Starring:
Omri Katz as Marshall Teller
Justin Shenkarow as Simon Holmes
Patrick LaBrecque as Steve Konkalewski
Mary-Margaret Humes as Marilyn Teller
Francis Guinan as Edgar Teller
Julie Condra as Syndi Teller
Vincent Schiavelli as Dr. Eukanuba
Lou Cutell as Old Man Dithers
Written by: Jose Rivera and Karl Schaefer
Directed by: Joe Dante
The story structure for “Eerie,
Indiana” takes an interesting twist in this second episode, which
is a story relayed to us by lead character Marshall Teller. In the
introduction, told in the present time, Marshall’s parents are
confused when Marshall is terrified of getting a retainer. As we soon
learn, it has nothing to do with the fear of pain, or the fear of
being made fun of, but rather because of what happened to the last
friend of his that got one…
That friend was
Steve Konkalewski, whose teeth refuse to straighten after five years
of visits to a mad dentist. The evil tooth-doctor makes for him a
“special” retainer, one that gives him the “gift” of hearing
what dogs are thinking. In a rather interesting twist, dogs only
appear to be friendly on the outside, a front because they are
eventually planning to take over the world, something Steve figures
out thanks to his newfound ability.
Marshall and Simon, his closest
friends, quickly put two-and-two together after a series of odd
occurrences, and develop a hunch that he can read the mind of dogs.
To test this, Marshall uses a rather absurd experiment: He places a
paper bag over Simon's head, then flips a coin and shows it to a dog.
Once Steve is able to accurately read the outcome of the coin
flip—via the dog's eyes—they are convinced of his superpower.
(Would a dog really have an understanding of “heads” and “tails”?
Am I putting way too much thought into this?)
This is a minor breakthrough, but
Marshall is more intelligent than most kid's show heroes: He
understands the absurdity of the whole situation, and realizes that
no one will believe them without proof. And so he creates a
recording device so that he can capture the sounds that Steve picks
up via his retainer (the scenes of them trying to move him around
like an antenna to get better reception is pretty clever stuff,
despite the obvious outdatedness of it all). Well he also
inadvertently picks up some nearby chatter, which leads him to a dog
pound known for a high rate of euthanasia. (This is a show for kids?)
Earlier in the episode, an evil kennel
warden is attacked by a lone dog who doesn't take kindly to the way
the man treats the mutts (he even threatens to “toss them into the
chamber”, which looks eerily like a cremation chamber). When our
heroes arrive to find the source of the chatter (which are chants of
“Freedom!”, by the way), there is a lone bloody bone propping
open the door...obviously the bone of the warden, who was picked
clean by the dogs. This is a show for kids?
Anyway, the canines don't appreciate
Steve being able to monitor their thoughts, so they demand he gives
them his retainer. The only problem? It's stuck to his face and he
can't get it off. The flashback ends with the dogs chasing him out
into the streets, at which point they presumably attack him, kill
him, and forcibly take the retainer for themselves. I arrived at
this conclusion because we flash back to the present, where Marshall
has his own retainer, and calmly explains to a familiar dog that his
retainer doesn't allow him to hear the dog's thoughts...and the dog
responds by coughing up Steve's old retainer, leading Marshall to
contemplate the possible fate of his friend.
It's not a very good episode overall,
mainly because it lacks the joyful absurdity of the premiere. There are precious few laughs, and none of the off-the-wall fascination from the first one, making this one feel like a complete dud. Steve
just isn't really all that fascinating of the character to center an
entire story around, and the retainer idea—while it's clearly going
for the offbeat—never gets its feet off the ground. On the
flipside, I'd say that Marshall's blandness is already starting to grow on
me...it's a welcome change from the over-the-top characters in most
such shows.
Regardless, I'd file this one under
“sophomore slump” for sure.
FULL EPISODE
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