During the month of October, we like to share classic episodes of horror-themed television. That was easier to do when we first started doing our annual October Horrorthon here at the Shattered Lens because every single episode of the original, black-and-white Twilight Zone was available on YouTube. Sadly, that’s no longer the case.
However, there is some good news! Twilight Zone may be gone but there are other horror shows on YouTube! For instance, there’s One Step Beyond, a supernatural-themed anthology show that claimed every story that it told was based on an actual incident. This show ran on ABC from 1959 to 1961 and was scheduled to air opposite of Twilight Zone.
The very first episode of One Step Beyond aired on January 20th, 1959. In this episode, a young bride (Virginia Leith) on her honeymoon suddenly starts to act differently. (Not only does she become more outspoken but she also loses her Southern accent.) Is it possible that she’s been possessed by the spirit of a murdered woman and now, she’s going to solve her own murder?
Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Tuesdays, I will be reviewing the original Fantasy Island, which ran on ABC from 1977 to 1984. Unfortunately, the show has been removed from most streaming sites. Fortunately, I’ve got nearly every episode on my DVR.
This week, it’s all about the power of imagination.
Episode 5.11 “House of Dolls/Wuthering Heights”
(Dir by Philip Leacock, originally aired on January 9th, 1982)
After being absent last week, Tattoo returns for this episode. That means that Julie, once again, is too busy on the other side of the Island to assist Mr. Roarke this week. The excuse that the show’s writer come up with to explain Julie’s absence is that she accidentally opened up a box of Fantasy Island butterflies that were meant to be delivered to the San Diego Zoo. Now, Julie has to catch all of the butterflies. Good luck, Julie!
As for the fantasies, they both deal with imagination.
Clarissa Bevis (Britt Ekland) is a librarian who is single because she’s never met a real-life man who can compare to Heathcliffe from Clarissa’s favorite novel, Wuthering Heights. Clarissa wants to enter the world of the novel so that she can meet Heathcliffe and hopefully put her obsession with him behind her. Mr. Roarke grants her fantasy but warns her that she must not change the plot of the book in any way. That strikes me as an odd rule because it’s not as if Clarissa is traveling into the past. She’s entering her imagination so why would it matter if she decided to do what so many other readers have done and imagine a different ending to her favorite novel?
Clarissa finds herself approaching Wuthering Heights. Heathcliffe (Hugh O’Brian) sees her and declares that his beloved Catherine has come back to life. Meanwhile, Edgar Linton (Richard Anderson) believes that this proves Heathcliffe has gone mad and starts to plot to have Heathcliffe declared insane so that Edgar can claim Wuthering Heights and all of its farmland as his own. To be honest, if we’re in Clarissa’s imagination, I can only assume that she’s only seen a movie version of Wuthering Heights because neither Heathcliffe nor Edgar behave like their characters in the book (In particular, Edgar is portrayed as being a cartoonishly evil villain.) And, it should be noted, no mention is made of Cathy, Linton, Hindley, Isabella, Harleton, or any of the book’s other characters. How is Clarissa supposed to stay true to the plot of a book that she’s never read?
As for the other fantasy, Francis Elkins (Bob Denver) is a maker and dresser of mannequins, He’s fallen in love with one of his mannequins — “Hey, that’s not creepy at all,” I say while dramatically rolling my eyes — and his fantasy is for her to come to life. Roarke gives Francis a magical medallion thing that Francis uses to bring Courtney (Barbi Benton) to life, with the understanding that Courtney will only be human for two days. Eager to live as much life as possible, Courtney uses the medallion to bring to life three other mannequins to serve as the members of her squad. She also flirts with two salesmen (Larry Storch and Joey Forman) by telling them that’s she’s from Bloomingdale’s (“Oh yeah,” Storch says, “that town in Indiana,”) and that she’s only six years old. Fortunately, Francis’s love for Courtney is so strong that Courtney remains human even after the two days are up.
At the start of this fantasy, Roarke promises Tattoo that it will be the most delightful fantasy ever. Barbi Benton did a good job in the role of Courtney and she certainly showed more comedic timing here than she did during previous visits to the Island. But I don’t know …. the whole falling in love with a mannequin thing was a little too creepy to be delightful.
