[AYAOTD? Recap with Erin Callahan] Episode 3.2 -- "The Tale of Apartment 214"

RECAP

Newbie Tucker tries to figure out what the campfire dust is made out of (psst...it’s non-dairy creamer, kid), then Frank arrives exhausted from helping a friend move and very predictably threatens Tucker with physical violence. Kiki then conveniently tells a story about moving to a new place and keeping promises.

Stacy’s parents have just split up, forcing Stacy and her mom to move into a cramped apartment across town (ain’t that just the way?). Upon moving in, Stacy notices the door to apartment 214 keeps randomly opening. Stacy initially tries to make friends with her aloof teenager neighbor, but then has more luck with elderly Madeline, the mysterious resident of 214. Stacy and Madeline enjoy tea together on the regular, and Madeline asks Stacy to stop by on a particular day, because it’s a day that Madeline doesn’t like to be alone. Stacy flakes on her plans with Madeline when her teenage neighbor reveals she has an extra ticket to the battle of the bands. When Stacy tries to visit Madeline after the show, she has a terrifying vision of Madeline and then finds the apartment empty. The building manager reveals that apartment 214 has been empty for years. Later, Stacy is lured into apartment 214 again, where Madeline reveals that she’s been dead for ten years, and Stacy broke her promise to visit on Madeline’s deathiversary. Stacy apologizes and convinces her mom to move into apartment 214.

Gary declares the meeting closed, but then loses his cool when he realizes Tucker has stolen both the dust pouch and the water bucket.

REVIEW

T: I thought Sam would be showing up this week, but at least Gary checks in on Betty Ann about new membership. And then Frank threatens to decapitate Tucker and keep his head alive I think?

E: LOL -- wowwww. That’s a somewhat extreme interpretation of Frank’s comment, but I’ll take it. I still don’t understand the level of rage directed at Tucker. I had a kid brother but maybe we were far enough apart in age that I never found him annoying enough to threaten his physical well-being?

T: Maybe it was different with you and your bro because of the gender difference? If you had a bratty younger sis, you’d probably beat the crap out of her. Probably not, knowing your personality, but I do think it’s different with same gender siblings.

E: Fair point. The girls do seem generally less annoyed by Tucker.

T: Kiki likes moving? Who on Earth likes to move? Kristen and David just moved out of town, and now Kiki’s all into people moving. Did losing two friends inspire this tale of loneliness?

E: Literally every time I move I say that I’m never going to move again which, of course, is a lie. Though I will admit that I enjoy the fresh start feeling that comes with ditching all the crap that’s been just sitting in your basement or the back of the drawer for years, so I can kind of relate to Kiki’s excitement over solving the mystery of a new place.

T: First thing’s first, I hate this episode. There’s nothing worse than making a nice old lady sad. I’m not going to go so far as to say that it triggers me, because I don’t have any sort of personal history connection to depressing sweet old ladies, but it bothers me. That’s to say, the show does a good job. It’s not as much fun for me to watch because of that, but not every episode in an anthology has to be fun.

E: I’m fascinated by your reaction here. I LOVE this episode and I think it has some of the most effective tension-building we’ve seen yet. But sometimes storytelling that you can objectively acknowledge is good just hits you in a weird way. Something can be good and also NOT FOR YOU.

T: Stacy’s parents are splitting up, and now I’m really worried that Kiki’s parents are! Kiki clearly bases her protags on herself so I’m keeping my fingers crossed that her next story will have both parents. I probably wouldn’t be so invested in her parents, but I picture them from “The Tale of the Captured Souls” and I want them happy.

E: Awww. I love that you’re personally invested in a fictional couple you’ve never even seen on screen. And I get what you’re saying here, but can I just say that as a divorced lady I want my kid to be exposed to media that includes well-adjusted and happy kids of divorced families. This episode is a good example of a mom and kid going through a tough time and making the best of it. Oof, my feels.

T: I absolutely agree with you on that front. Sort of like “Tale of the Full Moon” this is about a non-traditional family forming. Here, we have a happy ending forming around a new family dynamic of a single mom, her tween daughter, and a friendly old ghost.

E: Yes! I love that comparison.

T: The creepy door bit works well enough to infuse some tension in the first act. I’m not sure why, but the second act feels ominous somehow even though things are going well for everyone.

E: I adore the tension-building tactics here. The creak of the door. The flickering lights. Madeline’s shadow lurking in the window. It reminds me of the creepy bath scene from “Frozen Ghost,” but they really milk it here. And I think most fans of horror (and fiction in general) understand that when things are going well for the protag in the second act, it means everything is about to go to shit.

T: Angela is a poor version of Cousin Beth. Stacy asks her if she wants to hang out sometime, and she replies, “Maybe.” Like, what is it dependent on, Angela?

E: I’m sure this wasn’t the intention of the writers/showrunner, but when Angela was first introduced, I literally turned to my boyfriend and said, “Is she racist?” She’s obviously supposed to be another aloof cool girl, but I couldn’t stop myself from reading a subtle undercurrent of racism her dismissive ’tude.

T: Interesting. Knowing how much Nickelodeon at the time and D.J. MacHale and others were invested in diverse representation, I’m 100% certain any racist subtones were unintentional.

E: Agreed. This is totally just me projecting my 21st century viewpoints onto a decades-old show.

T: I love that Angela’s all into the generic “Battle of the Bands.”

E: Gawd, this seems like SUCH a remnant of the last century to me. Now they all just have Sound Clouds, right?

T: What do you think of Madeline’s painting style? At first, I’m like, production couldn’t have sprung for a better artist? But the more I look at her work, the more it reminds me of children’s books, which fits with her character.

