Teacher's Aide
Miss Peters (Adrienne Barbeau) is an English teacher at an inner-city school full of gang members and delinquents. While all the other teachers consider the student body to be degenerates and lost causes, Peters is the only one of them who feels that her students are in desperate need of guidance. That changes one day when she stares at an ominous statue of a gargoyle on the roof of the school, and suddenly gains an increase in both strength and aggression. She tries to understand what has happened to her while Wizard (Adam Postil), a gang member she attacked, plans to ambush her as revenge for making a fool of him.
Tropes
- Actor Allusion: Gang member Trojan is played by Miguel A. Núñez Jr., who played gang members Spider in Return of the Living Dead and Demon Winter in Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning in the same year the episode aired.
- Apathetic Teacher: Miss Peters is the only teacher in her school who actually cares about the students and treats them with respect. All the other teachers consider them to be animals, degenerates, and lost causes.
- Badass Teacher: Once she's possessed by the spirit of the gargoyle, Miss Peters goes from being a dedicated teacher whom the students don't respect, to one who responds to any act of insubordination with unwarranted violence. She also begins to worry that there is something seriously wrong with her because she can't fully control this behavior. When Wizard plans to attack her, she manages to sense the approaching assault and is able to easily overcome him. As she prepares to kill him, Miss Peters glimpses her reflection to learn that she now resembles the gargoyle, growing disgusted by her appearance and use of violence as she is not that kind of person. At the same time, the gargoyle is struck by lightning, returning Miss Peters to normal. Grateful to Miss Peters for not finishing him off when she had the chance, Wizard thanks her from the bottom of his heart and helps her up, hinting that he's turning over a new leaf.
- Because You Were Nice to Me: When Miss Peters tells Wizard that she fought her possession because she didn't want to see one of her students get hurt, Wizard is genuinely appreciative of it. It's also strongly implied he becomes a better person from the experience.
- Bolt of Divine Retribution: The gargoyle is destroyed this way, freeing Miss Peters from its possession.
- Bullying the Dragon: After witnessing Miss Peters act uncharacteristically monstrous, Wizard plays loud music in class, invoking the possessed teacher to crush his boombox, throw him out of the classroom, and tell him not to come back. The rest of the class immediately falls into line.
- Do Not Call Me "Paul": Miss Peters keeps calling Trojan and Wizard by their birth names: Arthur and Theodore.
- Dramatic Irony: One of Miss Peters' fellow teachers rants about how her students are severely misbehaved and wishes that she had the strength to force them into behaving, before wondering whether or not being tough is the right way to get through to them. She's unaware Miss Peters is going through that exact situation throughout the episode.
- Evil-Detecting Dog: Miss Peters' dog Muffin barks at her after she is possessed.
- Gangbangers: The Inner City School where Miss Peters teaches English has at least two gangs who frequently get into knife fights at the slightest provocation.
- He Who Fights Monsters: Though Miss Peters never intended to become a punisher of her students, she experiences first-hand the downside of becoming the kind of person delinquents are afraid of.
- Inner City School: An extremely tough one is where Miss Peters teaches English. It's a place where none of the students make even the slightest bit of effort and knife fights between rival gangs are common, to the point where Peters is the only staff member who doesn't think of the student body as degenerate animals.
- Mirror Monster: Miss Peters encounters a monstrous reflection of herself that tries to reach out and grab her at one point.
- Nice Girl: Miss Peters, who is the only teacher in her school to show her students any degree of affection instead of treating them like animals.
- Nothing Is Scarier: The gargoyle provides a plethora of frightening, unanswered questions. Was it always on the roof of the school? If not, where did it come from? Did it always have bloodlust and murder on its mind? All we know is that it's just there and wants to slaughter everything for the hell of it.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: The gargoyle's eyes glow bright red when it takes possession of Miss Peters, whose eyes similarly glow when she demonstrates her newfound powers.
- Spider-Sense: Miss Peters gains heightened senses after her possession, as she can tell that Wizard plans to attack her.
