Need to Know (The Twilight Zone)

"Need to Know"
The Twilight Zone (1985 series) episode
Episode no.	Season 1 Episode 21a
Directed by	Paul Lynch
Written by	Sidney Sheldon
Original air date	March 21, 1986
Guest appearance(s)
Frances McDormand: Amanda William Petersen: Edward Sayers Robin Gammell: Jeffrey Potts Ellen Albertini Dow : Mrs. Hotchkiss Harold Ayer: Mr. Strickland Eldon Quick: Dr. Benitz Shay Garner: Dr. Fall Ray Ballard: Jack Henries Clarence Brown: Wiley Whitlow
Episode chronology

"Need to Know" is the first segment of the twenty-first episode of the first season (1985–86) of the American television series The Twilight Zone. It first aired on March 21, 1986.

Opening narration

“

Often the most perplexing mysteries have the simplest solutions, the most complex questions, the simplest answers. Sometimes we seek them long and hard only to find the solutions and the answers lie right before us in a reference book, under "T" for the Twilight Zone.

”

Plot

Edward Sayers is a government scientist/agent sent to a small town to help investigate a bizarre outbreak of insanity which is spreading through the town. With the help of a local woman, Amanda Strickland, he methodically goes through the town trying to find an answer. Amanda's father just rambles about his dead wife, and that he had visited Mrs. Hotchkiss earlier that morning. They visit her and find that she appears normal but hysteria overtakes her and she threatens them with a knife. Amanda suggests that it may be a disease, since it is spread from person to person.

He eventually discovers that the source of the problem is not a physical disease, but an idea—a short secret phrase—that is being passed by word of mouth from person to person. The phrase is about the purpose and meaning of existence. It was somehow discovered by the local resident, Jeffrey Potts, during his travels abroad; his brother Andrew was the first victim of the "plague". Jeffrey is compelled by a desire to share this insanity-inducing phrase with others.

Jeffrey will be on the local radio station and able to tell the entire town the secret. Sayers cannot make it to the station to stop the disclosure but he is able to reach Amanda in time to smash her radio. She then points out that she has already been visited by two townspeople, and that she has something very important to tell him. She whispers in his ear, and his eyes widen in dawning comprehension.

The scene shifts to a point outside of Amanda's house, before a sudden howl of madness is heard from inside.

Closing narration

“

Man is a questioning creature, constantly striving for answers. But there is some knowledge for which he's not yet ready. Secrets once learned overwhelm him. Secrets that for now are best left undisturbed...in the Twilight Zone.

”

External links

The Twilight Zone (1985) episodes

Season 1	"Shatterday" "A Little Peace and Quiet" "Wordplay" "Dreams for Sale" "Chameleon" "Healer" "Children's Zoo" "Kentucky Rye" "Little Boy Lost" "Wish Bank" "Nightcrawlers" "If She Dies" "Ye Gods" "Examination Day" "A Message from Charity" "Teacher's Aide" "Paladin of the Lost Hour" "Act Break" "The Burning Man" "Dealer's Choice" "Dead Woman's Shoes" "Wong's Lost and Found Emporium" "The Shadow Man" "The Uncle Devil Show" "Opening Day" "The Beacon" "One Life, Furnished in Early Poverty" "Her Pilgrim Soul" "I of Newton" "Night of the Meek" "But Can She Type?" "The Star" "Still Life" "The Little People of Killany Woods" "The Misfortune Cookie" "Monsters!" "A Small Talent for War" "A Matter of Minutes" "The Elevator" "To See the Invisible Man" "Tooth and Consequences" "Welcome to Winfield" "Quarantine" "Gramma" "Personal Demons" "Cold Reading" "The Leprechaun-Artist" "Dead Run" "Profile in Silver" "Button, Button" "Need to Know" "Red Snow" "Take My Life...Please!" "Devil's Alphabet" "The Library" "Shadow Play" "Grace Note" "A Day in Beaumont" "The Last Defender of Camelot"

Season 2	"The Once and Future King" "A Saucer of Loneliness" "What Are Friends For?" "Aqua Vita" "The Storyteller" "Nightsong" "The After Hours" "Lost and Found" "The World Next Door" "The Toys of Caliban" "The Convict's Piano" "The Road Less Traveled" "The Card" "The Junction" "Joy Ride" "Shelter Skelter" "Private Channel" "Time and Teresa Golowitz" "Voices in the Earth" "Song of the Younger World" "The Girl I Married"

Season 3	"The Curious Case of Edgar Witherspoon" "Extra Innings" "The Crossing" "The Hunters" "Dream Me a Life" "Memories" "The Hellgramite Method" "Our Selena Is Dying" "The Call" "The Trance" "Acts of Terror" "20/20 Vision" "There Was an Old Woman" "The Trunk" "Appointment on Route 17" "The Cold Equations" "Stranger in Possum Meadows" "Street of Shadows" "Something in the Walls" "A Game of Pool" "Room 2426" "The Mind of Simon Foster" "The Wall" "Cat and Mouse" "Rendezvous in a Dark Place" "Many, Many Monkeys" "Love is Blind" "Crazy as a Soup Sandwich" "Special Service" "Father and Son Game"

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