Are You Afraid of the Dark: The Tale of Jake and the Leprechaun

The Tale of Jake and the Leprechaun is pretty much universally regarded as the worst episode of Are You Afraid of the Dark’s first season. I don’t disagree with that sentiment, but I am somewhat curious how it was received upon initial release, before the Tumble crowd was around to scream “cultural appropriation!” It reminds me of when Superfriends wanted to be more diverse, so they added on a Native American who spoke in grunts and dressed in stereotypical buckskins, because that was the only thing they knew about Native Americans.

In the same way, this is an episode about Irish folklore that knows nothing about Irish folklore except that leprechauns are a thing, and banshees are bad. I’m not an expert in Irish mythology, but even I know that banshee are female, and a “changeling” is a fairy child left in the place of a kidnapped human child. Here, we have a male banshee who keeps himself young by turning twelve-year-olds into “changelings” that eventually become animals.

All of this might have been explainable with the standard excuse that the narrator is a child just using a few Irish buzzwords to sound exotic, but Eric (Jacob Tierney) opens his first story by telling the Midnight Society that his Irish grandfather recently passed away, and this entire story was one his grandfather told him. I have no idea why an Irishman who was a grandfather in 1992 would tell a story set in the modern United States as a way of passing on his culture to his grandson. I guess you could say that Eric, being the Society’s goof, just made up the whole story about a dead grandfather, but then the whole episode is simply pointless.

I know I’m spending more time ranting about the awful set-up of this episode than I’ve spent ranting about entire episodes or films in the past, but this one really bugs me because it was such a great opportunity blown. They could have actually used this as a chance to film a real Irish folktale. Perhaps even get a few real elderly Irishmen in to tell stories until they hit on the most obscure one they can find, and film something truly original.

To deal with the story we do get, Jake (Benjamin Plener) wants to be an actor, and finds himself cast in the lead of a local play based on Irish folklore, written by a man named Erin (John Dunn-Hill), who we’re told is a genius (to be fair his play does seem better than this episode). Jake, however, feels that he’s not up to the challenge. Hoping to become more creative, Jake learns that Erin drinks specially brewed tea, and goes to a nearby herbalist to ingredients.

The herbalist, surprise-surprise, is an Irish little person names Sean O’Shaney (David Steinberg), who may or may not be an actual leprechaun (the episode never gives a definitive answer). Recognizing the herbs, he believes Jake to be evil, and chases him off. However, in the next rehearsal Jake is surprised to find his voice changing during a spell he recites with Erin, and returns to Sean for guidance.

Sean, realizing Jake is a harmless dupe, comes to watch the rehearsal, and disrupts it, realizing that Erin is a (*groan*) banshee trying to keep himself young by turning Jake into a frog. To prove this, Sean makes Jake look into the mirror to reveal pointed ears...despite the fact that he’s changing into an animal without external ears…

Jake, now being half changeling, will die if he stays in his current state. The only way to return to a full human is to outsmart the Banshee. This leads to a confrontation where Jake has to follow a series of rules (be fearless, keep his gaze...), and Sean shows up dressed in stereotypical leprechaun clothes.

Beyond these basic descriptions, I can’t tell you much about the battle, because I don’t really know what happens. Earlier in the episode we established that pixies can’t refuse a trade if you say “mine be yours, and yours be mine.” However, I have no idea how such a trade helps the situation. Erin turns Jake into a frog, Sean reveals that he has the Banshee’s tail, and trades it for Jake...and Erin disappears for some reason, leaving Sean to restore Jake. With that, the episode closes to the Midnight Society clapping, telling me how much I should like this story.

Seriously, what is this? Why did anyone think this episode was a good idea? We finally get a story from Eric, and this is what they give us? I don’t think I have ever seen a truly awesome opportunity blown so spectacularly.

Are You Afraid of the Dark: The Tale of the Sorcerer's Apprentice

Okay, finally a serious criticism to be leveled at this show: they really should have used some clear rotation of story-tellers. Perhaps it’s intended to highlight the personalities of the different characters by depicting some as more eager than others. However, this is Betty Ann’s (Raine Pare-Coull) second in a row, and third overall, while troublemaker Eric (Jacob Tierney) has told one brief fragment, and gets his first actual episode next week. It seems a bit unbalanced.

That said, however, I think this is another episode that hits it out of the park, to the point of being a viable season finale. One again, this story that affects me more now, as an adult, looking at it as a commentary on our educational system. While I’m certainly not in the crowd that cheers on Charter Schools, I do find myself nervous about the idea of bad information being inserted into our school systems by ideologues. I also constantly find myself horrified at the realization that much of the information I was taught as a student was, at best, wildly oversimplified.

In this story, that’s exactly what we see. Dean (Matthew MacKay) is a low-performing student who finds himself fascinated by a brief lecture given to his class by an archaeologist named Dr. Oliver (Emma Stevens). I’d say it was absurdly simple, but...no, this is the kind of watered-down understanding I received. “Many ancient civilizations believed some variation of x.” Information without context, designed only to convince school boards that their kids have been given a smidgen of culture.