That said, this was an entertaining episode, even if neither fantasy really worked. Barbi Benton got to show off her comedic timing and the Wuthering Heights fantasy was enjoyably melodramatic, even if it got the book wrong and even though all-American Hugh O’Brian was not exactly the most convincing Heathcliffe. This was a nice enough trip to the Island.
Welcome to October! October is a big month here at the Shattered Lens. It’s the month when we devote the majority of our time to the horror genre. It’s time for our annual Horrorthon! Last year, we had a record number of Horrorthon posts. I’d love to that record this year but mostly. I just want this year’s Horrothon for both our writers and our readers!
Here’s what I’m looking forward to in October!
Anora — Sean Baker’s latest film may not be a horror film but it’s still the October film to which I’m most looking forward to. A hit on the festival circuit, the early word is that Anora is going to be one of this year’s major Oscar contenders.
The Horror Movies On TCM — TCM never lets me down in October. I can’t wait to binge all of the classic horror that will be aired this month.
Joker: Folie a Deux — This film is one of the big question marks on the upcoming calendar. When I first heard that the sequel to Joker would be a musical, I thought it sounded like a disastrous idea. But the early word has been that Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga both give excellent performance and that the sequel is worthy follow-up to first film. We’ll find out in just a few more days!
Terrifier 3 — Art the Clown is one of the scariest villains around. Terrifier gave me nightmares. Terrifier 2 was overlong but well-made. I’ll be interested to see what happens with the third film. If nothing else, I appreciate that the Terrifier films are unapologetic about being the type of films that they are. It takes courage to fully embrace a genre that hasn’t always been accepted by the mainstream.
Conclave — This is another film that’s expected to be an Oscar contender. Based on what I’ve heard about the film’s plot, I’m not as enthusiastic about this film as some people are. But I do always look forward to seeing a good Ralph Fiennes performance and the word is that he’s excellent in this film.
Halloween — It’s my favorite holiday! I can’t wait to see all the decorations, all the parties, and all the costumes!
October’s going to be a great month and those of us at TSL can’t wait to celebrate it with you! What are you looking forward to in October?
Welcome to Late Night Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Mondays, I will be reviewing CHiPs, which ran on NBC from 1977 to 1983. The entire show is currently streaming on Freevee!
This week, Jon Baker takes on …. THE REPO MAN!
Episode 2.14 “Repo Man”
(DIr by Alex Grasshoff, aired on January 6th, 1979)
This week features a truly memorable villain.
Doyle Ware (Mills Watson) is a repo man. When people fall behind on their car payments, Doyle is the guy who shows up to repossess the vehicle. That he’s a sleaze shouldn’t come as a surprise. I mean, who likes a repo man, right? But, as Baker and Ponch discover, Doyle is more than just a repo man.
He’s a criminal mastermind!
He steals cars and then informs the owner that the car has been destroyed in an accident. Doyle offers to buy what little is left of the vehicle. However, the truth is that the car hasn’t been destroyed. And once Doyle gets the title, he proceeds to sell the car under the original owner’s name. Then, once the buyer falls behind on their payments, he repossesses the car and sells it again. What a sleazy guy!
When Baker and Ponch prevent Doyle from repossessing an old couple’s trailer, Doyle reacts by trying to destroy their credit. He plants false reports that Baker and Ponch owe money. Baker tries to buy an expensive saddle, just to be humiliated when the clerk (played by future playwright Terrence McNally) informs him that his credit score is awful. Ponch starts to get notices at the police station, telling him that he owes money. Getraer offers to help Baker but not Ponch. Getraer can’t stand Ponch.
While dealing with his bad credit, Baker also becomes a local celebrity when he jumps, from a bridge, onto an out-of-control school bus. Baker’s face appears on the local news and soon, people are demanding his autograph. Baker is mortified. Ponch is thrilled because, for some reason, people want his autograph too. “Oh my God, you’re his partner!” someone says as they rush up to Ponch’s motorcycle. Seriously, Ponch didn’t do anything!
Meanwhile, Grossman (who, as played by Paul Linke, is the most consistently likable member of the show’s supporting cast) gets an article published in a magazine. Everyone at the station pretends like they haven’t read and enjoyed the article. Poor Grossie! Don’t worry, though. A news crew films Grossie putting out a fire and he soon replaces Baker as everyone’s favorite local hero. Baker’s happy to have both his good credit and his anonymity restored.
