SurrealTube: Don't Hug Me I'm Scared "Family" and "Friendship"

Weird. Hello everyone, and welcome to Scary Stories We Tell. I am one of your hosts, Christash, and I'm joined by one of the other hosts of this show, Emma Hi, Hi Hello. I like the whole it's it's always the wholesome energy that you bring to everything, and that's what's most to appreciate it, So I try. I think it's my brand at this point.

That's fair. On this episode of Scary Stories We Tell, we're continuing our journey through Don't hug me, I'm scared a little bit more surreal too. But this time it's not on YouTube. It's the third episode of the actual run of the show, because now it's a show that you can watch on the internet. We're gonna be talking about the third episode of the show that's titled Family.

So this episode aired October seventh. It is the third episode of the show, but it's technically the tenth episode of the whole series. Yeah and yeah. This is all about our three friends, Yellow Guy, Red Guy, and Duck meeting a group of fucking weird twins who take them to their house so they can teach them all about the concept of family. Lily and Todney, Yes, you can name them.

Yeah, Lilly and of course her brother, Todney. Todney. I love that so much. It's you know, it's interesting. I think we knew that they were going to approach this topic at some point, right, they kind of had to.

Yeah, I was I thought like they had already broached love, right, and I feel like family is often seen as an offshoot of love, especially in children's you know, programming, and so I wasn't too sure that they were going to touch on this subject specifically because of that, but it was a very interesting take of it. Yeah, it's you know, the show does a really good job of being I want to say esoteric. But the humor is not joke telling. It's not telling you jokes the intent of making you laugh. It's subverting your expectations of what kind of show this show is, but also subverting your expectations of what this kind of show is going to talk about and how it's going to talk about it.

And I feel like, for me, this is the first opportunity that the show has given me as the viewer, to say, this might be This way of handling this is a little less nuanced than the way they've handled the topics before agreed this one found very on the nose, like almost a little personal. Yeah, And there's nothing wrong with that, obviously. I mean a lot of people's again, a lot of content creators or creators creations come from and are rooted in trauma of some variety, be it familial trauma, personal trauma, whatever, So that's fine. But to go that specific with some of the things, it just it probably lands for whoever wrote it, but I don't think it landed for me that the audience member who's been completely on board with this show since the first episode you showed me fucking three months ago.

Now, yeah, it's been that long, fucking September October of last year, so it's fucking nuts. But like, this is the first time in the run of this show where I kind of was like nip, Like, you know, family for me as a topic is such a weird topic because I mean, the whole thing was what constitutes a family. That's the whole point, is what defines a family, And it was these two very opposing views of the nuclear family, right and the found family, which are obviously, you know, both extremely valid in real life, but here they very much punish the idea of found family. And I guess that's supposed to be a commentary on how family is presented in children's media, and usually it is a nuclear or close to nuclear structure, or like maybe one of the parents died but it was originally nuclear, you know.

Well, and you know, for me, it's it's one of these things you just mentioned it, like they're really kind of taking the contrarian stance on ound family, which is not something that I think people our age would think like. And we've talked about this privately, and this is my own personal, you know, feelings on it. You know, I have a decent relationship with my sibling. I have a pretty good relationship with my parents, and I you know, it's not that I have anything against my extended family, but we're all busy in life is what it is, and there's not enough hours in the day. And look, I don't come from a very big family.

Neither my mom nor dad had more than one sibling, if they had any siblings at all. So I don't have a giant family that gets together at Christmas, that does Thanksgiving like it was always my family and my dad's brother's family. That's it. So yeah, and like I'm not the only one who feels that way. I know that, Like for me, my found family of people, it ends up being this pirate crew of people that I work with.

In a lot of ways, those are the people that I talked to every day. I mean I talk to my mom and dad or my mom and dad. I text them every day when I can. But these other people are the people that I'm working with, you know, creating new memories with, Like yourself. I mean, you and I have had conversations that go into two and three in the morning when we're not even recording.

I consider you closer to me than my own flesh and blood sibling. Like that's big agree there, Like and that yeah, I can relate. And frankly, that has very little to do with them in a lot of ways, Like it really is not. It's not a condemnation of my sibling. It's more a compatibility.

