[AYAOTD? Recap with Erin Callahan] 3.10 "The Tale of the Dream Girl"

RECAP

The gang scoffs when Sam says her story is about love, until she explains that love is scary. It’s what people live for...and sometimes what they die for.

Teenage siblings Erica and Johnny work at the local bowling alley, but everyone there acts like Johnny doesn’t exist. When he puts on a promise ring that he finds in his work locker, it won’t come off. That night, he dreams of a beautiful teenage girl. He sees the girl at the bowling alley the next day, then receives a love letter from her, signed by Donna Maitland. Johnny meets Donna at the bowling alley cafe at midnight, when the mysterious “night shift” is working. She asks him to come with her, but when he hesitates she explains it’s too late. When Johnny gets home, Erica shows him a newspaper clipping about Donna’s death in a car accident that happened when she was out with her boyfriend. Now terrified that a ghost is after him, Johnny decides to visit Donna’s grave to return her ring. Erica goes with him and tries to explain that Donna’s not after the ring. Eventually, Johnny realizes that Donna was his girlfriend and they both died in the accident. Johnny and Erica share a tearful goodbye and he gives her the ring before leaving with Donna.

Sam says Erica would always miss Johnny, but felt better knowing he was happy at last with the girl of his dreams.

REVIEW

T: Kiki crushes Tucker at arm wrestling. I love that he thinks he can take her. I doubt Frank can beat her.

E: Tucker is super cocky but in that young, spunky way that’s not yet obnoxious (he’ll get there in a few years though if he doesn’t check himself). And Kiki could probably kick a ninja’s ass.

T: Kiki and Tucker scoff at love. But Sam knows love is some scary shit. This barely skirts eye rolling territory to become a solid Midnight Society story setup.

E: I was ready to throw in the towel on this ep for a second, but Sam’s “love is scary” speech carries some serious adult truth.

T: Just the idea of an after school job at a bowling alley is fun. It’s not something you’d think of right away, but it makes sense. People do work at them.

E:  LOL. I mean, someone has to. It also works nicely with the mid-century vibe of this episode, but we’ll get to that.

T: In many ways, the episode’s success or failure rests on Johnny and Erica’s relationship. You have to feel for both of them and root for them, even if you don’t know their relationship is the center. Actors Fab Filippo and Andrea Nemeth look like siblings and pull off great performances. Andrea Nemeth only appeared in a few other shows, her last being the original Scary Movie. Fab Filippo did a three episode arc on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and ten episodes of Queer As Folk. He continues to perform, mostly on Canadian TV. And just so you know, Fab is short for Fabrizio.

E: Hang on a sec. You’re telling me his actual name is Fabrizio Filippo?? Damn. And I found both of them quite likable. They’re basically Canadian versions of Jason Priestly and America Ferrera. Canada Ferrera, if you will.

T: After gushing about them, I have to point out that Johnny straight up sits on Erica’s head. I don’t know if that was planned or just weird blocking, but it’s a great moment.

E: Considering he’s a ghost, it sort of works.

T: The dream strobe effect is so weird. But I think it works? The strobe is like this lightsaber thick beam that slides across the screen. I can’t think of ever seeing it like that anywhere else.

E: Same, though I wonder if they were trying to capture some Poltergeist energy? It’s not quite at that level, but I still dig it.

T: Erica’s bowling alley boss is the most insensitive man in the world, right? He basically says, “Hey, Erica, my life is so great because I haven’t had to replace your DEAD BROTHER!”

E: LOL. Right?! What an assface. Though that scene is one of several big clues that get dropped in this episode.

T: The 1960s tone is so well incorporated in an underscored way. Just compare it to “Tale of the Full Moon” which did a similar thing but in a completely different, overstated direction. Both work, both feel like AYAOTD?, which demonstrates how great anthology series can be. This is the first episode based on songs, 1960’s “Teen Angel” and 1961’s “Johnny Angel.” Besides Johnny Angelli’s name, there’s the whole teen lovers separated by automobile accident. For some reason, songs about teens dying in flames were pretty popular in the early ’60s.

E: I adore the way they pulled this off. The late ’50s and early ’60s were chock full of dead teenager stories, mostly in the form of tearjerker rock ballads. Fun fact: These teenage tragedy records were sometimes called “splatter platters.” Daaaaaaamn! Anyway, murder ballads have been popular since bascially the dawn of time, and this is the mid-century youth-culture response to that, made all the more popular by the death of James Dean. The imagery surrounding Donna and Johnny is ripped right out of one of those songs, and they amp it up at key moments, like the “night shift” scene at the bowling alley and in the graveyard. Johnny’s whole look is very mid-century heartthrob (James Dean, anyone?) and Donna’s got a timeless pretty girl thing going on.

T: Mean girl Cheryl is flipping psychic and she has no idea! Besides Erica, she’s the only one who even somewhat senses Johnny.

E: OMG, I didn’t even think about it that way! That’s an episode we need — bitchy popular girl perpetually harassed by ghosts who need her help. As if!

T: There could even be a shocking scene where she tells her therapist, “I see dead people!” (We’ll get to that reference in a minute.) Director David Winning does such a great job of making Johnny feel isolated in a crowded public space. And that PTSD distress is so realistic. How many people do you think died in that bowling alley to have a ghostly night shift?

E: No idea, but they’re the best thing in the whole episode, and possibly one of my all-time favorite things in the history of AYAOTD? They remind me a bit of the crew from “Whispering Walls,” but with a sassy mid-century vibe that speaks so very deeply to my weird little nostalgic heart. I want to write a short story about the waitress.

