"In His Image" is the first episode of the fourth season of The Twilight Zone, and was first broadcast in January of 1963. The fourth season of the Twilight Zone was the first and only season where the show's episodes were in a one hour format (50 minute running time), instead of a half hour, due to it being a mid-season replacement for a cancelled show. This episode is thus the first episode in the new format. It stars George Grizzard as a young scientist with what turns out to be a mysterious past.

One of the main methods, and goals, of horror, is immersion. The use of the eerie builds up a mindset where our normal expectation of how the world works gradually dissolves, and soon things that our eyes pass over easily become the walls of our reality. Horror involves looking not just at concrete threats, but at time and space themselves being palpably different. The relevance of that to the Twilight Zone is that the short episode lengths hadn't really allowed this type of atmospheric, immersive horror element to be present. But now, with twice as much time, the episode builds slowly. The protagonist of the story is in some type of fugue state, which we don't really understand, but which is built suspensefully for the first 20 minutes: the same time frame that a normal Twilight Zone episode would have before revealing its twist. When this episode does finally reveal its main plot, it is in some ways things we have seen before. In fact, this season opener being about a man with some type of amnesia resembles the first season opener Where is Everybody? and the second season opener King Nine Will Not Return. But this episode is mostly different because of the length: the greater length allows more atmosphere, more plot, and more drama. Whereas half-hour episodes might resolve with a twist, this episode is resolved through something more like character development in a conventional dramatic climax. In general, this episode used the longer format to good use, although I do feel it lagged in places. It will be interesting to see what else is included in this fourth season of The Twilight Zone.

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