Channel Zero - Episode by Episode - Episode Three - Mike’s Very Bad No Good Day
Episode Three - Want to See Something Cool?
I’ve been recapping Channel Zero episode by episode as I watch it for the first time. You can check out Episode One HERE and Episode Two HERE.
“You missed the turn, where are you taking me?” The episode opens with...you guessed it...a flashback to 88’ and Mike and Eddie are celebrating their 11th birthday. There’s a great cut scene where Marla spills syrup on the kitchen table and is cleaning it up and then she’s cleaning Mike’s blood off of the same table in the present day.
There’s now a whole bunch of kids watching Candle Cove which is super terrifying and creepy. Those damn puppets are really fucking everything up.
Marla heads to the police station to speak to Mike and quickly finds out through Amy that Mike and Gary never showed up. They immediately go to Jessica to see if she knows anything but she doesn’t.
Meanwhile, Gary has taken Mike to a property that Jessica is selling and has tied him to a chair. Tim (the creepy cop) and Daphne have also arrived. The three of them confront Mike and try and find out why he murdered all those kids back in the day. I guess the Painter family had always been under suspicion.
We also get a flashback of the teacher lady, whose name I have finally figured out - Mrs. Booth. She has a seizure and falls to the ground. Her son lays over her and prays. Which doesn’t seem the right reaction. And why is Mrs. Booth always around being creepy? What’s going on with her?!
Turns out Jacob, her son, was one of the murdered kids. We also learn that Tim’s brother was Gene, the bully. He also died. We promptly find out why.
Mike leads Gene to the crows nest where Eddie is waiting, “you like Candle Cove Gene?” Gene is all too cool for school for that show, even though we all know he watches it. Eddie knows that too and somehow gets into Gene’s head, making him basically act like a dog. Then he asks Gene to pay the toll. And apparently the toll is teeth because then Gene pulls TWO FUCKING TEETH OUT OF HIS OWN MOUTH AND GIVES THEM TO EDDIE. I gagged.
“Now you can go to Candle Cove, walk the plank.” And Gene walks off the edge of the cliff. Bye Gene!
Back in the present, Mike is trying to convince the three angry adults that Candle Cove is real and the kids are in danger. Only Daphne really believes him because she still dreams about Jawbone. Tim doesn’t believe him, or doesn’t want to admit it, so he takes out his gun. But Gary jumps him, unfortunately the gun still shoots Mike. Poor Mike. What a terrible day he’s having.
Marla is with Jessica trying to figure out where Gary could’ve gone. Jess admits that for the past few years she’s been chatting with Mike, and for awhile there it was daily. There’s clearly something between the two of them. But then Mike completely stopped responding and Jess deleted all the evidence. She then figures out that Gary took Mike to the property she’s selling and the two rush over there.
While Mike is lying on the ground bleeding, Jess and Marla arrive but Gary won’t let them in. But then good ol’ Amy shows up and saves the day. Amy by the way, had been delayed because she saw a bunch of children stabbing a fake body. Super. Fucking. Creepy.
Tim and Daphne run, and Amy arrests Gary and now becomes acting sheriff.
While in the hospital, Mike has a terrifying dream where Tooth Kid shows up and starts munching on his fingers. So turns out Tooth Kid doesn’t just eat teeth, it also eats flesh. Good to know. In case Tooth Kid wasn’t creepy enough for you.
We see Tim escaping through the woods in the dark, he sees a child in the distance and starts hearing giggling. We then cut to Daphne who is also escaping in the woods, but she’s headed to Mrs. Booth’s house where she promptly confesses. Mrs. Booth is very sympathetic until SHE STABS DAPHNE IN THE NECK WITH A GODDAMN HOOK. “You shouldn’t fuck with Mike Painter.”
All the kids are watching Candle Cove again but this time they’re covered in blood. Mrs. Booth comes in with hot coco and then goes out into the woods to bury Tim’s body. Because the damn children murdered him.
WHAT IS HAPPENING.
And just when we started to feel like we’d made some headway in this story, Channel Zero takes a fucking turn. Amy finds a present on her desk which is just a bowl of mushrooms? And not like yeyyy cooked mushrooms. Like, creepy mushrooms from the woods just growing in a giant bowl. And Marla has a nightmare where Tooth Kid is munching on Mike’s fingers. And Mike’s daughter Lilly shows up at this house in the middle of the night even though she lives miles away.
Sooooo…….
We’re half way through. Will we get answers before the end of it? I sure hope so. What’s the real deal with Mrs. Booth? Will there be more children infected by Candle Cove? Will anyone finally start to believe Mike? IS CANDLE COVE REAL?!
