The Twilight Zone (2019) Season 2: Ovation

I'm not gonna beat around the bush with this one guys. “Ovation” is awful. I cannot believe how bad this episode is. “The Who of You” was a pretty fun time and I thought “maybe things will get better from here” but no. Right afterwards this garbage shows up. Every time I think this show is about to get good it swings back around and smacks me upside the head like a Wil. E Coyote trap. Let's just get this over with. Warning, spoilers ahead.

“Ovation” starts with a disgruntled popstar named Fiji running into a street muscian called Jasmine. That is not a stage name by the way that's her real actual name, guess her parents were huge fans of the Disney renaissance. Anyway, Fiji asks her what she wants out of life to which Jasmine reply's “I want what you have”. Fiji then gives her a coin before throwing herself under the bus, literally. Jasmine soon finds herself receiving tons of praise and applause despite no one really listening to her music and soon nabs a role on Ovation, the no. 1 show on broadcast television. Which I'm sure is a lucrative industry in 2020 and not a shambling corpse veinly looking for a chance to die. Soon she finds the fame becoming more and more overwhellming before handing the coin, she deduces earlier it was the coin that caused all this, to her sister so she can get rid of it because Jasmine has trouble letting go. But soon the addictive nature of fame becomes apparent as Jasmine starts to face withdrawl from the spotlights glare.

“Ovation” is your standard “be careful what you wish for” narrative, a type of story that the original Twilight Zone series did a lot. Even the 2019 version has done this with the very first episode “The Comedian”. It isn't a hard story to screw up but somehow, someway, “Ovation” manages to screw up such a basic story. But unlike previously reviewed episodes where I could point to one major creative misfire that torpedoed the entire episode, here it's issues are far more minor and basic which actually makes it worse. The premise centers around a muscian looking for fortune and fame and there are two ways of handling this. One is to portray the mucian as legitimately talented but also ignored and wanting recognition only to be tainted by said recognition and ultimately losing their way, or you can make them a talentless nobody simply looking for fame for the sake of it before realising the emptyness of fame when they finally receive it. You either make it a tragedy or a cautionary tale.

“Ovation” attempts the latter approach but botches it for several reasons. Firstly, the main characters actual talent is not made entirely clear because, surpirisingly, there's very little music in this story about a pop star. Everytime the main character sings she is interrupted by rupturous applause making it hard to ascertain her actual musical talents. It's implied that she is little more than a poser but we aren't actually shown her actual talent and abilities. Combine this with the wafer thing charterization and the story ultimately falls flat as a result. If I can praise one thing about this episode it is that the applause is portrayed as very disturbing, including one scene where a man undergoing heart surgery joins in with the applause. This makes sense but the episode does a very poor job of building up the level of applause. The first time this happens Jasmine is interrupted in the middle of a song but that shouldn't be. She should finish the song the first time and get interrupted the second time. Instead of a slow build up the episode just hits the ground running and never stops.

Then there's Jasmine herself who comes across as very unlikable and yet not unlikable enough. A story like this either requires the character to be down to earth and relatable to make them likable or you make them cartoonishly unlikable that they become fun to hate. “Ovation” attempts both for some baffling reason. The end result is a main character that comes across as a self centered, selfish cow you don't give two wicks about but not nearly unlikable enough that you enjoy seeing them get their comeuppance. Sadly that goes double for her sister too. The sister, Vee, is a doctor who is unsupportive of Jasmine's dreams which should theoretically make her the voice of reason, given Jasmine is meant to not be as talented as she thinks but because the episode does a poor job of conveying Jasmine's actual talent, Vee instead comes across as an unsopportive stick in the mud. Both characters are unlikable which makes it hard to care for anything that happens to them.

