Episode five of Goosebumps was different than the ones before it in a lot of ways. Rather than being inspired by and named after an original Goosebumps story, this episode took us firmly into a tale that is unique to this show. And that was a delight.

The story

We begin this episode with Nora in the local psych ward, being looked over by Veronica.

As if we needed another reason to hate Isabella’s mom.

Even there, she isn’t safe from Biddle. Either from his spirit or his meat puppet, Mr. Bratt.

Meanwhile, Lucas is staying with Colin and Margot. Because Colin’s a bit of a dweeb, but he’s a pretty good guy. And Lucas could use a good guy around with his mom in the psych ward. Of course, this is when Sarah, Margot’s mom, decides to come home.

She does not, however, decide to tell Margot anything about what’s going on. She simply says that she’ll take care of it.

With this complete lack of parental guidance, the kids are left with nothing to do but, as they explain, wait for the next bad thing to happen. Of course, they don’t have long to wait. Mr. Bratt finds Margot in the library and gives her an old notebook. He tells her he found it in his basement, and it has pictures of her mom. Maybe she’d like to have it.

Margot flips through the notebook. It’s the same one we saw at the start of the series. When she comes upon a picture from the library she’s sitting in, she is suddenly transported back in time to that very moment. There she sees her mom, talking with Harold Biddle.

Margot quickly figures out that she has to be in the location pictured in the notebook to see the visions. So she goes next to the AV room, where she sees Biddle and Sarah talking about his photos. She seems friendly enough with him and even invites him to a party.

At this point, Margot’s smart enough to get everyone else involved. Which is good, because the next time she goes into a vision, she doesn’t come out.

What worked

To start with, this episode was a lot more adult than the rest of the season. There was more focus on the parents and their problems. We saw their back story. Most importantly, we saw their interactions with each other now.

The fact that this episode was more grownup-focused is not the positive thing, though. It is neither good nor bad, it just is. The good thing is that it was done very well.

There was not a sudden uptick in adult content. There was nothing in this episode that would have made it inappropriate for a teenager to watch. So parents watching this with kids didn’t suddenly get a nasty surprise. This was done well.

I also loved the gimmick with the notebook. The artwork coming to life is a lot of fun. It was a clever way to give us the much-needed backstory, instead of just having one of the grownups tell the kids, and have everything fade into a flashback.

Finally, though, I want to talk about that ending. Because I have never seen an episode end with something more enticing.

At this point, halfway through the season, we have a lot of answers. But we have even more questions. So do our main characters. And here, we are presented with the antagonist, offering to monologue for them. Offering to answer all of their, and our, questions.

That is enticing.

What didn’t work

This is a small detail, but it bothered me. There is a scene where Nora cheeks her meds instead of taking them. And Nora, I saw you cheek those. The teens watching this saw you cheek those. No way a registered nurse who was smart enough to stand there and watch you take those pills didn’t see you cheek those.

Like I said, it’s a small detail. And it’s a hard trick to pull off. But it’s irritating. They should have practiced that scene more.

This episode felt like a shift, and it should. Because we are now halfway through this season. And I get the feeling that the whole story is about to explode.

Probably in flames.

(4 / 5)

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We’ve reached episode four of the 2023 show Goosebumps. This one is titled Go Eat Worms, based on the book released in July of 1994. And so far, it’s the story that has been furthest removed from the source material. However, I think it’s the story that got the biggest glow-up.

The story

This episode is the first that doesn’t jump back to Halloween night. And it largely focuses on Lucas having a really bad day.

He wants to perform a jump on his dirt bike. He gets everything set up, then chickens out at the last moment.

Unfortunately, that means he gets home just in time to catch Nora and Colin kissing in the car.

Technically there’s nothing wrong with this. Nora’s husband is dead and Colin’s going through a separation. But there’s no reason to expect Lucas to feel this way. And he does not. He goes to school and decides the best thing to do is tell Margot.

That honestly makes sense. At least, more sense than anything else he does.

Seeing how upset Margot is at this realization, he wants to make her laugh. Being a child who should never see Jackass, he decides to eat a worm in front of her. Margot’s face says it all at that moment, as she realizes there’s a strong possibility this boy is going to be her stepbrother and he is eating worms.

Of course, those aren’t any worms. They came from the Biddle house. And they do the bidding of Harold Biddle.

What worked

It’s pretty clear at this point that the only adult willing to listen to the kids is Nora. The only other one who might have listened was Margot’s mother, who appears to have vanished entirely.

And while this is horrible for the kids, it’s kind of what we should expect in a show for kids.

Content for children and young adults should have heroes who are children and young adults. That was one of the great things about the Goosebumps books, and most of the great stories meant for kids. Coraline, Stranger Things, Ms. Perrigrins School for Gifted Youngsters, Series of Unfortunate Events. These stories all have a young protagonist who has to face the monster without their parents and win. It reminds me of a wonderful quote by Neil Gaiman.

“Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.”

I also loved the action scenes in this episode. I didn’t know I wanted to see a giant worm monster chase someone on a dirt bike through the woods, but I’ve seen it now. And that was pretty great.

Finally, this episode tackled some really difficult topics. Not the least of which was how suicide impacts the family left behind.

That’s a pretty heavy thing to talk about, and it was approached well. This is one of the things that horror does well. It allows us to discuss the things we’re afraid to discuss. To face our real fears. Not the fears of haunted masks, killer worms, or prophetic cameras. It lets us talk about divorce and death and mental health crises in a way that feels more approachable because it’s side by side with the monsters.

What didn’t work

Unfortunately, this was not a perfect episode. And a lot of my issues are about Luke.

Now, this is not the fault of the actor, Will Price. But he does not look young enough for this role. Some people in their early twenties can look like teens still on TV. The rest of the ‘kids’ are adults. Miles McKenna, who plays James, is 28. But Price looks significantly too old. And it’s distracting.

I also hated the jumping from scene to scene when Luke took Margot to his house. They didn’t do anything there that couldn’t have been done at school. There was just no need for a scene cut. Scene cuts should be kept to a minimum if possible because it’s distracting and runs the risk of taking a viewer out of the story.

All in all, though, this was a really good episode. It was touching, exciting, and still managed to be funny. So far, this has been a really solid season of horror television. And we have more than half a season yet to go.

(4 / 5)

If you’re a fan of my work, please check out my latest story, Nova, on Paper Beats World. New chapters launch every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

Named for the 28th installment of the original book series, The Cuckoo Clock of Doom has the least in common so far with its source material.

Thankfully, the story isn’t negatively impacted by this. I can honestly say so far that these episodes just keep getting better.

The story

After the last episode’s explosive ending, I’m sure we were all more than a little worried about James. I for one was worried we were going to have an example of the Bury Your Gays trope on a kid’s show.

Thankfully, that’s not the case.

We go back in time again to Halloween night, and this time we see what James was up to.

Mostly he was up to trying to flirt with his crush. Everything seems to be going well until James lies about being interested in football.

He tries to leave the house, but instead finds himself back at the basement door when Isaiah is trapped and the cuckoo clock is going off. James then shows a remarkable amount of genre savvy and tries his best to escape the house. Each time he does, we see another version of him walking away.

Eventually, he devises a plan to break the clock at just the right moment, but not before he gets some intel on his crush’s favorite team so he can score a date.

Back in the real world free of the time loop though, James finds that he has far more worries. Every time he tried to escape the house, a duplicate version of him was created. And all of those duplicates are waiting for him.

Back at the Biddle house, though, there’s a surprise waiting. One of the James duplicates has brought Harold Biddle a box. A ventriloquist dummy-sized box.

An empty box.

What worked

The effects of this show so far have been wonderful. When the other characters hit a James duplicate, it doesn’t just die. It explodes in a Nickelodeon-style wave of slime. This is just fun, and I’m kind of sad there doesn’t appear to be more of the duplicates around.

I mean, I wouldn’t rule it out.

Did I mention that these duplicates appeared to smell like watermelon Jolly Ranchers when they exploded? That was a visceral detail that was both alarming and terrific. They could have smelled bad. They could have smelled like rotting plants or people. But no, they smell like candy.

Of course, the characters continue to steal the show. Margot and Isaiah could be said to be the main characters, but everyone comes into this with main character energy. They are all funny, all capable, all smart. And they all seem to care about each other.

I loved that James and Isaiah talked about how they were feeling. I think it’s important that we’re modeling that for young men. They talked about what was bothering them, and they made up.

Finally, though, we have to talk about Justin Long again. His acting in this just keeps stealing the show. He dances like a cartoon and jumps from joyful to violently furious at a moment’s notice. The character doesn’t know how to act, and watching him fail to act right in front of people never fails to make me laugh.

What didn’t work

I honestly can’t say that anything didn’t work in this episode. But there is something about the show that I, at least, don’t like.

There’s no real blood or gore. There’s more blood when I eat an actual jolly rancher because I always cut my tongue on them.

Now, this show is pretty clearly not for kids and young adults so there’s probably not a lot of need for too much gore and violence. But if the bloody stuff is more your style, like me, the lack of it might disappoint you.

Fans of the Goosebumps books will know that everyone ended with a twist. And the show so far has been no different. And the ending of this episode has been the best so far. The tension of Margot’s mom’s impassioned reaction, blended with the revelation that Slappy is somewhere in town is just too much. I can’t believe we’re only three episodes in and I am this invested. I hope you are too.

Viewer beware, I suspect things are going to get a lot worse for our characters before they get better.

If you’re a fan of my work, please check out my latest story, Nova, on Paper Beats World. New chapters launch every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.