Welcome to Winfield
"Welcome to Winfield" is the first segment of the seventeenth episode from the first season (1985–86) of the American television series The Twilight Zone.
| "Welcome to Winfield" | |
|---|---|
| The Twilight Zone (1985 series) episode | |
 Scene from Welcome to Winfield | |
| Episode no. | Season 1 Episode 17a |
| Directed by | Bruce Bilson |
| Written by | Les Enloe |
| Production code | 48 |
| Original air date | February 7, 1986 |
| Guest appearance(s) | |
Elisha Cook Jr.: Weldon | |
Opening narration
Visiting hours have just ended at City General Hospital, but this man never needs permission to enter. He comes to places like these quite frequently during the visitors last hours, with a visitor's pass printed in... the Twilight Zone.
Plot
Matt is a young man who is near death and awakens from a coma in a present-day hospital. He frantically asks his girlfriend to save him, and she agrees to take Matt from his hospital room. Shortly after they leave the room, a man dressed all in white appears and is bewildered that he does not find anyone else there. Meanwhile, Matt's girlfriend drives into a dusty old town called Winfield which appears to be a throwback to the Old West.
The man in white, Griffin St. George, tracks them to Winfield. The townspeople encounter St. George who states he is in the "reclamation" business. The townspeople help St. George change the flat tire on his car and offer him a drink while they wait. Meanwhile, Matt tries to explain to his girlfriend that St. George is an "agent of death" who is after him as he escaped death. Although the townspeople claim not to know Matt, St. George is suspicious and finds out from the town drunk. The reason why he is after Matt is because his "number was up". The drunk protests that he is over 150 years old, so surely his number must have been up before Matt's. St. George says for unknown reasons no "numbers" of any Winfield residents can be found, let alone such a location on the map. The drunk admits that in the 19th century, they were approached by Chin—St. George's predecessor as the angel of death. Chin took a liking to the simple ways of Winfield and the decent people, so he struck a deal to spare them from death. The drunk tries to say that because he is the town drunk, he is of little use to Winfield, so simply take him and forget about Matt, but St. George says the bureaucracy of death does not work that way.
St. George takes the drunk back to town in order to collect all the townspeople. Upon arriving back at the town he finds Matt ready to surrender if St. George leaves the townspeople alone, yet the townspeople are also ready to sacrifice themselves in order to save Matt. After consulting with Chin over the phone, St. George decides to leave both Matt and the townspeople alone, but warns that no one lives forever so they all must one day accept his eventual return. St. George's car then starts flying, ascending towards Heaven.
Closing narration
You're now leaving scenic Winfield, population: sixty-two; median age: one hundred and twelve. There's not much to do here, but you do it for a very long time. Look for it off the beaten path, just south of the middle of nowhere, on the backroads... of the Twilight Zone.