Friday, February 24, 2017

Every Haunting Hour Ever #56: Detention



Season: 3
Episode: 16
Original Airdate: October 12, 2013
Director: Neill Fernley
Writer(s): Harold Hayes Jr. and Craig S. Phillips

Hey there ladies and gentlemen! Have you ever wanted to see a show like The Haunting Hour do their take on The Breakfast Club? Well it's here so, let's look at it anyway. 

Kate, a snooty homecoming queen, Halftime, a lovable, but dim-witted jock, and Audrey, an apathetic Goth girl, are stuck in detention for unknown reasons, but when Kate goes missing and strange images and noises begin haunting them, Audrey and Halftime soon realize that their after-school punishment is from a higher power. 

One of the things that I liked about the episode was the characters. At first, the characters start out as the most stereotypical characters you can imagine. However, as the episode goes on, they slowly become more three dimensional and somewhat realistic. Truth be told, I was about to hate these characters when I first saw them but after I saw them get a lot of development throughout the episide, I was pleasantly surprised! Not only that but considering that these are one off characters (which usually get minimal character development) in a twenty minute episode, that's quite impressive!

Another thing I liked about the episode was the atmosphere. In this episode, the school is a maze like area that's practically inescapable. It feels empty and quiet save for screaming and other voices screeching over the loudspeaker. Not only are these sounds unnerving but they also act as foreshadowing for later in the episode. Speaking of which... 

The other thing I liked about the episode was the ending. This is by far the best part of the episode not only because the characters get the most development here and is quite heartwarming and heartbreaking but also because we find out why they're really in detention. You see, we find out that all of the characters had died and none of them are innocent. For example, Audrey is responsible for throwing the smoke bomb at the float Halftime and Kate were riding on, which caused the float to crash and lead to their deaths. Halftime is responsible for rigging the Homecoming vote so Kate could be Queen in order to be invited to a party and Kate is responsible for being the bitchiest bitch who ever bitched. Despite this though, they are given a chance to redeem themselves and are taken back to when the parade is just getting started. Long story short, they take the chance and redeem themselves by not making the previously mentioned mistakes and choose to just enjoy the parade and have a good time. 

Overall, Detention is one of the most if not the most adult episode in the entire series and I don't mean in the whole "Ha Ha! Let's throw in lots of swearing, sex, and violence" type of adult. I'm talking about the type of adult that actually challenges its target audience by giving them dark and complex themes to think about, giving them likable but flawed characters to latch onto, and just giving them an overall interesting experience. 

Overall Grade: A+

1 comment:

  1. I know there have been creepypastas which say, "Oh, the cast of this show is actually dead!" I'm glad this was able to do that premise successfully and meaningfully, and that there was character development instead of lazy writing. I also like how they were able to learn from their mistakes and have a happy ending. That last paragraph touched on something I've seen discussed elsewhere, which is that a lot of "adult shows" fail to deliver. Critics have rightfully complained that a lot of so-called "adult" cartoons fail because they just throw in language, sexual dialogue, and gross-out content when they should have mature, insightful, and provocative content. I'm glad that's not the case here. It sounds like a lot of writers could learn from this episode.
    -Raidra

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