Trollheart

Title: “The Mother Instinct”
Series: Monsters
Season: 1
Year: 1989
Writer(s): D. Emerson Smith

Storyline: A woman who is in a wheelchair is feeding and talking to her plants in the conservatory when her daughter comes to visit with her no-good husband, who appears to be violent towards her. Yeah, I can see where this is going already. Sorry, sorry. Nelson has come looking for money, but the mother refuses. She’s tired of bailing out this lowlife gambler, and when he threatens her daughter she jumps out of her wheelchair and pins the guy to the wall. Amazed, her daughter asks how? And she tells her it’s the juice of her melons (ooer!) that she drinks, the enzymes in the mixture rejuvenate the body, but only for a short while. When he sees firsthand the effect, wheels begin to turn in Nelson’s greedy little mind; golden, sparkly wheels as he sees what money could be made from such a venture.

He offers to go into business with his wife’s mother, but she turns him down flat. He’s not done yet though. If she won’t team up with him he’ll steal the melons himself and make the juice, then he won’t have to share the profits with anyone. His wife is of course reluctant, but she’s weak and easily led, and in awe of her horrible husband, and so she helps him. In the conservatory as they try to harvest the melons something comes alive though, and starts attacking them, and they barely get out alive. The next morning, her mother shows her what she calls giant bloodworms her father brought back from the Amazon (no, nothing to do with Bezos!) which she says can change any plant they interact with. It's not the melons that are special - without the bloodworms they’re nothing - it’s the worms themselves. She foresees all sorts of medical advances due to them, but guess who’s been listening in at the door?

So the next night he steals two of the worms - a breeding pair - and tells his wife he no longer needs her. The mother is there though, and gloats as she tells him she knew he was listening; she set it all up so he would steal the two worms. Unfortunately, he’s not just stealing two worms, he’s stealing two children, and their mother might have something to say about that. A huge bloodworm rears up, three or four times his size, and takes him out. That’s the end of him and his wife is free of the bastard. As her mother warned him, “don’t ever mess with the mother instinct!”

Comments: Okay well I wasn’t quite right (I assumed the plants were going to come to life and kill the guy to protect the mother) but it was close. Good twist though, and great to see the arsehole getting his comeuppance. Good story, not totally predictable, good ending.

Rating: A+

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Title: “Gershwin’s Trunk”
Series: Amazing Stories
Season: 2
Year: 1987
Writer(s): Paul Bartel and John Meyer

Storyline: A man answers a knock at his door in the early hours, to be confronted by a detective who says he saw him dump a body off the Brooklyn Bridge only a short time ago. We’ve seen the composer trying to mop up blood off his carpet before the detective arrived, so we know he’s right. Flashbacks show him splitting up with his partner, Larry, and being subject to writer’s block, unable to come up with any of the tunes he’s supposed to have written for a new musical. At the same time, his wife decides she’s had enough and leaves him. I don’t blame her: I hate the guy already and want to strangle him with the wire from his own piano!

His maid suggests a psychic she knows, and though Jojo resists it as nonsense, he’s finally desperate enough to take the chance and go see her in the hope she can help him regain his mojo. Seemingly against her will, she gets possessed by the spirit of George Gershwin (well duh; the name is in the title huh?) and he begins writing stuff which Jojo then presents to his director, passing it off as his own work. He loves it, but Alan, the stage pianist, who knows Jojo and is aware he is the less talented of the partnership, thinks it’s not his style and that he must have stolen it from someone else. Meanwhile the possession is taking its toll on Sister Teresa; she doesn’t look well, but Jojo continues on, uncaring, only interested in his songs and not in the least bothered about the health of the one who is making him a success.

When Alan says he knows what he’s up to and he’s going to blow the whistle on him, Jojo takes a heavy candlestick and kills him. Now, obviously, we’re moving back to the present, or just hours before it, as the composer carries Alan’s body to the bridge and dumps it over, unaware he’s being watched. He manages to bribe the cop, who suddenly has a lapse of memory. However he does tell Jojo that should his show not be successful and bring in the money he expects - of which the detective is in for fifty percent - his memory is liable to suddenly come back. Jojo is not bothered though; he knows his show is going to be the biggest and most long-running hit in town for years to come.

