Season: 1
Episode: 14
Original Airdate: March 19, 2011
Director: Peter Deluise
You know, I don't really understand why someone would be afraid of clowns. The only explanation I can muster up is that it somehow ties in to the fear of corpses. Well, maybe this episode can explain the fear of clowns better.
Clowns are no laughing matter to Chris (Jake Cherry) who has a strange feeling that the local carnival clowns are stalking him. It is shown that they are in fact stalking him. It is revealed that his parents have been clowns forever and now, so is he.
Now what I personally like about this episode is how well they take advantage of the medium they're in. What people tend to forget is that TV, like film, is a visual medium and you still need to tell some parts of the story visually. This episode does this beautifully as they actually SHOW the reasons why Chris is afraid of clowns (i.e They stalk him, violate his personal space, etc.) Like I said, I didn't really understand why someone would be afraid of clowns, but this episode did give me a better understanding of why someone would think clowns were something to fear.
Another thing I like about this episode is how well the actors chosen to play the clowns are. Like Fear from Fear Never Knocks, they're really over the top and seem like they're having fun. At the same time, they are really intimidating, especially when they keep asking Chris to participate in one of their acts because he refuses to do so.
Overall, Afraid of Clowns is a compelling character study episode that's pulled off rather well. For this type of episode to be structured like this and not come off as insultingly simple is worth at least a pat on the back for the people working on this episode.
Overall Grade: A
I had a classmate in high school who was afraid of clowns because of a traumatic experience when she was little. They went to a circus and there was a clown giving out balloons or something. She wanted one, but he didn't see her and walked away. Another clown, seeing what was happening, asked if she wanted a balloon. She said yes and he picked her up to walk her over to the first clown. However, he tripped and fell while holding her. That's her reason, but I can only speak for her and not other coulrophobes.
ReplyDeleteAs for the episode, I thought the explanation, "It is revealed that his parents have been clowns forever and now, so is he," was funny, but I have to admit that I didn't see it coming, and it is interesting to have clowns in place of something like werewolves or vampires. Kudos to the good use of the visual element too.
-Raidra