Yeah, And it's a willingness to be honest with myself that just because someone that I happen to be biologically related to and I don't get along, doesn't mean that I'm stuck with them forever and can't go and forge relationships with people that I can be as close close with as my own quote real family unquote. And that's something that a lot of people older than us, it seems like, don't get. Yeah, definitely, older generations are very adamant what's the range? Like, what are what are we thinking here? Because I've got my own preconceived ideas on the age.

But it's it's people older than fifty. Yeah, that's roughly what I was going to say. I feel like it's the old gen X and above. It's like a hoo, look at you not saying it? And above and boomers.

I mean, I don't look like baby boomer has become a terrible term now and I you know, again in a lot of ways, deservedly so, but in a lot of ways, it's also just what they are. They're baby boomers. That term existed long before everyone said okay boomer like, which is very satisfying to say. Yeah, I think it's more satisfying to say, I don't think I've ever actually said it to anybody, and I have. Oh okay, well lucky it's my gen z audacity.

Whoa Okay, I mean I finally said it to my dad. That barely counts, if accounts at all. I mean fair, I was gonna say, like, the only people I maybe said it to or close to is my own parents. But like that's the point, right, Like I don't think okay boomers meant for anybody other than like your own family. Frankly, like and again, I would never say it to be like a dickhead.

It would be just like more to be like, Okay, maybe you're kind of going a little far afield here, like even from like base reality. Thankfully, again, my own actual biological family I don't have to deal with that. I know plenty of people our age have families in much worse states than mine, people that they don't even talk to their family stuff like that. So I consider myself very grateful that I have a decent enough relationship with my family. But it was surprising that this show took the stance that it took because it feels contrarian to the max.

Yes, it is condemning family structures, non traditional families. I think it's very interesting how they portrayed this idea that you have to have a full, complete fit, Like that's what it was all about, is like, how what does it mean to have a full complete family? What is a complete family and the nuances of being blood related, and like, if you don't have a mom, then you are not considered a family, which is like a very interesting take, and no one that I've ever like, I personally, have never seen that, especially not in children's programming, And so it makes me wonder where they got that from, because that is a big plot point in the episode, is this lack of a mother and needing somebody to fulfill that in order to be considered a full family so they can order a family bucket.

Which I do think is also really funny, is that, like the main antagonist in all of this is the finickiness of food labeled for family right, family size, the family duty chutty D's. I mean, that's the thing that I do appreciate is the the book end of the episode is very don't hug me, I'm scared Like. It has that that humor that I expect from the creators of the show. It has the humor that I expect from the scenarios that it's putting the three characters in. But everything in between is this weird, oddly personal attack on family.

That's again for the person who created it, I'm sure that they were like, this is exactly what I wanted to say. I didn't compromise my vision at all, and this is how I feel about it, and sit and look at it with me. But I really have a hard time empathizing with that line of thinking. I mean that, you know, we see at the end of the three characters essentially say all right, blood relations or bullshit, it doesn't matter because you know, family pack at the end only has two in it anyways, But it's it's weird that they actually show them coming to that realization as opposed to like that realization just being a parent, right, And I think that's them really trying to hammer home like the moral of the story hence Children's you know that whole thing, right.

But the first thing that I want to point out about this episode is that we were given an almost teacher and that was the apple at the very beginning, and it was supposed to be the episode of like the way that they were setting up the episode was supposed to be about like healthy like food choices, which they've already done, so it makes sense, but it was a different teacher than what they had for like the original like this is how you should eat healthy? They had this apple. And then that's when Lily and Todney artitular twins came into the picture to basically completely take over the story. And it didn't really feel like the way that they obviously like were shoehorned it. Like That's what I guess I'm most confused about is other like, was it just an attempt to you know, subvert expectations by saying like, oh, like we're starting like with the apple, but then like I wonder if there's like a weird symbolism or a choice there or was it just a subvert expectations.

I think it was just for a cheap gag at the beginning. I don't know, like, hey, those two characters that they introduced are so off putting and uninteresting comparatively to everything else that the show has presented up unto this point. But Fannie has such a beautiful singing voice it's terrible awful. The part of the family song at the beginning when he is in to he's using the fucking tambourine and add pinking is incredible. Though, I you're right that I don't like the look of these you know, puppets as opposed to all the other you know puppets in you know, in the series as a whole, but like humans, they're actually humans, which is strange.