Meanwhile, he discovers that Jerry is getting married to his ex, which does not go down well. Even less so when he learns they have been carrying on for over a year behind his back. In revenge, he ensures his show is held back one night, to allow Jerry's to open; he tells the cop that his success will taste all the sweeter after Jerry’s failure. Unfortunately for him, he’s not the only one of the ex-partnership who’s been visiting Sister Teresa. Oh yeah: Jerry has the very same songs in his musical, and since he opened first, there’s no way Jojo can now open his show, or it will look like he’s ripping him off. Speaking of off, so is the deal between him and the cop, and he’s headed to jail.

Comments: I’m not overfond of musicals, so this doesn’t sit too well with me, but it’s a half-decent story. I would say though that Gershwin’s music is very specific and recognisable, so how this guy thought he would pass the great master’s compositions off as his own without raising some suspicions is odd. He’s a thoroughly unlikeable little runt, a cut-throat only out for himself and his career, and speaking of being a runt, how did he manage to hoist a heavier body than him up to the railing of the bridge and over? It should have been next to impossible. Another question: why is the cop there at the bridge? That’s never explained. Not that bad overall though I guess.

Rating: B

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Title: “The Tale of the Vacant Lot”
Series: Are You Afraid of the Dark?
Season:5
Year:1995
Writer(s): Gerald Wexler

Storyline: A distinctly Arabic-looking tent appears out of nowhere and Catherine, an athlete who is trying - and failing - to make the team is given a pair of shoes which the attendant tells her will “make her fly” and help her achieve the ambition she’s been aiming for. She has no money though, so the attendant, who calls herself Marie (but come on: she’s probably the Devil isn’t she?) says she can trade. Catherine has nothing of value other than a ring given to her by her grandfather and she doesn’t want to trade that, so enigmatically Marie says she will take something that has no value to her. She doesn’t tell Catherine what that is, but points out, reasonably on the surface anyway, that if it has no value she won’t miss it. Oops. Pitfall ahead.

She takes the shoes and Marie vanishes, along with her tent. Of course the shoes begin to make her successful, but suddenly she’s a lot less nice, a lot sharper and snappier to her friends. On returning home, she thinks she sees a mark of some sort on her cheek, but when she looks again it’s gone. When Eric, the captain of the football team seems to hit on her, but then clearly is already engaged, she runs off, to find the tent has reappeared. This time Marie gives her a whole outfit, again asking for the ring, again refused, again saying that she will take something of no value to Catherine. Again, she is mean to someone, this time her sister, Joyce, and for a split second she sees her face all burned up and horrible. I should probably mention at this point that Marie’s face is almost completely covered in a veil and hood, only her eyes visible, and you can clearly see her skin is disfigured.

Okay well she appears in the ladies to Catherine and spoils the surprise by removing her veil and yeah, she’s full-on Darth Vader there. Except for her eyes, she looks like a burn victim. Actually, she looks like someone got two faces, one clear and unblemished, one ravaged by fire or acid or something, cut them in two and stuck half of one on top of half of the other. She offers Catherine sought-after-like-gold-dust rock concert tickets, but when Catherine sees her face and hears the desperation in her voice, she refuses the tickets and runs out - straight into Eric. Suddenly the tickets are in her hand, and she can’t resist asking Eric if he wants to go. He of course jumps at the chance. But now she has nothing to wear - perish the thought that she should wear something Eric has already seen her in! So it’s back to Marie, who supplies her with clothes, but this time does not want to trade. She is, she says, about to get everything she wants.

Joyce, though, has followed her and it seems she has made her own bargain with Marie. This suddenly frightens Catherine, as she sees her little sister looking all tough and grown-up and, like her, sharp and snide, all her goodness and gentle nature gone. Not only that, a few minutes later she and Catherine both look like the thing from the swamp, as obviously Marie has transferred all her ugliness to both of them. Returning to the tent, Catherine sees that Marie is restored to her former beauty. She tells her that she was once like her, wanting things she couldn’t have, not happy with her life, till she met an old woman in a tent like this (well, this tent, obviously) and now that she has what she wants - Catherine’s life, which she says she did not value - she needs nothing else. Catherine’s only chance now is to work the spell on some other greedy girl, in the hope of getting her life.

But Catherine has one last ace to play. She says she may deserve what’s happened to her, but her sister does not, and she offers the precious ring, that Joyce’s life be returned to her. Marie agrees, smug, now that she has got everything she wanted, but as soon as she puts on the ring she starts to transform again and then vanishes, along with the tent. Catherine and Joyce return to normal, and though she’s lost the tickets, Eric doesn’t care, and they go out anyway.

