The Choice (1995)

Posted by Mrs Giggles on February 8, 2019 in 3 Oogies, Idiot Box Reviews, Series: The Outer Limits

The Choice (1995)

Main cast: Thora Birch (Aggie Travers), Megan Porter Follows (Karen Ross), Page Fletcher (Joe Travers), Sandra Nelson (Leslie Travers), Matthew Walker (Terry Walsh), and Frances Sternhagen (Jean Anderson)
Director: Mark Sobel

It looks like Thora Birch is born to play creepy girls. Here, a young Ms Birch plays Aggie Travers, a ten-year old who doesn’t get along with other kids, probably because she looks and acts like a frowning tree stump most of the time. Oh, and she has telekinetic powers. Her parents are at loss when it comes to how to deal with her, so they decide to hire a live-in nanny for Aggie. As it happens, news of Aggie’s latest altercation with the bullies in school reaches an old lady in a bookstore – must be a really slow news day – and Jean Anderson sends Karen Ross to care for Aggie.

You see, Karen and Jean have the same powers as Aggie. In fact, they first teach young ladies like Aggie how to control their powers and then whisk them away to a safe place called the Sanctuary. Don’t ask me why they can’t teach those girls after whisking them off to that place – this is likely  a because-of-plot kind of thing. However, a mean fellow is also alerted on Aggie’s existence, and unlike Karen, his motives for getting at Karen and girls like Aggie are nowhere benevolent…

The Choice is a pretty slow episode as the bulk of the episode sees Aggie being Aggie and, subsequently, Karen getting to Aggie and bonding with her. I hope for some kind of twist – perhaps Karen and Joyce are the mean ones – I mean, there has to be a reason why girls who go to the Sanctuary are never seen again, surely – or maybe Aggie turns out to be an irredeemable Antichrist time. Alas, this episode plays it straight, so in the end, it’s all about the obvious being obvious. Sigh.

This is still better than the last few episodes of The Outer Limits, which is a good thing, but still, this one does feel like some Lifetime show that somehow loses its way and ends up here instead.

Latest posts by Mrs Giggles (see all)
Read other articles that feature , , .

Divider