The Outer Limits/Heartwarming

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • The ending of "Alien Shop". For a while (despite what the titular alien says in the beginning of the episode), we are led to believe that he is a malicious Evil Mentor to anyone who comes in and buys anything from his Bazaar of the Bizarre. However, at the end, it is revealed that he only wants to teach people lessons, and will ensure that the lessons he teaches won't end up hurting anyone. In particular, the guy who was given the wallet reforms and takes a legitimate job to take care of his wife and his newborn baby.
  • "I Hear You Calling": A woman witnesses a mysterious man zapping people with a ray and apparently reducing them to ash. Horrified, she enters a cat-and-mouse game with the man, trying to escape. The man catches up to her and explains that he is an alien, removing people who have contracted a deadly alien virus to prevent it from spreading to the rest of Earth's people. He says that she has the virus and must be removed. She sadly agrees to sacrifice herself for the sake of humanity. The alien is shocked and explains that she isn't going to die. He was literally removing the infected people; his ray isn't a disintegrator, it's a teleporter. The infected people are sent to his home planet, where the environment arrests the virus as long as they stay. He explains that she and the other infected people will be inducted as citizens and allowed to get jobs, play, and love. Delighted, she takes his hand and they teleport away, the ash forming an outline of them Holding Hands.
  • "Worlds Apart": The astronaut playing "Someone To Watch Over Me" over the radio as a final farewell to his wife after accepting that he can't be rescued.
  • "The Conversion": The mysterious stranger (implied to be an angel) teaching the criminal compassion, then switching bodies with him and letting himself get arrested in the criminal's place. The criminal is so moved by being given a second chance that he gives a huge stack of money to a guy who lost his daughter's college fund, then apparently begins Walking the Earth to help others in need. The stranger in the criminal's body is then shown helping his fellow inmates.
  • "Tribunal": The Holocaust survivor being reunited with his daughter.
  • "Stasis": Eric and Larissa finally being united. Dominick saving the day with a Big Damn Heroes rescue at the end, considering he was jealous of Eric for getting together with Larissa.
  • "Dark Child": First, when Laura is worried that she's getting old, her daughter Tammy says she is beautiful. Laura visits a woman in the asylum who claims to have been abducted and says she believes her. In the twist, Tammy's father is revealed to be an evil alien, and tries to convince Tammy to join him. With Laura's help, Tammy rejects him and she and Laura defeat and kill him. Tammy begins to angst, especially since her father's true form was hideous and worries that she will be like him, but Laura says she is beautiful and they go home.

The Control Voice: (closing narration) Fear can be a powerful and driving emotion but it is no match for the love between mother and child.

  • "Dark Matters": Long story short, the heroes win, Everyone Lives (I think, at least everyone plot significant), the ghosts of the crews of the wrecked ships are able to move on, Paul makes up with his dead brother and a happy ending coupled with a Moment of Awesome.
  • "Promised Land": Rebecca taking a moment to honor Prisoner 98843 (the protagonist of "The Camp", who apparently died off-screen between these episodes) and adopting her Cute Mute daughter. The daughter writing in the dirt to communicate that her name is Tali. After several battles between the humans and aliens, brought on by a misunderstanding because they cannot understand each other's language and assume that the other is an evil invader, Rebecca goes on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge after Tali is injured, but realizes that she was wrong when she sees the alien mother trying to shield her child. The episode ends with the aliens using their technology to heal Tali, then she and the alien child play.

The Control Voice: (closing narration) It is one of the great mysteries of existence, how the smallest drop of understanding can cleanse a sea of mistrust and hate.

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