Air date: September 27, 1963
During The Vietnam War, a young soldier, Private Pip Phillips (Robert Diamond), is critically wounded and doctors don't expect him to live much longer. Back in the U.S., his father Max (Jack Klugman), a small-time bookie, learns this news at a delicate time: his boss Moran is annoyed at him because he refunded the $300 that George, a naive boy about Pip's age, used to bet on a horse which Max had recommended, leading George to get seriously roughed up by Moran's minions. After hearing that his son is dying, Max gets an epiphany about his lifestyle and helps George escape, but gets shot in the abdomen in the process.
The hotel where this goes down happens to be across the street from an amusement park where Max used to take Pip as a child. Max staggers to its gates, which are locked since it's nighttime, and begs God to give him one last chance to talk to his son. Magically, a 10-year-old Pip (Billy Mumy) appears and the amusement park lights up and functions even though there's no one there. Max's wound also evaporates and the two spend a happy hour at the park, but then Pip says he must leave because he's dying. Max apologizes for his failings as a father, and swears he'll change his ways, but Pip still vanishes in the mirror maze. Max turns to God again, offering his life in exchange for Pip's. Some time later, the adult Pip (walking with a cane) visits the park and reminisces about his late father.
This episode marks the last of several appearances for both Jack Klugman and Bill Mumy on the series.
In Praise of Tropes:
- The Alcoholic: Max. One of his regrets is how he missed out on time with Pip because he was drunk.
- Bargain with Heaven: Max offers his life to God if God will spare Pip. Apparently, the big guy takes him up on it.
- Bittersweet Ending: Max dies, but Pip lives, and despite everything still has fond memories of his father.
- Catapult Nightmare: We first meet Max doing this in his bed after we cut away from the wounded Pip. It's implied that he dreamed of it somehow, though he doesn't seem to remember it.
- Due to the Dead: At the amusement park, the adult Pip thinks back on his father and refers to him as his best buddy. Serling's closing narration also comments on Max's noble sacrifice and how it was motivated by pure love.
- Dutch Angle: Multiple Dutch angles are used during both the Good-Times Montage of Max and Pip in the amusement park and their subsequent confrontation in the Hall of Mirrors.
- Evil Debt Collector: One gets his hands on George Reynold and leaves him with an extremely bruised face.
- Face Death with Dignity:
- When the hour is up, the younger Pip simply tells his father that he has to go now.
- Max offers himself up in exchange for Pip. When the bargain is accepted, he can feel the sudden pain but never cries out.
- Good-Times Montage: Max and Pip's adventure in the amusement park is shown this way.
- Hall of Mirrors: When young Pip says he has to leave, Max chases him into one of these, leading to the usual confusion.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Max is a con man and a flawed father, but he truly loves his son, and he takes pity on George after hearing that Pip is dying.
- The Mafia: Max has been working as a bookie for the gangster Moran for 20 years.
- Meaningful Echo: "Hey Pop, you're my best buddy."
- Morality Chain: Max sees his son Pip as "the clean part of [him]". The news that his son is dying is what prompts him to take pity on George and give him a chance to return the money he borrowed.
- My Greatest Second Chance: The hour at the amusement park gives Max the chance to be the father he always wanted to be.
- Never Bring a Gun to a Knife Fight: Max manages to overpower both his boss Moran and his boss's henchman with his folding knife, even though the latter has a gun. In fairness, Max does get a bullet wound.
- Outliving One's Offspring: Max is faced with the threat of losing his son in a war that "isn't even supposed to be a war," as Max points out. His general fear of being a bad parent makes it worse. But in the end, he doesn't outlive Pip because he exchanges his own life for his son's.
- Parents as People: Reconstructed. Although Max is a greatly flawed human being, he's still a good father who raised a better son. And when all's said and done, he'd gladly give his life in exchange for Pip's.
- The Power of Love: As Serling expounds in the closing narration:Very little comment here, save for this small aside: that the ties of flesh are deep and strong; that the capacity to love is a vital, rich, and all-consuming function of the human animal. And that you can find nobility and sacrifice and love wherever you may seek it out: down the block, in the heart or in the Twilight Zone.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Max gives one to his loan shark boss that despite what he said earlier, the cost of working for him was indeed too great if it meant losing quality time with his son.
- Redemption Equals Death: While Max plans to reform his life, he ultimately sacrifices it for his son.
- Take Me Instead: After being fatally shot, Max pleads with God to take his life in exchange for Pip's.
- War Is Hell: This is one of the first mentions in any media of a Vietnam casualty. (Originally it was supposed to be Laos, but the show's researchers pointed out that hostilities had recently ceased there.)"Pip is dying. My boy is dying. In a place called South Vietnam. There isn't even supposed to be a war there, but he's dying. My boy is dying... It is to laugh. I swear to God it is to laugh."
