Halloween specials are, as a rule, at the very least excitingly different, and at best the most creative episodes of the season. There’s costumes, mystery, spookiness, and characters acting not quite themselves so it’s tough to narrow the Halloween canon down to a top five among all the spider web covered glory. So here are the top five Halloween specials whose titles are actually Halloween. I guess the writers saved all their creativity for the actual scripts.
Buffy had three Halloween themed episodes (though with all the demons running amok any episode seems appropriate for October viewing) but season two’s costume possession episode was definitely the best. From finally getting Willow out of the dead Muppet mumus (if only briefly) to finally giving Xander a little manly dignity, there were enough great moments to almost completely distract us from Buffy’s god-awful wig. It also introduced us to Ethan Rain, who would give us the gift of Ripper.
Claire’s single minded dedication to her family’s haunted house isn’t surprising, and neither is Haley’s procession of risque costumes, including a Mother Theresa with a very short skirt, but it doesn’t make the moments any less funny. I’m not quite sure how terrifying a preteen girl in a dog cage is, but I’d be scared of English-accent Gloria. The highlight of the episode was definitely spider-Mitchell shimming down his office’s drain pipe in his spandex spidey suit. A picture of that on Facebook might give prospective adoption parents pause.
What’s even better than a lovestruck Niles? A love struck Niles a few mugs of mead in. When the scrawny shrink thinks his beloved Daphne is pregnant with Frasier’s child, and Frasier seems to be less than supportive, he proposes to her in full Cyrano garb (giant nose included). It turns out the baby is Roz’s, but it’s still a sweet, if drunken moment, and Daphne in her characteristic blinders, thinks he’s just being a nice guy with his offer of marriage. Points for Bulldog thinking Where’s Waldo qualifies as a character from literature.
7th Heaven episodes stuck to their wheelhouses, sweet and light or incredibly troubling. It’s a series that chases alcoholism with spelling bees, and following an episode about racism fueled church burning their Halloween episode needed a little fluff. So we got competitive pumpkin carving, triumph over a shallow high school girl, and the the slightly deeper gentle giant artist recluse gets a friend story line. Even the hint of Mary being up to something ends up to be nothing more than a sinister plot to eat ice cream uninterrupted in the tub. The only scandal there was a glimpse of her legs without basketball shorts.
Micheal Scott isn’t the kind of guy whose car gets egged, his car gets pumpkined. He just causes that much rage in others.
Do you have any other favorite Halloween episodes? Were there any great ones this season?
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