(This is actually a pretty big episode for Baker. He also gets a subplot in which a watchmaker, played by Ned Glass, destroys Baker’s watch after he bring it in to get the wrist band fixed.)
This was a good episode. The school bus rescue was genuinely exciting and Doyle Ware was a villain who was so sleazy that it was a lot of fun watching him get taken down. CHiPs did a good job with Repo Man.
Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Mondays, I will be reviewing Miami Vice, which ran on NBC from 1984 to 1989. The entire show can be purchased on Prime!
Welcome to season 3!
Episode 3.1 “When Irish Eyes Are Crying”
(Dir by Mario DiLeo, originally aired on September 26, 1986)
The third season of Miami Vice opens with Gina saving the life of Sean Carrone (a very young Liam Neeson).
Carrone is a former commander in the IRA, a man who has lost two brothers during the Troubles and who killed his first British solider when was fourteen but who now says that he has renounced violence and is instead a believer in peace. When he gives a lecture in Miami, Gina, Zito, and Switek attend because they’ve gotten a hot tip from Izzy that an arms deal is going to occur afterwards. Instead, a teenage gunman attempts to assassinate Sean and Gina is forced to use deadly force to save Sean’s life.
Gina is put on administrative leave after the shooting, which gives her plenty of time to pursue her new romance with Sean! A jealous Crockett doesn’t trust Sean and it turns out that Crockett’s correct when it becomes apparent that Sean and his American benefactor (Paul Gleason) are looking to purchase Stinger missiles from arms dealers Max Kilzer (Walter Gotell, who played the head of the KGB in several Bond films) and Eddie Kaye (Jeff Fahey). With the dubious help of a haughty British MI6 agent (Daniel Gerroll), Crockett and Tubbs try to uncover Sean’s plans. Along the way, Tubbs gets to try out another fake accent, Crockett spends some time as Burnett without anyone noticing that Sonny Burnett looks and talks exactly like Sonny Crockett, and Eddie Kaye finds time to blow up Sonny’s beloved car.
On the plus side, this episode had a wonderful group of guest stars. When one episode finds substantial roles for Liam Neeson, Jeff Fahey, Paul Gleason, and Walter Gotell, it’s pretty good guess that the episode is going to be worth watching. All four of them give memorable performances. Liam Neeson is, of course, the star attraction here but I also enjoyed Jeff Fahey’s turn as a half-crazed bayou arms dealer who is first seen wearing a t-shirt that reads, “Kill Them All.” I also appreciated that this episode gave everyone in the cast something to do. During season 2, it was easy to forget that Gina and Trudy were even on the show.
That said, as I watched this episode, I couldn’t help but feel that it was missing the energy that made the first two seasons stand out. If the first season was tough and gritty and the second season was surreal and often shocking, the third season got off to a rather comfortable start. Don Johnson and Phillip Michael Thomas both seemed a little bit too relaxed in their roles as Crockett and Tubbs. The third season opener played out like a well-0iled machine and that was the problem. It was almost too efficient, with little of the spontaneity that ran through the previous two seasons.
It’s something that happens to every series. The first two seasons are all about experimenting and taking chances and finding the right tone. By the time the third season rolls around, the formula is in place and things can start to feel a little mechanical. That was how I felt about this episode. The supporting cast carried the drama while the main cast went through the motions. That said, the episode did what a season premiere should do. It re-introduced the viewer to the characters, it had enough violence to keep action fans happy, and it announced the show was back. We’ll see how season 3 plays out over the next few weeks.
Welcome to Late Night Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Sunday, I will be reviewing the Canadian series, Degrassi Junior High, which aired on CBC and PBS from 1987 to 1989! The series can be streamed on YouTube!
This week, everyone needs some money. Gourmet Scum is coming.
Episode 3.10 “Twenty Bucks”
(Dir by John Bertram, originally aired on February 6th, 1989)
To quote the Zit Remedy, everybody wants something they’ll never give up. In this week’s episode, everyone wants twenty bucks.
