[AYAOTD? Recap with Erin Callahan] 3.12 "The Tale of the Crimson Clown"

RECAP

After Tucker blackmails him with a love poem, Gary turns his revenge fantasy into a tale about karma.

Sam is the worst kind of little brother -- the kind who steals his older brother Mike’s money when the poor guy is just trying to buy their mom a birthday present. After Sam takes the cash, buys a Zeebo-themed video game, and lies about where he got the money, Mike jokingly warns him about the Crimson Clown, a porcelain doll that comes to life to terrorize bad kids. Sam laughs off the warning and continues to act like a brat, getting Mike in trouble with their mom. The Crimson Clown then begins to torment Sam, growing larger and more terrifying each time he appears. Sam eventually repents for his sins, and in return, the Crimson Clown alters the timeline so that Sam never stole the money and Mike was able to buy their mom a gift.

Tucker returns Gary’s poem, and after Frank shoots his shot with Sam and strikes out, Gary asks Sam if he can walk her home. 

REVIEW

T: I’ve complained about Frank this season, and he’s still not great here, but at least he’s direct with Sam, finally asking her out. And of course she’s awesome and not interested.

E: God, he’s such a dick about it though. Like, Frank, you’re an attractive guy. You don’t need to put on the tough guy act to attract female attention.

T: Gary calls Tucker a “little spud.” What a great Gary put down. Later in the story, we get “turd face.” I love AYAOTD? slams.

E: And there are oodles of them in this episode. The tension between Mike and Sam rivals Buzz and Kevin from Home Alone, except in this version it’s the younger brother who’s the sociopath.

T: This week’s episode is all about Mike, a flipping saint, and his little bro Sam, basically SATAN! I can’t stand Sam. The acting is fine, he’s just the absolute worst.

E: He might be the most punchable character in the history of AYAOTD?, and it reveals so much about Gary’s feelings toward Tucker. From the outside, we can all see that Tucker’s shenanigans are obnoxious but cute -- classic little bro stuff. But Sam, the story-version of Tucker, is an anti-social, narcissistic nightmare. Since we’ve started off with some strong Macaulay Culkin references, I’m gonna say he’s two animal sacrifices away from being Henry from The Good Son. And the casting is perfect. I’m sure that kid is perfectly decent-looking now, but as Sam he has the kind of smirky face that makes you want to throw things at the TV.

T: Is this the only episode to feature snow? For a Canadian series, you’d think it would pop up more often. It gives the episode a cozy feeling. You can see Mike’s breath when they enter the store. I don’t think snow is used enough in horror. Tangent, but the Friday the 13th remake ALMOST had a sequel set on Crystal Lake during winter with a frozen over lake and hockey. Missed opportunity.

E: God, that could’ve been epic. But yes, snow can be used to create effect in horror. Is it cozy or isolating? Is it pretty, or does it render the landscape unrecognizable? Or both? Just look at The Shining.

T: Maybe it’s just the snow, but I had the thought that the Crimson Clown is a take on Krampus. Come to think of it, Sam is like Scrooge on Christmas morning.

E: Oooooh -- I love this theory. Christmas is a great time for terror-induced redemption. So is your mom’s birthday.

T: The shop owner is good and creepy, but this is a Gary story about someone getting a weird item in a shop, so why isn’t this Sardo in the Magic Mansion?

E: Another missed opportunity!

T: Again, a character wears the same yellow and black checkered shirt!

E: It was the ’90s, Troyson.

T: Just like how “Full Moon” felt like a remake of “Nightly Neighbors” but with werewolves, this one feels like “Laughing in the Dark” dialed up to eleven.

E: I love the massive Zeebo reference with the video game, and I adore the way the clown gets bigger and more bizarre looking with each scene. 

T: Why is the mom so oblivious? Anyone who spends more than ten seconds with Sam can tell he’s a horrible, terrible person and Mike should be knighted. I just can’t even with her.

E: As the parent of a five-year-old, I can personally say that I’ve witnessed parents shrugging off some pretty unfortunate behavior. That said, Sam and Mike’s mom takes obliviousness to a whole new level. The fact that she can’t see through Sam’s bullshit is beyond me.

T: I totally buy her not seeing Sam’s shit, but she places it on Mike. So it’s not like she’s an “My offspring are angels” type.

E: Great point. I’ve never understood parents who hold their eldest children to a higher standard.

T: The Crimson Clown laughs under Sam’s bed alone in the room, then the camera pans out and the door slams shut. That’s fucking scary shit. Director Ron Oliver is so great at pivoting from camp to frights.

E: Say what you will about Sam, the balance of laughs to genuine horror in this episode is perfect. It’s almost like a home-based version of Zeebo’s fun house.

T: I’m a little confused. When Sam eavesdrops on Mike and their mom talking about him, are we supposed to sympathize with him? Mike is completely right and his complaints aren’t that bad, but the music and acting and everything makes it feel like we should be on Sam’s side. Nope! He acts like he’s genuinely upset that Mike isn’t pleased that he stole from him with a nasty attitude?

E: I think this is a weak attempt to humanize Sam, but it fails epically.

T: The episode gets even freakier! Sam gets tied in his bed with ribbons? It’s very simple but damn. Then the giant clown’s head turns into a balloon? What?!

E: The exploding-glitter-balloon-head is both downright terrifying and positively absurd. Pretty sure that’s Ron Oliver’s whole aesthetic wrapped up in one classic moment. Also, is all of this imagery scarier because the victim is so young? Sam, at least on the surface, looks considerably more innocent than Zeebo’s victim.