Comments: Right. You could see kind of where it was leading, but the ending left a lot to be desired. Why did the ring do what it did? I thought her grandfather was going to have turned out to be some magician or something. Not explained. Otherwise, not too bad really. But it could have been so much more. The thing Catherine didn't value could have been her goodness, her sweet disposition, and her being prepared to hand over the thing most precious to her in order to save her sister could have been redemption. Instead, it just destroyed Marie for reasons. Meh.

Rating: B+

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Trollheart

Title: “Last Rites for a Dead Druid”
Series: Night Gallery
Season: 2
Year: 1972
Writer(s): Alvin Sapinsley

Storyline: Note: as mentioned, each Night Gallery episode was broken into two or more segments, and I’m only taking one segment per episode. This is the second in episode 18 of the second season. A woman finds a statue in a junk shop which she exclaims looks just like her husband (it doesn’t; it looks nothing like him - I don’t know what they’re trying to pull here) and he is not impressed at her spending his money on useless junk. He wakes to find the statue standing over his bed, but when he “wakes” it is gone. Did he dream it? His wife certainly thinks so. He’s not so sure though, and when he goes out into the garden the next morning and the statue is there, he’s less than relieved, as there are what appear to be footprints leading away from it towards the house.

On researching the statue further, he finds that it’s of an ancient druid, known as Bruce the Black, reputedly a sorcerer and worshipper of Satan, who had the power to turn people to stone. He also finds out that the thing is missing one part, a sort of weapon it was holding. He’s less than pleased to hear that his wife’s friend Mildred, whom he detests and who picked out the statue, is coming to dinner. Completely to his surprise he ends up making a pass at her, after first talking to the statue and telling it it is nothing but a hunk of rock and is going back to the shop at the earliest opportunity. His wife, of course, is not present when he makes his move, but he feels like he has been… manipulated? Controlled? Used?

Then he looks into the flames of the barbeque and sees the face of Bruce the Black laughing at him. He goes glassy-eyed and tries to sacrifice the neighbour’s cat on the fire but the maid sees him, screams and breaks the spell. That night the statue appears in his bedroom again, and exhorts him to kill his wife so he can have Mildred. He goes to smother her, then comes to his senses. The statue vanishes, and he runs outside to smash it up. There’s a flash of light and his wife comes down to find him transformed into the statue, with the live figure of Bruce the Black lying on his back, grinning.

Comments: Yeah, this kinda thing might have flown in the 50s, but even in the 70s this is lame with a capital lame. It’s very badly put together, the dialogue is so stilted it could be later sold to a circus performer to get around on, and the ending is, well, dumb. Not what I’d expect from Serling, especially post Twilight Zone. I know he didn’t write this one, but still. Poor.

Rating: C

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Trollheart

Title: “Drug Traffic”
Series: Creepshow
Season: 3
Year: 2021
Writer(s): Mattie Do and Christopher Larsen

Storyline: Due to high pharmaceutical prices and the cost of medical insurance, people who need lifesaving medication often have to cross over the border and get it in Canada. A congressman is fighting to change this, and is with a group of people returning from Canada, among them a woman who seems very sick. Border control’s suspicions are far from allayed when the young woman vomits up a bunch of blue and white pills. They are less happy when they discover well over the limit in prescription drugs in the handbag of the woman’s mother, some of which are actually prohibited.

While in the waiting room the young woman goes to bite another woman, but the congressman sees her and intervenes. The young woman runs off. She starts searching for food, and seems to be in a bad way, her stomach rumbling, sweat running down her face. She falls to her knees behind a desk and something happens. There’s a tearing sound. While her mother is being interviewed by the border guard, a kid comes across the woman’s body, minus the head. A moment later the head appears, attached to some sort of alien jellyfish-like appendage, floating in front of him. It attacks.

Shortly after, another man off the bus is attacked, and the thing goes on a feeding frenzy, killing everything in its path. Including my interest in this bloody awful tripe. My god what rubbish. Worst yet, and that includes Tales of fucking Tomorrow and the awful Outer Limits episode. So anyway, the border guard and the congressman are about the only two left alive, other than the mother, and they go after it, get the body, chop it up and that kills the, um, floating head thing.

I’m sorry to say, that’s not the end of it. Dear god why won’t this episode just die? There’s some racist talk goes on between the two men, along the lines of “Fucking immigrants huh?” then the mother decides to top herself, using the shattered window as a guillotine and then the dead head of the daughter takes over her mother’s body and then goes back to the bus and meets the Creepshow host and you know what? I’ve had it with this. Watch it at your peril.