In the lecture, Dr. Oliver tells the story of the ancient sorcerer Goth. She fails to tell anything about his historical context or the significance of his life, except that his followers gain good fortune. Just enough to intrigue a student desperate to feel special. Dean quickly finds himself meeting with her, and Dr. Oliver tips her obvious hand by saying she hopes she’s won “another convert.”

We’re told that Dean has only a single friend, Alix (Staci Smith), and as Dean falls to the dark side she becomes our viewpoint character. Dean begins hanging around with a strange group of students, and acting as their leader. He also somehow mesmerizes a jerk teacher (Jane Gilchrist) into giving him an A on a blank test. Finally, Alix follows him down into the school’s basement, and sees him using a staff from Dr. Oliver’s lecture to speak to the ghostly head of the mysterious sorcerer (Stephen Hart).

I’d say this episode has a peculiar way of using it’s short running time to it’s advantage. Obviously, we don’t have the time to tell Goth’s full history, nor would most of the viewers particularly care about his fanciful past. However, in this episode that’s part of the point: Dean has no idea who Goth is, how he was apparently trapped in another dimension, or the history of how he became a powerful sorcerer. Dean has been given just enough information to bring Goth back into our world, Goth’s apparent goal. He has to combine two simple ingredients: Belladonna and Mercuric Acid (I suspect the writers wanted to use a fictional “don’t try this at home kids” chemical, but according to Google they may have accidentally used a valid name for mercury mixed with any acid) to create the “mystic vapors.”

Goth is actually a perfect cult leader. His promises to Dean are vague (“all you desire”), and he uses the word “apprentice” to give a sense of commonality with the child he clearly doesn’t feel. We’re watching an angry adolescent being used by the first adult to show interest in him. Sincerity is not required.

The Midnight Society interruption in this episode is especially annoying because there are no major mysteries for them to speculate about in the episode. Instead, Alix gets captured, and they suggest that she’ll be boiled in the mercuric acid. Not only do Dean and his followers never attempt this, Dean has already been clear that he wants to convert Alix, so the suggestion seems silly.

The ending is a bit too convenient. Goth crosses over, attacks Alix, and Dean shakes off his control to protect his friend. He warns Alix to use chlorine to kill the Nightshade, thus forcing Goth back into the other dimension...he apparently concluded that vapors produced from belladonna could be stopped by the chemical because it kills bacteria, and “the leaves were organic...well, to be fair, it seems like the contrived ending a Middle Schooler trying to wrap up a story might use. My own head canon: They stopped Goth because chlorine is a base, and counteracted the acid. It’s not hard to imagine that was the original intention, and the “killed the leaves” was a way to dumb the episode down for the kiddies.

The ending revealed the painfully obvious: Dr. Oliver was a servant of Goth who goes High School to High School trying to recruit kids because...she can’t summon Goth herself for some reason. Well, we don’t know the reason, but it’s beside the point. She’s an authority figure corrupting young minds.

So, yes, for the most part it’s a strong episode. As cheesy and over the top as we’ve come to expect, but still a good time. And, it has some nice themes behind it.

Are You Afraid of the Dark: The Tale of the Nightly Neighbors

As strange as this sounds, I’m honestly getting kind of annoyed at how consistently good this show is. I’m eight episodes in and haven’t had any criticism except “occasionally the acting isn’t great.” No gaping plot holes, or moments of incredible stupidity, and many of the stories do seem like something kids might make up to scare each other (if a bit elaborate).

I spent most of this episode thinking that it would be my first mildly-negative review. Not horrible, but a bit generic and predictable...and then came the twist. I’ll be honest, I didn’t see the ending of this episode coming, but it didn’t create any obvious plot holes or logical inconsistencies.

This is another returning storyteller, Betty Ann (Raine Pare-Coull). While we’ve only heard one of her past stories, Eric (Jacob Tierney) sets us up by complaining that her stories are always “gross and boring,” but with happy endings. When we’re thrown an easier twist, we’re prepped to accept it.

The story concerns Emma (Suzanna Shebib) and her brother Dayday (Noah Godfrey). Emma is bored with her life and monitors the neighborhood in search of excitement, while Dayday is quite content watching television. So, when new neighbors move in, Emma is immediately suspicious.

The neighbor’s are the Brauns, a couple from the Ukraine (Carl Alacchi and Francoise Robertson), and their son Lex (Johnny Morina), supposedly paramedics studying the American healthcare system to see what improvements can be made in their own. The clues are laid out blatantly enough for children to get at a glance: they have large boxes, supposedly containing “refrigerators,” delivered to their homes, they only go out at night, and they constantly visit people who suddenly get sick and wear bandages on their necks.

Emma, picking up on the obvious “vampire” hints, warns Dayday not to invite them into the house. Unfortunately, when the couple stops by, their mother pushes past Dayday and invites them in, just as Emma is sneaking into their house. This leads to the fairly clever and time-saving plot device of Dayday simultaneously wanting to get rid of them (as he’s unable to completely convince himself Emma is wrong), while also not wanting them to return home.

