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.