History Recap / CreepshowS4E3TheHat

Aspiring writer Jay Stratton (Ryan Beil) is suffering from relentless writer's block as a deadline he's certain to miss quickly approaches, holding an unloaded pistol to his head to cope with the stress. Putting the gun down, Jay laments to his nervous architect wife Astrid (Creator/SaraCanning) about his idol, Stephen Bachman, who was able to write 2 to 3 bestselling novels per year and never missed a deadline in his life. Astrid calms down and shares similar woes with her husband, saying that she was recently passed over for a lead role at her firm, assuring him that even the greatest minds struggle in their quest for success.

That night, Jay sits down at his computer, wearing the hat and waiting for inspiration. Hours soon pass, leading to the next day, and Jay, having made no progess while staring at his blank screen, frustratedly tugs his hat. Jay's eyes suddenly gain transparent slits that blink vertically, and he furiously begins typing, ultimately writing an entire novel all through the night. When he finally finishes, Jay, unable to believe what he's created, takes the manuscript to Nicole, who instantly falls in love with it, picturing that bidding wars will start for the book and that Creator/{{Zendaya}} and Creator/TomHolland will be at the premiere. She then suggests that Jay start working on a sequel, claiming that readers don’t want one-offs anymore. Jay is wary about writing a sequel, but Nicole gets under his skin by saying that he'll turn out "just like all the others" if he craps out.

Falling for her manipulation, Jay gets to writing more and more books. Overtime, he becomes a household name, with glorifying reviews, book signings, and talk show appearances under his belt. One night, as the neglected Astrid lays in bed, she tries to look for Jay and finds him locked in his office. The next morning, she tells Jay that he's spent the last three days in there, writing away as he chugs gallons of milk, and is starting to think that he's more interested in his books and hat than her, feeling like she's stuck in one of his novels. This unfortunately gives Jay new ideas and sends him running back to the office. Eventually, Jay decides to puts the hat in his closet for a little bit, but his scalp begins itching, prompting him to pull out a clump of hair as he tries to scratch it. Not thinking too much of this, Jay gets back to his computer to find that the password has somehow been changed. Deciding to grab the hat so he can remember the new password, Jay finds the hat missing. When he sits back down, he's able to log back in, but he's once again stricken by writer's block without his hat.

Upon returning home, Jay furiously throws all of Bachman's books in the trash, replacing them with his own before sitting down for another writing session, intending to become better than him. He soon gets phone calls from Nicole, who's loving the new work and reveals that Creator/StevenSpielberg is offering to direct a film adaptation of his book, then gets another call from Astrid, who says that she landed the Oppenheimer account, both of which he ignores. After he finishes his latest book, Astrid again calls Jay, telling him that she misses him and asking her to come by her apartment. On hearing this, Jay tries taking the hat off, but finds it seemingly stuck to his head. This leads him to pry it off with a paper opener, cutting his head in the process. To his horror, Jay discovers that the hat is actually the outer shell of a large insectoid parasite that bites his finger off. As the parasite comes at him, Jay grabs his gun and shoots it dead. Examining the creature's body, Jay discovers a tongue-like appendage that has been attached to his head everytime he put the hat on, injecting all kinds of ideas in his mind by stimulating his brain stem. Jay tries to put the dead creature in the closet, but soon notices that its box contains its eggs.

Jay barges into Nicole's office to show her the dead parasite, now knowing that she knew the parasite was in the hat when she stole it from Bachman, then gave it to him so she can manipulate him to gain huge amounts of revenue from his writing, just as she did with Bachman. Ignoring her pleas about what happens to his fame without the hat, Jay reveals that the parasite's eggs have hatched into tiny versions of their ravenous parent, and he kills Nicole by shoving them in her face. Jay goes to Astrid’s new apartment to apologize and offer to let her come home. He finds her wearing her pillbox hat and furiously scribbling blueprints for a beautifully crafted building. Her eyes blink vertically, revealing to Jay that her pillbox also houses one of the parasites. As he takes this in and laments, a third parasite emerges from the ceiling and leaps onto the screaming Jay, preparing to kill him.

* CreatorCameo: Creator/StephenKing, who Stephen Bachman is blatantly modelled after, appears as the man himself in an old photo of him.

* {{Hypocrite}}: For how she was quick to leave Jay for being too devoted on his career and essentially brainwashed by his hat instead of paying attention to her, Astrid ends the episode similarly brainwashed by her own hat.

