Cradle of Darkness
"Cradle of Darkness" is the fifth episode of the science fiction television series 2002 revival of The Twilight Zone. The episode aired October 2, 2002 on UPN. It stars Katherine Heigl, who later became known for her role in Grey's Anatomy.
Opening narration
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What if you had a chance to go back in time, to save millions of lives by killing one man? Andrea Collins will soon discover this mission to be more difficult than she ever imagined, as she takes a one-way trip into The Twilight Zone. |
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Plot
Andrea Collins (Katherine Heigl) travels from an unmentioned time to April 28, 1889 to Braunau am Inn, Austria, and becomes a housemaid to the Hitler family. Her plan is to kill the infant Adolf.
Her first attempts fail due to disruptions and her own inability to kill a baby. After being unable to kill the baby, Collins goes into a church to confess. She tells the father that someone in the city would cause the death of 60 million people and she'll kill him, to which the father replies that nobody knows the future but even if it is true, only God has the right to kill that person.
Andrea finally manages to fulfill her plan by stealing the child and jumping into a river with it. However, Kristina, another housemaid, having followed Andrea and witnessed her jump, buys a homeless woman's baby – the homeless woman ironically a Gypsy – and passes it off as Adolf, presumably the one known to history in the first place.
Closing narration
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A moment of silence for Andrea Collins. She sacrificed her life for the good of mankind, but she also created the very monster she sought to destroy. History can never be changed. Not even in The Twilight Zone. |
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External links