[AYAOTD? Recap with Erin Callahan] Episode 2.13 "The Tale of Old Man Corcoran"

RECAP

The Midnight Society start the meeting off with a game of hide-and-seek, and Kiki explains why it’s not just a “dumb kids’ game.”

Brothers Jack and Kenny are the new kids in town. While in the midst of an epic squirt-gun battle, they’re approached by a group of neighborhood kids who invite them to play a nighttime game of hide-and-seek at the end of the street. Jack and Kenny reluctantly go and find--gasp!--a cemetary. The neighborhood kids introduce themselves with their full names (weird) and then tell Jack and Kenny about Old Man Corcoran, the harmonica-playing groundskeeper who got accidentally buried when a grave caved in and now haunts the cemetery (very weird). The game begins and soon Jack and Kenny are wandering through spooky fog and hearing harmonica in the distance. They eventually run right into Old Man Corcoran, who asks what they’re doing in the cemetery. They explain they’re playing hide-and-seek and list off all the neighborhood kids. Old Man Corcoran chides them for lying and reveals that all those kids are dead and buried. It slowly dawns on Jack and Kenny that they were playing hide-and-seek with a bunch of ghosts who were trying to lure them into an early grave.

Kiki finishes the story and the Midnight Society resume their game of hide-and-seek.

REVIEW

T: It’s a Kiki episode so we get POC protagonists! I love the diversity on this show and that it’s not limited to Kiki episodes, but it’s strongest when she’s the storyteller.

E: Yes! It shouldn’t be so refreshing but it is? More showrunners and casting directors should’ve taken a cue from early-90s kids’ TV.

T: Jack and Kenny are instantly likeable. Jack’s a solid big brother and Kenny just wants to make friends. That’s pretty universal traits for viewers to latch onto. The acting is pretty decent, too, but Kenny is a total arms actor. His limbs flop around like a wacky inflatable arms man throughout the episode.

E: Is that what you call those things?? Wacky inflatable arms men? Love it. And I love these two protags. They’re likable, but also flawed and occasionally annoying in a way that comes off as very realistic and relatable. They’re kind of a likable version of Denny and Buzz from “Phantom Cab.” Instead of a bully and burgeoning serial killer, we get a brother who wants to be the mature tough-guy, and a brother who wants to have fun and make friends but is willing to admit when he’s scared shitless.

T: Marshall’s group is the cutest biker gang ever.

E: I was instantly smitten with them and their whole Goonies/Sandlot vibe. Their introduction is so effective because they’re adorable, but in a way that seems a little bit wrong, like they’re a relic from an era gone by. It’s such a subtle but effective bit of foreshadowing.

T: This episode really gets right to it. They intro the brothers and get them right to the graveyard.

E: This is exactly the kind of pacing that works brilliantly for twenty-minute storytelling.

T: Old Man Corcoran is genuinely creepy. He’s filmed like he’s some slasher killer. And that flashlight bit with Jack handing it off, but not to Kenny, is fantastic.

E: There are many cheap, thoughtless jump scares in the history of horror. This isn’t one of them.

T: This is such a simple story – two brothers meet ghosts who play games with them in a cemetery; that’s it – but it works. One of the great things about anthology series is how one episode can be a convoluted mess and another can be one simple idea done very well.

E: This definitely feels like one that’s meant for the twenty-minute time slot, while we’ve noted that others felt like they could’ve been feature-length films. That said, this is one of those stories that could easily be expanded. It works great as is, but there’s a lot of backstory that’s hinted at, kind of like “Whispering Walls.”

T: This doesn’t feel like a season finale. “The Tale of the Pinball Wizard” was season one’s biggest episode, so that makes sense. The biggest guest star at the time, Bobcat Goldthwait, appears in the season premiere. Today, it would be reversed. I’m pretty sure for the rest of the series, season premieres are given more weight than finales, which are treated as regular episodes.

