[AYAOTD? Recap with Erin Callahan] Episode 2.8 "The Tale of the Frozen Ghost"

RECAP

The Midnight Society gather during a heatwave and Kristen tells a chilling tale to help the crew beat the heat.

While his parents are away at a wedding, rich kid Charles is sent with his sassy babysitter, Daphne, to stay with two quirky aunts he’s never met before. The chauffeur drops them off in the middle of nowhere. The aunts welcome them by candlelight and they head to bed for the night. In the morning, the aunts explain they have no electricity because they’re too poor to pay the bills. When Daphne suggests borrowing money from Charles’s parents, the aunts explain there was a family feud over a farmhand hired by Charles’s great-grandfather who turned out to be a bank robber.

That night, Charles has a strange nightmare about hiding in a log from a nefarious-looking man and is jolted awake by a ghostly voice. His window blows open and when he looks outside, he sees the ghost of a young boy saying, “I’m cold.” The next morning, the aunts reveal they’ve seen the ghost too, and explain that a neighbor boy froze to death on the farm long ago.

Daphne and Charles happen upon the ghost while attempting to chop wood. He leads them to the log, where they find his missing jacket and an antique key, which turns out to be the latch for the stove pipe. Once the missing latch opens the flue, the bank robber’s stash spills out and the aunts’ money troubles are solved.

Gary declares the meeting of the “Heatwave Society” closed.

REVIEW

Troy: OK, it’s been a couple weeks, clearly we need another Kristen episode. And it’s her best episode yet. Buckle up, Erin, ’cause I’ve got great things to say about Kristen in this one.

Erin: Whaaaaaaaat?? Who are you and what have you done with Troy? Kidding, kidding. I get it! This one has many of the classic Kristen-story elements -- complex family-drama backstory, spunky-pretty teen girl, sad ghost who needs to be saved -- but (almost everything) is sharpened in a way that works to very impressive effect.

T: She’s not cosplaying (more than wearing a coat), and she’s not late! And she even throws the dust herself.

E: For the record, I have never had a problem with Kristen’s Queen of the Drama Club schtick.

T: David’s little “Heatwave Society” is cute, but the line begs the question: What’s up with his uncle’s pool?

E: I suspect he assumed no one but Kristen would take him up on this offer, resulting in some sort of default date?

T: After the season premier with Bobcat Goldthwait, we have our second special guest star of the series in Melissa Joan Hart! This was in the height of Clarissa Explains It All and two years before she’d star in Sabrina. And then continue to be amazing. Unlike Bobcat, she’s perfectly cast here. Full disclosure to anyone reading (Erin already knows): I flipping love Melissa Joan Hart so much. She’s one of my all-time favorite actresses; she’s consistently been an important fixture of my TV entertainment my entire life. And this begs the question, do I like this episode more because she’s in it, or do I love her more because she’s in this episode? Impossible to tell.

E: I ADORED Clarissa Explains It All and I love that she’s not just playing a Clarissa clone here. She’s clearly got some range, unlike a certain silly-voiced comedian who shall not be named. So back to your question...it could really go either way? I think in this case you have a solid episode bolstered by a solid special guest star appearance.

T: This is the second episode in a row to feature a babysitter. Although Daphne’s younger than Julie and is part of the core duo.

E: I picked up on this too and it made me wonder if Whispering Walls would’ve been even better if the writers had ditched one of the siblings and given the babysitter a bigger role.

T: Speaking of the duo, Charles AKA Little Lord Fauntleroy is great. He’s privileged but not snobby. And the relationship between him and Daphne feels like a brother/sister one.

E: LOL — solid reference, though that is my least favorite Frances Hodgson Burnett novel. But you’re right. Both these characters are surprisingly nuanced for a twenty-minute episode. Charles isn’t just a rich brat and Daphne isn’t just a Valley Girl from the wrong side of the tracks. Their dynamic is so interesting and I love that Daphne refuses to buy into Charles’s occasional nonsense. Though he was right about the ghost. Joke’s on you, Daphne.

