WIP Wednesday

[froodle]

What have you been working on this week, Eerie fans? Now's the time to spread the word about any fannish treats you've got cooking: a line of dialogue from an upcoming fic, linework for your latest art piece, the yarn colours for a new toy. Let us know in the comments!

Mike K reviews Dead Letter

[froodle]

Eerie, Indiana: Dead Letter

This one reminds me a bit of Heart On A Chain - it’s another episode centered on a bittersweet supernatural love story. Comparing the two directly, I find this doesn’t quite stand up - Heart On A Chain had a more novel hook to it and perhaps gave a little more development to the romance aspect. However, taken on it’s own, it’s a pretty good episode. Like Heart On A Chain, it does a good job at fitting a more dramatic story into the quirky world of the show, and still works in it’s share of surreal humor and background gags.

The plot has to do with Marshall finding an unsent letter in a book and being tasked to deliver it in person by a ghost named Tripp McConnell (played by none other than Tobey Maguire). I do kind of like the treatment of Maguire’s character - he’s ultimately a good guy, and doesn’t want to harm anyone, but he is perfectly willing to use his powers to annoy Marshall until he helps achieve his goal and can move on. Overall, it can be said that this is perhaps a bit too typical a ghost story for the show’s sensibilities, but it does work, and further adds to the characterization of Marshall.

Side Notes:

While it’s sort of filler, I enjoy the dream sequence of Marshall’s that Tripp interrupts just for being one of the weirdest moments of the show thus far: Said dream involves a stuffed raven in diapers, Marshall’s family flying on a tandem bicycle over the moon, and Simon in a white suit standing on a pedestal while holding a cigar and guffawing in an unnaturally low voice.