While I feel like this episode isn't really one of Twilight Zone's best, Steel is still worth seeing due to its interpretation of how life in the 70s would look like, as well as featuring Lee Marvin as one of the main characters. The episode takes place in 1974, and explains that prizefighting has been banned since 1968. To compensate, Steel Kelly (Lee Marvin), a former boxer, has put together an android resembling a real person in order to fight in the ring for him. Unfortunately, the android (named Maxo) stops functioning before the fight is scheduled to start. Kelly finds out it's going to cost $500 to repair the robot, despite it being an older version that is mostly obsolete by this point anyway. In order to fix his android, Steel decides to do something drastic: he will dress up as his android to fight in the ring and bet that no one in the crowd during the boxing match will notice he's a real human. This is illegal, but he needs to do it to get the money. Upon entering the ring, Steel finds himself going up against a robot named Maynard Flash, who is a much newer model than Maxo. As expected, Steel gets the snot beat out of him, but it pays off (literally). He wins half the prize money, which will help him at least partially repair Maxo. While there isn't much to this episode, and it ends on a rather sad note, I still think it's good. It shows how Marvin's character (a former boxer who always won) encounters difficulties despite how strong he used to be. The robot in the ring clobbers him effortlessly, showing that human beings are no match for machines. The robots themselves are interesting because their faces were modeled after the faces of the actors. They sculpted them from clay after taking lifemasks from Marvin and the others. One thing I found really cool is how the emotionless black eyes the robots possess were actually painted ping pong balls with tiny holes made in the middle. It's a simple idea but it worked really well for this episode. One last thing I can say about Steel is how even though he knows there are better ways of getting the repair money, he chooses to let himself get beat up because it's the fastest and most readily available way. Despite only getting half of what is needed, Steel displays his bravery and takes a beating to show how determined he is to repair his android. For that, he deserves praise. In all, Steel is a pretty simple episode, but it shows how people sometimes act impulsively when they want something done quickly.
Review of Steel
