Moving into the second episode, we get a great balance of humor and real horror. Confused teen boys and alien rituals shake two families to their cores.
Spoilers Ahead
1. What’s Happening To My Body?!
Set up as a puberty allegory with very clear and apparent themes. Two young teen boys, best friends Jack and Ronald, begin to notice strange things happening to them. Some of it, while new, seems to be what they expected from their teen years, but other things are getting them nervous. They’re starting to find their very caring and well-meaning parents to be incredibly annoying and/or embarrassing at every turn. They’re finding strange rashes on their arms. Is it poison oak from camping in the back yard or something more sinister? At the same time, they’re realizing that maybe their friendship won’t last or in the smallest of terms, won’t be the same much longer. It all works quite well in this heightened sci-fi/horror/comedy episode. Gabriel Bateman and Arjun Athalye as Jack and Ron respectively, play their parts with camp and are believably charming. It took me back to rolling my eyes all the way to the back of my head when my parents said something goofy when I was 15.
2. Perfectly Cast Parental Units
Leading the cast of adults in this episode are absurdist comedian/actor Tim Heidecker and actress/singer-songwriter Riki Lindhome as Jack’s parents, and Parvesh Cheena – a comedic actor, and veritable ‘that guy’ with a credits from film, sitcoms, voice acting, and more, paired with first time screen actress Rajani Nair as Ron’s parents.
Seeing Tim Heidecker bring just a touch of his bizarre sense of humor to the goofy, progressive, and loving dad, Dale, is a match I never knew I wanted in something like this. It’s a purposefully likable version of his character Josh from Jordan Peele’s Us. He’s funny, sweet, and clearly loves his kid. Which makes the suspicion around him all the more confusing for our tween heroes. It’s a slam dunk for this type of show and story.
His wife, Bonnie is the great Riki Lindhome, an actor who knows here way around comedy and horror. Her ability to switch between endlessly charming, and silly dead-pan works perfectly throughout the episode. In a slightly odd move for a kid’s show, her beauty and Dale’s attraction to her comes into play more than once. It isn’t a lingering thing, and for the older kids in the audience, tying something like that to an episode literally about puberty works and I applaud them for including it as it comes off quite naturally aside from the camera following her butt for a few seconds. She’s funny, charming, and even gets to get a little spooky. Great from start to finish.
Ron Sr. as played by Parvesh Cheena is also playing up the quiet, but equally sweet best friend to Dale. He is loaded with dad-jokes and is ready for game night at all times. His credits list is a mile long and he has nailed the best friend role over the years. He gets about equal screen time as Heidecker and Lindhome and carries his weight accordingly. It’s a fun performance any time all four parents on screen, which brings me back to Rajani Nair.
Playing Ron Jr.’s mom, Gloria, I was shocked to learn that she has never acted on screen before. She has the least to do out of the four adults, but amongst these comedy veterans she holds her own. She feels natural in the role of a pleasant mom. She also turns on the creep factor when called for.
3. Phone Home
In a funny, but slightly under-used turn, Henry Thomas, beloved by generations as Elliot in E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, plays the kooky local conspiracy theorist and shop of random junk-owner, the aptly named Crazy Chris. It’s a silly, on-the-nose reference, but it will bring a smile to most parents watching this with their kids, who I am sure will point it out to said kids, either blowing their minds, or asking what E.T. is. Funny, cute, worth it just to have him play something outside of his wheelhouse.
4. Funny AND Scary.
I found this episode to be equally humorous and spooky. Even more-so than the first episode which felt like it didn’t really know which direction it wanted to go in. There are jokes flying in every scene, both in your face and subtle. It’s a fun blend even when it is evident which audience member the joke is aimed at. Younger teens will appreciate the whole scope as they realize they can still laugh at the sillier stuff and are beginning to pick up on the more clever writing.
Continued belowAs the humor mostly works throughout, I actually felt that the humor was really well done as Ron and Jack’s paranoia begins to get the better of them. Even when some big reveals are made, they are playing scares and dread fairly well. They become afraid of their parents. They interact as briefly as they can with them, and respond shortly, leading the parents, Dale specifically, to believe the kids are mad at them about something. You completely under stand why the kids are frightened, but you also see the hurt on the adults’s faces as their kids pull away from them. It plays well with the sci-fi/horror fears and the real-world fears and pain of families being unable to communicate as the kids age. Because this is a kid’s show, and our main characters come from loving, unbroken homes, the writers only dip their toes in this pool, but it’s just enough to work and at least begin to be effecting. The episode also dabbles in both killer alien and weird cult horror. It’s actually pretty great.
5. Tentacles, And Nothing Else…
When we discover who the aliens are, we get a look at their true appearance, and it is, kinda lame. While looking human, we see their arms change to purple and pink glowing tentacles, and that’s it. When a greater reveal comes at the end of the episode, it feels like their should be a more full-body transformation, but no, it’s just tentacle arms. I know this show probably has one of the smaller budgets on Disney+, but one big CGI reveal was needed. I guess this species of look human except for their arms.
