[AYOTD? Recap with Erin Callahan] Episode 2.6 "The Tale of the Dark Dragon"

RECAP

The Midnight Society scare/surprise Gary with birthday wishes, and David honors their bespectacled leader with a story featuring one of Gary’s classic characters.

After a bad car crash, Keith is left with a limp and an Eeyore-complex. Cute nerd Mariah thinks he’s the best, but he’d rather mope around, chase a girl who already has a boyfriend, and try his luck with a potion he picks up are Sardo’s magic shop (!). After drinking the potion, he’s temporarily transformed into a classic cool guy and starts calling himself KC, Keith’s “cousin.” But the transformation comes with side effects — creepy patches of scales and fur. Another visit to Sardo reveals Keith must defeat the “dark dragon” from within to allow the potion to bring out the best in him. Keith drinks the potion anyway, and eventually transforms into a fanged beast. It looks like the dark dragon is going to win until Mariah drinks a massive dose of the potion and forces Keith to confront his own self-loathing and post-accident bitterness.

The gang wish Gary a happy b-day and the meeting ends.

REVIEW

Troy: Happy birthday, Midnight Society leader Gary! And what a gift David gives him. It’s sweet, even if my cynical side thinks it’s him basically him saying, “I stole your character to use in a story meant to scare you away from Kristen!”

Erin: Hoo boy. Eric may have been ejected from the Midnight Society because of his snark, but David is arguably even more of a dick. So, like, is Mariah supposed to be a story version of Betty Ann? Is David trying to get Gary to go after Betty Ann so he can have Kristen all to himself? Doesn’t he know Gary and Frank have a whole thing??

T: So many questions, so few answers. Here’s another: is the Canadian version of “my girlfriend from Canada” really “My cousin who’s not from around here”?

E: Haaaaaaa! Oh damn, I’m gonna have to remember that one.

T: Keith is a very Gary-esque nerd and the moral of the story is he shouldn’t fall for the popular girl (who starts as story-Gary’s girlfriend – very strange detail), but instead go for a nerd girl in his own league.

E: I was so weirded out by the fact that one of the characters in the story is also named Gary. I buy your theory, but maybe this was David’s way of saying, “Hey, Gare, we all know you’re a nerd, but since it’s your b-day I’m gonna name the lovable jock in my story after you.”

T: I so admire that the jock bullies are super sweet, polite Canadians. My heart melts with their “sorries.”

E: Right!?! And story-Gary is barely a bully. He’s kinda just an inattentive boyfriend with shoddy hackysack skills.

T: We should talk about Keith’s bad leg for a second. Is this positive representation for people with disabilities? He’s hung up on the limp quite a bit, but by the story’s end, he learns that it doesn’t detract from anything.

E: I’m torn on whether it’s positive rep. I mean, if he hated himself because he were queer but came to terms with it in the end, would we be okay with it?

T: The return of Sardo and his Magic Mansion is so much fun. We’ve already had Dr. Vink reappear, and now we’ve got our second recurring character knocking it out of the park in every scene he’s in. Though who hears “Sardo” and asks “Mr. Sour Dough?”

E: LOL — yeah, that’s a stretch. Overall, I’m not a big fan of this schmaltzy episode with all its mythopoetic male melodrama. But Sardo is so damn good. How can he be so sketchy and slimy and still so likable? I want to go drink hot toddies with him after the Magic Mansion closes and hear all about his favorite scam of the day.

T: The Harold gag works on both fronts. This episode feels like it’s really two episodes fighting for space – the school melodrama and the Sardo-centric comedy – but Harold’s transformation advances both.

E: Again, not a big fan of this ep, but Sardo clutching his figurative pearls and shouting “Harold!” when he sees his precious bunny has turned into a Gremlin is pure gold.

T: Keith pretends to be his identical, but hotter, cousin KC. OK, way to be creative, Keith. Can we retire the identical but slightly different cousin trope already? It was cute when Patty Duke did it, but that’s about it. (Okay, fine, I have a weak spot for the few episodes in which Elizabeth Montgomery played Samantha’s devilish cousin Serena on Bewitched. And don’t get me started on the one when Serena and Uncle Arthur teamed up to riff on Lucie/Ethel’s chocolate conveyor belt disaster!)

E: I honestly had no idea this was thing! Where’s my devilishly sexy identical cousin, godammit!?

T: She made an apperance during our last Murder Mystery party!

E: LOLOLOL - oh, that’s right. *wink wink*

T: Going through my notes, I wrote: Drink a bottle of magic juice and get a Can’t Hardly Wait makeover with Freddy Krueger side effects!

E: Bahahahaha. Is that going in your Instagram post? Oh, for those of you who don’t know, Troy posts his fantastic AYAOTD? fan art on Insta and writes a hilarious one-sentence synopsis for each ep. @troyhgatdner - Go follow him! And follow me for pics of my devilishly sexy identical cousin.

T: Thanks for the plug. It doesn’t quite fit my format, but it’ll be close. Is this the shortest Midnight Society ending yet? It’s Gary’s birthday, here’s a tale with one of your characters, the end!

E: For real, it’s so brief I almost didn’t bother mentioning it in the recap above.

QUEER OR NOT?

T: Maybe it was because the main thrust of the story is a heteronormative romance, but nothing jumped out at me besides of the fabulous return of Sardo. Did you remember that he wasn’t a one-and-done character? I’d been eagerly awaiting his return.

E: I totally did not and I adore the rainbow of awesome he brings to this story.

TRIVIA, USELESS TRIVIA

T: I think it’s safe to say this story is based off of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

E: Yuuuuuup. I also got some Beauty and the Beast vibes with Mariah trying so hard to save Keith from himself. Also, did you catch the Super Specs chilling on the shelf in Sardo’s shop?

T: I did not, but now I’m picturing them singing in a French accent, so thanks for that.

MODERNIZE ’90s CANADIAN KIDS

T: As it’s a modern (at the time) update on a Victorian classic, there’s not that much I’d do to rework this one, except to add more Sardo.

E: But do kids still hang out at diners after school the way the do in this ep? I think now they go home and scroll through Insta and Tik Tok.

T: That’s true for tweens, but these are car-driving sophomores, right? They still meet up.

JUST GIVE IT A NUMERICAL RATING ALREADY

T: There’s a real tonal shift problem. This is really two episodes that don’t quite gel. Sardo gets a 10 and the drama gets a 6.5, giving us an average 7.25 CAMPFIRES OUT OF 10.

E: As much as I love Sardo, huge chunks of this episode are painfully awkward. I’m going with 6.5 CAMPFIRES OUT OF 10.