That’s how much it costs to buy a ticket to see Gourmet Scum, Canada’s hottest band. Melanie, who has gotten her braces taken off and who is finally feeling confident about herself (Hey, I’ve been there!), has been invited to the concert by Snake. There’s just one catch. Melanie has to pay for her own ticket. When Melanie asks her mom for the money, Melanie’s mom says that she can’t spare twenty dollars. Not with the cost of groceries! (Hell, try living in 2024.)
Melanie decides to steal twenty dollars from her mom’s purse. Melanie justifies it by assuming that she’ll get paid twenty dollars for her next babysitting job and she’ll be able to pay her mom back as a result. Melanie steals the money and buys the ticket. However, her weekend babysitting job is canceled. Without the twenty dollars, Melanie’s mom will only be able to make chili until her next payday. A guilt-ridden Melanie finally confesses to stealing from her mom. Her mom promptly grounds Melanie, meaning no concert and probably no chili either.
Snake, when he hears Melanie can’t go to the concert with him, decides that he doesn’t want to go to the concert either. Awwww! Snake and Melanie are cute together but, those of us who have seen Degrassi: The Next Generation, know that Snake is ultimately going to marry ….. well, I won’t spoil it.
Meanwhile, Spike is upset because Shane has told her that he’s broke and won’t be able to pay her any child support. Why is Shane broke? Because he used his last twenty dollars to buy a ticket to Gourmet Scum!
Finally, Joey makes a twenty-dollar bet with BLT (Dayo Ade). (Yes, the character’s nickname is BLT.) BLT bets that Joey can’t get a date for Friday night. Joey asks and is turned down by almost every girl at school. Even the Farrell twins turn him down! (Seriously, how much of a loser do you have to be to actually get turned down by a Farrell?) Finally, he asks the girl that he really likes (but who he fears no longer likes him), Caitlin. Caitlin says yes. Awwwww! Unfortunately, BLT pays Joey right in front of Caitlin. In order to prove that he didn’t ask Caitlin out just for the money, Joey proceeds to rip up the twenty dollar bill. (Keep in mind, it’s a Canadian twenty so he probably just ripped up the equivalent of an American dollar.)
I enjoyed this episode. It deftly balanced several storylines but it also set up a few big developments that we’ll talk about next week. Joey and Caitlin are a cute couple and so are Melanie and Snake. As for Shane and Spike …. well, like I said, we’ll talk about it next week.
Welcome to Late Night Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Saturdays, I will be reviewingthe Canadian sitcom, Check it Out, which ran in syndication from 1985 to 1988. The entire show is currently streaming on Tubi!
This week, Howard is the world’s worst boyfriend …. again!
Episode 2.13 “Love and Marriage”
(Dir by Alan Erlich, originally aired on January 18th, 1987)
As I’ve said in the past, Check It Out! has never been very consistent when it comes to portraying Howard and Edna’s relationship. Sometimes, Howard is the perfect boyfriend, a romantic bon vivant who always knows the right thing to say. Then, other times, Howard is a complete idiot.
This episode finds Howard in idiot mode. He forgets Edna’s birthday and even admits that the cheap flowers that he sends Edna are the result of him asking the florist to remember Edna’s birthday so Howard wouldn’t have to worry about it. While Edna is definitely (and rightly) annoyed with Howard, she does receive some very beautiful flowers from a man named George Zuckerman.
Edna tells a jealous Howard that George was her boyfriend when she was a teenager. She says it’s been forever since she last saw George but George has invited her to have dinner with him at a fancy French restaurant. Of course, Howard follows Edna to the restaurant, where he gets on the nerves of the snooty maître d’ (Louis Negin, who gets the episode’s best lines) and he also meets George (Doug Paulson).
George is handsome, charming, rich, and Edna’s ex-husband. Howard is shocked the learn that Edna was married before but Edna explains that she was only seventeen and her father made them annul the marriage after two weeks. That still seems like a strange thing to have never mentioned in the past. Edna and Howard have been dating for seven years, after all.
While Howard fumes with jealousy, George says he has something he needs to ask Edna. Before he can ask, Howard throws a fit when his credit card is declined. (“It has a $150 credit limit!” Howard snaps. “The soup alone costs $150,” the maître d’ replies.)