And then like the rest of their family doesn't look human at least not in the same way, right, not even remotely the same way. Like they're more distorted looking in the way that like Roy is distorted looking, right, And I don't know, I it is an interesting choice. Why did they choose like humanoid other than just because it's fucking creepy. I mean that is reason enough to present us with those puppets. I feel like to have it be like a humanoid esque puppet is Yeah, it looks you know what it looks like.

They look like those CPR dolls is what they look like, right, but with like eyes and they can actually like open and close their mouth. But it's that same like plastic flesh that you have on those like um like for boxing, you know, it's like that. It's like a plastic guy that's like weighted with sand at the bottom. It's that same texture. So it's really off putting.

I mean, it's it's meant to be off putting, but the message of the episode is so off putting itself that by the end of the episode. I just kind of wondered, what what was the point of doing this as a twenty three minute episode when it felt like you could have gotten it down to like ten, This hasn't had to be Yeah, but sure, I mean the structure, sure, I mean yes, technically, you're right, But I'm speaking more of the idea of why didn't they do this in the first ten episode, in the first sixth episode, And if they did, isn't this just retreading the same ground because you kind of mentioned they've talked about love life ready, right, which this is like what I mean, that's forty five degrees. This is like thirty five it's like three quarters of the way type their thing, like I do, That's what I like, you kind of treaded this ground before.

Guys. Again, I think the purpose of each of the episodes, especially even the original six, is to specifically make commentary on something that is often found in children's programming and like the weird and pointing out the weirdness of it, and like how like when you take out all of the context and just like say it in plain terms, how fucking weird it sounds. And I think that that's the point. But like again, I I sort of get it with this one, but it feels like they're really shoving the idea down your throat versus us being able to say like, oh, they're so like, you know what the jobs want. They're like how like the whole beginning song with the briefcase saying that you can be whatever you want to be is like so clear, like yes, they shove that down kids throats, like you can be whatever you want.

And then they wind up working at a factory, which says a lot, and it says a lot. It says a lot without saying it without taking you without taking the hammer in that episode and nailing you over the head with it, right, So it's it's like they've been that episode. They had worked at the job's factory, you know what I mean, Like, I know, that's kind of what they got at, but they had some nuance there. There was a little bit even one percent more nuance. But this just feels like this honestly feels like this exists to make sure that there were six episodes, like one of these episodes was bound to not be good.

Hopefully it's this one and everything else is good, because this is like the middle of the desk. I will say, maybe it's because they and I guess this remains to be seen, but maybe they just wanted one where they knew that they could be like real fucking creepy with it. Maybe that's why. Because I think you had mentioned that it reminded you a horror movie that you had seen. I believe in you you got this.

I don't remember you remember what scene it was specifically, because I'm having a hard time. Yeah, it was when they replaced the mom with yellow Guy and that whole realization tied to the chair, that whole thing. Oh yeah, So this episode wears its influences on its sleeve. Also a lot more than anything else has. There's a Texas chainsaw massacre scene in this episode which doesn't feel earned.

Yeah, you've never seen it, but it also doesn't feel earned in a lot of ways. It's honestly, having rewatched it and thinking about it now, it contributes to knocking you over the head and unintended for those of you who have seen Texas chainsaw massacre. But this even having it there and then like dressing up yellow Guy as the mom, it's just what are you saying about this? Because it's in every other episode up until this point, it's very clear what the message is. It's very clear what they're trying to tell us as an audience and what they want us to know.

And here if what they want us to know is yes, to be a biological family is not the definition of family. The definition of family is what you make it. Yeah, duh, Like I don't know, Like for me and people our age, I don't need to be told that, right, Yeah, I guess because we keep comparing it to the Love episode from the original series, and for me, like the ending there where it really subverts expectations was the whole like this is actually a cult, which again it is like, yeah, we knew that, but at the same time it's like wow when you put it that way, like yeah, it really is. And this didn't have that same feeling. It was very straightforward and yeah, you're you're right.

I didn't. I didn't enjoy that. But I think what I did enjoy was exploring like the opposed the other dynamics, which they explored with Duck and they explored with Red Guy um which by the way, with Red Guy when the tree is like sucking out his blood to run a test, it obviously worked because he found his family immediately after that, Like it's it's funny because that scene is supposed to be like, oh, the tree is like sucking the life out of him, and it's blah blah blah. But then he actually finds his family and he's fine. So I just I don't think the tree is an antagonist at all.

