[AYAOTD? Recap with Erin Callahan] Season 3 Episode 6 "The Tale of the Bookish Babysitter"

RECAP

Betty Ann brings a book to the meeting and tells the Midnight Society that “it's a person's imagination that gets them into a story.” She then explains, “Unless you're very careful, you might also need your imagination to get out of it.”

Even though Ricky is twelve and content to sit in front of the tube all night, his mom hires a babysitter with a stellar reputation. Gothy Belinda shows up and tells Ricky she’ll leave him alone for the rest of the night if he reads aloud for five minutes. Ricky starts several stories—one about a witch and one about a knight—and quickly gets bored with them. Having met his end of the bargain, Ricky goes off to his room to play video games but is interrupted by a knight with a sword. He runs to the kitchen to find Belinda, but soon realizes it’s actually a witch disguised as Belinda. Ricky eventually finds the real Belinda, who explains he’ll need to use his imagination to finish the stories if he wants the witch and the knight to go away. After a few false starts, Ricky eventually gets “into the story” and vanquishes the witch and the knight. Belinda leaves with a book titled The Dark Tomb, written by Ricky Winters, and explains to Ricky’s mom that she’s already been paid.

When Tucker snatches the book out of Betty Ann’s hands, he turns to a page that’s about him snatching the book out of Betty Ann’s hands. Well played, Betty Ann.

REVIEW

T: Dear Frank: Just stop. He calls Sam “babe” and insists on carrying the firewood, which I assume she chopped and collected. I hate his actions, but I love her reactions (and so do Kiki and Betty Ann). Crush his toes!

E: Frank’s in peak ’90s macho guy mode and the girls are having none of it. Sam handles this so well, finally agreeing to let Frank play the tough guy only so he can drop a pile of firewood on his feet. Classic.

T: Tucker’s, “Hey, what’s that? A book?” isn’t the first time a Midnight Society member talks like they’re just waking up from a coma, but at least Kiki gives him shit for asking it.

E: LOL — well said. I get that sometimes dialogue has to clue the audience into what’s happening on screen but jeezus. It’s obvious to everyone that it’s a book, except Tucker, apparently.

T: Clearly, Frank doesn’t understand what meta-fiction is. “Say what?”

E: Frank has told some great stories but he might want to start paying more attention in English class. Betty Ann clearly understands that the Midnight Society isn’t reinventing the wheel, they’re pulling from a long, longgggggg history of storytelling. Plus, Frank would probably dig Shirley Jackson, amirite?

T: I always thought The Haunting of Hill House needed Dr. Vink…

E: Basically every story needs Dr. Vink.

T: The costume department must love yellow and black plaid shirts. Ricky’s shirt is basically the same one worn by Todd in “Magician’s Assistant” and Chris in “Phone Police.” Now I’m going to be on the lookout for it.

E: Wow, I’ve never noticed this but you’re right. I’m not sure I remember anyone wearing yellow and black plaid in the ’90s, but it does kinda pop on screen.

T: I can’t stand entitled brats, so I’m not exactly a fan of Ricky. I appreciate his single mom’s struggle with him. At least she doesn’t coddle him.

E: We’re supposed to hate Ricky, right? This is one of those episodes where we root for the antagonist until the so-called protagonist learns a lesson. Like the twerpy kid from “Laughing in the Dark” who gets served by a dead clown. Except here I like Belinda even more than Zeebo. She’s exactly the kind of pre-Hot Topic witchy-gothy weirdo that I strived to be as a young teen. Why, for the love of god, did I never think to buy a hooded cape? Fun fact: I once came to school wearing fishnet stockings and Doc Martens and some kid asked me, “Are you gonna be one of those chicks who’s always, like, thinking about death and stuff?” I should’ve challenged him to a game of Jumanji. *shakes head* So many missed opportunities.

T: So that’s why you rocked Draculina in last year’s Murder Mystery Party!

E: Yup. That was just me, living my teenage dream in my mid-thirties.

T: “Hey, I don’t want to get to know you!” Ricky is fairly observant at least.

E: We don’t want to get to know you either, Ricky! We want to see you tormented until you stop acting like a live-action Cartman! Also, is anyone under the age of thirty named Ricky these days? It feels like a very late-80s/early-90s name to me.

T: Fake Belinda burning books is a great fake out. If you stop and think about it, obviously the book enthusiast isn’t burning books, but you’re so caught up in the moment, that you don’t have much time to think.

