What could be worse to a con artist than to be forced to tell the truth. Peter Scolari has been film-flaming people and is about to become nationally known. His phony voice from the past is named Delos, completely made up. But one day, without his knowledge, Scolari begins to speak in a voice he doesn't even hear. This voice speaks truth in a harsh and matter-of-fact way. Unfortunately, to the fools who have been following this guy, he has betrayed them. It turns out that he has been channeled with wisdom and honesty. His manager is livid but his client can't do anything about what is happening. Not a bad episode, but kind of an easy plot to put out there.
4 Reviews
The Twilight Zone: The Trance
Scarecrow-8816 August 2011
Warning: Spoilers
Peter Scolari (Newhart) stars as a charlatan, Leonard Randall, who, along with his agent/colleague, Don (Neil Munro), has invented "Delos of Atlantis", a fictional character from another time with the ability to advise the "mindless sheep", as well as, speak as if he were from the past. What starts to happen to Randall, much to his detriment, is that Delos "begins to speak for himself" and Don becomes powerless to stop him. Randall's life becomes unraveled when Delos begins to speak to others, the truth and nothing but, and such dialogue, offending those who supported him not knowing that this "person from another time" was simply a fabrication (not to mention a shrink and a talk show host's segment supervisor who are taken aback by Delos' blunt honesty, considering such comments as rude, cutting right to the bone, definitely casting Leonard in a terrible light), polarizes everyone who hears. Soon Randall will discover that he has indeed "tapped into the spirit of the universe" and will also be a human vessel, against his will, with all having to "face the truth", even if it takes thirty years! Not one of my favorite episodes, although seeing a phony "defrauded" by a real spirit that has invaded his body is rather satisfying. The ending, where Randall is finally confronted by "the universe", is just bizarre. Scolari going from one character to another is fun to watch, a real tour-de-force for the fine comedian. Having a liar, a con artist who has master-manipulated many, by way of a spirit, forcing him to admit the truth is rather amusing, I must admit, even if I found the conclusion more than a bit hokey. Anyone who had fallen prey to Randall's hogwash deserved to be fooled.
Medium Rare
sol-kay21 August 2010
Warning: Spoilers
***SPOILERS*** All too typical psychic con-artist Lenny Randell, Peter Scolari, is just about to hit the big time. Lenny is on the verge of getting his own network TV show to spew his BS about him being possessed by the spirit of Delos the long dead 10,000 year old Atalanta warrior. That's when he's forced to see the light, as well as his lies, by a force beyond his control and from the outer reaches of "Twilight Zone".
Just when things were turning up for Lenny in his Delos act he's suddenly possessed by some spirit that tells those listening to him that all this, his Delos act as well as the entertainment media, is all a crock of you know what that's not only taking people's money who are foolish enough to believe it but also dumbing them down to the point where they can't tell right from wrong. Which is why we get the government that we deserve by electing those power hungry and ignorant lame brains who control our lives.
With Lenny not acting like himself, in conning the public with his Legos act, his panic stricken manager Don, Neil Munron, sends him to get psychiatric help in order to get him back on track. As it turns out Lenny under the control of this foreign entity makes the smug and so sure of himself psychiatrist Dr.Greenburg, Hrant Alianak, look like the patient and him the psychiatrist in bringing up Dr. Greenburg's own hang-ups, that he's been hiding from himself, during the brief psychiatric session!
The final nail in the coffin to Lenny's "psychic" career is his appearance on the much watched Daphne Blake, Jenne Beker, Show where he honestly tells the TV audience, that numbers in the tens of millions, that his entire Legos act was nothing but a con job on the public to get him as well as his manager Don, who by now was about to suffer a nervous breakdown, rich and nothing else at the expense of all you suckers watching!
***SPOILERS*** With his career as a TV & radio psychic con man now in shambles Lenny finally gets to see the one who made all that possible! The disembodied spirit who finally got Lenny to tell the truth for once in his life. As it turned out this was to become a new start for Lenny in knowing the true meaning of life and with that make a far better person out of him from the fake & phony he was in the past. Even it it would take some 20 to 30 years to do it!
Just when things were turning up for Lenny in his Delos act he's suddenly possessed by some spirit that tells those listening to him that all this, his Delos act as well as the entertainment media, is all a crock of you know what that's not only taking people's money who are foolish enough to believe it but also dumbing them down to the point where they can't tell right from wrong. Which is why we get the government that we deserve by electing those power hungry and ignorant lame brains who control our lives.
With Lenny not acting like himself, in conning the public with his Legos act, his panic stricken manager Don, Neil Munron, sends him to get psychiatric help in order to get him back on track. As it turns out Lenny under the control of this foreign entity makes the smug and so sure of himself psychiatrist Dr.Greenburg, Hrant Alianak, look like the patient and him the psychiatrist in bringing up Dr. Greenburg's own hang-ups, that he's been hiding from himself, during the brief psychiatric session!
The final nail in the coffin to Lenny's "psychic" career is his appearance on the much watched Daphne Blake, Jenne Beker, Show where he honestly tells the TV audience, that numbers in the tens of millions, that his entire Legos act was nothing but a con job on the public to get him as well as his manager Don, who by now was about to suffer a nervous breakdown, rich and nothing else at the expense of all you suckers watching!
***SPOILERS*** With his career as a TV & radio psychic con man now in shambles Lenny finally gets to see the one who made all that possible! The disembodied spirit who finally got Lenny to tell the truth for once in his life. As it turned out this was to become a new start for Lenny in knowing the true meaning of life and with that make a far better person out of him from the fake & phony he was in the past. Even it it would take some 20 to 30 years to do it!
Not really a good episode
blanbrn6 August 2019
This "Twilight Zone" episode from season 3 1988 called "The Trance" is one with a plot and story that's not to interesting it involves a scam artist who speaks in different voices during lectures as he claims to hears voices and messages from ancient gods and Atlantis. However when he comes across a real spirit things change in a big way as a bad guy gets what he deserves really kind of predictable and not real interesting.
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