I really like the family Tree. I really like the scene with Red Guy because I think that I think that speaks more to a lot of personal experiences that a lot of us have probably had as adults in a family dynamic, and like being the one who effectively read guys kind of the black sheep of his own family. I've also heard him being described with that scene specifically as like being the one in the family with like adhd right, the one who's whatever, like it's other whatever, the otherness is right just doesn't quite fit in. Right. Which we also knew from the original series is that most of Red Guy's race question mark species is all very mundane and boring, and so it tracks that his biological family would also be.

But I also think it's interesting that he had never met his family before. It seemed the way that they set it up was like because he was like, oh, your you must be the uncle, which was like I get it, but I also I don't know. And then like as soon as they took the photo, he was like dragged back into the original house that I didn't quite I understood that it was supposed to be a transition, but I didn't understand if there was significance behind. That's what's disappointing is that every other episode of the show, we've had a better answer than I don't know. Yeah, some some things do fall a little short with this one, but I will say that they really went all out on the aesthetic.

It really does capture that like you know, you've gone to like your quote unquote like school acquaintances house, and like the family has like weird rules and the house looks like creepy and there's like a weird smell and like all of that. Like that the way that everything is like being explained as you go, like, oh, here, we don't do this, Oh this is how you're supposed to do this. No one's allowed to touch mother's peace right for the game board. Like I feel like that must have hit home for a lot of people in terms of like people that have gone to like, you know, the creepy you know house that like just because they happen to have a classmate, you know, who was like, hey, you should come over, we should have a sleepover.

And then it's like fucking terrible. You just want to go home. But again, that feels less about commentary on children's programming and more personal, which is where it loses its meaning for me. Well, and that's where it falls flat for me because I like that they would mix the two. It's less about them separately and more about the commingling of those two ideas of a children show tackling adult topics, which children shows ten two anyways, they're just you know, really tackling them in these childish, naive even ways.

But the idea that this show strips away the naivete and wants to have a serious, subversive conversation even at times about it this is not that this like you said, this is just it feels like one person saying, isn't it shitty that families are shitty? And it's like, yeah, duh, I don't know, Like I guess it's so relatable that I kind of don't be like you're really saying anything, I would agree with that. I really do think that this episode was supposed to just be creepy for creepy's sake. They just wanted to do one that was a little bit more fun that they didn't have to dig too deep into, and they achieved it, and they definitely there were a lot of moments where, you know, subverting expectations and the chaos.

Like I think they wanted to just lean into that side of what they do and like really up the creepy factor. Maybe they were afraid that like some people are going to say, like, yo, this show used to be creepy and now it's not, you know, and like so maybe they just wanted to like throw like one like really out there. I mean, again, that remains to be seen because we don't know what the other episode we don't we haven't watched the other ones, but at least up to this point, it's the first that like really feels like they were going for a very specific aesthetic that they had yet to go for. Yeah, and they go some places that it feels like they were more trying to make sure that they could get to that place and tell that specific thing as opposed to telling a broader story.

Like you said, it's a specific They wanted to get to the Texas Change saw massacre thing, so they got there, and to get there they had to jump through all these hoops that end up just again, it's not that it's bad, it's not that it's not compelling. It's just I expect a lot more from this show because this show has shown me that it expects a lot of its audience. Frankly, in a lot of ways, like the show is not the show doesn't reward you for being a passive viewer. The show rewards you for being a engaged viewer who's watching the show and also engaging with the dialogue and actually listening to the dialogue and engaging with the visuals. This is not something that's you're sitting on your phone watching.

You have to be engaged with this, and the show has been up under this point very engaging. It's just this is. Look, families are what they are, and they're deeply personal, and there are something that we can all kind of you know, all that happened to me sort of, But nobody's family is the same, and nobody's family is going to be one to one and yes, approaching families as a topic I think is an interesting play. But to what end? Agreed?

Yeah, I think the majority of this episode is, as you said, like pretty on the nose, pretty self explanatory. I think like there is like one bit though, that I think would be interesting to dive deeper into. And that's towards the end during the you know Chansawasaker saying as you so put it, and that is when Roy comes into the picture, which Roy being Yellow Guys apparent dad who's watching all the things happening in the house per the intro credits. Yes, always, that is in every single opening thus far. His eye has been seen in a crack in the wall during the intro, and we have raised to believe, obviously that the intro changes over time because they change up some of the dialogue, which is why we say like, at least up to this point, he's been in every intro song.

