Rod Serling looked tired. By 1964, the man who had redefined American television was basically running on fumes and filtered cigarettes. If you go back and watch the last episode of The Twilight Zone, titled "The Bewitchin’ Pool," you can almost feel that exhaustion radiating through the screen. It wasn't a grand, sweeping finale. It didn't tie up any cosmic loose ends. Instead, it was a messy, technically flawed, and strangely Southern Gothic tale about two kids escaping their bickering parents by diving into a backyard swimming pool.
It’s a weird way to go out.
Most people expect a legendary series to end with a bang or a twist that breaks your brain, like "To Serve Man" or "Time Enough at Last." But "The Bewitchin’ Pool" is famous for all the wrong reasons. It’s the episode where the audio is so bad it’s distracting. It’s the episode that felt more like a pilot for a show that never happened than a goodbye to a masterpiece. Yet, despite the dubbed voices and the clunky pacing, it captures the core DNA of what Serling spent five years trying to say: the world is often a cruel, loud place, and sometimes we just need a back door to somewhere quiet.
The Messy Reality Behind the Scenes
Production was a nightmare. That's the simplest way to put it. While the episode aired on June 19, 1964, it was actually filmed months earlier. In fact, it was supposed to air much sooner, but the outdoor shoot at the MGM backlot was plagued by technical disasters.
The biggest issue? The sound.
If you watch it today, you'll notice something jarring. The lead actress, Mary Badham—who had just come off her Oscar-nominated performance as Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird—sounds... different. Because of heavy outdoor noise during filming (some say it was wind, others say construction or nearby planes), her original dialogue was unusable. Instead of bringing the child actors back, the studio hired June Foray to dub the voices.
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Yes, that June Foray. The voice of Rocky the Flying Squirrel.
It’s bizarre. You’re watching a serious, moody drama about a crumbling marriage, and suddenly Scout Finch opens her mouth and Rocky the Flying Squirrel comes out. It creates this unintentional "uncanny valley" effect that makes the episode feel more like a fever dream than it already is. This technical failure is one of the reasons "The Bewitchin' Pool" is often ranked near the bottom of fan lists, but it also adds a layer of surrealism that, honestly, fits the show's legacy of being slightly "off."
What Actually Happens in the Last Episode of The Twilight Zone?
The plot is straightforward, almost like a dark fairy tale. Jeb and Sport Sharewood are two kids stuck in the middle of a nasty, suburban divorce. Their parents are caricatures of mid-century vanity—obsessed with their own happiness, constantly sniping at each other, and treating their children like furniture that talks too much.
The kids find an escape.
They meet a boy named Whitt who lives under their swimming pool. He tells them they can dive in and travel to a place called "Aunt T’s," a sun-drenched, magical glade where kids just eat cake and go fishing and nobody ever yells about alimony or legal custody. It’s a literal escape from reality.
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- The Conflict: The kids are torn between the duty they feel toward their parents and the peaceful life Aunt T offers.
- The Turning Point: A final, explosive argument between the mother and father pushes the kids to the edge.
- The Resolution: They dive in. They don't come back.
In a chillingly dark twist for a "happy ending," the parents realize their children are gone, but the audience knows they’ve essentially abandoned the real world forever. They didn't just go to a magical land; they checked out of our dimension because the one we built for them was too toxic to inhabit. It’s a stinging critique of the American family unit that Serling loved to deconstruct.
Why the Writing Felt Different
Rod Serling wrote this one himself. By the fifth season, he was often delegating to writers like Earl Hamner Jr. (who wrote this specific script) or Charles Beaumont, but Serling’s fingerprints are all over the themes. Hamner, who later created The Waltons, brought a sense of rural nostalgia to the story that clashed violently with the cold, sterile suburban setting of the Sharewood home.
This clash is intentional.
The last episode of The Twilight Zone serves as a final middle finger to the "perfect" 1960s household. Throughout the series, Serling used sci-fi and fantasy to mask his social commentary. In "The Bewitchin' Pool," the mask is thin. The villain isn't a three-eyed alien or a sentient dummy; it’s the selfishness of adults.
The Problem With the "Backdoor Pilot" Theory
For years, rumors swirled that this was meant to be a spinoff. People thought "Aunt T’s" world was going to be a new show. There’s zero evidence for that. It feels disconnected because the show was dying. The budget was slashed. CBS was moving toward different types of programming. The series had moved from half-hour episodes to hour-long ones in Season 4, then back to half-hour for Season 5. The momentum was gone.
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The Legacy of "The Bewitchin’ Pool"
Does it hold up? Not really. Not as a piece of "prestige TV." But as a cultural artifact, it’s fascinating. It represents the end of an era. When the episode finished airing on that June night, there was no "goodbye" message. No retrospective. Just a transition into the news or whatever sitcom was playing next.
The show didn't end because it ran out of ideas. It ended because the industry had caught up to it. Other shows were starting to use Serling’s tropes. The "twist ending" was becoming a cliché. Even so, the last episode of The Twilight Zone remains a required watch for anyone trying to understand the full arc of the series. It shows the wear and tear. It shows the frustration. It shows a production team that was just trying to cross the finish line.
Misconceptions People Still Have
- It wasn't the "intended" finale: Serling didn't write this to be the end. It was just the last one in the can. If the show hadn't been canceled, this would have just been another mid-season episode.
- The audio wasn't a "choice": Some film students try to argue the dubbed voices were meant to represent the children’s detachment from reality. No. It was just a bad recording environment and a tight deadline.
- It’s not "The Carol Burnett Show": Because it aired in the summer, some people confuse it with summer replacement specials, but this was a 100% official, canonical entry.
How to Appreciate This Episode Today
If you’re going to watch it, don't look for the polish of "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street." Look for the grit. Look at Mary Badham’s performance. Despite the weird voice dubbing, her physical acting is incredible. She brings the same vulnerability she had in Mockingbird to this role.
Also, pay attention to the set design of Aunt T's world. It’s filmed in a way that feels overexposed, almost too bright, which contrasts with the dark, shadow-heavy house of the parents. It’s visual storytelling at its most basic, but it works.
To get the most out of your Twilight Zone marathon, you really have to view this finale through the lens of history. The show survived network interference, censorship battles, and a grueling schedule for half a decade. By the time we get to the pool, the creators were ready to jump in and swim away themselves.
Actionable Insights for Twilight Zone Fans:
- Watch the transition: Compare this episode to "Where Is Everybody?" (the pilot). Notice how the focus shifted from solitary man vs. the universe to children vs. society.
- Listen for June Foray: Once you know it's her voice, try to hear the "Rocky" or "Natasha" inflections. It changes the entire tone of the episode.
- Research Earl Hamner Jr.: If you like the "folksy" feel of the magical land, check out his other Twilight Zone scripts like "The Hunt" or "Jess-Belle." He had a specific voice that was very different from Serling’s cynical urbanity.
- Check out the 80s and 2000s revivals: See how they handled their finales. None of them quite captured the "lightning in a bottle" feeling of the original, even when they had better budgets and sound.
The last episode of The Twilight Zone isn't a masterpiece, but it’s an honest ending to a show that was always a bit broken, always a bit weird, and always deeply human. It reminds us that sometimes, the only way to deal with a world that doesn't make sense is to find a pool, hold your breath, and hope there's something better on the other side.