[AYAOTD? Recap with Erin Callahan] S04E13 "The Tale of Train Magic"

RECAP

Frank arrives late but with sound effects! Gary is predictably psyched they’re going to hear a story about trains, but Frank explains his story is also about the dangers of getting what you think you want.

Brothers Tim and Hank are coping with the death of their dad in completely different ways. Hank just wants to get out and have fun, while Tim wants to be a conductor like his father and spends most of his time in the basement, playing with model trains. While walking along the train tracks behind their house, Tim encounters conductor Ray Lawson, who is waiting for the 713 and offers Tim his pocket watch. Before Tim can take the watch, Ray disappears when Hank approaches. Tim asks Cap, one of his dad’s old coworkers, about the 713, and learns that Ray Lawson fell asleep on the train and caused a crash when he missed a message to switch the track at 224, which happens to be right behind Hank and Tim’s house. Meanwhile, Ray stops by the boys’ house with a model train for Tim. After getting magically sucked into the model train, Tim eventually realizes it’s a passenger car from the 713 and that Ray wants Tim to replace him as conductor. Cap, hypnotized by Ray’s train magic, ends up trapped in the model. Tim goes back into the model to confront Ray while Hank switches the track at 224. Tim stomps on the pocket watch just as Hank switches the track, saving Cap and dooming Ray to wander the tracks with no train.

Franks says that Tim learned about two kinds of magic -- Train Magic, and the kind of magic that happens between brothers and friends. Gary and Tucker exchange a glance and Gary ends the meeting.

REVIEW

T: Usually I point out how laughable the fashion is in this series, but Sam’s rocking this checkered black and white shirt over a blue one with a neckerchief and I am living for it.

E: I had to go back and look at this but damn! Proof that timeless fashion really is timeless.

T: Damn, Frank comes in hot! You think he was waiting for the breaking point, like he’d been there thirty minutes and he just wanted to see how long they’d wait for him?

E: LOL — I hope so? And this is terrible, but Sam’s reaction to Frank’s tardiness is so over the top it makes me think she has a little thing for him even though she has a bigger thing for Gary. I know he’s being an inconsiderate dick, but isn’t that just expected at this point?

T: Yeah, Sam hulks out about it. Like, if there was a table around, she would have flipped that shit over. I do wonder if the original intent was to have them end up together, but they didn’t click as well as intended?

E: *SAM SMASH*

T: And just like last season, we’re ending with a Frank tale. He doesn’t tell many stories, but he’s usually the season opener or closer.

E: Yes! And he’s got some memorable ones, especially “Midnight Madness.”

T: And we’re getting a train story. I’m not into trains at all, but I kinda dig stories about trains, if that makes sense? Like I don’t care at all about engineering, but there’s something romantic about an old timey train with strangers travelling the land. Gary’s into trains? Not surprising. He is the Sheldon of the group (I say with love).

E: Not surprising at all. Plus, this story has trains AND magic. If anything, this is just one more love letter from Frank to Gary. Oh, Grank, how I love thee. And I know next to nothing about trains, but I fully agree that there’s something romantic about the golden era of rail travel. I’m sure some of that is just nostalgia, but it did used to be a luxurious mode of transport and some of the train imagery here is just plain cool. Where can I get a bigass old conductor’s lantern?

T: Is there magic in this though, really? Isn’t it just a ghost story like any other? Like “Tale of the Prom Queen” wasn’t about Prom Magic.

E: Hmmmmm. Fair point, but Judy doesn’t hypnotize Jam and Greg with the prom equivalent of a pocket watch. And she doesn’t suck them into a miniature ’57 Chevy so they can replace her dead boyfriend.

T: Tim’s played by Gregory Smith! He’s twelve here and he’d already been acting for four years. He’s probably most recognizable from co-starring on Everwood, but he’s in a bunch of stuff and still working.

E: Totally did not recognize him but I feel like I always mix up Everwood and One Tree Hill.

T: And it’s a twofer, because Jesse Moss is Hank! He was fantastic as the antagonist in Tucker and Dale vs. Evil (up against “The Silent Servant”’s Tyler Labine), and was in Final Destination 3 and Ginger Snaps to name a few. We’ll see him again next season.

E: Hank definitely looked more familiar -- makes sense considering I’m much more familiar with his later work than I am with Ever Tree Wood.

T: Oh wow, is conductor Ray Lawson a creepy character or what? He nails that friendly/ominous vibe so well. This story could be called “The Tale of Stranger Danger.”

E: You can sense from the get-go that he’s bad news and yet Tim’s fascination with him makes perfect sense. Ray is like a character straight out of one of his train fantasies, so of course he’s going to reach for the pocket watch.

T: Does this whole bit kind of remind you of “Phantom Cab?” The bickering brothers in the woods at night and suddenly there’s this too-friendly man who knows his way around the woods. And of course one’s about a ghost taxi and this is a ghost train. Guess besides Dr. Vink stories, Frank’s theme is transportation?