E: Agreed! And the transformation from Fake Belinda to hideous witch is both hilarious and kind of scary. I like that she still has Belinda’s spiky blonde bangs.

T: Ricky reading the story in real time is a fun gag. And opening up the story to the castle from the suburbs gives you that feeling of books opening windows to other worlds.

E: Ooooh -- I love that!

T: The witch is cut and killed on screen. That’s very rare for the series, though I’m sure they justified it because she’s a “fictional” character in world.

E: She also bleeds glowing green slime, so there’s that. I couldn’t help but think of another Canadian classic, You Can’t Do That On Television.

T: *in best Charleton Heston in Soylent Green voice* Spunge is witch’s blood! It’s witch’s blood!

E: Holy schnikes!

T: I do bitch about Ricky not being likeable, but he has some genuinely funny lines, and I do root for him in the end once he gives into the book world, even if there’s “too many words.”

E: Honestly, if he didn’t have an adorable affinity for Medieval nerdery, he’d be dead to me. But the message in this story is great. Use your imagination, kiddos! It’s free and it won’t rot your brain! Also! Swords are always cooler than guns!

T: Guns are also usually the product of lazy writing.

E: Precisely!

T: Betty Ann sets Tucker up with a fake page from her book. And this was back in the day when you couldn’t get self-printed books off Amazon. She had to have that printed somewhere! Props, girl.

E: There’s such an impressive level of creativity and planning to Betty Ann’s pranks. You just know she’d destroy in a college prank war.

QUEER OR NOT?

T: I hate to dwell on it, but Frank calling out Sam for not falling into his preconceived notion of gender roles should be mentioned. I’m not sure yet how Sam will read moving forward, but she’s coming across as feminine tomboy, as opposed to Kiki’s masculine tomboy?

E: Dwell away! I don’t love the term tomboy or the whole “she’s a tomboy” trope because it’s problematic for a thousand reasons, but I think you’re right about what the writers were trying to accomplish here. Luckily, at no point is it ever hinted at that Kiki or Sam’s stereotypically masculine traits are “just a phase.” Plus, I love that we get three very different girls in this season who aren’t afraid to call guys like Frank out on their shit.

T: Belinda’s a lesbian witch, right? And then it’s a man playing the witch dressed up like her? I can’t help but wonder if Betty Ann included this to screw with Frank’s gender issues since Sam’s her bestie.

E: LOL -- I love this reading! And Belinda definitely has queer vibes.

TRIVIA, USELESS TRIVIA

T: The calendar’s on October, so I head canon this was Betty Ann’s planned Halloween tale, but then Tucker stole her thunder with “Tale of the Midnight Ride.”

E: No wonder she’s pranking the shit out of him.

MODERNIZE ’90s CANADIAN KIDS

T: Bratty kids learning to not be little jerks from a witchy babysitter? That could still work today. I’d lean into modern tech though and have Belinda be a TV host --like a Reading Rainbow type situation --to blend the meta fun of TV/books. And I’d have to give Ricky some backstory for why he’s so irritating so the audience would root for him. Oh, what if – and I’m not saying this is a backstory or glamorizing it – what if Ricky’s dyslexic? So he struggles to read, and he goes through this journey and comes to understand that it’s okay to ask for help with reading? Something along those lines might make him likeable and be a positive message.

E: Haaaaaa! I like how you went straight from a Black Mirror-for-tweens proposal to a PSA about learning disabilities. Let’s keep the black and yellow flannel. It really pops on screen. :)

JUST GIVE IT A NUMERICAL RATING ALREADY

T: The problem for me with this episode is it’s kind of forgettable. I never think of “The Tale of the Bookish Babysitter” unless it’s on the screen in that moment. I was just talking to my mom about this sort of thing while we were watching Survivor. This last season’s been all winners, and we both said there’s one who we both like, but always forget exists. Then she’s giving a confessional and we remember her and like her. Thirty seconds later, we’re not thinking about her at all. It’s not bad. I’m going to say 6 for it’s forgetableness, but Belinda bumps it up a notch to 7 OUT OF 10 CAMPFIRES.

E: Belinda is a goddamned treasure in a hooded cape, Troyson! Plus I really dig the meta stuff and watching live-action Cartman get tormented with book-based Jumanji. 8 OUT OF TEN CAMPFIRES.