Comments:Cheap horror schlock, with no attempt to justify or explain what was going on. Note: I’ve looked it up and apparently she was a Thai spirit called a krasue, which at least shows some research was made, but the idea that some doctor across the border was able to see this, and said “oh yeah I have pills for that”, the idea it could be controlled by drugs is, frankly, too ludicrous for words. I think the story tried, in its inept, hamfisted and bloodstained way, to get across a message against hatred for immigrants, mixed up with putting differences aside to fight a common enemy, but it got lost in all the blood, gore and stupidity.

Rating: C (how I wish I could give this a C- or even a D, but C will have to do. Lowest of the lowest of the low).

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Trollheart

Title: “Cinethrax”
Series: Dimension 404
Season: 1
Year: 2017
Writer(s): Will Campos, Dez Dolly, Daniel Johnson and David Welch

Storyline: A cinema buff takes his niece to the new showing of a hip movie which purports to be in something called “Cinethrax”. Nobody knows what it is, and Dusty doesn’t care; in fact, he’s brought what he calls shifters - glasses that turn 3D back into normal 2D. He’s worried that Chloe is getting too tied up in fads and social media, and wants to “keep it real”, but then, he’s a lot older than her. On entry to the cinema, everyone is given special glasses to wear, so they can, as the slogan blares, “embrace the experience”, but Dusty drops his in a bin. He goes to get popcorn while Chloe gets the seats, but when he returns she’s hooked up with friends, and though this is supposed to be their night, it’s clear she wants to spend it with her friends, so he leaves her to it. The movie begins, everyone gasps as the “Cinethrax” explodes on the screen (immersive 4D motion? What the hell is that?) and Dusty sits there, bored.

Until he sees something nobody else does, something pulsing, moving behind the screen, like… something alive? As he watches, something comes out from behind it, a long, slimy, wormlike thing that goes questing along the ground, but nobody else seems to notice. Then it attacks him and he goes crazy. Removed by security, of course nobody believes him, not even Chloe, and she says she wants to stay even if he goes. She tells him she’s outgrown him and he needs to let her go. Security takes him to the projection room, where they try to convince him to put on the Cinethrax glasses, but he refuses, and the three of them turn into some sort of monsters, attacking him. Trapped in the janitor’s closet, he manages to get a message to Chloe to put on the shifter glasses, and when she finally does she sees what he sees.

Huge worms (or the many tentacles of one huge worm) are clamped onto the faces of everyone in the cinema. She screams, but her friends exhort her to join them (like, totally!) and now they’re all after her. Grabbing a replica sword one of the other audience members had brought in (don’t ask: think the kind of people who dress as hobbits and elves to watch Lord of the Rings movies. In public) she fights her way through them but is overpowered and forced to put on the Cinethrax glasses. As the worm reaches for her, she stabs it with the sword. It retreats, howling in pain, and every one of the audience reacts the same, as if they have also been stabbed. She smashes her way into the projection booth, sees Dusty is tied up and is swiftly captured herself.

The cinema guys tell her that Cinethrax (the worm) is a space alien who has come to Earth to, um, unite everyone. Seems it’s some sort of hive mind deal, connecting people and then letting them share each other’s experiences. But is that what it’s doing, or is it enslaving mankind. Answers on a slimy postcard, please… As they force Dusty to wear the glasses Chloe, somewhat forgotten, grabs a piece of the window she shattered when she broke through and jams it into the beast’s eye. They all react in pain. Then the cinema guy grabs Chloe - with a long, disgusting, wormlike tongue! - and drags her towards him, shining the light from his - I guess Cinethrax’s - eyes into hers, and she sees.

When Dusty breaks the connection by the brutal expedient of a fireaxe to the head of the cinema guy, Chloe and he go to escape, but it’s too late. She has seen, and she no longer fears, And outside, the world is burning as everyone sees. There’s nowhere to go now. Cinethrax is everywhere. With no options left, Dusty joins the hive mind.

Comments: Yeah I hated the ending. I could see where it was going and all through the episode I thought how are they going to escape, and then they did. But they didn’t. I guess you have to give it points for avoiding the hero-saves-the-day ending, but still, it’s bleaker than I had expected. Does make it stand out though.

Rating: A

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Okay then, time to do the rankings for part II.