- Super-Strength: Miss Peters develops super strength after she is possessed by the gargoyle. When Trojan tells her that he comes to school solely to ogle her legs, she lifts him up by his shirt and throws him against the wall. Later, she catches another student hitting and kicking his locker and shoves him up against it, telling him that he should respect school property, since it's older than his grandmother. When Wizard turns on his boom box at full volume during class, she crushes it with her bare hands and physically throws him out of the room when he tries to attack her. The rest of the students are much more attentive after this.
- Took a Level in Kindness: Wizard becomes far more polite and kind in the end, after Miss Peters inadvertently scares him straight.
"We're told that damned places exist. Buildings where madness permeates the very bricks and mortar. We're told that sometimes, dedication and kindness can purge the evil from those walls. This has merely been a story. Life isn't really like this, is it? A lesson to be learned in the study halls — of the Twilight Zone."
Paladin of the Lost Hour
Vietnam veteran Billy Kinetta (Glynn Turman) rescues a strange old man named Gaspar (Danny Kaye) from being mugged in a cemetery. Upon hearing that Gaspar doesn't have a home, Billy allows the old man to stay with him for a while. Billy and Gaspar soon strike up a friendship, though Billy is skeptical of Gaspar's rants about how he's responsible for everything and everyone in the universe. Gaspar soon reveals that he is the latest in a long line of heroes dedicated to protecting a magic pocket watch that holds the last hour of creation, which must never be allowed to strike under the threat of darkness consuming the universe.
Tropes
- Affectionate Nickname: Billy refers to Gaspar as "Dad" before he learns his name. He continues to call him the nickname as a sign of affection, after they get to know each other.
- And the Adventure Continues: The episode ends with Billy becoming the latest paladin of the Lost Hour, protecting the watch containing it with his life.
- Because You Were Nice to Me: Billy taking Gaspar into his apartment and saving him from being mugged, treating him like a friend when no one else would, is what convinces Gaspar to pass the watch to him.
- Berserk Button: While Gaspar is fond of Billy calling him "Dad", he despises being called "Pop", claiming that it sounds like someone's going to snap his head off with a bottle opener. It's also shown that he absolutely despises lima beans.
- Chromosome Casting: The episode does not feature any speaking roles for women.
- Colorblind Casting: A variation. Gaspar is played by the white Danny Kaye, while Billy is played by the black Glynn Turman. In the short story by Harlan Ellison, it is mentioned that one of the two men is white and the other is black, but the text does not specify which is which.
- Does Not Like Spam: During one of his rants, Gaspar tells Billy that he absolutely despises lima beans, even though he's responsible for their continued existence, like everything else in the universe.Gaspar: I'll tell ya something. You show me anyone who'll eat lima beans without being at gunpoint, and I'll show you a pervert! Hmph!
- The End of the World as We Know It: The Lost Hour will be unleashed if Gaspar's watch strikes 12:00, after which the entire universe will be engulfed in darkness.
- Gangbangers: Two members of a gang mug Gaspar while he's visiting Minna's grave, but Billy manages to fight them off before they rough up the old man too much.
- Intergenerational Friendship: Billy and Gaspar have an age gap of more than 30 years between them, but they quickly become close friends.
- Large Ham: Gaspar is shown to be quite bombastic at times, though he uses it to mask his sadness and the fact that he's dying.
- Legacy Character: Gaspar tells Billy that the origins of the Lost Hour go back to Pope Gregory XIII adopting the Gregorian calendar and advancing time by eleven days in 1582. He reveals that Gregory actually miscalculated time by one hour, an hour that slipped free from time's boundaries and has been bouncing through eternity ever since. Gaspar is the latest paladin in a line going back 400 years, sworn with containing the Lost Hour in a magic pocket watch. If he dies without passing on the watch, the Lost Hour will finally strike and the entire universe will be engulfed by darkness. In order to prevent this from happening, Gaspar passes the watch to Billy, whom he has come to trust as the next paladin in the time they've known each other.