T: There’s some genuine laughs in this one. The hosts/ghosts bit starts it off and it keeps rolling.

E: True, but the vibe is SO WEIRD. Like, what kind of parents ship their kid off to stay with two wacky aunts he’s never met when there’s still a family feud at play?? Do you think Kristen was inspired by a personal experience?

T: Maybe? The aunts could be unreliable narrators, too. What if the feud is only one-sided and Charles’ parents love the aunts? On the flipside of the humor, Charles’ bath is creepy as fuck.

E: So creepy. That whole scene is shot incredibly well. The shadows. The whispers. The lightbulb. Eek! I love that the lack of electricity is both a part of the plot and a way to build the eerie atmosphere.

T: The little ghost boy just needing his jacket to be warm is heartbreaking.

E: Christ, it really is. The “I’m cold” line is iconic. There. Are. So. Many. Memes. Also, I love that the very poignant jacket scene is immediately preceded by Charles’s hilarious slow-mo face plant into the puddle.

T: I think this is the second episode, after “Locker 22,” not to have a villain, but it’s the complete opposite of it. I feel connected to the characters and emotionally invested in the story.

E: Hungry Hounds and Prom Queen also don’t have true villains. With the exception of Final Wish, that seems to be one of Kristen’s signatures.

T: Oh yeah. I guess I was just thinking about this season. That’s a good observation about Kirsten’s storytelling though!

QUEER OR NOT?

T: The spinster aunts are pretty queer coded. I’m not saying there’s any incest in this one, but it wouldn’t take much at all to make one of them Charles’ aunt, and the other her “roommate.”

E: Totally! They are the cutest non-lesbian lesbian couple ever! Now I want an episode where the two of them gather herbs and practice Chaotic Neutral magic by candlelight.

T: And then there’s Little Lord Fauntleroy. The dynamic between Charles and Daphne reads very queer to me. He’s prissy and she’s “the help” but I can see them being BFFs when he comes out to her in a few years and she supports him when his parents disown him.

E: Awww. I LOVE that sentiment. Oof, my feels. Now I think we need a spinoff where they team up and solve mysteries.

T: Daphne Solves It All?

E: Yasssssssssss.

TRIVIA, USELESS TRIVIA

T: Michael Caloz who plays the titular frozen ghost voiced characters on Arthur for three years back in the ’90s. That’s back when Jodie Resther (Kiki) started voicing Francine on the show. Twenty-three years later, and Jodie Resther’s still on Arthur.

E: Hold up a sec -- Jodie Resther is Francine??? Shut the front door. How did I not know this?

MODERNIZE ’90s CANADIAN KIDS

T: This is another isolated episode, which naturally requires less modernizing.

E: You’re mostly right but, good god, you are basically the laziest modernizer ever. At minimum, you’d need a bit more explanation here about the old-school stove. Modern kids, even those who read Harry Potter, don’t really know what a flue is. Also, I’m not sure a modern audience would buy the pile of gold coins that spills out of the stove once the flue is opened, so maybe that whole bit needs to be reworked.

T: A “lazy modernizer,” how dare you, madam! OK, how about this - Charles’ parents are tech moguls who think his aunts are losing their minds talking about ghosts, so they outfit the spooky old house with a SmartHouse app that controls temperature and security and everything. But after Charles and Daphne arrive, the ghost possesses the app and cranks the AC to freeze them until they find the discarded wood stove in the basement - the aunts explain how the stove works but that they don’t have the key. The end can play out similarly by going out for firewood and finding the jacket after having a mud fight. Is that better?

E: *slow clap*

JUST GIVE IT A NUMERICAL RATING ALREADY

T: This is a masterful story told by Kristen. This is what I wished she brought every week. Brava, brava. I loved everything about this. Period. 10 OUT OF 10 CAMPFIRES.

E: Your newfound Kristen love is infectious! I’ll also go with 10 OUT OF 10 CAMPFIRES.