[AYAOTD? Recap with Erin Callahan] S04E08 "The Tale of the Room for Rent"

RECAP

Sam holds up storytime because she’s writing a card for her grandmother’s birthday. When Frank asks why she doesn’t just put it off, she tells a story about why you should never put anything off...because you never know how much time you have.

Jessie lives with her grandpa, Samuel, who has recently moved out of his bedroom upstairs so he can “take it easy.” Despite Jesse’s objections, he decides to rent out his old room to bring in some money. On the way home from a movie, Jesse and her friend Alex stop by the local psychic’s house. Through a window, they see Sara asleep in her chair, and a ghostly man dropping down from her ceiling. The next day, a man shows up at Jesse’s house to rent the room. She’s horrified when she realizes it’s the ghost she saw at Sara’s house. Sara explains to Jessie and Alex that she was doing a welcoming meditation for spirits who have unfinished business. Before the next full moon, the spirit will need to possess the body of another to complete its business. The ghost in Jesse’s house appears bent on possessing Samuel. When Alex and Jessie go to Sara for help, they see an old photo and uncover a wartime soap opera. Turns out Sara, Samuel, and a man named Jacob were in a classic love triangle and Jessie’s grandpa is responsible for Jacob’s death! Jacob wants to possess Samuel and keep his body when the full moon arrives, so that he and Sara can be together. Jessie saves the day with her grandpa’s old diary, which reveals that he was trying to save Jacob’s life. Jacob leaves Samuel’s body, and Samuel and Sara get a fresh start together.

Betty Ann says that it’s sad Samuel and Sara lost so many years together, and Sam responds that nothing is ever lost, it just “comes back in a different way.”

REVIEW

T: Sam is the best. “Hold on guys, at this midnight meeting in the woods, I need to write a birthday card to my grandmother. Give me ten minutes.” Girl’s got to take care of business.

E: Considering women and girls of the ’90s were frequently told that establishing any kind of boundary would result in them being labeled high-maintenance, or a bitch, or crazy (or all three), I LOVE that the girls on this show establish boundaries. Betty Ann stuck to her guns in the last episode when Kiki and Frank tried to sneak into a movie, and now Sam’s unapologetically establishing the value of her own time. Amazing. 

T: Why does Jessie live with her sickly grandpa? There’s got to be a tragic backstory here, right?

E: Well obviously. Even the twenty minutes we get are DENSE. There’s just soooooo much here. But I’m gonna go with car accident. Or maybe their boat sank while they were on a Carribean vacation. Or maybe they’re just shitty parents and so she lives with Gramps.

T: How great would it have been if Sam started her story with, “Jessie lived with her Grandpa Samuel because she has shitty parents” ?!

E: Haaaaaa! You know Kiki totally would’ve, minus the curse word.

T: Alex is a quick one. She sees a “Room for rent” sign and asks, “You’re renting a room?”

E: But dammit, Troyson, I love her so much! She’s got a quirky vibe going on and she’s obviously a horror fan.

T: Oh, absolutely. I love Jessie and Alex screaming directly into each other’s faces, then they race to Jessie’s house and Alex gulps down water like a weary traveler in a bar. Hold on, I need a drink.

E: Nothing takes the edge off like good old H2O.

T: Creepy ghost Jacob gives good creep face. He’s not a scary monster, or a wet-looking ghost like we’re used to, but he delivers a great dead stare.

E: Agreed. Very solid creep face and his stiff posture and mannerisms are an added bonus.

T: Jessie tells Alex the ghost is in her house, so Alex just turns to leave without saying anything? That’s such a realistic, awesome response. Alex is clearly the MVP of this episode.

E: Right?!!?! She’s a horror movie fan so she very realistically is like, “Oh, hell no. Byeeeeeee!”

T: I like that Sara Simpson’s a very normal crazy old kook. If that makes sense. Like she’s not wearing one thousand pieces of clunky jewelry or a tie-dye blanket.

E: She’s a relatable kook? Yeah, I’ll buy that. She’s definitely got some town crazy/psychic tropes going on--like eccentric clothing and a zillion candles burning in her sitting room--but it doesn’t define her entire character.

T: Is Grandpa Samuel’s bad heart storyline so we’ll think he’ll die if he gets possessed? Like his body can’t handle it? But isn’t getting possessed in itself bad? Do we need that turn of the screw?

E: Hmmmm. I thought it was just the reason why he moved downstairs and decided to rent out his old room? Either way, no one wants to be possessed.