T: What is the misdirection here? The audience is supposed to think some dead girl is obsessed with Johnny and is dragging him into the afterlife? Actually, that would make a solid story without any sort of twist.

E: Yes, I think that’s the general idea. Johnny certainly seems to think Donna’s only after the ring, which is just hilarious. Get there faster, bro.

T: Major props to the props department. Back in the day, before home video and high def and all that, a lot of film and television would have gibberish in newspaper clippings or books. But if you pause the episode, the newspaper article goes into detail about Johnny and Donna and their accident.

E: Oh, that’s a lovely detail. And it would make a great fan poster!

T: I squeed when I saw the Ron Oil tombstone. This means the cemetery is the same one from “Old Man Corcoran.” And that got me thinking so I went back and watched the cemetery scene in “Dream Machine” and spotted an identical tombstone. I hope if there’s any more graveyard scenes in the series that it’s the same set. I also spotted a tombstone reading Bill Cutter, named after Bill Bonecutter, who was one of the very few behind the scenes people working on all seven seasons of the series. Actually, besides D.J. MacHale, I believe he was the only other person who worked on all 91 episodes from 1990 to 2001. He served as a creative consultant and oversaw all visual aspects of production. In TV, that covers everything you see on your screen. Casting, props, wardrobe, special effects, on and on and on. He came in through children’s programming in the 1980s and retired at the conclusion of the original series. He’s currently the chairman of Pawling Public Radio in New York.

E: His actual last name is Bonecutter? That’s almost better than Fabrizio Filippo.

T: This is one of those shows that makes me wish I could erase my memory and watch it again fresh. It’s ingrained in my memory so it’s hard to fairly judge how well the twist is pulled off. Knowing that Johnny’s dead from the start doesn’t distract at all though. It’s still a fun episode, especially being able to spot all the little clues throughout. Erin, did you remember the twist?

E: I barely remember this episode, but the twist was obvious to me from pretty early on. Then again, I think it’s supposed to be somewhat obvious so the audience feels Erica’s frustration.

T: Speaking of Erica, ouch, sis. “We can still be a family and go on living.” Poor word choice.

E: Ha! I’m gonna give her a pass on -- she’s got a lot going on emotionally.

T: Okay, I just have to say it. This is supposed to be a flipping kids TV show? Take out the Midnight Society wraparound, and you have a romantic horror short movie. Johnny and Donna are about eighteen and Erica’s around sixteen. They work, they deal with family and death. I just wonder what eleven-year-old in 1994 was this made for? And I say that loving that it exists.

E: To be fair, I loved content starring teens when I was a tween, and then not so much when I was an actual teen. I may barely remember this episode, but I bet eleven-year-old me freaking loved it.

QUEER OR NOT?

T: Elaine, the bowling alley cashier! Sure, she has no lines, but come on.

E: Oh Elaine! Get out of that small town bowling alley and run off to New York already, will ya? Also, let’s not forget about the guy who launched a thousand spatter platters and inspired Johnny’s look -- Mr. James Dean. He’s since become quite a queer icon.

TRIVIA, USELESS TRIVIA

T: This is like anti-trivia, but for the record, this episode did not inspire The Sixth Sense. “The protagonist is really dead and didn’t know it the whole time” is not invented here. There are many pre-’90s stories in which this happened. The 1972 Tales from the Crypt movie leaps to mind. Basically, there’s an internet story that says, “M. Night Shyamalan credits being a fan of AYAOTD? for inspiration in writing The Sixth Sense.” Only the original statement is nowhere to be found and there’s a documented interview in which he says he doesn’t recall ever watching AYAOTD? as a kid and doesn’t want to discount any influences but he doesn’t think he ever saw the episode. So, no, “Tale of the Dream Girl” didn’t inspire Sixth Sense, but that doesn’t take away from this episode at all.

E: I just love that you gave us a complete rundown of an internet controversy that probably played out over twenty years ago.

T: It still pops up! There’s a good chunk of fans who believe it.

MODERNIZE ’90s CANADIAN KIDS

T: It’s a ’60s story, so the time is sort of frozen there. Although the twist has been done to death (see what I did there?) so maybe I’d go with the more straightforward version of a ghost being obsessed with a loner? There’s material to be mined there.

E: A twist on the twist is definitely in need. Even though I guessed that Johnny was dead just a few minutes in, I thought maybe he’d died in the 1950s and that Erica was not actually his sister but some sort of good samaritan psychic who’d taken on the task of helping teenage ghosts figure their shit out. That could potentially shake things up, though I also dig the idea of a teenage ghost latching onto living boys who remind her of her long lost love.

T: How creepy would that be? Kind of like how Moaning Myrtle spies on the Hogwarts boys bathing when her spirit is fifty-something years old.

E: Yassssss. God, I love that pervy spook.

JUST GIVE IT A NUMERICAL RATING ALREADY

T: I just wrote at the end of my notes for this one 9. Yeah, that feels about right. The acting is above par. The script is not flawless, but fairly tight. David Winning’s directing is as solid as ever. Even dismissing the Sixth Sense urban legend, this is one of the more iconic episodes of the series. Personal taste, I prefer something with a strong villain, higher stakes, or campy weirdness. That said, I’m sticking to the very respectable 9 OUT OF 10 CAMPFIRES.

E: Some of the imagery here is just so vivid and iconic. I’ll second your 9 OUT OF 10 CAMPFIRES.