The Rift
Has Apple saved the best for last? Amazing Stories unfortunately hasn’t been as amazing as it perhaps could have been but it does manage to bow out its 5-episode run with a good enough conclusion to end things on a high. If you can look past some of the plot contrivances and lack of cohesion with the sci-fi elements, there’s a heartwarming tale here involving a rogue pilot that’s certainly worth a watch. Episode 5 of Amazing Stories begins with a woman named Mary-Anne driving with her step-son Elijah out of Ohio. Suddenly, a World War 2 spitfire crash-lands in a creek nearby. Noticing the pilot is still alive, Mary-Anne saves him but the man seems to believe it’s still World War II. Up in the sky, a strange swirling portal causes a rift to open up. Taking the pilot Theodore Cole to hospital, Elijah sneaks in to see him as he rests. Cole is beside himself though and desperate to leave. While Elijah heads off with Mary-Anne to prove he’s really from the past, the army roll in to the hospital but Theodore spots what’s happening outside and gets ready to make his escape. Given the authorities have caught wind of what’s happening, they come in crashing through the front door while Cole manages to sneak out. This world is alien to Theodore though and he accidentally sets off a car alarm on his way into the parking lot. Realizing he needs to make a quick exit, he instead takes a motorbike and races off while the authorities turn their attention to the crash-site instead and salvaging the wreckage of the spitfire. Cole bumps into Elijah and Mary-Anne again and they take him to his wife Pauline’s house. Only, she’s obviously grown old and moved on now which breaks his heart. It’s a tough blow for Cole but this disappointment is shattered by the army arriving and surrounding Lieutenant Cole at this house. The agents try to convince him to leave and head back through the rift but Elijah is having none of it, especially given he’s seen the death certificates and knows Cole dies in combat. Grabbing Cole, the duo manage to escape and race off together. Elijah refuses to let him return to his time period, and explains that the thought of Cole dying brings back too many painful memories similar to that of his Father, who also died in combat. Instead, Elijah decides to change history and give Cole a second chance to right the wrongs and not die. He takes him to an Army Surplus Store to stock up before sending him back through time. Meanwhile, Mary-Anne learns that big natural disasters through history have actually been caused by rifts being opened and things being sent through. If they can’t get Cole back to his time period, it’ll subsequently destroy everything within a 10 mile radius – no pressure! Before he succumbs to these requests, Cole visits Pauline once more but this time he sits with her and apologises for not saying goodbye all those years ago. He tells her he loves her and they dance for old time’s sake before leaving. With the plane now fixed, Cole prepares to head back to his time after giving some wise words to both Elijah and Mary-Anne. With the pilot gone and the rift now closed, Elijah and Mary-Anne head to California together. While a few of the plot inconsistencies and logic is thrown out the window in favour of a happier ending, there’s a good enough amount of emotion and heart put into this one to look past this. The heartwarming reunion between Pauline and Cole is certainly the highlight here while the actual plot-line does feel quite similar to E.T. and lacks much in the way of originality, with a misplaced character through time forced into trying to return home again having been done numerous times before. Still, the episode does a good enough job to end this series on a high and although it hasn’t always had the smoothest of rides, this first season bows things out on a good enough note to make for a decent curtain call but whether it’s worth returning to again or even tuning in for a second season however, remains to be seen.