Emma, meanwhile, discovers a freezer (which she calls a “refrigerator” for some reason) in their basement, filled with bottles of blood. When the family leaves, Dayday rushes to warn her, and the two barely make it out in time.

Thinking they’re now targets, the two attempt to slip into their neighbor’s house during the day to kill them with “wooden spikes.” They suspect the two are sleeping behind a locked door in the basement. Unfortunately, Mrs. Braun is still awake and walking around, and so the two run, abandoning their plan, apparently undetected.

...and then, the first twist: The Brauns are out in the daylight, carrying bottles of blood into the house. They explain that they’re no longer working the night shift, and the hospital had a surplus of blood so they’re storing some of it at home. They then ask Dayday if Lex could come over the play video games later. Everyone laughs.

I was all fired up to bash how stupid this ending is. I’d honestly been expecting the couple to be vampire hunters, but “it was all a misunderstanding” is obviously a cop-out for a show billed as any kind of horror. To say nothing of the fact that storing blood in a private residence almost certainly being prohibited under some rule. Also, in the real world when one hospital has a surplus of blood, some of it is immediately shipped to a place with a shortage.

Yes, I was all ready to rip into this “everyone laughs” ending, when the real twist hit: Mr. and Mrs. Braun aren’t vampires...they’re thralls. Their “son” Lex is the vampire they serve, and is planning on feeding on Dayday that night. Irritatingly, this twist fits all the evidence perfectly: they’ve been arranging their schedule to accommodate Lex (they waited until night to bring the freezer in, but they presumably could have been sleeping), they had to be invited in when all three of them were present, and they immediately change their schedule when they realize they were being suspected to “prove” their innocence.

It’s also worth noting that, in their vampire killing mission, Emma and Dayday hid very obviously under a table right in front of Mrs. Braun, who should have been able to see them easily. While the viewers assume this is just a convention of television, the ending makes it pretty clear she knew they were there and was playing along. So, the ending seems quite intelligent.

The Midnight Society scenes are a bit weak in this episode again, discussing “why things are scarier at night,” which is no more a theme of this episode than of any other vampire story. However, I can’t think of much else they could have talked about, so I’ll give it a pass. It at least felt like it fit with the story.

So, yeah, another irritatingly good episode, and I still have nothing major to complain about with this show.

Are You Afraid of the Dark: The Tale of the Captured Souls

This episode to a child: A mad scientist turns a girl’s parents old to keep himself 15 forever.

This episode to an adult: A white man born in 1907 attempts to kill the upper-middle class parents of a black 13-year-old and seduce her.

While most of these episodes can still be watched as an adult for a mixture of humor and creepiness, this story goes from generically scary to absolutely horrifying when you’re old enough to realize the implications of racism and ephebophilia.

This is the first story for Kiki (Jodie Resther), the tomboy of the group.  I get the impression that the episode was reworked at some point, because the opening sequence really doesn’t fit.  While the episode contains both the use of mirrors and cameras to show the villain as an old man, it’s the mirrors that he ultimately uses to “capture souls,” but Kiki’s opening is a ramble about the power of cameras.

Danny (Maria Taylor) and her parents (Barbara Eve Harris and Don Jordan) go to a hotel out in the country for vacation.  The “Hotel” has no other guests, and the owners are away “on a cruise,” leaving their “teenaged” son Peter (Ethan Tobman) to check the guests in.

Peter is a creepy guy, but Danny’s parents seem to miss it.  From the first moment they meet, he’s clearly undressing Danny with his eyes.  He shows her his room, and seems to constantly try to isolate her.  He’s also terrified of having his picture taken.  And, we as the audience see his laboratory, from which he can spy on the family through all the mirrors of the house (there’s a running gag about the “bad wiring” in the mirrors shocking Danny, to her great confusion).

Over the course of the episode, the family begins to grow older.  Danny’s parents age decades, and approach death.  However, Danny seems to age just enough to give her acne, and (in a moment that took me a third viewing) just enough to give her bigger breasts.  Given that he clearly intends to keep her young, it seems 13 is just a bit too young for his tastes…

Danny catches on when she finds her way into his lab, and see him through the cameras installed behind the mirrors he’s scattered about the house: he’s an old man.  She then notices the numerous graves and tally marks in the back yard, indicating dozens of people he’s killed, and his own grave giving his birthday in 1907, but no death date.

The climax has the standard “it’s already too late” refrain, as Peter offers to keep Danny young and with him forever (...or, in my expectation, until he gets bored…).  Then, predictably, she shoves him in his own machine, reverses the process, and turns her parents young again, and he becomes a 90-year-old (he says that he plans to join his family in the graveyard.  With Danny’s family leaving, I’m wondering if he plans to bury himself alive, and then die.).

The acting isn’t fantastic from Danny or her parents, but Peter really steals the show as a charismatic creep who you love to hate.  I kind of wish the actor was someone I saw more, but it appears that Tobman’s career has mostly been bit-parts.  Still, he’s a scary guy.

Kiki could have used a better introduction as a story-teller, but the story itself is one I really enjoyed.  Seriously, just marathon this show, you won’t be disappointed.