Paradise (The Outer Limits)
| "Paradise" | |
|---|---|
| The Outer Limits episode | |
| Episode no. |
Season 2 Episode 17 |
| Directed by | Mario Azzopardi |
| Written by | Jonathan Walker & Chris Dickie |
| Production code | 39 |
| Original air date | 16 June 1996 |
| Guest actors | |
|
Mel Harris as Dr. Christina Markham | |
"Paradise" is an episode of The Outer Limits television series. It first aired on 16 June 1996, during the second season.
Introduction
Dr. Christina Markham and Sheriff Grady Markham have to investigate a spate of strange incidents involving young and apparently healthy women suddenly growing old and dying.
Opening narration
| “ | It is said that through our children we obtain a kind of immortality. An unending chain of life in which mother and child are forever linked, carrying in turn the burden of humanity. | ” |
Plot
The deputy gets picked up by a young woman named Lucy in a bar. After intercourse she starts to cry and tells him that something didn't work. Suddenly she grows old and dies.
The next day Dr. Christina Markham, the wife of the Sheriff, does the autopsy on the already heavily decomposed body. Besides Alzheimer's and several kinds of cancer, a strange anomaly in the uterus is found. Shortly afterwards a second female body is found similarly decomposed and is identified as a local woman who was over 70 years old. Both bodies show the same anomaly and both contain traces of semen.
While Dr. Markham is visiting her mother (who has Alzheimer's) in a care center, she hears her and another old woman talking about 'going into the light' soon. The other woman, the mother of the deputy, disappears from the center and visits her son as a young woman. She leaves and also has intercourse with a stranger. Afterwards she returns to her son, tells him that 'it' didn't work, grows old and dies shortly afterwards.
In the night, Dr. Markham's mother runs away from the care center together with Gerry, the brother of her late husband. She leads him to a meadow where she looks for a stone which is quickly found. The stone starts to produce a beam of light which rejuvenates both of them. After they confess their love to each other, they have intercourse in the Markham house. Meanwhile the Sheriff and his wife figure out that the three dead women, along with Dr. Markham's mother, were arrested together 50 years ago for trespassing at the place where the second body was found. A search is ordered for Mrs. Markham and Gerry, who have gone missing from the care center; they are later found in the Markham family home. Gerry has returned to his normal, old age, but still looks healthy enough, while Mrs. Markham is still young but now in an advanced state of pregnancy.
She explains that she and her three friends encountered a female alien when they were young. The alien told them that her species was dying and the four women allowed her to plant four alien eggs in their bodies so that the alien species has a chance to survive. Because the eggs need 50 years to mature, the stone was left behind to rejuvenate the women long enough to receive and deliver the child. Mrs. Markham states that she was successful while the other three failed, because she and the child's father love each other. After giving birth to a human-looking baby-girl with the help of her daughter, Mrs. Markham grows old again. However she stays alive and seems to be healed from Alzheimer's - a gift from the alien for the delivery of the baby. Dr. Markham, who can't have children, takes care of the baby, her half-sister (or 'third'-sister when the alien egg is taken into account).
Closing narration
| “ | The love of man and woman, the love of a mother and child. It is only from these places...that miracles can be born. | ” |
Trivia
The Mortician mentioned that he had worked with the CDC before, and that they had quarantined an entire village with tanks and troops; this is a reference to the movie Outbreak, in which the Mortician's portrayer also had a role.