[AYAOTD? Recap w/ Erin Callahan] 1.11 "The Tale of the Dark Music"

RECAP

Eric is back to being his typically bratty self and leaves a flashlight-less Frank in the lurch before telling the Midnight Society a story about a boy who’s “a wittle afwaid of da dark.”

Life has been rough for Andy since his parents got divorced, but things seem to be looking up when his mom inherits a house from her weird, estranged uncle, who was rich even though he never left the house. Then again, Andy’s now being harassed by Koda, the neighborhood bully, taunted by his kid sister, and regularly nagged by his mom to help out with chores that require him to go down into the creepy-ass basement. Every time music plays in the basement, various weird things, like gigantic talking dolls and skeletal carnies, pop out of the root cellar. Once Andy makes the connection between music and the basement demon, he hops on his bike and rides off to tell his mom. But he doesn’t make it very far before he’s straight-up assaulted by Koda, who then throws Andy’s bike in front of a dump truck. Andy then lures Koda into the basement, hoping to scare him. But the demon does more than scare Koda, and rewards Andy with a new bike. Andy can have anything he wants as long as he agrees to “feed” the basement demon. He smirks knowingly at the camera when his sister begins taunting him again.

Frank steals Eric’s flashlight and takes off. The rest of the gang assures Eric that he’ll be right back, and Eric is left alone in the dark. Frank then pops out, scares the bejeezus out of Eric, and ends the episode with the fantastic line, “Paybacks are sweet.”

REVIEW

Troy: I unapologetically love this story. Some of these episodes could be made and presented for kids today, like “Jake and the Leprechaun,” but not this one. Andy descending into the basement is downright atmospheric. There are R-rated horror movies that fail to achieve the atmospheric dread that this episode captures and holds on to.

Erin: Great point. The scene where the boombox starts picking up the same old-timey music on every radio station is particularly unnerving. This one also has one of the best titles. So simple and yet sooooooo intriguing.

T: The Midnight Society bit is fun. I love how much of an arrogant asshat Eric is. And Frank’s afraid of the dark--way to play into the title of the series. I’m a little surprised it took eleven episodes.

E: OMG, right?! It could’ve come off as heavy-handed, but it’s weirdly cute and funny here. And I’m so glad that Eric has recovered from his grandfather’s death and is back to being a little prick. The forces of the universe are, once again, in balance.

T: Eric doesn’t understand how adult finances work. The family could barely afford their apartment, so it’s not exactly lucky they’re stuck with a big house. How can they afford the property taxes?

E: LOLOLOL - truth. Like, unless Mom inherited a big wad of cash along with that house, she’d be forced to sell it. Sheesh. Don’t you love how angry she gets at those blinds she’s trying to hang? As a fellow divorced mom, that shit is just so real.

T: Wow, this is two stories in a row featuring one protagonist with a normal name. Apparently, Eric wasn’t invited to the writers’ room.

E: True, but Koda? Like, what? Is that the bully’s first or last name? Or maybe it’s just Koda, Cher style. Wouldn’t be too shocking considering how one-dimensional he is, though I kinda dig his late ’80s grimy-metal-kid vibe.

T: Koda’s a fantastic character (and I guess the name comes from ‘coda’, a musical term for a passage that bring a piece to an end). I can’t believe they show actual fist-punching-face violence. And I really appreciate that they only hint that the bully is bullied at home. He just grouses at his old man without them hitting us over the head with it.

E: Yeah, this is totally a level of violence that you would never be able to depict in a kids’ show today without showing the bully getting arrested and Andy talking to someone about this trauma. Some might argue that makes modern TV less fun, but I think just speaks deeply to how far we’ve come as a culture in thirty years. Somehow, between 1990 and the 2010s, we finally realized that violence is seriously uncool, even if the perpetrator and victim are kids. The fact that it took us that long is actually scarier than this episode.

T: Andy, his mom, and his sister all wear red shirts. It gives the episodes a cohesive feel I appreciate. Very theatrical.

E: I didn’t even notice that. Does that mean they’re all doomed???

T: Christina sits as close to the TV as I did playing Nintendo :) back before hi-def would rot my eyes.