E: LOL — there’s definitely some thematic overlap here. Do we know whether Frank has a sibling? It’s interesting that half of his stories involve brothers who become closer after facing down some sort of supernatural phenomenon.

T: As a matter of fact, we do know. Remember when he complained about helping his brother move and Kiki was all, “I’m the one person in the world who loves moving!”

E: Huzzah!

T: Tim is so adorable with his big hat and lugging huge baggage.

E: Too cute, though I also wonder if it’s a subtle metaphor for the emotional baggage he’s dealing with following his dad’s death.

T: Ooooh, deep. I like it. The whole bit with the model train and the tracks works really well. It’s just enough of a mind fuck that’s still creepy.

E: It’s not quite as creepy as the sentient dollhouse in “Tale of the Dollmaker” but it’s definitely still disorienting in a fun way. And, again, we’ve got Tim basically living his dream but in a terrifying way.

T: I love the non-spooky, out of time ghosts on AYAOTD? They’re always like super fancy dressed and so over the top and have one or two campy lines.

E: Non-spooky??? Pale people with dead eyes who spew quasi non-sequiturs are spooky, Troyson, if not straight-up creepy. Though they’re also pretty hilarious here and remind me of the zany ghost crew from “Whispering Walls.” It’s the right balance of spooky for a kids’ TV show.

T: We got different definitions of spooky. Which is part of the fun of an anthology series, different beats affect different viewers.

E: Truth.

T: And Cap turns out to be an important character after his brief intro. He’s in this WAY more than I thought he’d be. Is his character falling into the old “Magical Negro” trope? They talk about that a little bit in Shudder’s excellent Horror Noire, that it’s not the worst stereotype, so that’s good, but it’s still cliché.

E: Really great question. I’m by no means an expert here, but the Magical Negro trope is generally problematic because, like the redemption arcs we discussed last week, it sidelines a marginalized character for the benefit of a white character. The primary purpose of the Magical Negro is simply to help the white character along on their journey with patience, sage advice, and some kind of power that is or at least seems magical. They get no character arc of their own and often “come out of nowhere” because their background doesn’t matter within the context of the story. Though Cap definitely bears some resemblance to examples of Magical Negro characters--particularly Uncle Remus from Disney’s Song of the South--he doesn’t entirely come out of nowhere because he knew Tim’s dad, and he actually gets to be part of the action. Also, another major problem with the Magical Negro trope in film/TV, is it’s been a convenient way to relegate black actors to sidelined roles. In other words, they don’t get to play the protagonist, they get to play a one-dimensional mentor-sidekick. We’ve discussed numerous times how diverse the casting is on AYAOTD? There have been quite a few black protagonists so, as a whole, the show doesn’t have a history of sidelining black characters and actors.

Final verdict: We’re halfway to Magical Negro with Cap but there are some mitigating factors.

T: The creepy night train material reminds me of the train tracks by my college. I hiked out with friends a few times to the Hoosac Tunnel, a notoriously haunted locale in Western Mass, and you have to sneak out along old train tracks to do it. This one time, there was a train just sitting there, making all this noise amidst late night fog and it was genuinely unnerving to stumble upon it.

E: That sounds super creepy, and there’s something generally creepy about train tracks at night, isn’t there? They’re usually in the middle of nowhere and you never know when a train is going to come along.

T: The Cap doll is such a creepy little add on. The whole model train set just really works for me. And we get a fun Zeebo’s Big House reference. Hank just wants to play Zeebo!

E: Gotta love a solid in-show reference.

T: The brothers’ dad is dead and they don’t bother to ever show us their mom? Interesting choice, although I guess there’s not much room for another character. She’s mentioned by Hank at least.

E: Given that Cap gets so much screen time, this was probably a smart choice. Remember how many adult characters ended up bogging down “Room for Rent”? That said, she could have made a brief appearance just so we know she exists or even shouted downstairs when the boys are in the basement. And that basement! The set design team deserves snaps for that. It is such a classic ’70s basement that hasn’t been updated since the family moved in. Love it.

T: “He needs professional help,” Hank says to himself… That’s a sign that you could use some therapy time too, friend.

E: Hoo boy, yeah. There’s some stigma buried in that line, which is pretty gross. The way Hank shames Tim for the way he’s handling grief generally rubs me the wrong way. There’s no one way to deal with grief, y’all.

T: It’s not nearly as bad as the parents in “Shiny Red Bicycle.” I feel like Hank’s grieving, too, in a more subtle way of “something terrible happened, I’m not going to focus on it, I have to move on” so seeing his little bro obsessing is really hard for him. So it’s not great, but it doesn’t make me dislike him like those awful parents for screaming at their son to get over his dead (boy)friend.

E: Oh my god, I think I managed to block out those terrible parents. Thanks a lot, Troyson!