T: Good point. I guess I didn’t need a reason to rent a room out, like a senior citizen wants some extra income, that doesn’t need a plot device, so I kept waiting for the heart issue to become something. Upon hearing that Sara was engaged to Jacob, who later died, Alex asks, “You were going to marry a ghost?” lol

E: Incredible. Alex is the tits.

T: So Jacob was supposed to be twenty when he died? Actor Andreas Apergis looks closer to forty. He’s good in the role, and still works pretty steadily, but it loses some of the “young lovers” vibe.

E: It’s definitely an odd casting choice but, as we discussed, he gives good creep face.

T: It’s the only reason I’ll forgive the age thing. Also, he’s so good that they had him back to play a VERY memorable villain in the original series finale. But more about that in, like, twenty weeks.

E: Squeeeeee!

T: Is it me, or does the whole parachuting war backstory just bog the story way down? You have these tween girls all, “Then what happened fifty year ago?” and then all this narration.

E: I *like* all the weird backstory, but it definitely feels like there’s too much going on here. Like, I feel like you could have a ghost posing as a boarder and trying to possess a human body, and a kid seeking help from the local psychic. There doesn’t *need* to be a whole love triangle involving all the adults. But it’s also kind of fun and I like stories where older folks find love. As a divorced person, I’m well aware that not everyone finds their penguin in their teens or early twenties.

QUEER OR NOT?

T: I wouldn’t be surprised if queer girls read more into the Alex/Jessie friendship. Notice both girls have androgynous names?

E: Yes! Good point. Alex definitely has queer vibes and I love that her gender cues sort of shift throughout the episode. At one point she’s looking very tomboyish in a backwards hat, but other times she’s pretty girly. It’s almost akin to gender fluidity. Jessie is more classically feminine, but she doesn’t seem entirely un-queer. I wonder if the casting was open to all genders and they just went with two girls because they were best for the roles?

T: Food for thought. And something to look forward to: one of the members of the New Midnight Society in seasons six and seven is played by a genderfluid actress, and I think that’s reflected in her character. But more about that in, like, twenty-one weeks.

TRIVIA, USELESS TRIVIA

T: Did Sara Simpson look familiar? Sheena Larkin’s previously appeared as Nanny in “Lonely Ghost” and the Boss Hag in “Tale of Watcher’s Woods.” She’s such a chameleon in these roles, and she’s got a few more parts left to play… That came out really ominous, I don’t know why. She holds the record for the performer with the most roles on the series by playing five different characters between all seven seasons.

E: She’s an AYAOTD? legend!

T: Alex is played by Melissa Altro. She primarily works as a voice actor, she was Pippi Longstocking in the animated series and still plays on Arthur, alongside Jodie “Kiki” Resther. In fact, Walter Massey, who’s Grandpa Samuel, voiced Principal Haney on Arthur until his death a few years ago.

E: Please don’t mention Pippi Longstocking unless you want our readers subjected to a dissertation on the awesomeness of Pippi Longstocking.

T: Did you see what Alex was watching on TV while she was supposed to guard Grandpa? In a nice callback to “Midnight Madness,” she’s watching Dr. Vink’s “Nosferatu.”

E: Yes! So fantastic.

MODERNIZE ’90s CANADIAN KIDS

T: Well today Grandpa’s hearing aid wouldn’t make him look like a sports announcer. You’d have to swap out World War II with Vietnam. What about opening on a quick flashback to Jacob’s death? Then we don’t need all that narration. Of course, that would assume this imaginary remake has a war scene budget.

E: With a longer timeslot, I’d keep all the backstory because it *is* fun. But if we’re going with the standard twenty minutes, I vote for simplifying. Ghost is trying to possess his landlord, grandaughter seeks help from local psychic, psychic and grandpa fall in love. And also make Alex explicitly genderfluid.

JUST GIVE IT A NUMERICAL RATING ALREADY

T: I love Alex and wish she was the protagonist. The backstory bogs down the action. The acting is good for the most part, but I guess this just feels overly writer’y. There’s some genuine creepy imagery with Jacob, but it can’t elevate this, for me, to anything higher than 7 OUT OF 10 CAMPFIRES.

E: Yes -- when you’ve got twenty minutes, you don’t need to have explanations for ALL THE THINGS, even when two thirty-something recappers are someday going to be all like, “But why does she live with grandpa?” Then again, Alex really is the tits. Just for her and the creep face, I’m bumping it up to 7.5 OUT OF 10 CAMPFIRES.