It’s poetic that the anthology rebooted by the 2010s’ most prominent new horror auteur was wrapped up by his 2020s inheritor. Two years before casting him in Nope, Jordan Peele entrusted the final episode of The Twilight Zone to Osgood Perkins, then still better known for his famous father than his filmmaking credentials. It was a passing of the mantle that ensured, unlike the original’s baffling denouement, the show ended in style.
Perkins had put himself on the map with the haunted house tale I Am The Pretty Thing and the supernatural thriller The Blackcoat’s Daughter. But while “You Might Also Like” retains their minimalist aesthetics — most of the action takes place within a pristine suburban home almost entirely devoid of color — and themes of alienation and paranoia, it also foreshadows the off-kilter humor that would help Longlegs and The Monkey become instant cult classics.
As much a satire of consumerism as a tale of the paranormal, the finale stars Gretchen Mol as Janet Warren, a grief-stricken housewife who grows increasingly perturbed at the unexplained blackouts that routinely disrupt her day. Could it be a brain tumor, or perhaps an odorless gas? She ponders the possibilities to Ellen (Greta Lee), the frenemy more concerned with the state of Janet’s kitchen worktops than her physical wellbeing. Or could there be a connection to the enigmatic new must-have product that appears to be promising the world ("Your family's Egg will make everything okay again, and this time, it'll make everything okay forever”)?
Perkins keeps us guessing about the Egg’s true nature and the “hour of fulfillment” each obsessive consumer is designated for pick-up. When Janet asks another neighbor why she so desperately needs the Egg, “because it’s coming out” is the on-the-nose response. Perkins also intersperses the mystery with other TV commercials that suggest the world might not be as utopian as it looks: see the immolation station where kids can live out their arsonist fantasies (while eating free on Wednesdays).
Of course, Janet eventually discovers the truth about both the incessant product placement and why she once woke up with a twig in her hair, and it’s here where things get truly weird. Footage recorded from a baby monitor bought for her stillborn shows her unconsciously floating through her bedroom window; Janet subsequently uses a tether ball to attach herself to an armchair, causing her to get stuck in a tree manned by three bulbous-headed aliens who should be familiar to Twilight Zone obsessives.
Known as Kanamits, these Coneheads-esque beings first appeared in “To Serve Man,” the 1962 Season 3 episode widely regarded as an all-time great. It’s a neat throwback, albeit one which betrays The Twilight Zone’s mythology: although they discuss how Janet would taste, it’s clear they didn’t, as previously implied, fulfill their goals of eating the entire human race.
They are, however, still determined to wipe out civilization via other methods, namely subliminal messaging and the exploitation of society’s insatiable appetite for “stuff.” As Janet learns while holed up in their mothership, the Kanamits have been studying Earth via its TV advertisements (“Like the great glittering cities of your world, we can see your wanting from space”). So far, so Galaxy Quest. Instead of using their small screen findings to improve their own planet, though, they’re far more interested in destroying another.
“You Might Also Like” has a lot of fun with this big reveal, from Janet’s Karen-esque demands of “Take me to your supervisor” to the Kanamits’ confused interpretation of recent history (“Nineteen hundred and sixty-five, the Beatles defeat the son of your God”). It’s also here where the episode evolves from dystopian Desperate Housewives to full-on apocalyptic horror, although the limitations of CBS ensure that all the bloodshed occurs off-screen.
Despite discovering the Egg will hatch a carnivorous monster “designed to eradicate the human race,” Janet still chooses to head for her nearest fulfillment center. Is this an extreme way of ending her emotional suffering? Did the extra-terrestrials convince her that humanity is too far gone to save? Or is this simply a heavy-handed metaphor for the corrupting power of materialism? As with much of the episode, Perkins prefers to let his audience fill in the blanks.
What is certain, however, is that the aliens have executed their dastardly plan to perfection. The Twilight Zone’s arresting final image sees a horde of shoppers join Janet for some retail therapy, seemingly oblivious to the chaos of murderous critters and hovering spaceships that surround them. “Well, Mrs. Janet Warren finally found relief, albeit for a limited time only,” notes the booming closing narration. “But buyer beware, all sales are final.”
To use the title’s construct, you might also like this if you liked “Bad Eggs,” the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode in which the intrepid heroine is nearly undone by a parasitic egg, and “Common People,” Black Mirror’s Season 7 opener where an unscrupulous medical firm revives the dead as walking and talking TV commercials. Yet “You Might Also Like” is undeniably the product of a singular vision. Should Ben Stiller decide against helming the latest Twilight Zone spinoff, then the man who brought its last incarnation to a close should be top of the shopping list.