E: I have to admit, I wanted to punch Mom when she sent Andy to do laundry because Christina was too into her game to pay attention. Like, way to punish the kid who actually gives a shit and has been delivering papers to help out.

T: You have to love Andy telling his family, “It said, ‘Come in and I’ll suck your blood!’” Great exaggeration. And that doll is terrifying. It ties Zeebo as the single most creepy prop in the series so far.

E: Even with the low-budget effects, the doll is creepy AF. Dolls in general are creepy, even creepier when they talk, and triply creepy when they’re gigantic.

T: Speaking of size, the entity’s demonic red eyes are fairly low. It’s not even at Andy’s eye level, which hints at it being some sort of inhuman monster.

E: I mean, it eats people, Troy. So obviously. :)

T: Is Koda the first character to get killed in the series? There’s plenty of ghosts (people already dead), and some hints that characters could die (Peter Kirlan, the trio trapped in the “Super Specs”), but the entity straight up murders Koda offscreen.

E: It’s not *totally* clear whether the basement demon kills his victims or lives off their fear while they subsist in some sort of nightmarescape, but I think your instincts are right. Plus, when Koda punched Andy, I swear some dark little voice in my head hissed, “Feed him to the basement monster.”

T: This is one of the darkest episodes of the series, yet I’m surprised at how fun it still manages to be. For instance, Andy gets an idea, and the scene cuts to a lightbulb.

E: Ha! Classic. That plus the bad late ’80s radio rock really does make it fun. I want a banana-yellow boombox!!

T: The Midnight Society debates Christina’s fate. The story hints that she’s monster food, so I figure they had Eric make clear that didn’t happen to appease parents.

E: You’re probably right. At least we had *some* standards in the ’90s. Sheesh.

QUEER OR NOT?

T: Besides shipping Frank and Eric? There is actually one shot that very much surprised me: Koda stands in front of Andy with Andy framed between his legs. Framing like this is usually sexual. There’s the famous “Are you trying to seduce me, Mrs. Robinson?” from The Graduate and the posters from the Slumber Party Massacre movies and a bunch of R-rated sex comedies. Koda emasculates Andy, who later lures him into the basement o’ doom by telling him he’d make a good maid.

E: LOL - oh damn. The sexual tension abounds. And, omg, Eric and Frank would be such an amazing Jock-Nerd power couple. They’re like an early ’90s kid-TV version of Adam and Caleb from The Bright Sessions!

TRIVIA, USELESS TRIVIA

T: If Christina looks familiar, it’s because you’ve seen her with teased-out hair as the ghost in “The Lonely Ghost.”

E: Such a versatile young actor! She can pull off creepy dead kid AND super obnoxious kid sis. Christina actually reminds me a bit of the kid sister from “Laughing in the Dark”, though not quite as badass. Do you think the creator had a sassy younger sister?

T: Not that you mention it, I wouldn’t at all be surprised if showrunner DJ MacHale based that trope on someone near and dear to him. Prepare for your mind to be blown by a fantastic Easter egg: on the shelf over the washer and dryer, in the basement, there sits Dr. Vink’s hand specimen from “Phantom Cab”! (And, of course, there’s the skeleton dressed just like Zeebo’s carnie barker from “Laughing in the Dark”)

E: Whaaaaaaaaat? My god, I did not even notice that. Amazing.

MODERNIZE ’90s CANADIAN KIDS

T: The story doesn’t need anything, but I could see it really thriving in a modern setting. Music is such a great conjuring idea. Who doesn’t play music through YouTube or their phone while doing chores?

E: Yes, all the core elements are still totally relatable, though it would be hard to pitch it as a kids’ show. Also, Koda would be in jail by the time Andy moved next door, and I don’t think paper routes are still a thing.

T: Since Eric’s telling the story, I’d also have the scrawny kid have a crush on the jock bully as a way for him to test the waters with Frank, because I now fully ship Frank and Eric. #FrankenEric

JUST GIVE IT A NUMERICAL RATING ALREADY

T: This one is just perfect. Its creepy and effective and the humorous beats land. A solid 10 CAMPFIRES OUT OF 10.

E: Wow! I hesitated for a sec but, you know what? This one works on so many levels and it’s genuinely scary. I’ll also go for 10 CAMPFIRES OUT OF 10.