes examples of the following tropes:

• All Just a Dream: Most of the episode turns out to be Rob's nightmare.
• Chekhov's Gun: After the movie, Laura sets her alarm to go off an hour from then to wake her up in the middle of the nightmare she anticipates having. It wakes up both her and Rob, much to their relief.
• Creator Cameo:
  • Executive Producer Danny Thomas appears as Kolak.
  • Carl Reiner provides the voice of the scared guy in the movie that Rob and Laura are watching.
• Dream Episode: One of several on the show.
• Dream Reality Check: When he begins to suspect he's dreaming, he slaps himself, and he thinks the fact it hurts indiciates he must be awake. Then he calls Laura on the phone and asks her to check his bed to see if he's there.
• Exploding Closet: Rob opens the hall closet and millions of walnuts come pouring out, with Laura riding on the pile.
• Eyes Do Not Belong There:
  • Twilo-ites have four eyes: two in the normal place and two in the back of their head. It freaks Rob out when Laura pulls away her hair and reveals an extra set of eyes.
    Laura: I see you!
  • This also figures in Laura's nightmare
    Laura: Oh Rob, It was horrible! I dreamed that Kolak was chasing me and throwing walnuts at me and everywhere he hit me I lost a thumb and grew... an eye!
• Expy: The Sci-Fi horror movie they watch is this for (most likely) Invasion of the Body Snatchers
• Imagination Destroyer: Rob watches a sci-fi movie where aliens use a walnut-like object to strip humans of their thumbs and imagination so they can't make things. Then Rob has a nightmare about the movie where the walnuts figure heavily and he ends up losing his thumbs and sense of humor much to his despair.
• Insane Troll Logic: Or, rather, "Insane Dream Logic." To determine whether he's dreaming, he phones Laura and asks her to check his bed to see if he's there.
• Last of His Kind: Rob is the last remaining human, according to Kolak.
• Little "No": Rob's reaction to seeing his thumbs are gone.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: When Rob goes into the office, his coworkers are acting a little suspicious, but the capper occurs when Mel and Buddy have a friendly conversation and walk out in a sideways hug.
• Shout-Out: The aliens come from the planet Twilo and hence could be called "Twilo-ites". At one point, Rob actually wonders if the situation is real, referring to it as being "in the Twilo Zone."
• Vorpal Pillow: Played for laughs; when Laura is complaining that she can still hear the scary movie Rob is watching even though she has her head under the covers, he covers her head with a pillow for the climax. Cue her flailing in protest while he's too absorbed in the movie to notice:
  Rob: It's all over now.
  Laura: No, it's not; I'm still breathing.
• Worse with Context: When Rob describes the alien leader as resembling Danny Thomas, Laura doesn't see the creepiness and says she thinks Danny Thomas is good-looking. Then Rob adds that he had four eyes.
• You Have No Idea Who You're Dealing With: At first Rob scoffs that Kolak is just Danny Thomas
  Kolak: What is a "Danny Thomas"?
• Your Television Hates You: After the horror movie gives them both nightmares, Rob and Laura try to find something pleasant to watch on TV. One channel shows a man with a beard of bees. When Rob switches to another channel, an announcer says they'll be showing Road to Singapore.
  Rob: Well, that can't scare you much.
  Announcer: That's tomorrow night at 2 o'clock. Now, back to The Werewolf from Outer Space!
  • They end up settling for an early-morning exercise show.