Later, at the store, Marlene encourages Edna to marry George. Edna says that she can’t marry George because she loves Howard. Uhmm….Edna? George is handsome and rich. Howard runs a failing supermarket and forgot your birthday. Not that it matters because George isn’t interested in marrying Edna. Instead, he reveals that the annulment was never filed so he needs Edna to sign some divorce papers. Edna agrees and then looks forward to having a romantic dinner with Howard.
This episode had some funny moments, mostly due to the work of Louis Negin and Gordon Clapp, who returns as Viker and delivers his lines with such a hilariously sincere stupidity that he elevates the entire show. Viker reveals that he’s a tailor in this episode and he even makes Howard a suit. Howard later wears the suit to the restaurant and, every time he moves, the suit tears just a little more. Hey, it made me laugh!
Still, this was kind of a sad episode. Seriously, Edna, you can do so much better!
Just as with last week, I’ve been busy getting ready for Horrorthon and watching a lot of movies. I haven’t watched much episodic television over the past few days.
I binged my way through several episodes of Fantasy Island and The Love Boat. I’ll be reviewing those episodes over the next few weeks. I watched the second season finale and the the third season premiere of Miami Vice. I’ll be posting my thoughts on the show tomorrow. I watched a few episodes of One Step Beyond, a horror-themed anthology show from the 60s. I’ll be posting episodes of that show throughout October. The fun thing about One Step Beyond is that all of the shows were claimed to be based on fact. Every episode seems like it should feature Criswell asking, “Can you prove it didn’t happen?”
On Netflix, I watched the second season of Monsters (the Ryan Murphy-produced true crime anthology show and not the old Canadian anthology series that I review for this site). This time, the series focused on Lyle and Erik Menendez. Though overstuffed with ten episodes, it was a clear improvement over the first season. At first, I was worried that the series was going to glamourize the Menendez brothers in much the same way that it previously glamourized Jeffrey Dahmer. Fortunately, that didn’t happen. The Menendez brothers came across as being two spoiled rich sociopaths and the fact that one of them reached out from prison to complain about how he was portrayed leads me to suspect that the miniseries got closer to the truth than some of the other shows that have been made about the Menendez murders. As is typical of Ryan Murphy’s miniseries, the end result was uneven and occasionally a bit tasteless but it was still interesting to watch. I plan to write and post a longer review sometime next week.
Speaking of Ryan Murphy-produced true crime, I watched the third episode of American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez. It was okay, even if it did feel as if it wasn’t really adding anything new to what we previously learned from the first two episodes. I liked Patrick Schwarzenegger’s portrayal of Tim Tebow, even the show itself didn’t exactly treat the character fairly. The actor playing Aaron Hernandez continues to come across as being a bit of a blank.
I plan to get caught up with Survivor next week. I might even check in on the Big Brother House, now that this season is nearly over. I did get a chance to watch the premiere of Hell’s Kitchen this week. I can’t wait for the first dinner service and elimination. Just based on the first episode, this looks like it will be another good season. Unlike Jeff Probst, who seems obsessed with changing Survivor simply for the sake of changing it, Gordon Ramsay seems to understand that there’s no need to fix something that is already working. I always enjoy Hell’s Kitchen and I’m looking forward to this season.
Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Saturdays, I will be reviewing Welcome Back Kotter, which ran on ABC from 1975 to 1979. The entire show is currently streaming on Tubi!
This week, we begin the fourth and final season of Welcome Back, Kotter.
Episode 4.1 “The Drop-Ins: Part One”
(Dir by Norman Abbott, originally aired on September 11th, 1978)
The fourth season of Welcome Back, Kotter opens with a few changes.
First off, there’s new opening credits.
Did you notice one very big change? That’s right. Sebastian Leone is no longer president of the borough. All hail Howard Golden.
Did you notice another big change? John Travolta is now a special guest star! That’s what happens when you star in two hits films in a row but you’re too nice to tell your former sitcom colleagues to go away.
However, there are even more changes waiting as the new school year begins. For one thing, there are new background students in Gabe’s classroom, joining Epstein, Washington, and Horshack. (Barbarino is not present as the school year begins.) Epstein has gotten a haircut and now looks like he’s 40.
Carvelli and Murray have moved into the district and are now students in Gabe’s class.
Principal Lazurus has retired and Woodman has finally achieved his dream of becoming principal.