But what's interesting is he comes in at the end while everything is going absolute off the wall. They find they order their bucket family bucket of chicken, and their mouths open up and unhinged jaws and whatever, and then so Roy comes in, Yellow Guy obviously is like you've come to save me, and Roy just dead pan box right past, and I didn't really notice this on the first watch. I actually think on the first watch, I thought that he just joined in to eat the chicken. I think so much was happening, and then I realized when I was rewatching it that he ate the family like he would have eaten the chicken. And so I guess the question is why was it to save his son?

Was it just because he was hungry? Is there? I think that Okay, I actually have two theories and they both could be true. The first being is that, as I mentioned, the episode seemed to have an original teacher, which was this Apple that was taken over, and maybe that's what the episode was supposed to be about. And then Lily and Tanny took it off the rails and Roy, as we said in previous episodes of Surreal Tube, Roy is supposed to be like potentially the producer of the show, and so maybe he was punishing these alternative teachers for taking over the show, and so like that's one and then the other thing, and I find this one really interesting, is that potentially this was supposed to show absentee fathers coming back into their children's life, but only for their own gain.

That is what I thought it was. Yeah, And I think again, when you're talking about stuff like that where it's not beating you over the head with it and a character going yeah, dad came back to save you, but he doesn't actually care and he's only doing it for himself. The fact that they don't have a character saying that, and the fact that this is a god right, but this episode could have gone there because it already did with everything else. Yeah, So I think the way I perceived it was this kind of idea of the absentee father only showing up when it is beneficial to them. I mean, we've seen that in fiction, from something like Fucking I mean, the thing that comes to mind immediately is the end of Waterboy.

The dad leaves at the beginning of the movie. At the end of the movie, he comes back to try to ride the coattails of his son and that doesn't go so well that. I mean, we see that a lot in fictional media, where absentee parents come back when the child becomes successful. I think that this is more about you know, you're my kid, and I'm going to protect you to whatever end that is and yeah, you know, but I don't get the sense that role is. I mean, obviously he's an absentee father there.

That's not great. So it's like, you know, evil be getting clearly evil or strangely cannibalistic. Yeah, I find it interesting that Roy did obviously he did save Gallow Guy right like he was going to die. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know if Yellow Guy was going to die.

They probably they need they needed to have a mom so they can continue to order family buckets. Chris of Chicken, of Chicken. They can't just keep cycling through moms. That's the true villain of the episode. Is Big Chicken's Big Chicken.

I mean, we've been saying it from the get go. We've been saying it for years now. Chicken is Chicken is the real thread, Big Chicken. With the price of eggs these days, exactly, with the price of eggs these days, we should be taking it to Big Chicken in a big way. Family buckets.

This is what's killing America. Chetti D's is what I'm more. I'm more interested in Chetti D's than I am Chicken. Do do you think do you think Chutty D's are a chicken derivative. I think chutty D is the best name that this show has come up with.

Shorty, what's what's the name of the fake Wallace and Gromment, Gorton and Havrel or something. It's likes Havress and Gorton or something, and it's, oh, Gorton, I've got some ball cheese. Like it's fucking weird. But it's stuff like that that I appreciate that the show does well and continue to come back to these things, these weird non sequitors that it's already done, Like these constant appearances of teachers in the episode, because that's a theme now, I mean, it's the it's a theme that we're conditioned to. I just don't think this episode does a good job of subverting it because those kids end up just being teachers anyways.

Yeah, and I'm trying to think not every episode is the teacher like a big part of it for the whole episode, Like I'm trying to go back through I know, like obviously in the first episode with Jobs, the briefcase was nowhere to be found for like the majority of the entire episode, which was part of the gag, right, because then they found him at the end and everything resumed like nothing had happened. And that was part of you know, the whole the whole punchline, and then the even even with the second one with the coffin came and went the whole time as a teacher, like the coffin wasn't the plot point. The coffin was just helping to tell the story and like coming in as needed. And then in this episode it was like they never left the screen.

