Air date: May 6, 1960
Gart Williams (James Daly) works for an advertising agency, a job which he is quite ill-suited for. After his young protege fails to show up for an important business meeting, sending a telegram that he'll be working elsewhere (and taking a $3 million deal with him), Gart is reprimanded by his boss. He's quick to snap back, but instantly regrets it. On the train ride back home, he dreams of arriving at a place called Willoughby, a pleasant small town stuck in the summer of 1888. Before he can properly explore the place, he awakens back on the train.
Back home, Gart gets into an argument with his wife Janie, who's fed up with how sensitive and emotional he is. Gart hasn't lost his job after his earlier mistake, since he's still tied to a few deals that his boss would hate to lose, but he is tired of the masquerade he must pull off every day to succeed in the world. He realizes that he'd truly be much happier in a place like Willoughby, though Janie derides him for wanting to give up a profitable job to "become Huckleberry Finn". The next time Gart rides the train, he's told by the conductor that there's no such place as Willoughby, but he still dreams of it again. He once again awakens before he can explore it, however, and vows to actually get off at Willoughby the next time.
Gart's next day at work is horrible; he has a breakdown due to stress, and when he attempts to call Janie for reassurance, she just hangs up on him. On his very next train ride, he again dreams of Willoughby, and purposely abandons his briefcase in order to leave at the station before the train departs. He's immediately welcomed by the townsfolk, and walks into town as an elderly conductor checks the clock... which immediately transitions to a younger conductor's lantern. He and the rest of the train staff are discussing the fate of Gart, who from their perspective, leapt from the train while shouting "something about Willoughby" and died the moment he hit the ground. His corpse is carried into a hearse, and on its back door is written the following: Willoughby & Son Funeral Home.
A Trope at Willoughby:
- Ambiguous Situation: Did Gart really end up in Willoughby? Or was it all a dying dream before he ended his life? This is the Twilight Zone, and there has been more surreal stuff going on...
- Born in the Wrong Century: Gart's wife Janie invokes the trope, saying he was born too late. Gart agrees.
- Broken Record: Mr. Misrell, in the opening scene.Misrell: This is a push business, Williams. A push-push-push business. Push and drive! But personally, you don't delegate responsibilities to little boys. You should know it better than anyone else. A push-push-push business, Williams. It's push-push-push, all the way, all the time! It's push-push-push, all the way, all the time, right on down the line!
- Big "SHUT UP!": "Fat boy, why don't you shut your mouth?!"
- Bittersweet Ending: Gart has died in the real world, but it's possible that Willoughby is an actual alternate dimension that he's alive and well in.
- Domestic Abuse: The emotional abuse Janie puts Gart through is just as horrible as it was meant to be. Surprisingly ahead of its time for 1960.
- Driven to Suicide: Gart jumps off a train in motion, killing himself on impact. However, from his perspective, he saw himself as getting off safely and into Willoughby—and since this is The Twilight Zone, maybe he really did.Gart: Willoughby. Next time, I'm going to get off!
- Empathic Environment: New York/Connecticut, where Gart is utterly miserable, is cold and snowy. Willoughby, where he's happy, is in the midst of a warm and sunny summer.
- Fat Bastard: Mr. Misrell, with his "push-push-push" mentality. Lampshaded by Gart.
- Foreshadowing: At the very beginning, after Gart angers his boss, his secretary asks if he'd like anything. She's asked for a razor and a diagram of the circulatory system, showing that Gart's no stranger to suicidal thoughts...
- The Gay '90s: Technically, a couple of years earlier. The conductor at Willoughby tells Gart it's 1888. But otherwise it fits all the aesthetics.
- Happy Place: Willoughby is an idealized escapist fantasy for Gart, but another interpretation is that it's actually Heaven, given that he dies to get there.
- Hen Pecked Husband: Aside from work, Gart is worn out from trying to please his wife Janie and satisfy her neverending "appetites". It's even implied that the reason he chose a career path he clearly didn't like in the first place was because she urged him to.
- Ironic Echo: Willoughby, the name of the idyllic town Gart finds that can't be found on a map, is actually the name of the funeral home which takes his corpse.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Mr. Misrell rubs Gart's nose in the fact that new employee Jake Ross was not only too young for the company's project, but too unreliable and untrustworthy for it.
- Longing for Fictionland: Gart keeps dreaming of Willoughby, an idyllic 1880s town straight out of Mark Twain's work.
- Mean Boss: Mr. Misrell may have a point that Gart is way too trusting with new employees, but his Broken Record of "push, push, push! Push and drive!" would make anyone go insane with annoyance.
- Meaningful Name: Mr. Misrell's name sounds like "Miserable", a very appropriate name for one who is head of a company that Gart is completely unhappy to work at.
- No Sympathy: Gart's wife Janie is avaricious, dismissive, and completely unsympathetic to her husband's feelings. But her worst moment comes when he calls her from the office, clearly in the middle of a nervous breakdown, and she hangs up on him.
- Nostalgia Filter: Gart's imagining of the 19th century seems a bit too idyllic.
- Rage Against the Reflection: Gart smashes the mirror in his office bathroom after imagining Mr. Misrell repeating his “Push, push, push” drivel in it.
- Rich Bitch: Gart's wife Janie is a passive variation. She's cold, nearly emotionless, and is clearly using Gart's career to further her own social standings. It's apparent she doesn't care that his career path is making him stressed and miserable, and belittles his wish to live the simple life. The next morning, when he has a breakdown and expresses how badly he wants to quit his job, she hangs up when he calls and it's strongly implied she leaves Gart, all when he needed emotional support the most.
- Rule of Three: The third time that Gart dreams of Willoughby, that's when he actually departs the train.
- Rule of Symbolism: The first two times Gart tries to leave the train, he's unable to, as though he's metaphorically held back by the things that motivate him to endure his miserable lifestyle. The third time, he starts to pick up his briefcase before deciding to leave it behind, showing that he's abandoning the trappings of his old life.
- Snow Means Death: Whenever Gart's shown on the train, and at the end when we see his corpse, it's during a November snowstorm.
- Suspiciously Apropos Music: The final music the band plays in Willoughby is "Beautiful Dreamer". Subverted in that he's not "dreaming", per se.
- Take That!: Against The '50s ideals, something that Serling himself wasn't a fan of.
- Tuckerization: Gart's advertising company is handling the Bradbury account. This is a reference to Ray Bradbury, who later wrote "I Sing the Body Electric".
- Ungrateful Bastard: Jake Ross, the new employee that Gart gave an important project to. Gart wholeheartedly entrusted he would help the company with this project, but he stabs him in the back and takes the project to another company, leaving poor Gart high and dry.
- Wham Shot: The final shot of the Willoughby hearse.
- World of Jerkass: The world outside of Willoughby is this for Gart, with everyone from his boss to his wife making him utterly miserable.
