Need to Know (The Twilight Zone)


"Need to Know" is the first segment of the twenty-first episode of the first season of the American television series The Twilight Zone. It first aired on March 21, 1986.

Opening narration

Plot

Edward Sayers is a government agent sent to a small town to help investigate a bizarre outbreak of insanity which is spreading throughout the town. With the help of Amanda Strickland, a local, he methodically goes through the town looking for a cure. Amanda's father rambles about his dead wife and that Mrs. Hotchkiss had visited him earlier that morning. They visit her and find that she appears normal, but suddenly she tries to kill them with a knife. Amanda suggests that it may be a disease, since it is spread from person to person.
He eventually discovers that the source of the problem is not a physical disease but an idea—-a short, secret phrase-—that is being passed by word of mouth from person to person. The phrase is about the purpose and meaning of existence. It was somehow discovered by a local resident, Jeffrey Potts, while he was traveling abroad; his brother Andrew was the first victim of the word-disease. Jeffrey is compelled by a desire to share this insanity-inducing phrase with others, and visits the local radio station to tell the entire town the secret.
Sayers cannot make it to the station to stop the disclosure, but he is able to reach Amanda in time to smash her radio. She then points out that she has already been visited by two townspeople and that she has something very important to tell him. She whispers in his ear, and his eyes widen in dawning comprehension.
The scene shifts to a point outside of Amanda's house before a sudden howl of madness emanates from inside.

Closing narration