Almost the only time we left them was when we left them with Red Guy and Duck, which was not a very large part of the episode. They were there from almost the beginning towards almost all the way at the end, until they weren't because they were eaten by Roy. Who's the least compelling of the three main characters for you, and who's the most The least compelling to me is Duck personally, wow, I know, and most compelling. I really do love Red Guy and Yellow Guy almost equally, I'm really thinking, because I love Day a very different perspect to me, And I say this lovingly because, as with the second episode, the three of them are the three of them for a reason, and it would not be the same without Duck.

But Duck to me is very annoying. Don't look at me like that, Duck. That's it, But that is Duck's character. Duck is the shrill one who's supposed to be and like, you're not supposed I feel like you're not supposed to necessarily relate or love Duck. Although in this episode I did find the song where Duck was saying, like I don't have a family and that's okay, that whole like song was actually quite touching.

It was probably the most down to earth I've seen Duck in the entire series to date. Usually to me, Duck seems the most attached. This was the most narcissistic, that's for sure, and I think that's also probably why I don't like him. He is very self absorbed, and I love obviously. You know, Yellow Guy comes from the perspective of the child, and Red Guy comes from the perspective of, you know, the adults, and then there's Duck, who's just annoying.

Is Red Guy the adult, is Red Guy the teenager. That's a good point. Disinterested Ali Maybe because I'm twenty five, I'm in that weird in between, so I sort of grouped them together. Yeah, you are in that weird in between. Yeah, it's like I'm kind of a teated I'm kind of an adult, kind of Duck has the best line in the entire shows, the best line in the entire show, best line in the entire show.

Any version of this show is better by Duck goings gibe over and over again. Just the entire run of the show is just be bees being smacked, creatures being smacked by him, just calling everything a bee that's not a bee. So that's your favorite joke, it's it's my favorite reoccurring gag. I think for me, the most compelling character is Red Guy because he's the one I probably, yeah, relate to the most. Yeah.

I think Yellow Guy is just I think drawn a little flatly for the most part, but that's intentional because he's supposed to be the one who doesn't understand any of this. He's the most ever naive, and I think I relate to that. And I think that's why I'm very torn, because I see a lot of myself in both Red Guy and Yellow Guy. Right, there's very And that's probably why I don't like Duck is because I don't see any of myself in Duck. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yes, but for now, because like as I said, I really relate to the n naivete.

However you pronounce it right then, I the first time in a second guest myself, you did, damn. But he represents that childlike wonder and I that's something that I hope that I never let go of, and I think that's why I like him so much. And then obviously I think Red Guy is a great foil to that. And I love their dynamics so much, and how how opposing they come from, very opposing belief systems in that way, and they're both very relatable for very different reasons for me. So I can see why you would think Yellow Guy has written flat, but it's intentional.

It's like, that's why I can't fault it, because it's intenle same what's Duck, right, which I like Duck a lot. I don't think Duck is a particularly compelling character, but that's also the I think that Duck is not a compelling character in the same way Yellow Guy has written flatly. They're they're meant to serve. I think Red Guy is the main character of this show, and I think Yellow Guy and Duck are just the foils for him. I would agree with that, although I would say that Yellow Guy is supposed to represent the audience, not us, but the audience of the children's program, expected audience, expected audience, which he like.

As I said, all three of them are so important to the dynamic of the show, right yeah, but I think it is Red Guy's show overall. But then that raises an even more important question. Who's the dad's fair Duck and Red Guy, we're both very adamant that they would be the father figure, So who's the dad? I think Duck is the dad. You do think Duck is the dad?

Right? I guess the reason why I would agree with you is because I can't see Duck as like the teen, but I can see Red Guy as the team right. Yeah. But if you ask me who I prefer as a father, Duck, Oh god, Yellow Guy. Every every every person listening with a narcissistic parent just shuddered.

Yeah, they were like, oh, I get it, been there, done that, been around the block at twice or two. I'm glad that this episode exists, but I just wish this episode had been anything else than what it was. Yeah, I enjoyed it. I was along for the ride. I enjoyed it for what it was, but it felt like it like, if they had to cut an episode so far, this would be the episode I'd want them to cut.

If there was an episode yeah that they were like, you know what, we can't have six, we can only have five. One of them needs to go. Which one is it as of right now? Yeah, let's say it's this one. I agree with you on This episode was just okay.