Finally, Gabe is now Vice Principal! The Sweathogs are superexcited and tie up Carvelli and Murray to celebrate. Gabe is not amused and takes Epstein, Horshack, and Washington to his office. He gives them a week’s detention. The Sweathogs accuse Gabe of having sold out but Gabe tells them that it’s time for them to get serious about their lives and to start preparing for the world outside of high school. Eventually, the Sweathogs are able to convince Gabe to give them two days detention on the condition that they all get jobs around the school.
Horshack and Washington run the school store. Epstein runs the projector for the audio visual department. But when Horshack and Washington leave the store a mess and Epstein unrolls a film in the middle of the school hallway, Gabe is again forced to be the disciplinarian. Now, even Horshack thinks that he’s sold out.
Suddenly, Barbarino shows up! The audience goes crazy. Barbarino is wearing what passed for good clothes in the 70s. He tells the Sweathogs that he has dropped out of school and he has a job at the local hospital. The Sweathogs, seeing Barbarino’s success, decide that they should drop out as well. Gabe can only watch in stunned silence as the four Sweathogs walk out of the school….
And that’s the end of Part One!
This episode was kind of depressing to watch, to be honest. It’s not just that the Sweathogs themselves all appear to approaching middle-age, though that certainly didn’t help. It’s that no one seemed to be particularly enthusiastic about starting another season of this show. (From what I’ve read, due to all of the third season’s backstage drama and the open animosity between Gabe Kaplan and Marcia Strassman, just about everyone in the cast was ready to move on.) Even Gabe Kaplan appeared to be bored with the whole thing. The strength of this show was its cast. For the fourth season premiere, everyone is obviously just going through the motions and, compared to the earlier seasons of this show, it’s sad to see. There’s just no energy or joy to any of the performances.
Hopefully, things will improve with the second part! We’ll find out next week.
Welcome to Late Night Retro Television Reviews, a new feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Fridays, I will be reviewing Friday the 13th: The Series, a show which ran in syndication from 1987 to 1990. The show can be found on YouTube!
Agck! Bees!
Episode 2.11 “The Sweetest Sting”
(Dir by David Winning, originally aired on January 16th, 1989)
I have never been stung by a bee or a wasp.
I’m extremely lucky. All of my sisters and all of my cousins have been stung once or twice. My mom was stung multiple times when I was little. But I have never once been stung. I once had a wasp fly straight into my hair and I was able to shake it out without it stinging me. I have had bees land on my bare arm and just sit there without stinging. I once knocked a wasp nest off of a farm doorway and the wasps, while obviously angry, made no attempt to sting me in retaliation. For whatever reasons, the wasps and the bees have decided not to mar my beautiful skin with any of their stingers and I appreciate them for that.
Of course, I’m also very scared that they might someday change their mind. I have no idea what it feels like to be stung but I know it’s painful. On a more serious note, I have no idea whether or not I’m allergic to bees or wasps. I appreciate their kindness but I’m still terrified of their capriciousness.
That’s why this somewhat silly episode of Friday the 13th freaked me out. I say silly because it was about McCabe (Art Hindle), a psycho beekeeper who kept all of his bees in a cursed hive. Whenever he would unleash the bees, the cheap special effects were so bad that it would have made me laugh if not for the fact that I’m already scared enough of innocent bees. Imagine how I feel about cursed ones!
The bees produced cursed honey that can be used to restore the youth of people who allow themselves to be stung by McCabe’s bees. (Because they’re magic bees, they don’t die after stinging someone. I always understood that stinging someone caused a bee to be ripped in half so I’m not sure how the magic works but whatever. I actually kind of feel bad for bees now.) However, the people who accept McCabe’s youth treatment have to have a constant supply of honey and McCabe needs a constant supply of dead bodies so that his clients can fake their own deaths. So, McCabe orders his clients to kill if they want to remain young.
To be honest, the whole plot kind of feels like it was made up on the spot but the great Canadian character actor Art Hindle gives an amusingly over-the-top performance as McCabe. McCabe is the type of villain who laughs whenever he’s thinking about doing something evil. There’s nothing subtle about Hindle’s performance but it works in the contest of the episode’s overall absurdity. The bees are obviously fake. Art Hindle chews up every piece of scenery he can get his hands on. The episode’s a lot of fun.
Through the Shattered Lens 