[AYAOTD? with Erin Callahan] Season Two Review!

T: We finished another season of Are You Afraid of the Dark?! It seems like we started this just thirty weeks ago, how time flies. 

E: LOL. Only thirty weeks? What is time even?

T: This season, it feels like the creators are done experimenting with the storytelling aspect and have settled into how the series will flow. There are no more cold openings or scenes away from the campfire like Gary and Kristen at his dad’s shop, and they quickly phase out returning to the Midnight Society mid-story. In fact, they only do that in episodes one and three. As much as I love the Midnight Society, it gives the stories an extra minute to breathe without losing anything substantial.

E: I love revisiting a series and watching it find its rhythm. It forces you to remember there are actual people behind the show and gives you a peek into their creative evolution.

T: They also frequently start a story and then have the storytelling narration come in after thirty seconds or so, as opposed to immediately. It’s almost like the story itself has a cold opening inside the episode.

E: Oooooh — nice catch. I didn’t even notice that. But it’s a smart technique. We get an organic snippet of the story-world before the story begins.

T: I’m pretty sure they’ve changed the way they film the Midnight Society. Season one was shot in the actual woods if I’m not mistaken, and now we’re on a soundstage. I’m sure it was a lot cheaper and easier to shoot, and while it doesn’t look quite as realistic, it allows higher quality filming.

T: Daaaaamn, Troyson. Your film school is showing. (Seriously, I never pick up on stuff like this.)

T: The visual effects as a whole have improved greatly this season. There’s still the occasional clunky bit, but overall the show looks much more impressive. “Midnight Madness” and “Whispering Walls” are great examples.

E: I’m honestly still in awe of the fact that both of those episodes were accomplished without CGI. 

T: One of the reasons for the show’s visual improvement is because after season one, showrunner D.J. MacHale would fly out to Montreal and have the location scout show him around cool and interesting places. These would inspire the settings of stories, so he’d write to fit where they could easily film instead of writing blind and then spending a lot more money trying to make those ideas come to life. It’s a fantastic way to save money and increase production value.

E: Fascinating! Though now I’m hoping the alien toy factory from “13th Floor” wasn’t a scouted location. Yeesh.  

T: We’ve also settled into more and more recurring actors appearing. In the entire run of the series, there’s only something like four or five episodes in which no actor appears in any other stories. It’s a really fun way to make an anthology feel connected.

E: Mostly I’m just psyched that badass kid-sister Kathy got to reappear as equally badass Cissy Vernon.

T: And of course Dr. Vink and Sardo return, furthering the connective tissue of the series. Don’t make me choose a favorite. If you were going to choose two characters to return, these are the two you’d pick. Hands down. And in Dr. Vink’s case, hand-in-a-jar down.

E: I’m also fascinated by the fact that David borrows Sardo from Gary for a story that is, at least in part, a homage to Gary.

T: After complaining about the quirky names throughout season one, I miss them. They’re mostly exhausted by now and we get normal names. The very excellent UP ALL NIGHT podcast asked D.J. MacHale about the weird names. He said they were all named after childhood friends of his.

E: For a second I started wondering what D.J.’s childhood was like but it opened up a whole can of worms I’m not prepared for. You know it was either idyllic or weird as fuck.

T: Why is there no mention of Eric? I would have settled for something simple, like Kiki asking, “Hey, Gare, where’s Eric at?” And then Gary flips over a bench and shouts, “We don’t talk about Eric!”

E: Good god, that would’ve been amazing. As is, he’s still “the former member of the Midnight Society we do not speak of.” 

T: We wondered about Eric’s departure, so I put in a bit of research. Every time a member of the Midnight Society left the show, it was because the actor decided to leave the series because they had other career options or decided to quit acting. Jacob Tierney, who easily was the most experienced and professional of the kid actors, had Hollywood calling, so he let the AYAOTD? producers know he’d stay if they increased his salary, otherwise he had other gigs waiting. They bid him a fond farewell, and he went on to have a long career.

E: I mean, good for him. He got to be part of a piece of nostalgia and then went on to do some other cool stuff. Finally watched Letterkenny and it’s freaking hilarious. 

T: This brings us to our second and third MIDNIGHT SOCIETY ACTOR SPOTLIGHT. Rachel Blanchard (Kristen) and Nathaniel Moreau (David)! Rachel Blanchard had a few Canadian gigs before Are You Afraid of the Dark? and impressed D.J. so much that he cast her in the British series Chris Cross(which starred Eugene Byrd from “The Tale of the Super Specs”) he worked on at the same time. Not too long after she decided to move on from the series, she landed the starring role of Cher in the Clueless TV series, and popped up in The Rage: Carrie 2 and Road Trip before being a regular on the last few seasons of 7th Heaven. Other notable appearances were in Snakes on a Plane and Nancy on one of my all-time favorite comedies, Peep Show. She’s really fantastic. Let it be said that I love to rag on Kristen but it’s for a few of the character’s traits, which are very well acted. It’s not surprising that she’s still working steadily.

E: I literally forgot Snakes on a Plane happened until just now. Thanks, Rachel Blanchard!

T: Nathaniel Moreau popped up on several guest roles in Canadian TV before playing David on AYAOTD? He left because he scored a regular role on Kung Fu: The Legend Continues for three years. That was David Carradine’s series where he works with his detective son, Peter (Chris Potter). Nathaniel Moreau played young Peter in flashbacks that were regularly featured on the series. At eighteen, he left the acting business.