“The Miraculous Serum” (Tales of Tomorrow)

Story: 4


Plot twists? 2


Setting: 0

Ending: 0


Enjoyment factor: 2


Originality: 2


Humour: 0

Star quality: 0

Supporting character(s): 4


Predictable? 10


Innovation: 2


Message: 0

Loose ends: 10


Total: 36


“The Mother Instinct” ( Monsters)

Story: 8


Plot twists? 8

Setting: 0

Ending: 10


Enjoyment factor: 10


Originality: 8


Humour: 3


Star quality: 0

Supporting character(s): 10

Predictable? 8


Innovation: 8

Message: 10


Loose ends: 10


Total: 93


“Gershwin’s Trunk” ( Amazing Stories)

Story: 5


Plot twists? 8


Setting: 0

Ending: 5

Enjoyment factor: 2


Originality: 5


Humour: 3


Star quality: 0

Supporting character(s): 7


Predictable? 8


Innovation: 0


Message: 0


Loose ends: 10


Total: 46


“The Tale of the Vacant Lot” ( Are You Afraid of the Dark?)

Story: 8


Plot twists? 8


Setting: 0

Ending: 5


Enjoyment factor: 6


Originality: 5


Humour: 0

Star quality: 0

Supporting character(s): 8


Predictable? 5


Innovation: 4


Message: 8


Loose ends: 8


Total: 65


“Last Rites for a Dead Druid” ( Night Gallery)

Story: 2


Plot twists? 8


Setting: 0

Ending: 6


Enjoyment factor: 2


Originality: 0


Humour: 0

Star quality: 10


Supporting character(s): 4


Predictable? 10


Innovation: 0

Message: 0

Loose ends: 4

Total: 46


“Cinethrax” ( Dimension 404)

Story: 10


Plot twists? 10


Setting: 4


Ending: 9


Enjoyment factor: 10


Originality: 10


Humour: 5


Star quality: 0

Supporting character(s): 10



Predictable? 10


Innovation: 10


Message: 10


Loose ends: 10


Total: 108


“Drug Traffic” ( Creepshow)

Story: 1


Plot twists? 0


Setting: 0

Ending: 0


Enjoyment factor: 0


Originality: 5


Humour: 0

Star quality: 5


Supporting character(s): 10


Predictable? 0


Innovation: 0


Message: 0


Loose ends: 0

Total: 21

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So that gives us the following order:

Seventh is, duh, Creepshow
Sixth is Tales of Tomorrow
Fifth place is shared, with equal points, between Night Gallery and Amazing Stories
Third then is Are You Afraid of the Dark?
Second is Monsters
and first is Dimension 404

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ROUND THREE: NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK, PART ONE

This is now where I move on to the shows I either never heard of, heard of but never watched, or only watched the odd episode of. What I'm saying is, I'm going to be a whole lot less familiar with these shows than I have been with those in rounds one and two. Generally, these are what would be termed, for me anyway, new shows, as almost all of them began in the twenty-first century, and in most cases are currently still running. Let's see how we do.


Title: “Itchy”
Series: Room 104
Season: 3
Year: 2019
Writer(s): Mark Duplass
Storyline: This series appears to rotate around the eponymous room, and the stories of those who stay in it. In this episode we have a guy who seems to be suffering from some sort of skin condition, and has been advised by his doctor to come to this hotel and stay in this room. The idea seems to be to get away from all external stimuli that might be contributing to his rash. Why this hotel in particular I don’t know. But it seems that he’s been told to use a tablespoonful of bleach (!) in his bath, and notes that the rash appears to be reacting to it, turning into kind of scabs or pustules on his skin. Hell, I knew from the title I wasn’t going to enjoy this; guess I’ll just have to stick with it. Can’t be as bad as “Drug Traffic”, right? Right?

He mentions that he has been having the feeling that maybe there are suppressed memories of some traumatic event in his childhood that might be manifesting themselves in the rash. Apparently he’s been suffering from this for years and has seen psychiatrists, dermatologists, all sorts of experts, with no luck. That night he has a dream where he’s trapped in a cave or something, and creatures outside are trying to hurt him. He talks to his mother and she tells him of a camping trip they took when he was four years old, and in which he seemed to have been abducted or got lost. He doesn’t remember any of this. She tells him it was a campsite where apparently people went to see aliens. This seems to him a huge breakthrough: he must have been abducted by aliens. It’s the only thing that makes any sense. He thinks the rash is clearing up: it was a symptom of the trauma of being abducted, and now that he’s faced it, all will be okay.

