Jordan Peele: A voice in your head can mean a few different things. A conscience, divine inspiration, or madness. But what if, instead, it were a case of crossed wires, one made through the tangled, enigmatic switchboards... of the Twilight Zone?
Lonely bachelor Phil finds meaningful human connection when he discovers a telepathic link to a stranger named Annie. Their connection quickly sparks a romance, but not everything is as it seems in this seemingly idyllic fantasy.
- Ambiguous Situation: Everything regarding Annie's actual situation at home. She actually never says anything out loud except "it's complicated", and lets Phil make assumptions, with her openly saying she told him what he wanted to hear in the end. On the other hand, it's unlikely she could have been manipulating a total stranger she had found herself linked to from the very beginning, and she seems sincerely relieved at the prospect of being able to finally start her life. There was something very wrong in her marriage, yet exactly what and how bad her situation was will never be known.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Annie seems nice, but she’s really just manipulating Phil into killing her husband for her so he’ll go to jail in her place.
- Creator Cameo: Episode writers Emily C. Chang and Sara Amini appear as Lily the barista and Julia.
- Damsel in Distress: Annie pretends she's one, claiming a man kidnapped her, then leading Phil to her rescue. In reality, the "kidnapper" is her husband, and she is in their house. It was a setup for Phil to get rid of him so she and their daughter would be free.
- Domestic Abuse: Annie implies that her husband was abusive towards her.
- Downer Ending: It turns out Annie manipulated Phil into killing her abusive husband so that she and her child can be free from him while Phil ends up getting the blame for the murder.
- Five-Second Foreshadowing: The cops show up at Annie's house to arrest Phil less than five minutes after he killed her husband, without anyone having called them. We find out shortly after that Annie had planned everything in advance to be free of her husband.
- Foreshadowing: The very first thing Phil does following Annie's suggestion is leave his psychologist. Annie turns out to be a very unhealthy influence.
- Even after that, during their whole relationship is Annie pushing Phil to do things, refusing to act when he is the one suggesting the idea.
- Checking Annie's info online, Phil finds out she has a husband and gets pissed by how she let that significant bit of information out (as they were flirting). In the end, it is revealed Annie had another significant family member she didn't tell Phil about: her daughter.
- Frame-Up: This is what happens to Phil when Annie uses him to kill her abusive husband.
- Karma Houdini: Annie receives no consequences for setting Phil up to kill her husband and get arrested instead of her.
- Mind Link Mates: Phil abruptly forms a telepathic connection with a woman named Annie. Over time, they fall in love, with Phil eventually going to meet her. However, it turns out she's been manipulating him.
- Telepathy: Phil and Annie's minds are linked, with both of them being able to hear each other's thoughts. However, they have to intend for this and specifically think of the other person.
- Title Drop: Annie suggests to Phil that they "meet in the middle" between their cities.
Jordan Peele: What kind of compromise goes into connecting with another human being? Is it meeting in the middle? Or going all the way to the end of the line? Phillip Hayes found connection, but only with the darkest part of his soul. A region of self that he'll inhabit for the rest of his life. Here... in the Twilight Zone.
