u/manofmoxieLAX

Hi. It's been years since I've hiked at Icehouse Canyon - and I did during the week. What's it like on the weekends? What time do you need to park there and what are the alternatives (parking farther away, shuttle)? Wonder if it's worth it to go out there on a weekend. I hate dislike crowded trails.

And another question. Rule of the trail is for downhill hikers to yield to uphill ones. Is this generally observed on this trail?

https://preview.redd.it/ahrgzxim9s6h1.png?width=500&format=png&auto=webp&s=54acd686c139885a7953f58904e91ff8fbe1d636

Just about every time someone asks for a worst episodes list, “Young Man’s Fancy” from Season 3 is on there. I decided to re-watch it recently and want to make the case that, while certainly not one of the better episodes, it is worth watching. 

The episode takes place in a single house. Alex Walker and his bride, newly married, arrive at his childhood home to pack up his late mother’s things, sell the house, and start a new life. The episode chronicles Alex’s inability to let go of his childhood and the strong memories of his late mother as his new bride demands they move onto their new life.

If nothing else, I enjoyed the thematic link to other episodes about characters clinging too much to the past and men who refuse to grow up. It is also one the only episodes of television I have seen that touches on the emotional heaviness of cleaning out your parent’s house after they die.

Is it great television? No. The bride’s dialogue is a little too desperate, almost cringey at times, about how she’s going to make Alex happy. The part where she tells the photo of his dead mom, “He’s mine now!” is particularly over the top.

But what makes this episode worth watching in the TZ canon, is how it explores a theme often explored in other episodes about characters tripped up by nostalgia. Some of my favorite episodes (namely “Walking Distance”) feature characters who are pulled into the comfort of a real or idealized past from their childhood and cannot quite reckon with it and move onto the present.

In fact, in his monologue Serling uses almost identical language in “Walking Distance” to describe the character’s predicament.

Walking Distance: “Martin Sloan is now back in time. And his resolve is to put in a claim to the past.”
Young Man’s Fancy: “Alex Walker has put in a claim on a moment in time and is not about to relinquish it.”

The ending is brilliant. I won’t give it away. I’ll just say that it’s worth watching, and it’s a bit chilling to boot - very similar to the ending from “The Sixteen-Millimeter Shrine” from Season 1. 

I’m at an age where many of my friend’s parents are passing on. I sometimes (in a moment of light humor) encourage them to watch “Young Man’s Fancy” when they may want a light moment during the days of sorting through junk and childhood memories. 

And finally, for anyone who has worked in real estate, you will laugh at the impossibly long escrow the real estate agent says. I wonder if that was the norm back then. 

What do you think of the episode?

He’s 8th in the NL in OPS and… who else from the team would make the squad? But seriously he deserves it. Would he be a DH? Slide in at 1st or third?