Lavinia (Joanne Linville), a Confederate soldier's widow reflects on the suffering at the end of the Civil War. She is steeped in bitterness while watching soldiers pass by on the road.
Rod Serling deals with the subject of war and moving on afterwords. This story is about the need to philosophically appreciate an individual's role in life and not to expect to be untouched by a changing world. Thoughts of personal revenge and feeling the general devastation of the south tend to poison Lavinia's mind. The story unfolds rapidly when, just after Serling's prologue, Lavinia meets a man she knew who had seemingly died in the war, now appearing to be treading the road home to his wife. A fairly similar moment of poignant 'seeing's believing' as when Maggie in 'The Four Of Us Are Dying' seems to meet her deceased love.
Joanne Linville is just right as Lavinia, having often played determined and emotional women with unusual motives in shows like 'Hawaii Five-0', 'The Fugitive','One Step Beyond' and 'Columbo'.
One of Serling's many reflections on war in TZ. A WWII hero, he never glorified anything about it, but wrote very poignantly here, and in 'The Purple Testament', 'The Changing of the Guard' and others.
