Friday, May 5, 2017

Every Haunting Hour Ever #61: Long Live Rock and Roll

 
 
 
Season: 3
Episode: 21
Original Airdate: November 16, 2013
Director: Neill Fearnley
Writer(s): Brandon Auman 

Hello there ladies and gentlemen and welcome to my review of the twenty first episode of season three. For those who don't know, season three has about twenty six episodes, making it the longest season in the series. Since I'm currently reviewing the twenty first episode, I only have about five more episodes to go before I'm finished with this season. In other words, we are in the home stretch! 

Holden is a boy with a garage band, but no musical talent when it comes to playing lead guitar. So when a former, Keith Richards-esque rock star-turned-music shop owner known as Sir Maestro offers him a new guitar seemingly for free, Holden jumps at the chance, only to learn that Sir Maestro wants more than cash for payment and Holden's friends have been tempted with similar offers. 

One of the things I liked about the episode is Sir Maestro. I'm not sure if I used this comparison already but he's kind of like the villain from Something Wicked This Way Comes. He's charismatic but not to a point where he can't be creepy. Not only that but his design is also great. I think it really fits and even enhances the whole rock star motif he's aiming for. 

Another thing I liked about this episode was the climax. So in the climax, Holden challenges Sir Maestro to a "rock-off" in order to save his friends from Maestro's control. There are quite a few things about this climax that I really liked. First off, Holden gets a nice bit of character development. In the beginning of the episode, Holden's guitar skills are less than great and blames his guitar. However, when he's forced to use his original guitar in the rock off, his skills have clearly improved as he doesn't seem to make a mistake when playing. Second, the climax kind of reminded me of the rock off from the Tenacious D movie, which I think they might've been referencing or paying homage to in their own way. 

Unfortunately, there is one problem I have with the episode. So there's a scene where Sir Maestro sneaks into Holden's room and explains that he wants his soul once he gets his bandmate's souls. Now this doesn't seem too bad but the problem with this scene is that it kind of screws up the pacing and I feel like they could've conveyed this information in a much more time efficient way. 

Overall, Long Live Rock and Roll is an episode that does a good job balancing the creepiness with the fun. It's a rather solid episode that's worth checking out. 

Overall Grade: B+

1 comment:

  1. It's good to know they took a premise that could have been one big cliche and made an effective episode out of it. I also like the message that you need to be careful not to get involved with the wrong people while trying to achieve success. I agree with the "Keith Richards-esque" description because I thought the same thing when I saw that picture. All I know about Something Wicked This Way Comes is it's on a lot of "scariest children's movies" lists.
    -Raidra

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