E: A totally respectable choice. You can’t possibly know when you’re a young teen whether you want to turn your hobby-jobby into a career. Thank god I didn’t try to make a living out of collecting McDonald’s toys or whining about Limp Bizkit.

T: That brings us to our behind the scenes spotlight on RON OLIVER! We covered how much D.J. MacHale did on the show, so let’s look at the second most prolific director on the series. He directed seventeen episodes in the first five seasons, which is just about one-third of the original series. He was a young Canadian filmmaker who wrote Prom Night II, and then wrote and directed Prom Night III: The Last Kiss. He also wrote and directed on Goosebumps and has had a steady career writing and directing Christmas movies and family comedies. Mr. Oliver has a fantastic twisted/camp sensibility that is part of feel the of AYAOTD? that we really latch on to. He’s responsible for handling some truly iconic characters in the series (Sardo, Zeebo, the Crimson Clown, the Ghastly Grinner, teen Ryan Gosling, etc.).

E: The guy snuck a queer-coded plotline about warewolves into a ’90s kids’ TV show. He’s a living legend! Plus his Instagram account is rad. 

T: It’s still surprising that they went with someone whose resume boasted ’80s slasher comedies, which is such a bold move for a children’s show. But such a great pay-off. It speaks to how they weren’t necessarily making a show for kids, but making a show for everyone that would be accessible for kids. I mean, how many kids got the Twilight Zone reference built into the bones of the series? The whole “Submitted for the approval...” thing comes from a few episodes of Rod Serling’s narration in the Twilight Zone.

E: As someone who writes for teens, I’ve got so many thoughts on this. On the one hand, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with explicitly making something that appeals to everyone but is accessible to kids, and at times it does seem like that’s the approach AYAOTD? was trying to take. On the other hand, I think it’s possible that they recognized that kids deserve thoughtful, high-quality stories, so they didn’t cut corners or talk down to their audience. I suppose the end result of both approaches is often similar, but I actually think there’s something more admirable and potentially groundbreaking about the second one. I really resist the idea that art that’s specifically created *for kids* is somehow less worthy of our attention and admiration than something that’s created for adults or with no specific audience in mind.

T: Erin, what surprised you the most about this season? Besides that I finally warmed up to Kristen?

E: Eh, I knew she’d win you over eventually. I think the biggest surprise for me was the significant jump in quality. “Midnight Madness” is just soooooo good, including the effects.

T: Awards time. Best Villain Award goes to *drum roll* Master Raymond, “The Tale of the Whispering Walls.” He narrowly beats out creepy catfishing Nazrak from “The Tale of the Magician’s Assistant.” There are far fewer villains this season to choose from, with some antagonists being somewhat obscure, like Marshall McClain from “Old Man Corcoran” since he’s only a villain if you read into it that he’s planning on killing the brothers.

E: Where my Master Raymond cosplayers at? I want to see oodles of Instagram posts with fine folks dressed in nautical/skeleton jackets.

T: The Queerest Moment award goes to: “The Tale of the Full Moon” when Mr. Ankers tells Jed that, “there are lots of different kinds of families.”

E: Ron Oliver is a goddamn treasure.

T: The Best Storyteller Award goes to (according to my scientific rankings of our average episode ratings): Frank! Funnily enough, he had our lowest score last season, so way to improve, Frank! “Midnight Madness” and “Full Moon” are both so different tonally but real stand-outs.

E: Frank’s overall style is a little harder to pin down than the other Midnight Society members, but both episodes are classics.

T: The Best Story Award goes to: “The Tale of the Frozen Ghost” which we both gave a 10. I’m trying not to rate on a scale, but each season we’ve only given out one 10, and it’s a testament to the versatility aspect of the series how different those two episodes are. Compare “Frozen Ghost” with “Dark Music” and they’re totally different shows.

E: Good point! Though both episodes feature sassy female characters and grisly offscreen deaths. Also, both were directed by Ron Oliver. The guy has range.

T: The Worst Storyteller Razzie goes to: Kristen. Even telling the perfect “Frozen Ghost” couldn’t pull up her average after telling “The Tale of the Final Wish” and “The Tale of Locker 22.”

E: Tsk tsk — such inconsistency. To be fair, it’s not Kristen’s fault that Bobcat Goldthwait is a hot mess. 

T: To no surprise then, the Worst Story Razzie goes to Kristen’s “The Tale of Locker 22.” It’s the only episode in the entire series I plain dislike. There’s some that just don’t do it for me as a whole, but there are elements I still appreciate, but this one’s just a real clunker unfortunately.

E: Yeah. The main character’s hilarious Parisian accent aside, I’m not a fan.

T: Overall, what a solid season of storytelling. I think I read somewhere D.J. considers this his favorite season as the creator. Season one’s about growing pains, but in the second year, you’ve established a working language with the crew while everything’s’ still fresh and fun creatively. And looking back at these thirteen episodes, that really shows. Closing thoughts, Erin?

E: Two of my all-time favorite episodes are coming up in season three. Can you guess which ones they are? And who will replace David and Kristen? All will be revealed soon. For now, I declare this nostalgic recap closed.