T: Definitely. Christian Tessier was fourteen when Zeebo terrorized him. I couldn’t find Michael Barry’s age at the time, but I’m guessing he’s more like eleven or twelve. We’re much more used to seeing teens (even if they’re played by twenty-somethings - ugh) scared on TV than middle schoolers.

E: Maybe that’s also why they dialed up the brattiness with his character.

T: I love that the birthday gift is in a crimson box with purple confetti. So the beautiful hugging moment between mother and sons? Her hair gets in Sam’s mouth and he blows it out. Go back and watch that. It’s great.

E: Once a little shit, always a little shit.

T: So there’s a few ways to read this episode. Mike straight up makes up the Crimson Clown on the spot, and then the clown terrorizes Sam. Does that mean Mike has psychic powers he’s unaware of – that his tormented good guy side hides some Carrie-like powers? Or does Sam just go crazy and imagine it all? Or does some creature from the void latch onto the story and impersonate the character Mike created? Or are there other readings?

E: This the same quandary we had with “Phone Police,” isn’t it? We think we’re dealing with the Myth Is Real trope, but then Annie the older sister reveals she made the whole thing up. Like, how? Of the options, I like number three the best. It avoids the dreadful It Was All In Your Head trope and is a bit more plausible than option one. Though option one would make a great full-length movie.

T: There’s so much room for an expanded story here. I love shorter fiction, and the majority of these episodes work so well with their running length, but there’s a handful that scream for a feature length adaptation (see my Queer or Not response for material to include).

E: Intriguing!

T: Tucker learns his lesson from the story and eases up on Gary. I thought it was actually really sweet when he warns Gary that he might need the poem.

E: It’s a perfect reminder that, despite Gary’s dismal opinion of him, Tucker is not actually a Sam-like monster.

T: Yeah, I think it was smart for the audience to get that distinction. Speaking of Sam and Tucker though, is it super weird that Gary has a crush on a girl named Sam, so he tells a story about an awful Sam (a stand-in for his brother) getting terrorized? I’m betting what happened was Darren Kotania, who worked on the crew and wrote “Dream Machine” and “Midnight Ride” wrote this before Sam and Tucker were created for the Midnight Society since they were new additions this season and the name is a complete coincidence. As presented though, to quote my favorite magician's assistant, “Very weird.”

E: LOL. You’re probably right, though Freud would probably have a field day with this.

QUEER OR NOT?

T: Is Mike queer coded? He’s a quiet, clean, sensitive boy who’s forced to be the “man of the house.” I feel like he’s struggling against something. That line of their mom’s about him having to act a certain way to meet those standards struck me.

E: I’ll buy it. This story is ultimately very Sam-centric, but Mike is the more intriguing character. He’s the classic first child with the weight of the world on his shoulders. I hope someday he meets a nice boy and learns to relax a little.

I think we also need to talk about the way the Midnight Society love triangle plays out. Frank asks Sam out in the most obnoxious way, to the point where she actually asks whether she has any say in the matter. Clearly she’s turned off by Frank’s toxic masculinity and ultimately charmed by Gary’s alternative masculinity. Sam’s dismissal of Frank is so badass -- such a sassy bait and switch. I also love that Kiki gets pulled into the whole thing for a second when Frank glances over at her, and then she refuses to get involved. She and Frank obviously get along, but she can’t stand him when he gets like this, and I’m sure every woman with dude-bro friends can relate. “We like playing basketball and watching sports together. How often should I call him out on his macho bullshit?” Every time, Kiki. Every. Time. But I’ll let it slide since it was the ’90s and that conversation would’ve been over before it began.

TRIVIA, USELESS TRIVIA

T: In a fun reference to “Laughing in the Dark,” the video game Sam steals the money to buy is Zeebo’s Fun House! It’s in a Sega cartridge but Sam has a Nintendo hooked up to his TV. I guess the propsmaster wasn’t a gamer.

E: So close to a perfect reference! Alas.

T: Alan Legros played the Crimson Clown. He appeared in the series recently as a construction worker in “The Guardian’s Curse.”

E: You’re telling me there was an actual guy under that giant ping pong ball head? Also, according to the interwebs, the Crimson Clown doll sold on eBay for half a million dollars. That said, the interwebs is full of lies.

MODERNIZE ’90s CANADIAN KIDS

T: I’d rework Sam’s whole character. The arc is great, but he can’t be such a wretched person that we root for the Crimson Clown to strangle him to death. And I’d go ahead and make this Christmas time so the Crimson Clown is a Krampus’y anti-Claus character. Is Sam so awful because he’s acting out over losing their dad? Is that material that should be mined?

E: Totally down for a holiday-themed version of this story, particularly one that clarifies whether Mike is actually a powerful psychic capable of bringing clown dolls to life. And exploring the tragic backstory would go a long way toward making Sam more sympathetic.

JUST GIVE IT A NUMERICAL RATING ALREADY

T: This one’s so strong. But I just can’t with Sam. He’s the worst. The absolute worst. Just like “Laughing in the Dark,” I’m rooting for the villain. I wish we could get a clown story where the clown is an outright baddie. He’s Krampus, he’s cool, but it sort of means there aren’t real stakes in the story. It’s well crafted, and I get why it’s iconic, but this episode leaves me wanting more. 8.7 OUT OF 10 CAMPFIRES.

E: The imagery here is top notch and the love triangle plays out perfectly. But I agree that Sam is too unlikeable. I’m going with 8.5 OUT OF 10 CAMPFIRES.