The Twilight Zone Inspiration: Time Enough at Last

"Time Enough at Last" is the 8th of Season One of The Twilight Zone. It stars the amazing Burgess Meredith as Henry Bemis who is bank teller and bookworm. Bemis is easily distracted by the books he is reading which often leads him to not being the best bank teller. His passion for books can be seen as a hobby or a passion or even an obsession. Bemis is the ultimate book nerd.

What Bemis wants more than anything is more time to read. The fewer the obstacles that get in the way of reading more books the better. Bemis usually takes his lunch breaks in the bank vault so that he will not be distracted. While in the vault he reads a newspaper that says, "H-Bomb Capable of Total Destruction", moments later a huge explosion happens outside. When Bemis recovers from the explosion he leaves what is left of his bank and quickly realizes that the world around him has been destroyed. 

Bemis is devastated at the prospect of being alone forever until he discovers that the local library still has books that have not been destroyed. Realizing that he now has all the time in the world to read all the books he wants without responsibilities or distractions, he begins to collect them. Right when he bends over to pick up his first book to read he trips and falls breaking his glasses. When he picks up his glasses they are completely broken. Poor Bemis begins to cry because he is blind without his glasses and now not only is he alone but can never read a book again.

This episode is the definition of bittersweet. The idea of being so close to having the thing you want most in this world and having that thing being taken away so easily and quickly. Henry Bemis's story is a cautionary tale about being careful about what we wish for but also a reminder about the difference between solitude and loneliness. All Bemis wanted was enough time and solitude to read the books he wanted to read but with the world destroyed and his inability to read he is left in sheer loneliness.