- The Lost Lenore: Gaspar's late wife Minna, who he visits in the cemetery before he is mugged.
- MacGuffin: Gaspar's watch.
- Meaningful Name: Lampshaded. Gaspar tells Billy that he shares his name with one of The Three Wise Men, adding that "Gaspar" means "master of the treasure, keeper of the secrets, paladin of the palace." Gaspar later explains that he is the latest in a long line of guardians of the Lost Hour, going back to the 16th century.
- My Greatest Failure: Billy's greatest shame was the fact that a Marine he didn't know died saving his life, so he never got to thank him. Before he dies, Gaspar uses a minute of the Lost Hour to give Billy the chance to thank the guy and get closure on his survivor's guilt.
- Nice Guy: Billy. Despite his survivor's guilt, he's caring enough to save an old man from being mugged by some petty punks, invites him to stay in his apartment when he learns he's basically homeless, and strikes up a strong bond with the old man. It's for this reason that Gaspar makes him next in line to protect his watch, so he can keep the universe from being plunged into darkness.
- No Name Given: The Marine who died saving Billy from an ambush during The Vietnam War is never named, which is a huge factor regarding Billy's survivor guilt.
- Passing the Torch: The dying Gaspar passes the pocket watch containing the Lost Hour to Billy, who he trusts strongly enough to guard it with his life.
- Refusal of the Call: Once Billy learns that Gaspar wants to pass his watch onto him, Billy loudly refuses by claiming that he isn't responsible enough to handle the burden, nor is he from a long line of paladins like Gaspar. The old man convinces him that he is indeed worthy, by noting how responsible he's been for him.
- Sad Clown: Gaspar spends a great deal of his screen time behaving like a joker, but his outlandish mannerisms also serve to mask that he's depressed, lonely, and nearly broken from his wife's death and his huge responsibilities.
- Secret Test of Character: Gaspar offers Billy the opportunity to become the next paladin after him. When he does so, he asks Billy to give him one minute of the Lost Hour contained in the watch so he can meet with his late wife Minna before he dies. Billy refuses, as he believes that it would be wrong. Gaspar then reveals that this was a final test, and is now completely assured that Billy is the right person to guard the watch. As a reward, Gaspar gives Billy his own minute of the Lost Hour, which he uses to finally thank the Marine who died saving his life during The Vietnam War for doing so.
- Small Role, Big Impact: The gang members who mug Gaspar in the cemetery, allowing Billy to save him and the two men meeting for the first time.
- Survivor Guilt: Billy suffers from severe survivor's guilt when he served in Da Nang, where his life was saved by a Marine whom he had never met before, who was killed in the process. When Gaspar allows him to use one minute of the Lost Hour to speak with the Marine, Billy learns that the guy didn't even know he was there. Billy thanks him for saving his life, but the Marine tells him that he is the grateful one, because he knows now that his death had meaning.
- Take That!: When Gaspar and Billy go to see a movie, the old man tells Billy that he doesn't want to see anything with Sandy Dennis, Karen Black, or Meryl Streep, since they're always crying and their noses are always red. He later changes his mind and is willing to make an exception for Meryl Streep, however, provided that Billy buys the popcorn.
- The Vietnam Vet: Billy is a Vietnam vet who is haunted by the fact that a Marine who he didn't even know died saving his life while he was hiding from the Viet Cong during an ambush.
- World War III: Billy and Gaspar watch a news report regarding potential nuclear conflict. While Billy is greatly rattled, Gaspar tells him that he knows for certain a nuclear holocaust will never come, since his watch reads that it's only 11:00.
"Like a wind crying endlessly through the universe, time carries away the names and the deeds of conquerors and commoners alike. And all that we were, all that remains is in the memories of those who cared we came this way for a brief moment. A blessing of the 18th Egyptian Dynasty: God be between you and harm in all the empty places you walk."
