Every Haunting Hour Ever #75: Spores

Season: 4 

Episode: 9

Original Airdate: November 22, 2014

Director: Ken Friss

Writer(s): Natalie LaPointe & Greg Yolen

Opening with Melvin Dixel locked in the family car while his parents pound on the doors howling at him. Earlier Melvin's overly-competitive father, who wants to beat his office rival's record of hiking, had taken his family hiking through the woods of a national park. Before getting there they are warned by a Park Ranger. He's "perfect slasher material" according to Melvin's sister, Jacquelyn.

While hiking, Melvin's family gets picked off. First Janet, then Jack, then Jacquelyn and finally Jack Jr. by a strange cloud of spores that turns its victims one by one into mindless mutants who become covered in fungal growths.

One of the things I liked about this episode was the father character. At times, his ego can get in the way and because of this, he acts like a jerk. Despite this, he still manages to care about his family. For example, when his wife goes missing at one point in the episode, he rounds up the rest of his family and takes time out of their hike to find her. During the search, Melvin says that every vacation they go on seems to be his vacation and that they're never allowed to do their own thing while on said vacations. The father responds to him by saying that it wouldn't feel like a family unit if everyone did their own thing and says that he doesn't want Melvin and the rest of his kids to grow up too fast. What I find especially interesting about this character is that he seems like a better written version of the father character from Bad Egg (who I called Dr. Douchebag), as he seems to have a better balance of flaws and strengths. As a result, this makes the character feel more three dimensional. 

Another thing I liked about this episode was the type of threat the episode went with. In this episode, the threat isn't a monster or cursed object but a fungus that infects most of the characters by the end and turns them into grotesque looking plants and makes them act like mindless mutants. For this show, this is an interesting and somewhat unique threat. I also like how it explains some of the character's actions such as the father's desire to hike to Lookout Point and the supposed psychic connection between Jacquelyn and Jack Jr. 

Overall, Spores is an entertaining and somewhat creative episode. While the story is fairly simple, it did a good job keeping me engaged. 

Overall Grade: B+