Right. How’s that workin’ out for ya dude? Next thing we see is him breathing heavily and running a bath, into which he pours almost the entire bottle of bleach! The rash, far from receding, has accelerated and got worse. Spoke too soon, as if anyone watching this is surprised. Quick guess: he’s an alien who’s being returned to his natural form after having been left with a human family to study them. Probably wrong, but let me throw it out there anyway. Okay, back to the episode. Unsurprisingly, it doesn’t help but makes it worse. Oh, maybe he’s been impregnated with an alien baby that is about to… all right, Trollheart. Enough guessing. Nobody cares.

He decides to end it all, but before he can hang himself he gets a call from his doctor, whom he’s been in video contact with throughout the episode. The doctor says he has worked out what’s wrong and that he can cure him. A few moments later he’s knocking at the door. He administers the injections and the guy goes into convulsions and YES! I WAS RIGHT He literally explodes and the “doctor” reaches into his shattered chest and grabs his “babies” out, two alien offspring, and off he goes. Excellent.


Comments: A very good almost-one-man-play with perhaps a rather predictable ending. If you watch it, beware the gore at the end: it’s pretty messy. Good overall.
Rating: A-

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Title: “Takedown”
Series: Creeped Out
Season: 2
Year: 2019
Writer(s): Emma Campbell
Storyline: Well this is going to be fun. The subject matter is wrestling, and I hate wrestling. Not that I’ll let that impact my rating - hah! B Minus without even watch - huh? Oh. Um, didn’t realise you were still there. This? No no: an unrelated matter, I assure you. Nothing will pre-bias my … B minu - are you still there? Look can you just go please? It’s very distracting. Thank you.

Better see what this is like, I suppose. Says it’s for kids, but then so was Are You Afraid of the Dark? So let’s see before we pre-judge this with a B minus - oh come on! I heard you go! What do you mean you came back? Forgot your what? Right, right, just get it and please go! I have work to do! I don’t know, some people.. What? No, no, nothing. Nothing at all…

Alexa is a good wrestler (see: I told you!) but when she’s selected by her team coach to go up against the boys she believes she has not the confidence or skill to compete against them. Her friend believes in her, but when she gets a weird unsolicited text message telling her she has been chosen, and must text back the gift she wants, she’s a little nonplussed. The text warns that the gift will be taken from someone else, and if she doesn’t choose something, the person sending the text (who calls herself Trudi) will hide under her bed and take something else. She blocks the number but it texts her again. Weird. Shouldn’t be able to do that.

That night she thinks about it, and texts back that she wants physical strength. Immediately a reply tells her that her gift has been sent. The next morning she has great strength, but another text advises her that a gift has been taken from her. She worries what it might be, but still asks for more strength. There’s no response. The next day Lincoln, the top wrestler is taken ill and so a spot is up for the regionals, and she intends to take it. That night while she’s in the garage with her father the jack slips while he’s under the car he’s fixing and it falls on him, but using her new strength she is able to lift it off him, much to his amazement.

Alexa’s friend has been watching Lincoln, and thinks that she may have been given his strength, as he is flinching whenever she lands a blow on one of her opponents. She shrugs it off though, despite what the text said. And again, she asks for more strength. I’m not sure what she is thinking here: she’s already stronger than anyone; how much more strength does she need? But when the final match to decide who goes to the regionals is played, it seems Lincoln is back in business, and what’s more, he’s got her sense of tactics. She’s not the only one Trudi texted. Now that she relies on brute force without strategy, she’s easily beaten.

But that’s not the worst of it. Now her friends start weakening, possibly dying. She has to text Trudi to take it all back, but the warning notes that one gift returns means all gifts returned. Lincoln tries to stop her, of course, but she manages to send the text and all is restored. Unfortunately her father then reveals that, though she thinks he always wanted a son he did not. He tells her that he used something similar - chain letters, god I remember them! - to ask for a daughter instead of a son.

And now, everything has been undone. And he no longer has a daughter, but a son.


Comments: A good and unexpected ending that raises the story a little above bleh, but here’s the thing: the creators of this series stated that they were heavily influenced by Amazing Stories, and this is just “Gershwin’s Trunk” rewritten, with a chunk of Are You Afraid of the Dark?’s “The Tale of the Vacant Lot” thrown in, so boo guys, minus points for originality. Also, is that a thing in America - mixed wrestling teams? Young teenage girls allowed to be grappled by - required to be grappled by teenage boys? Would never fly here. Sounds ridiculous.
Rating: B - (Only not a C due to the ending)

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