E: Very good point. There’s something both creepy and cute about her work. Also, it establishes that she was talented, but probably not talented enough to have been a real success in the art world. Thus she died alone in her apartment. *sobs into the void*

T: So, am I right in assuming that Stacy’s mom doesn’t bother to meet the neighbor her young daughter is spending every afternoon with?

E: *give Troy side-eye* Did you just engage in mom-shaming? Like, Stacy’s mom has shit going on.

T: I shame no one, but come on. If your daughter was hanging out with your next door neighbor, you’re telling me you wouldn’t check it out at least once? If I were remaking this episode, I’d at least address this.

E: Given the prevalence of helicopter-parenting, you have a point. That said, Stacy is a teenager. She should be allowed to go make friends without her mom butting in.

T: Crying Madeline in the empty apartment is genuinely scary. And her stalking Stacy through the apartment is some of the most frightening imagery in the entire series. Oh, and that spinning camera work around Stacy and the painting with the room filling out is perfection.

E: For reals. The direction and editing here is ON POINT.

T: Since you brought it up, this episode was written and directed by Scott Peters, who co-created The 4400 and has written and directed on The Gifted, Marvel’s Runaways, Batwoman, etc. This is the only episode of AYAOTD? that he directed, but he also wrote “The Tale of Old Man Corcoran” and four more episodes in seasons four and five (including the famous Ryan Gosling ep).

E: Amazing! He’s clearly another AYAOTD? success story.

T: I love the turn when Madeline shows how much she still cares about Stacy and asks if she did make a friend. Yay, happy ending that somewhat alleviates all the anxiety this episode built up!

E: This is the “kid’s TV” ending and I’m totally okay with it. If this were for adults, Stacy would’ve gotten trapped in Madeline’s apartment for all of eternity, forced to live with her broken promise. AYAOTD? rarely embraces such dark endings, though there have been some exceptions, like “Nightly Neighbors” and “Dark Music.”

T: What you described is not just an adult ending, but a Gary ending! “Super Specs” and “Pinball Wizard” end with the protags trapped forever. Yes, most episodes end well, but the fact that the show sometimes has “bad” endings means there’s always a risk it won’t turn out well.

E: Oooooooh — you’re totally right! Gary’s got some nihilism lurking beneath that nerdy facade.

T: And I love how Kiki throws her arm over Tucker like he’s her little brother. She might be the only member of the Midnight Society, Gary included, who likes Tucker.

E: It kind of makes sense, right? They both enjoy mischief.

T: Oh, we never talked about the Russian landlord! What did you think of him? And I just realized this story features three adults and two children. It might be the only episode so far where there’s more adults than kids.

E: Because he has a full name (Tibold Holstrom!) and is just generally, like, suuuuper weird, I fully expected him to be a more central part of the plot. It doesn’t really make sense that he would be Madeline’s nephew because of his accent, but I thought that’s where we were headed. Instead he’s just a hilariously strange tertiary character. Maybe they just told the actor to run with it.

QUEER OR NOT?

T: Well, it’s a Kiki story, so she has Stacy screwing up trying to impress another girl instead of a cute boy. You know if Kristen was telling the story, Angela would be a neck-tie sporting, tight blue jeans wearing sensitive boy.

E: OMG, I’m dying. You are sooooo right.

T: And Madeline being a single older woman who never married doesn’t surprise me appearing in a Kiki story.

E: I wish Madeline weren’t such an unhappy queer-coded spinster, but I guess it all works out in the end.

TRIVIA, USELESS TRIVIA

T: I can’t think of a single tidbit of trivia about this episode, so here’s something personal. Obviously, I know about Eric, Kristen, David, and other Midnight Society members who haven’t appeared yet, but when I think about the series from my childhood, this is the line-up that comes to mind. Gary, Tucker, Kiki, Betty Ann, and Frank. Since Tucker isn’t officially a member until the last minute of the premiere, and Sam appears next week, that exact line-up only appears in this episode.

E: I love personal trivia!

T: I thought of something after all. Frank mentions having a brother, and actor Jason Alisharen not only has a brother, but he will appear in an episode this season! Boom. Trivia.

E: Hot damn, Troyson. Also! There were apparently AYAOTD? collector cards stuffed into boxes of breakfast cereal at some point in the ’90s (for the love of god, someone DM us if you have pics of these). According to Kiki’s collector card, this was her favorite story.

T: Yaasssss! Someday, we’ll have to put together an article about all the AYAOTD? merchandise they made. There was also a board game, a computer game, a book series, and three books on tape—one was a choose your own adventure—narrated by Gary, Kiki and Betty Ann.

MODERNIZE ’90s CANADIAN KIDS

T: I just can’t get over Stacy’s mom being in the episode so much without wondering about Madeline. I’d address that in a modernization, and figure out how to deal with technology. Because Stacy could have just texted Madeline today. Ghosts get texts, right?

E: I totally didn’t just literally write a novel where a ghost lives in someone’s phone and communicates via text or anything. Oh wait, I did! So yeah, totally on board with that idea, though I wouldn’t want to lose the tension-building accomplished by the creepy hallway shots and the door creaking open. And Stacy’s mom is definitely oblivious, but divorce takes up a lot of mental bandwidth.

JUST GIVE IT A NUMERICAL RATING ALREADY

T: I almost ranked this lower because the sad old lady of it all bothers me so much, but it’s such an effective episode. I’m feeling a solid 8 OUT OF 10 CAMPFIRES.

E: I love this one! Happy ending aside, it’s one of the scariest episodes yet. That said, I’m docking one point for the ridiculousness of the building manager. 9 OUT OF 10 CAMPFIRES.