Eerie, Indiana rewatch 2015: episode ten, the Lost Hour

[froodle]

British daylight savings time starts at the end of this month, so you'd be well advised to take advantage of that extra hour in bed, unless of course you'd rather spend a year on the run from murderous binmen in a near-empty parallel world. Make sure your watches are set correctly, because we'e about to enter... the Lost Hour!

Comments

[deifire]

This is another one of the contenders for my constantly changing favorite Eerie episode of all time.

Can we talk for a second about how we never saw Janet again and why it bothers me to this very day? I mean, we've got somebody who is hyper-competent, works well with Marshall, and has been living with and fighting the weird for a year now. Plus, there's the whole first kiss thing, and the fact that the episode revolves around old!Marshall's plan to make sure young!Marshall is the one to save her, which definitely seemed like it was setting up something. And then the show moves on without her, and Mars never mentions her again.

I was talking to one of the showrunners at a con years later, and found out Dash was the result of network pressure to add a third kid, in part because there were limits to how long the actor who played Simon could work at that age. And while I'm not exactly upset that Dash happened, there's still a side of me that goes, "But Janet was right there, already in the plot...and still alive by the end of the episode and everything...and why was that not a possibility...and...@#$!%$@#^&?!"

Anyway.

Opening shots are a deliberate nod to The Twilight Zone or the best possible accident.

Marilyn and Simon absolutely break my heart in this episode, with the look on her face after he tells them his parents don't care when he goes to bed, and the look on his face when he says goodnight after she talks about "our kids" and is obviously including him in there, too.

And oblivious Marshall wants to run away from all this.

At no point in the entire episode, even during the supply run, does Our Hero stop to put on pants.

Marshall's still very trusting at this point in his life, thinking it's a good idea to talk to the garbage men.

I still always wonder what would have happened if they'd gone to Jersey in the Lost Hour and what they might have found outside of the borders of Eerie.

Why get out of the car?! You are faster in the car. Though possibly not more agile, given Marshall's lack of driving experience.

Simon's not quite getting the hang of digital watches always makes me want to riff on Douglas Adams here.

The milkman's identity is still one of my very favorite reveals.

[eviinsanemonkey.livejournal.com]

So...

there's clearly an alternate Eerie where Janet, Sara Sue, and Melanie are the ones fighting the forces of Eerie weirdness.

[deifire]

YES! I would watch/read that in a heartbeat.

[froodle]

seconded!

[froodle]

I can see that so clearly in my head its actually ridic!! its totally scary how well that would work!

[ftrbestseller.livejournal.com]

Well, of course! That would be awesome.

[eviinsanemonkey.livejournal.com]

I might need to write some fic where that happens..

AFTER my girl rockers fic because I gotta stop not working on that.

[froodle]

every time I hear about this girl rockers.fic the pic in my yead gets closer n closer to the misfits from gem n the hologram

[eviinsanemonkey.livejournal.com]

I keep getting distracted from it.

I watched Hocus Pocus last night and a Thing happened in my brain so I'm working on that now instead.

[froodle]

Marilyn and Simon absolutely break my heart in this episode, with the look on her face after he tells them his parents don't care when he goes to bed, and the look on his face when he says goodnight after she talks about "our kids" and is obviously including him in there, too.

Oh my God, this! He just says it so matter of factly (because obv he wouldnt know the diffence) and she's like, so sad and awkward and stunned by the sheer horribleness of that. And the big smile when she kisses him goodnight, oh my GOD. I'm like, at least partially in love with Marilyn Teller in this episode.

[deifire]

I love her and Edgar more and more with every re-watch.

[froodle]

there needs to be fic with like, the tellers encountering other non terrible parents in eerie. so essentially the monroes and the donners. and beng like OH THANK GOD!!

[eviinsanemonkey.livejournal.com]

they would organize like. ways to keep tabs on the kids with shit parents. and like. make sure they were fed and had warm clothes for winter and stuff.

[froodle]

omg YES

[froodle]

I still always wonder what would have happened if they'd gone to Jersey in the Lost Hour and what they might have found outside of the borders of Eerie.

Same. Like, because Jersey does use Daylight Savings Time, would it just be regular Jersey once they crossed the borders out of Indiana, or is the Lost Hour like its own specific geography and theres nothing at all once you get to the edge of the state?

