The Outer Limits (TV Series) The Conversion (1995) User Reviews

What an episode

[nswanberg-143-410916 · 9/10 · 10 September 2016]

What an episode. I remember seeing parts of it when it was first broadcast. I thought most of OL2 was very good but this episode is exceptional.

Another reviewer calls it It's a Good Life played forward. It is more than that. I like that it was set at Christmas.

The dialog the writers give us is exceptional and engaging. The acting is very good. They pull it all off as being believable and happening.

Acting and writing don't mesh without great directing that brings out the best of the script and the actors abilities.

It makes it hard for me to understand that this is the only directing credit Rebecca DeMornay has.

"Redemption follows not a change of body but a change of heart."

Your hand doesn't end where mine begins. It never ends.

[Bored_Dragon · 7/10 · 7 January 2019]

A young businessman involved in financial manipulation ends up in prison, while his accomplices go unpunished and turn their back on him. After release from prison, he decides to retaliate, but things go wrong and he ends up seriously wounded and guilty of triple murder. On the run, a complete stranger approaches him and offers him a chance for redemption and a new beginning. The episode is very atmospheric and deals with the inner struggle of the individual between good and evil, selfishness and selflessness, instinct and self-control, material and spiritual. Although its mostly two men talking at the restaurant table, this is the best episode of the series so far, and it's unlikely they'll surpass it.

7,5/10

"Well, you made the future possible, yes."

[classicsoncall · 8/10 · 27 July 2022]

Sometimes an episode of an anthology series is so good and thought provoking that it immediately stands out from the rest. 'The Conversion' is such an episode for the Nineties version of "The Outer Limits". It grabs you from the outset with the appearance of the mysterious Woman (Rebecca De Mornay) who comes on to Henry Marshall (Frank Whaley), and only gets more intriguing when Henry enters a bar while on the run from shooting three people at a Christmas party, none of them his intended target. Seriously wounded himself, Henry is confronted by a stranger who seems to know all about him and who has an uncanny premonition of future events. Without any proof of his assertions, Henry becomes convinced of the stranger Lucas's (John Savage) paranormal abilities when a dubious handshake removes his bullet wounds, without knowing they were absorbed by his new acquaintance. For this story to be effective, I didn't quite see the need for the three individuals shot by Henry to be aliens, even if Lucas offered an explanation for their presence. Their resident alien I. D. cards would only have added to the perplexity of a police investigation, but the story never took it in that direction. The theme of redemption plays heavily into the finale, with Henry's change of heart proving him to be the good person he believed himself to be, even if it took an other-worldly presence to convince him of it.

A Journey From Darkness to LIGHT!

[email-383 · 22 March 2006]

What better way to depict the journey of an unenlightened state into a state of ENLIGHTENMENT. This episode has been my inspiration for 11 years and counting, since I first saw it back in '95! Is there anything so selfless? Watch this episode to find out what exactly I am talking about. Possibly these beings are from the inner earth, the heart of mankind.. the hollow place where ancient secrets are held. Maybe ascended masters from the center of space and time.

Caught in the middle of a struggle between right and wrong, good and evil. A man is presented with a guru, a guide.. a friend. When life seems to be at its end and the walls are closing in all around, will a second chance make a difference.. an opportunity to start new is only available to those who are able to see the opportunity. This episode is a battle between the inner struggles of selfishness and selflessness!

Definitely a must see episode for all those interested in the journey of life and its purpose. 50 Stars and 10 Thumbs up! - Solarstone 2012

I Love Stories About Second Chances

[jimbobillybob1221 · 10/10 · 19 March 2020]

This story had such a profound effect on me. My drinking career ended in early 1997, but I think my recovery began 20 months earlier, when I saw this episode. I had to WANT a different life before I could be willing to take action. "The Conversion" inspired me to want it. I love that it's set around Christmas. I think there are subtle nods to "It's a Wonderful Life" and "A Christmas Carol," both stories of redemption. Every time I hear Enigma's "Return to Innocence," this episode flashes through my mind. I tear up every time I watch it.