* SuddenDownerEnding: Jay gets revenge on Nicole for manipulating him, and though his writing career will never be the same without the hat, he's more than likely earned enough money to keep himself secure for a long time. Feeling satisifed with himself, Jay heads to Astrid's new apartment to apologize to her and invite her back home, only to discover that she's under the thrall of her own hat parasite, just as another one leaps from the ceiling and prepares to kill him.

* WritersSuck: Jay suffers from strong writer's block and a lack of inspiration. When he finds Bachman's hat and wears it, he gains a boatload of great ideas for his work.

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Given that Jay ends up writing novels with some "non-human" assistance, this episode could serve as ''Creepshow's'' jab at AI-generated content.

* ParanoiaFuel: The next time you decide to try on a new hat, you might want to check if there's anything fishy inside.

** The parasites that inhabit the hats, which attatch themselves to human hosts' heads, bear a strong resemblance to [[Videogame/HalfLife Headcrabs.]]

* InstantlyProvenWrong: Jay tries at one point to write something without the hat. When he's finished, he brags that he could do it all along, only to see that he's typed a string of gibberish.

* BrokenPedestal: Excited to meet his idol Stephen Bachman, Jay finds out that he's a horribly weak and decrepit old man who rebukes him for supposedly stealing his hat and saying that he doesn't deserve to be a writer. Disillusioned by who his favorite author really is, Jay removes his books from his shelf and throws them in (or rather, next to) the trash, replacing them with his own and determined to become better than him.

* FamilyVersusCareer: Astrid becomes frustrated with Jay's obsession with his new hat and his newfound devotion to writing, prompting her to leave him. When he tries to get her back at the end of the episode, she herself has similarly become far too absorbed in her work to care.

* BaitAndSwitch: The first scene of the episode has Jay holding his gun to his head as Astrid freaks out, making it look like he's preparing to kill himself. We then learn that the gun isn't loaded and he's doing this because he just can't handle the stress of his impending deadline, and that this most likely isn't the first time.

* BaitAndSwitch: The first scene of the episode has Jay holding his gun to his head as Astrid freaks out, making it look like he's preparing to kill himself. We gradually learn that the gun isn't loaded and he's doing this because he just can't handle the stress of his impending deadline, and that this most likely isn't the first time.

* BaitAndSwitch: The first scene of the episode has Jay holding his gun to his head as Astrid freaks out, making it look like he's preparing to kill himself. We gradually learn that the gun isn't loaded and he's doing this because he just can't handle the stress of his impending deadline, and it's likely that this isn't the first time.

* SuddenDownerEnding: Jay gets revenge on Nicole for manipulating him, and though his writing career will never be the same without the hat, he's more than likely earned enough money to keep him secure for a long time. Feeling satisifed with himself, Jay heads to Astrid's new apartment to apologize to her and invite her back home, only to discover that she's under the thrall of her own hat parasite, just as another one leaps from the ceiling and prepares to kill him.

* WritersSuck: Jay is a downplayed case. He has great potential to be a writer, but he suffers from strong writer's block and a lack of inspiration. When he finds the hat and wears it, he gains a boatload of great ideas for his work.

* {{Hypocrite}}: For how she was quick to leave Jay for being too devoted on his career and essentially brainwashed by his hat instead of her, Astrid ends the episode similarly brainwashed by her own hat.

Falling for her manipulation, Jay gets to writing more and more books. Overtime, he becomes a household name, with glorifying reviews, book signings and talk show appearances under his belt. One night, as the neglected Astrid lays in bed, she tries to look for Jay and finds him locked in his office. The next morning, she tells Jay that he's spent the last three days in there, writing away as he chugs gallons of milk, and is starting to think that he's more interested in his books and hat than her, feeling like she's stuck in one of his novels. This unfortunately gives Jay new ideas and sends him running back to the office. Eventually, Jay decides to puts the hat in his closet for a little bit, but his scalp begins itching, prompting him to pull out a clump of hair as he tries to scratch it. Not thinking too much of this, Jay gets back to his computer to find that the password has somehow been changed. Deciding to grab the hat so he can remember the new password, Jay finds the hat missing. When he sits back down, he's able to log back in, but he's once again stricken by writer's block without his hat.

