The Twilight Zone’s “A Traveler” focuses on an otherworldly Christmas party crasher, who has some important lessons on trust and truth.
Set in a new town with a new supernatural foe disguised as a friend, The Twilight Zone‘s episode 4 -“A Traveler” – follows a visitor, not from this world. A Traveler (portrayed by Steven Yeun), who legally changed his name as such, spends his Christmas vacation in Iglaak, Alaska; however, a humble vacay isn’t the only thing of A Traveler’s itinerary. Along with the social commentary, the fourth episode of The Twilight Zone allows the series to stretch its science fiction overtones in a suspenseful way.
While the episode starts off with a seemingly normal atmosphere — despite the peculiar and somewhat unethical Christmas Eve traditions at the police station — the first few moments or dialogue and imagery set up the tone for the episode. Police Captain Pendleton’s (played by Greg Kinnear) ethnocentric and anti-Native rambles at the start of the episode seem to echo the current anti-Native systemic practices (along with voter suppression), racist medical practices, and general rhetoric in the current landscape through the United States, Canada, and beyond. Though Pendleton’s unfortunately common viewpoints ignite one of the central themes about the harmful impact of colonialism, “A Traveler” is about demystifying the truth.
We won’t go into every detail of Pendleton’s racist (and more specifically anti-Native) retorts throughout the episode. The episode naturally sets up his heinous mindset when he oddly reminisces on his ancestors colonizing a town founded and owned by Natives, and then he quickly interjects to referencing that his family “tamed” Iglaak.
We know that’s not true because Native land was never untamed to begin with and to think otherwise carries an implicit prejudice. However, this mistruth sets up 50 minutes of sci-fi-riddled commentary on the general malleability of the truth itself.
In an episode that starts off with Sergeant Yuka Mongoyak (portrayed by Marika Sila) apprehending her brother, Jack (played by Patrick Gallagher), to go along with Pendleton’s slight abuse of power disguised as a holiday tradition, the episode strongest point is framing the sci-fi journey from Yuka’s perspective as a skeptic person but also a Native woman in a town apparently run by non-Native settlers.
Told from Yuka’s view, “A Traveler” easily transitions from its realistic aesthetic to some more science fiction elements. The episode eases into its mystery with some ominous scoring and Yuka’s overall skepticism that she illustrates throughout the episode. Apart from the addition foreshadowing at the beginning of the episode in the form of an alien bobblehead, one of The Twilight Zone‘s strongpoints in “A Traveler” is in how it portrays the extraterrestrial visitor and his abilities.
As we follow Yuka through her search for the real truth, the episode gradually unfolds A Traveler’s supernatural abilities. Using the power grid to bolster everyone’s merry moods while the power is on, he can easily sap the power and allow everyone’s true nature to fester in the darkness. We see this with the arguments and physical fights just after the frequent power outages.
When the lights are on though, A Traveler still has the ability to manipulate the truth and make others believe him based on the knowledge he quickly learns from everyone’s true selves in the darkness. While the darkness from the power outages innately symbolizes the worst parts of the human psyche, the traveler himself shows how easy it is to use variations of the truth and trust itself to exploit any situation.
At just about the 35:19 mark, the tone delves even deeper in the sci-fi realm as the scene shows brief glimpses of A Traveler’s antennae under his hat. This implicitly shows that one person can wear more than one hat. However, the episode is still unclear as to what A Traveler’s true intentions are. Granted, that might be an intentional directorial decision because it leaves A Traveler’s real truth and intentions up for interpretation which further aides the central theme about how easy it is to misinterpret and misconstrue what facts from deception.
In an episode that’s vaguely reminiscent of to the evil undertones in practically any alien invasion-centered sci-fi episode or movie, the ending of “A Traveler” might be a bit too open-ended. We still don’t know is “A Traveler” is just an extreme vacationer like his fellow aliens who left in their ships or if he plans to stay after he finishes his slice of pie. While this ending clearly redirects The Twilight Zone episode back to the initial commentary about colonialism, it might leave too broad of a message about colonialism.
Nonetheless, the somewhat bittersweet ending of Jack and A Traveler enjoying some pie at the end of the episode might just be a coy way to distract us from the explorer’s truth. Perhaps, he just wanted to confront Pendelton with the reality of how he came to live in Iglaak, Alaska by facing him with an intergalactic form of colonialism, and the pie was just a sweet bonus to the end of his trip.
The Twilight Zone airs Thursdays on CBS All Access.