Now let's talk themes. I have been critical of season 2 for not really saying anything of note. The episodes have had interesting concepts but little in the way of actual meaning. Now considering the first season was very heavy handed with it's messaging and rightly criticised for it this was an inevitable reaction but The Twilight Zone has always been social satire so it's odd this season appears to be trying to avoid it. “Ovation”, to it's credit, does attempt to be social satire. Except it's social satire with no bite. We get it, fame is shallow and fleeting, you should play music for the music, applause is as addictive as any drug. We get it! There are dozens of stories telling us this, it's practically it's own genre at this point. It's been hammered so far into the ground China is threatening to send it back. This episode does at least say something but it say's something so basic it might as well not be saying anything at all. Worse still, it doesn't even say it well. Logically this kind of story should show the character first enjoying their fame before becoming tired of it. But in “Ovation” everytime Jasmine recieves applause she looks uncomfortable with it. At no point is she shown enjoying her fame which only makes her descent into madness at the end of the episode all the more bizarre.

Before we get to that though let's rap about how this thing looks. I've already complained about how drab this show looks in the past so I won't repeat myself here but can this show at least pick a style already. The show is supposed to be set in the modern day with hashtags and mobile phones shown throughout but every television show and even some locations in the episode look like they're ripped from the 70's. Some shows like Batman The Animated Series do blend old and new stylisitic elements together very well, but in the 2019 Twilight Zone it comes across not as cool and retro but as tired and antiquated. It's trying to give itself a timeless look but ultimately fails to do so reulting in a mish mash of styles that never once looks right.

Which brings us at last to the ending. After becoming overwhelmed by the rupturous applause she is receiving, not to mention almost dying because of it, Jasmine finally relents and decides to give up the coin. But she finds herself unable to do so because she's “nothing without it”. Handing it off to her sister who seemingly throws it into the river. Jasmine then decides to hide out in the woods for some reason before suffering withdrawl symptoms from being away from the spotlight despite never been shown really enjoying said spotlight. Say what you want about drugs, at least they give you a positive high. After staying there for an undisclosed amount of time she soon discovers that a new pop star dubbed Minx has become the new flavour of the month. Going insane over having been forgotten she soon returns to busking on the streets only with no applause. Deciding to end Minx for taking away her spotlight she confronts and stabs the pop star, only to discover that it was her sister with the coin in hand. What fresh hell is this?

Why did the sister take the coin? At no point was she shown being jealous. She didn't seem to care about being famous but now she secretly wanted it the whole time? The fuck is this? And how did Jasmine not figure this out? Minx was the most famous pop star at the time and yet she didn't know what she looked like? What is she Sia now? Actually that doesn't work because Sia hiding her face only happens on stage, we know what she looks like but for some reason Minx's face is more hidden than nuclear launch codes. You have the internet, how do you not know what she looks like? This makes even less sense when you realise that Jasmine was living with her sister before fleeing. So where was she living when she got back? Did she not stay in contact with her sister at any point And why did Jasmine hide out in the woods anyway? I get it was to get away from the attention but did se not have a basement she could hide in instead? Nothing about this ending makes any sense. Twilight Zone 2019 has been trying, desperately trying to create a big twist in it's stories and in nearly every instance it has resoundingly failed at it but “Ovation” might be the most spectacular failure of them all. Not one thing works for it and that kind of makes it amazing. The best part, and I mean that sincerely, is the closing narration, or rather the lack of any closing narration. Instead Jordan Peele just pockets the coin, looks at the camera as if to say “yeah I'mma take this now” and then just leaves. Not that the episode needed a closing narration because the message is so obvious even a monkey could figure it out but credit for them trying something different.

“Ovation” is a disaster. The message is so basic and without bite that it's worthless made all the worse by how botched the story is. It's unreal how they could screw up such a basic story. Most of the issues have such easy fixes that I have to believve this was a first draft. There's no way they revised this. “Ovation” is easily the worst episode of season 2 thus far but I still wouldn't call it the absolute worst episode of Twilight Zone 2019, “Not All Men” still holds that disinction. I said last time that the series had gained some momentum after “The Who of You” surprised me. Consider that momentum lost like a car crashing into the grand. We've got 6 episodes left folks. Surely they can't be as bad as this. Right? Until next time, remember to stay safe and have fun.