And this show hasn't been just okay. It's been pretty goddamn good. And the Riders have known exactly what they're trying to say and have been able to subvert expectations as well as they've been able to, I don't know, reaffirm expectations in a lot of ways, and this is this is neither of those. So but again, it's better than you know, most twenty minutes of network television you could just go and watch anyways. So right, and look, it's always going to be technically impressive no matter what the storyline they're telling is.

So shows a technical marvel. I mean the fact that they can make a show like this and it can look as good as it does. And mixed mediums is I'm always impressed by the quality of the show at least agreed, and like I said, the set design in this one alone, like if we were grading on that, they nailed the set design, Like it is equal parts, like not nostalgic, but like I like, I feel like I have seen this house before, but also like it really hammers home the creep factor. They did that really well. And if only our teachers didn't suck.

Yeah, Lily and Todney, y'all really dropped the ball. Yeah, I would rather have seen the apple give us whatever the fuck the apple? Yeah? Is this the first time I'm in I'm trying to think in this part, like in this version of the series where the teachers turn out to be evil because in jobs the the he wasn't the kind of stranded stranded him at that job, but he didn't like, you know, unhinge his jaw right coffin its job. This is like the Yeah again, like this is the first one where like it didn't it felt that twist felt more like the original series, but not in a good way because like so many of the teachers in the original YouTube series had that like demonic you know aftertone, like things would go off the rails, and it felt very reminiscent of that um.

They were more malevolent than they were benevolent in that first run, which again doesn't feel quite right to me, because I've seen the idea floating around that this might like this series, and I guess this will you know, will show potent anually, maybe in the last two episodes, but that this series could be seen as the prequel and or at least like an adjacent timeline. I don't know most of it. I think it's supposed to be like relatively I don't want to say like relatively normal. Nothing about the show is normal, but in terms of like fitting into children's programming, looking like children's programming, it matches the theme style, like the pacing and the theme style, and like the twists that like the very first episode did for me, like with the very first U of the YouTube series with the notepad, you know, the notepad is like hello, I'm your teacher.

Things go off the rails, and then things kind of you know, settle back down, and then you have the punchline and the teacher you know is you know, doesn't it's really never the teacher. They never like zoom in on the teacher, and the teacher is the demonic thing. It's just like that this idea, this this theme, this lesson became what was corrupted, right, And I feel like that is more so the track that the series is taking, which is like, it's not that the teachers are corrupted, it's that the lesson itself is corrupted. And this felt the other way around, and not in a good way. I didn't need it to revisit the original show that way.

There's a reason the narrative is matured into what it is now and the storytelling techniques that they're using are not as kind of one note as they used to be, right, And I think like, because you know, thinking back to the original YouTube series again, they did have a lot of those times or like the teacher after the notepad one, the teacher would become like the demonic force. The thing that becomes corrupted is the teacher rather than the lesson itself. And so yeah, it felt like I guess I would summon up by saying this series so far has felt like the first episode of the YouTube series and that this episode felt like the other episodes, but not in a good way. And I hope that the next episode is less like this episode and more like the first two of this run of the show.

Yes, yeah, this episode's yeah, yeah, it's too bad, A little bit disappointed, but still enjoyed it. For me, Yeah, at least I agree. If if I were to rate it out of ten, I would say first two. Like I'll say first two or solid ten. This one was like a six and a half.

Yeah, it's okay, Yeah, I'd watch it again. I'd show it to somebody'd be like, hey, watch this ship, which is honestly what the original series was all about, is hey, you should watch the ship's right, right. Yeah, they'd achieved that, Yeah, I think. Yeah, if that was the goal, then the goal was achieved for sure. So I just I wish there had been more substance behind it, a little bit more, a little bit more stuffing, and a little less just kind of nothing.

So yeah, So the next time we do one of these, we're gonna be talking about the fourth episode of this run titled Friendship. Whatever could that be about? Who knows? Friendship? Probably Until then, you can find Emma and I over at weirdingwaymedia dot com, where you can find this show, along with the whole host of other shows hosted by me and other people not in me, Mike White, Father Malone, and a whole gaggle of other folks are making great content and you should go check it out over at Weirdingwaymedia dot com.

As for this show, Scary Stories weetell dot com, Scary Stories wt on all social media, that's where you can go to engage with us there. As for helping the show out, you can always like, rate, and review on iTunes or wherever you get the show, because that's what helps us find our audience and as always, will it our good friend the former host Decidings, mister Tim White, lead us out. No mystery is closed to an open mind.