E: Hmmmm. I wonder if this fits in with overarching trends in television? At some point it seems like season finales became a much bigger deal than season premieres, but I’m not quite sure when that shift happened.

T: I know Buffy the Vampire Slayer didn’t pioneer it, but each season had its own story arc that ended usually with a two-parter. Around that time (2000, right?), I seem to remember more and more shows taking that approach and making season finales a thing.

E: Yeah that sounds about right.

T: The ending twist that the kids are all dead is well choreographed but it doesn’t hammer home the sinister aspect. If you step back and think about it, Marshall’s trying to kill Jack and Kenny so they’ll be with them forever, right? Cissy’s upset, not because she’s a jerk, but because she doesn’t want innocent strangers to die.

E: That was exactly my take, but I actually think the show does a great job of hinting at this in a really interesting way, but also leaving it open to interpretation. The unexpected divergence between Cissy and Marshall is fascinating--there could be a whole other episode here, but at the same time I don’t feel unsatisfied. Though someone should write a Cissy and Marshall fanfic, right? Any volunteers?

QUEER OR NOT?

T: It’s a Kiki episode, so of course we get a queer-coded girl. Cissy Vernon is everything, and I wish she was in every episode.

E: My god do I love Cissy’s whole Tomboy With a Heart of Gold thing. Classic. Again, where is the fanfic??

T: There’s also some awkward male touching going on with the Midnight Society. Frank comforts David by clutching his shoulder and standing about half an inch away from him for a solid twenty seconds. That doesn’t sound like a lot, but touch someone and count out twenty seconds. It’s a long time.

E: Oooooh, I didn’t even notice this. Do you think it made Gary jealous???

T: Yes. Hopefully it’ll inspire a Gary story next season.

TRIVIA, USELESS TRIVIA

T: If Cissy Vernon looks familiar, it’s because actress Tamar Kozlov played spunky little sister Kathy in “The Tale of Laughing in the Dark.”

E: Anyone who regularly reads these recaps knows I’m a massive Kathy fan. So glad that Tamar is back to play another lovable spitfire.

T: If Old Man Corcoran himself looks familiar, it’s because actor David Francis played ghost Giles in “The Tale of the Hungry Hounds.” Usually, actors are made to look and act very different when they return, like Kathy/Cissy, but Giles is a precursor to Old Man Corcoran. I wonder if they did this to make Old Man Corcoran feel even more ghost-like, by evoking a ghost from earlier in the series.

E: Seems totally plausible!

T: The brothers hide behind a gravestone for Ron Oil as a shout out to director Ron Oliver.

 E: I adore this little inside joke. What’s the point of making TV if you’re not having fun?

MODERNIZE ’90s CANADIAN KIDS

T: This one’s hard. Hide-and-go-seek is timeless, but also dated. The brothers even question kids their age still playing it, which plays into the fact that they’re dealing with older spirits. I could even see ditching hide-and-go-seek and having modern Canadian kids partying in a graveyard.

E: I actually love that aspect of it and the foreshadowing that results, plus I don’t think hide-and-seek will ever truly die (my five-year-old LOVES it). *puts on literary nerd hat* Horror novels for nine to thirteen-year-old readers are so hot right now, this makes me want to write a contemporary take on this tale with the darkness turned up to eleven. But I’d make Cissy the leader of the ghost gang.

JUST GIVE IT A NUMERICAL RATING ALREADY

T: What a fun episode. Still, there’s really no stakes. The brothers think they’re in danger for a few minutes, but they’re really not. And what’s up with these ghosts? They can leave their cemetery and speak and touch things and leave their graves empty, but only sometimes? Only dead kids join the gang, except for Kenny and Jack? It feels like there are plot holes I can’t quite put my finger on. 8 OUT OF 10 CAMPFIRES.

E: Okay, yeah. This one could definitely use some work in the world-building department. But a child-ghost gang that’s both charming and just a little bit off? For me, it’s the Mon Petit Rouge of season two. I can’t help myself. 9 OUT OF 10 CAMPFIRES.