Falling for her manipulation, Jay gets back to writing more and more books. Overtime, he becomes a household name, with glorifying reviews, book signings and talk show appearances under his belt. One night, as the neglected Astrid lays in bed, she tries to look for Jay and finds him locked in his office. The next morning, she tells Jay that he's spent the last three days in there, writing away as he chugs gallons of milk, and is starting to think that he's more interested in his books and hat than her, feeling like she's stuck in one of his novels. This unfortunately gives Jay new ideas and sends him running back to the office. Eventually, Jay decides to puts the hat in his closet for a little bit, but his scalp begins itching, prompting him to pull out a clump of hair as he tries to scratch it. Not thinking too much of this, Jay gets back to his computer to find that the password has somehow been changed. Deciding to grab the hat so he can remember the new password, Jay finds the hat missing. When he sits back down, he's able to log back in, but he's once again stricken by writer's block without his hat.

That night, Jay sits down at his computer, wearing the hat and waiting for inspiration. Hours soon pass, and Jay, having made no process while staring at his blank screen, frustratedly tugs his hat. Jay's eyes suddenly gain transparent slits that blink vertically, and he furiously begins typing, ultimately writing an entire novel all through the night. The next morning, Jay, unable to believe what he's created, takes the manuscript to Nicole, who instantly falls in love with it, picturing that bidding wars will start for the book and that Creator/{{Zendaya}} and Creator/TomHolland will be at the premiere. She then suggests that Jay start working on a sequel, claiming that readers don’t want one-offs anymore. Jay is wary about writing a sequel, but Nicole gets under his skin by saying that he'll turn out "just like all the others" if he craps out.

Falling for her manipulation, Jay gets back to writing as the neglected Astrid lays in bed. She gets out of bed to look for Jay and finds him locked in his office. The next morning, she tells Jay that he's spent the last three days in there, writing away as he chugs gallons of milk, and is starting to think that he's more interested in his books and hat than her, feeling like she's stuck in one of his novels. This unfortunately gives Jay new ideas and sends him running back to the office. Eventually, Jay decides to puts the hat in his closet for a little bit, but his scalp begins itching, prompting him to pull out a clump of hair as he tries to scratch it. Not thinking too much of this, Jay gets back to his computer to find that the password has somehow been changed. Deciding to grab the hat so he can remember the new password, Jay finds the hat missing. When he sits back down, he's able to log back in, but he's once again stricken by writer's block without his hat.

Aspiring writer Jay Stratton (Ryan Beil) is suffering from relentless writer's block as a deadline he's certain to miss quickly approaches, holding an unloaded pistol to his head from the stress. Putting the gun down, Jay laments to his nervous architect wife Astrid (Creator/SaraCanning) about his idol, Stephen Bachman, who was able to write 2 to 3 bestselling novels per year and never missed a deadline in his life. Astrid calms down and shares similar woes with her husband, saying that she was recently passed over for a lead role at her firm, assuring him that even the greatest minds struggle in their quest for success.

* {{Fingore}}: As he wrestles with the parasitic hat, the mouth in its center bites of Jay's pointer finger.

Falling for her manipulation, Jay gets back to writing as the neglected Astrid lays in bed. She gets out of bed to look for Jay and finds him locked in his office. She tells Jay that he's spent the last three days in there, writing away as he chugs gallons of milk, and is starting to think that he's more interested in his books and hat than her, feeling like she's stuck in one of his novels. This unfortunately gives Jay new ideas and sends him running back to the office. Eventually, Jay decides to puts the hat in his closet for a little bit, but his scalp begins itching, prompting him to pull out a clump of hair as he tries to scratch it. Not thinking too much of this, Jay gets back to his computer to find that the password has somehow been changed. Deciding to grab the hat so he can remember the new password, Jay finds the hat missing. When he sits back down, he's able to log back in, but he's once again stricken by writer's block without his hat.

Jay barges into Nicole's office to show her the dead parasite, now knowing that she knew the parasite was in the hat when she stole it from Bachman, then gave it to him so she can manipulate him to gain huge amounts of revenue from his writing, just as she did with Bachman. Ignoring her pleas about what happens to his fame without the hat, Jay reveals that the parasite's eggs have hatched into tiny versions of their ravenous parent, and he kills Nicole by shoving them in her face. Jay goes to Astrid’s new apartment to apologize and offer to let her come home. He finds her wearing her pillbox hat and furiously scribbling blueprints for a beautifully crafted building. Her eyes blink vertically, revealing to Jay that her pillbox also houses one of the parasites. As he takes this in, a third parasite emerges from the ceiling and leaps onto the screaming Jay, going in for the kill.

* {{Fingore}}: As he wrestles with the parasitic hat, the mouth in its cetner bites of Jay's pointer finger.

** As Jay presents his book to her, Nicole says that she's picturing Creator/{{Zendaya}} and Creator/TomHolland are attending the bidding war/premiere, and later tells him that Creator/StevenSpielberg is offering to make a film adaptation.