It's a Wonderful Life Plays It Forward

[Hitchcoc · 10/10 · 4 March 2014]

This is a truly memorable offering from the first season of the series. It's about a man who has rotted in prison, being made the fall guy in a blue-collar caper. While he girds his loins but meets a beautiful blonde (Rebecca de Mornay) who tries to settle him down. He has several opportunities to avoid avenging himself, but follows through with a cold-blooded attack during a Christmas party. He is himself shot, hijacks a car, and heads off to the hinterlands. Bleeding from his wound, he goes to a local bar and asks for a drink. He is given soup and drink by a kind bartender/owner. While he sits in his misery, a man about the same age begins to talk to him in a friendly way. Our hero is annoyed and tries to rid himself of the "pest." However, this guy knows a lot about the murderer and his actions and begins the process of trying to talk the guy down. As the two interact, it becomes obvious that the young convict has been somehow chosen and has been given a chance at reclamation. What transpires is a wonderful bit of television with a neat twist. This is one of the better episodes in this series.

A good person.

[Foreverisacastironmess123 · 10/10 · 6 November 2013]

In my opinion only a very select few of the episodes of this show were ever so well made or joyously optimistic and utterly moving as this one was It has such a beautiful strong sense of positivity and wonder to it that effortlessly touches the heart, and powerful important themes of human goodwill and simple kindness to others, and it hammers home the karma point again and again that if you at least try to be a basically decent, human being and put out the good as opposed to fear and negativity, that's what comes back to you. I believe in that. That sometimes, seemingly random chance and circumstance can subtly help you out in small or large ways, give you little chances and steps in the right direction to take, in vague and roundabout ways... Just like the sweet '90's song says "You Get What You Give!" What I love the most about the story and how strong it is, is that the main bulk of it is really just two guys talking, sitting there and just brilliantly playing off each other as the tension mounts. I thought both Frank Whaley and John Savage were terrific and had a great chemistry together that was exactly what the story needed for where it was going. John Savage was especially good and played it to the hilt. His almost child-like purity of character and expressions are simply mesmerizing and immediately draw you into the story. And I love the scene where he discusses what "Intelligence" is defined as. I think I have at least the good half of what defines it! He uses his guru-like simple, yet forceful philosophies of compassion and lofty concepts of ultimate selflessness to battle the Frank Whaley character's selfishness and compel him to remain seated while the events unfold around them. Something else I love about The Conversion is that it's set during Christmas and despite being nothing at all to do with the holiday there is something very festive about the atmosphere that generates a warm sense of wellbeing. And that beautiful spiritual song fits the finale perfectly and absolutely says it all. The mysterious transcendent beings of peace featured in this tale of redemption of the spirit never seemed to appear again in any of the later loose story arcs that they did. They really should have brought them back! It was all so much doom and destruction... Terrible dark futures and Armageddon scenarios where all of mankind had been invaded or enslaved by insidious and cruel alien races, or wiped out by madmen with doomsday devices, by plague or merciless robots! It would've just been interesting to see a little more of these benign "Children of the Stars" who to me seemed to suggest that there was some kind of divinity and larger design to the rather cold Outer Limits universe that was beyond the petty actions of man and alien alike. It's a shame that a great many of the other episodes of this show weren't quite up to the level of quality this was, not that there wasn't many gems to enjoy throughout the seasons. But this one to me just couldn't be better. I hope they look back and are still proud because there's no question that it's possibly the most emotionally uplifting and soul-stirring episode of the entire series. Bravo!!! 🌠

Best Outer Limits Episode Ever

[roedyg · 13 July 2011]

This is the best Outer Limits Episode ever. It is a morality tale as most episodes are. It is science fiction. It relies on two actors sitting at a restaurant table eating bean with bacon soup with a bare minimum of special effects. The writing is brilliant, and completely believable on a metaphorical, moral and quantum mechanical level. Usually such dialogue makes me cringe. This time it felt like the writer knew from first hand experience the quantum strangeness of existence. In a way it is like A Christmas Carol and It's a Wonderful Life, but without the cloying or Christian trappings.

Poor Henry is well aware this "angel" is probably just some fruitcake. The "angel" simply asserts things with dogmatic certainty, but never offering proof.

The writer teases you with bits of information. You become frustrated trying to piece all the tiny clues together to discover what this as all about. It is a very intelligent episode, not it the least corny.