I'm generally a sucker for episodes like this: a non-horror show doing a spooky episode. Halloween specials are always my favorite episode of any series. So I was looking forward to this one...but it didn't quite meet the mark. It's divided into 3 separate stories:
ZBZ: Casey hosts a night of pledge bonding that turns into a ghost hunt. This was the most disappointing segment. The girls don't behave like actual people. It feels very much like a male writer tried to script a girls' sleepover based on something his sister told him once. In actuality, girl sleepovers have always been 99% summoning the dead and experimenting in the dark arts. Casey would never be annoyed by it and none of the pledges would be so terrified. This could have been such a great, atmospheric segment with a fun mystery.
KT: A mysterious hot girl with a connection to Cappie shows up. This is the cliche "is she an escaped mental patient?!" storyline that has been done on every TV show. It's also another wasted chance at a mystery-unraveling sequence. The saving grace is Annalynne McCord giving a shockingly good performance. She's so much fun to watch, and it saves the whole story.
OX: Evan and Calvin are left to watch the frat house alone. This is the best segment. It's just 2 guys becoming better friends, and it's a lot of fun. The references to scenes from Jaws, Aliens, etc. Are well used. Teen shows are always at their strongest when they simply let the actors explore their characters, and this segment does that perfectly.
ZBZ: Casey hosts a night of pledge bonding that turns into a ghost hunt. This was the most disappointing segment. The girls don't behave like actual people. It feels very much like a male writer tried to script a girls' sleepover based on something his sister told him once. In actuality, girl sleepovers have always been 99% summoning the dead and experimenting in the dark arts. Casey would never be annoyed by it and none of the pledges would be so terrified. This could have been such a great, atmospheric segment with a fun mystery.
KT: A mysterious hot girl with a connection to Cappie shows up. This is the cliche "is she an escaped mental patient?!" storyline that has been done on every TV show. It's also another wasted chance at a mystery-unraveling sequence. The saving grace is Annalynne McCord giving a shockingly good performance. She's so much fun to watch, and it saves the whole story.
OX: Evan and Calvin are left to watch the frat house alone. This is the best segment. It's just 2 guys becoming better friends, and it's a lot of fun. The references to scenes from Jaws, Aliens, etc. Are well used. Teen shows are always at their strongest when they simply let the actors explore their characters, and this segment does that perfectly.