T: I like that there’s a problem halfway through the story, Tim gets out of danger by pulling the breaks, but then when the danger rears its head again, he can’t pull the breaks. Ray disconnecting them is a great escalation. I also love the way this is resolved, having Tim and Hank working in tandem in different locations. That’s just solid storytelling, especially in a visual medium. It would have been easy to just have one brother be the hero, but by working together, it makes it feel like they’re connected. Neither could save the day on their own. And that also keeps Ray as an imposing villain – he’s not a silly baddie like Goth who gets defeated by a remedial science class.

E: Yes! The way these two work together is definitely an upgrade from Denny and Buzz in “Phantom Cab.” And Ray is actually a really solid villain, and not just because he’s smart enough to change up the rules. Ray has a totally relatable reason for doing what he’s doing. He’s not a vaguely power-hungry monster. He’s just tired as heck of being stuck on that train and watching his fatal error play out night after night. Of course he wants someone to replace him.

T: Does this episode have the most title drops? Everyone’s always talking about that “train magic” like it’s a thing.

E: LOL -- I laughed out loud every time one of the characters said it. Like, are trains uniquely magical? Train enthusiasts probably think so but I’m not convinced.

T: Ray doesn’t get to move on?! Damn, Frank. I guess that brings us to something interesting though – most AYAOTD? ghosts are misunderstood and just want to wrap up unfinished business. Ray’s negligence caused a train crash that killed a bunch of people, and he’s trying to free himself by sticking a kid in his place (and he’s gleeful about it!). He might be the most sinister of the series’ ghosts so it works that he doesn’t get a happy ending. He’s one of my favorite villains of the season.

E: God, it really is dark, isn’t it? And though I still think he’s more relatable than many of the villains, I guess that doesn’t make him entirely empathetic. That last shot of him wandering down the track with his lantern might be one of my favorite shots in the entire series.

QUEER OR NOT?

T: Frank ends the story by mentioning “The magic between brothers and friends.” It’s very touching. But if you’ve been shipping Gary and Frank for the last four seasons, it feels like Frank equating his “friendship” feelings with Gary’s familial feelings. And it’s kind of out of the blue, right? I mean, the story isn’t really about that, but Frank tacks it on, so maybe that’s why it sticks out in my mind.

E: It definitely feels like an “extra special” ending that’s trying to tell us something. Dammit, I’m already crying. *sob* Does Tim read a little queer to you? The way several of the characters shame him for not being interested in “boy things” isn’t awesome, but I feel like there’s a little queerness buried in there.

T: There is something there. This is one of those stories that I don’t think would warrant a ninety-minute feature, but a forty-minute expansion. There’s enough character icebergs that a little more time with them would be cool.

TRIVIA, USELESS TRIVIA

T: If the parasol ghost lady looked familiar, it’s because actress Susan Glover made a memorable appearance as Olga, the alien mom in “Thirteenth Floor.” We’ve said it before, and I hope we’ll say it again, but the AYAOTD? random old timey ghosts are always so much fun, and I love having them be vaguely recognizable.

E: I think Random Old Timey Ghosts should be the name of our trivia team.

MODERNIZE ’90s CANADIAN KIDS

T: There are still train tracks crisscrossing North America. I’d guess travel is down, but I’m surprised so many people were using trains in the ’90s, and that people actually still use trains. A boy processing the death of his dad by obsessing over trains? I could see that today. Maybe I’d tie the dad’s death into the ghost train, though. And not have Hank be one hundred percent over everything. He’s a little too well adjusted, right?

E: Trains are still alive and well in the U.S. and we may actually see a resurgence in the future to combat climate change. I think model trains are still a pretty big deal in certain circles as well. So yeah -- no major updates needed there and the “old timey” vibe actually adds to the creep factor. I actually think Hank’s also struggling, as evidenced by his judginess of Tim, it’s just not made super clear in the narrative here, so that could definitely be improved. I like the idea of two brothers dealing with grief in different ways more than a narrative that says one is over it and the other needs to catch up. Also, if you’re going to keep the whole “train magic” thing, better world building is needed there. What makes train magic distinct from general magic? Where does it come from?

JUST GIVE IT A NUMERICAL RATING ALREADY

T: I feel like this episode isn’t huge in the fandom, and I didn’t remember it all that well, but damn I really enjoyed it. Like it’s not on anyone’s worst lists, but it’s never on best-ofs, either. I wonder if this were a season one or two episode, or if Vink appeared, if it wouldn’t be catapulted to top twenty-five material. Tim’s just really cute and Hank is involved in a great way, coupled with a genuinely unnerving ghost? I dig it. It’s not as good as “Water Demons” or “Ghastly Grinner” but I think it’s the third best episode of the season. 9.1 OUT OF 10 CAMPFIRES.

E: Holy shit! A Vink appearance would’ve been amazing. Alas. That said, there’s still a lot to like here. Cool train imagery, very solid villain, likable protagonists. I’m going with 9 OUT OF TEN CAMPFIRES.