OR is it a labyrinth that just leads you back to Eerie no matter how hard you try to leave?

[deifire]

OR is it a labyrinth that just leads you back to Eerie no matter how hard you try to leave?

That's got to be it! It's such a Twilight Zone-y concept, it would fit right in to the rest of the episode.

[froodle]

plus its indiana, so it could literally be a "back in the cornfield" deal. fml I hated that episode. fuck you little johnny.

[deifire]

Oh, geez! Creepy episode!

[froodle]

Opening shots are a deliberate nod to The Twilight Zone or the best possible accident.

Im going with deliberate, because this seems like a show that really knows its sources. Like in Scariest Home Movies, a lot of the shots are done n the crooked off-angled style that the old Hammer Horror films would do their dramatic monster reveals in.

[froodle]

Re: Janet. It's always a bit weird to me how they try so hard to give Mars a love interest in so many of the episodes but then she never appears again - like, do you want him to have a girlfriend or dont you, and if you do can you fucking pick one and stick with her please? And I think Janet is an example of the weird ambiguity EI seemed to have about it. Like you said, she would have been a great fit for the third point of their triangle, but at some point obviously the decision was made not to go that direction.

IDK, maybe she was too competent? She is demonstrably smarter than Mars because she avoids the creepy garbage guys by instinct, something apparently Jimmy Hoffa wasn't smart enough to do.

[deifire]

Yeah, I don't know if it was actor availability, if they just decided not to go in the girlfriend direction for Marshall, if the fact that she was so competent presented narrative problems, or what. I do wonder what could have been.

[froodle]

I do think it might have been hard to present marshall as the leader or main character if hes got a supporting character who was both smarter and tougher than he was. I mean, I know shes only tiugher because she survived a year alone in the lost hour and kind of had to be just to get by, but thats essentially a years more experiance than marshall has, and in a much more hands on way.

in comparison, with simon being so much younger n dash being in many ways a 'lost' character, as well as having the whole shades of grey morality, its easier to establish mars as the central character with that dynamic.

it is a shame we never got to see her again - maybe they were all intended to come back later on and cancellation is the only reason we never got to see it.

[deifire]

Yeah, I think two of reasons Dash works in the ensemble without taking over (RTAH aside) are that:
a) He is Eerie weirdness, in addition to sometimes fighting it.
b) More often than not, he and Marshall are working at cross purposes for at least part of an episode.

And you're right Simon works because he is so much younger, so "Marshall as older and in charge" is likely to be a permanent part of their dynamic no matter how competent Simon is.

With Janet, you'd kind of start to wonder why is isn't the main character after a while. You couldn't even do a Mulder/Scully thing there.

I really do need to finish some of my future fic where Marshall and Janet do reconnect and try at a relationship when they're older.

[froodle]

oh my god I have such a need for janet centric fic after this convo!!

I really do need to finish some of my future fic where Marshall and Janet do reconnect and try at a relationship when they're older.

I really, realllllyyy want to read this!!

[froodle]

At no point in the entire episode, even during the supply run, does Our Hero stop to put on pants.

This made me laugh so hard. Like, he steals a car, plans a road trip and considers paying for junk he takes from the WoS, but is never like, oh hey, maybe I should get dressed?

Maybe once he had his trainers on, he was too lazy to take them off again to get his jeans on and because there was pretty much nobody else around, he was just like, fuck it, no-pants SAturday it is.

[deifire]

I think I may declare next Daylight Savings day to be No Pants day in honor.

Unless it's too cold around here. Then it might have to at least be pajama pants day.

[froodle]

as long as you remember to put your shoes on before running from the garbage men

[deifire]

Or at least really sturdy slippers.

[froodle]

if theyre booties, you might be okay. I dont fancy your chances if you favour the slip on backless kind tho

[deifire]

For getting stuck in the Lost Hour? Always the bootie slippers!

[froodle]

there should be fic where the garbage men come after janet in normal time and they like bust in when shes just getting up and shes.like OH HELL NO and kicks their asses wearing a dressing gown and bootie slippers.

[eviinsanemonkey.livejournal.com]

uggs to the face.

or whatever the 90s equivalent of uggs were...

[froodle]

this so has to become a tale