Every Haunting Hour Ever #40: The Return of Lilly D

Season: 2
Episode: 18 
Original Airdate: February 4, 2012
Director: Neil Fearnley 

What's up ladies and gentlemen?! This is Azu here and boy am I excited because I'm reviewing the final episode of season two! Yaaaay! Since I still have two more seasons to review, I can now bust out an obligatory "OOOOOH! WE'RE HALFWAY THERE! WOAH OH! LIVIN' ON A PRAYER!" Joke. After this, I'll be moving onto season three where I think the series REALLY shines! 

In this sequel to "Really You," a kind-hearted girl named Natalie finds the discarded Lilly D. doll in a gutter and brings her home to restore her. The doll maker from the first episode commends Natalie for purifying Lilly D's soul with her goodness...until strange things begin happening around Natalie's house. 

One of the things I liked about the episode was the pacing. For the most part, it's fantastic as I really like the way the episode starts out nice and peaceful and becomes more tense and horrifying the longer Natalie keeps Lilly D around. The pacing is pretty even and you can really tell that the people who worked on the episode did their homework on when to crank up the tension and scares and when to keep things peaceful. It almost never rushes you into a scary or tense scene. 

Another thing I like about the episode is the story. Being a sequel in a horror anthology series or just in the horror genre in general, this could've easily been a complete rehash of its predecessor (In this case, the episode Really You). But the fascinating part is that it picks up where Really You left off and actually continues the story. Considering that Stine was responsible for the three Monster Blood sequels (which range from okay to unbelievably awful), this is really nice to see. 

One of my major issues with the episode is the ending. For me, it's just kind of a mixed bag. On the one hand, it's really awesome to see Natalie not only fight Lilly D face to face and concur her fear of the doll, but to also see her rip her head clean off with just a frying pan, which makes for a pretty badass scene. On the other hand, it seems rather anticlimactic and rushed. I mean, this scene looks like something you'd see in a Tom and Jerry cartoon! Not a Haunting Hour episode unless said episode was supposed to be intentionally funny. 

Overall, The Return of Lilly D was better than I expected it to be. When I first saw this episode, I questioned why they chose to make a sequel to Really You as opposed to some other episodes like Mascot or Sick and didn't really think much of it. Watching it again, the episode does a pretty decent job for what it is. I honestly think it could've been a lot worse as you'll see when I review a specific episode lightyears into the future. 

Overall Grade: B 

So now that I've finished reviewing both seasons one and two of The Haunting Hour, I'm going to implement a new end of season ratings system, starting with the end of this season. This will be known as the "S.I.D" system. The "S" stands for Stud which ranges from A+ to B-. The "I" stands for In-betweeners which ranges from C+ to C-. Last but not least, the "D" stands for Dud which ranges from D+ to F-. If a seasons has more Studs than In-betweeners or Duds, then it's considered a fantastic season. If there are more In-betweeners than Studs or Duds, then it's considered a mediocre season. If there are more Duds than In-betweeners and Studs, than it's considered an awful season. 

Overall Season Grade: 

Studs: 16/18 

In-Betweeners: 2/18 

Duds: 0/18 

Season two was an overall fantastic season that really kicked it up a notch from the first. With that said, I hope to see you in my next review as I start reviewing all of season three!