Over three years since it aired, an episode of the revived series of The Twilight Zone has found success in an unlikely place. “Downtime” – the second episode of the second season of The Twilight Zone – has gone viral on TikTok.
Impressively, a clip of the episode has racked up an incredible 2.7 million likes in the four days since it was shared. It has been watched a mind-blowing 34.7 million times at the time of writing.
Posted on 1st August 2023 by @ccat_movies, it’s not hard to see why this snippet of “Downtime” has generated so much interest. It features Morena Baccarin as Michelle Weaver, a seemingly ordinary woman terrified by a ginormous orb floating in the sky.
To Michelle’s amazement and horror, no one else is scared of the orb. Instead, they are transfixed by it. When Michelle approaches anyone, they simply mutter confusing and deranged questions about “downtime” and “scheduled maintenance” while staring into the sky.
She rushes home to find her husband, Carl, who behaves normally – at first. Before long, he also acts erratically and speaks in a strange Irish accent while talking about “the downtime signal.” He then goes outside and also becomes transfixed by the orb.
But what is the episode actually about, why does the orb put people in a trance, and how does it end?
The Twilight Zone “Downtime” episode explained
“Downtime” is about a woman stuck in a virtual reality game called SleepAway.
In “Downtime” – which could be mistaken for an episode of Black Mirror – the character of Michelle is not a real person. She is actually a man called S. Phineas Howell.
In the real world, people use SleepAway while they sleep to inhabit entirely different lives and personalities. Phineas had chosen to become Michelle while he slept, however Michelle’s “personality” split from Phineas when he had a heart attack.
With Phineas in a coma, Michelle has lost all memory of being Phineas and has developed her own separate consciousness.
Throughout the episode, Michelle is pursued by customer service agents working on SleepAway. They attempt to persuade her to “wake up” from the game, but she refuses.
They also introduce her to Ellen, Phineas’ wife. After getting to know Michelle and telling her of Phineas’ life, Ellen believes she has convinced Michelle to wake up and leave the game. However, Michelle runs away as Ellen logs out of SleepAway.
Eventually, she is found by more customer service agents and a man named Tom. By this point, it is clear that the trance-like state and orb are caused the game going through maintenance.
“Downtime” episode ending explained
Tom informs Michelle that Phineas has died and that his heart attack was caused by a suicide attempt. That means if she leaves the game, there is nothing to go back to.
Tom suggests she remains in the game as an NPC (non-player character) and continue to play the part of a hotel manager.
She ultimately agrees, signs a waiver, and downtime ends. Michelle resumes her life and job. Sometime later, Michelle is working behind the reception desk at the hotel. Ellen enters and asks for a room. Michelle greets her with a smile.
The episode ends here. While what happens next is unclear, it is suggested that Ellen has come to see Michelle as a way of reconnecting with her deceased husband. Therefore, it seems likely that Ellen and Michelle will develop some kind of relationship with each other.
Have you seen this episode of The Twilight Zone? What did you think of it? Let us know in the comment section below and don’t forget to check out our other Film & TV articles…
