Of Mice and Men, Heaven and Hell

In 1960, TV’s Twilight Zone offered a classic take on unearned bounty in the episode, “A Nice Place to Visit.” Rocky Valentine, a small-time thug, ends up in an afterlife that offers him all his needs and all his desires. This five-minute clip is a shortened version of the full episode. The behavior of his guide (Sebastian Cabot) is worth the watch.

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The NBC series The Good Place explored similar themes for four seasons and managed to be simultaneously hilarious and profound. It is worth watching the whole series to reach the end, where it turns poignant. The final episodes are an elegy to humanity’s need for purpose and challenge—and the beauty that lies in our imperfections and finiteness.

Ed Morrissey

The clip from the TZ episode is well worth watching and directly on point. I didn't make it all the way through The Good Place, but I did enjoy what I saw of it. The struggle defines us in a way; vacations from the struggle can leave us without purpose, and without purpose we cannot find joy. 

Or so I'll tell everyone else who works here. :-)

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