I'm with you. The Twilight Zone had a tendency to go too often toward fatalism — nothing stops Talking Tina, no way is Cliff Robertson getting the better of Willie, and even if William Shatner stops the gremlin, things still won't turn out well. This is one of the minority where someone gets to look at Fate and Fate…

It's a nice twist on the one with Billy Mumy where the Grandmother is calling on the toy phone and trying to convince the boy to die and join her in the afterlife. I thought that one went way too far in the battle with Death and was too overwrought — this one's lighter touch seemed more human, somehow, though…