"Daddy" and "Killer Track" is the third episode of Nightmare Time 2, the second season of Nightmare Time.
As with most Nightmare Time episdoes, it's a Double Feature, consisting of two stories.
Episode spoilers are unmarked in the folders below.
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Daddy
Daddy
- edited by Matt Lang and Nick Lang
Daddy is the first story in the third episode of Nightmare Time 2.
Frank Pricely's toy store is on its last legs, struggling to keep up with online retailers, with one devoted customer, Sherman Young, barely keeping the store open. But when he meets Sherman's rich mother, Sheila, he sees an opportunity to save his store - marrying Sheila, making him Sherman’s Daddy, making him a part of a family full of dark secrets.
- Babysitter's Nightmare: Sherman Young is a spoiled-rotten manchild, who is incredibly picky. When Frank fails to pick out the cereal pieces from his Marshmallow Charms, Sherman bites a cereal piece, and starts crying as if he's been seriously injured.
- A Day in the Limelight: This episode centers around Frank Pricely, who previously was a secondary character in Black Friday. In this episode, we learn a little more about his personal life, and see him in a more positive light.
- Given Name Reveal: The Man in a Hurry finally reveals his name. It's Barry Swift.
- Immortality Promiscuity: Since the death of her husband, Sheila has spent her immortality with a series of husbands, disposing of them when they are no longer compliant with her lifestyle.
- Life Drinker: Sheila, and later Sherman, keep themselves young through the use of a spell that transfers life energy from one person to another.
- Lost Pet Grievance: The death of Frank's dog, Buddy, is the last step taken to fully humanize Frank as a sympathetic protagonist.
- Manchild: Sherman is a forty-year-old man who still lives with his mother, collects children's toys, and waits every night for Peter Pan to take him to Neverland.
- Never Grew Up: Sherman uses the spell from the Black Book to suck away his mother's youth and reduce himself back to a seven-year-old, making his physical body match his childish personality.
- Ode to Youth: The opening song "Young At Heart" is about feeling youthful, even as the singer grows physically older, much like Sherman.
- Running Gag: No one ever points out that Sherman is a grown man... rather, the term used is always "grown-ass man". Even Becky Barnes is impatient enough with the guy to use that terminology.
Killer Track
Killer Track
- edited by Matt Lang and Curt Mega
Killer Track is the second story in the third episode of Nightmare Time 2.
If you hear the Killer Track, you die after seven days - at least, that's what the rumors say. But when Rose hears the killer track, she starts to believe that the stories are true - she hears the song everywhere. On the seventh day after hearing the song, Rose - along with social worker Duke and the mysterious Miss Holloway, face the song head on, and try to break the curse.
- Musical Sequences:
"Killer Track" performed by Jeff Blim; directed by Curt Mega
"Run Away with Me" performed by Kim Whalen; directed by Curt Mega
"Nightmare Time Theme (Needy Beast Version)" performed by Joey Richter and Jeff Blim; directed by Jeff Blim
- Attack of the Town Festival: Miss Holloway implies that there is a greater force to this, as the Honey Festival (referred to in several previous episodes from Season 2) brings with it a window of opportunity for deadly cosmic beings.
- Backstory of the Day: Subverted when Miss Holloway, a character we've only seen twice previously, decides to reveal her backstory to Duke - until suddenly time skips forward, as an unrevealed "deal" she's made curses her to not be able to tell her story to anyone.
- Bittersweet Ending: Rose, and the entirety of Hatchetfield, are safe from the killer track, but Duke has forgotten Miss Holloway, believing her to be dead.
- Death Is a Slap on the Wrist: Miss Holloway's deal allows her to revive herself about two hours after her death.
- Disco Dan: Miss Holloway has a love for the eighties, from her teased hair, her denim jacker, her retro diner, to the 1987 Pontiac Firebird she drives.
- Incessant Music Madness: The Killer Track tortures its victims this way, constantly playing itself loudly in the victim's head, making them try to destroy any source of noise.
- Is This Thing Still On?: The sound technician doesn't turn off Solomon's microphone, leading the mayor to reveal his true feelings about the citizens of Hatchetfield.Solomon: Ass-licking and groveling. That's all it was. I can't believe I have to waste my breath on these insects.
Audio Guy: Did you want me to cut the mic? - Laser-Guided Amnesia:
- Any information about Miss Holloway's life is immediately erased from people's memories, including her music, which she uses to erase the killer track from the memories of people who hear it.
- Once Miss Holloway changes her identity, Duke's memory is changed, specifically erasing any of Miss Holloway's magic abilities, leaving her as a normal person in his mind.
- Leitmotif: Part of the eponymous track ("you can’t kill me, do you want to?") has the same melody as the title song from the first episode of Season Two, "Honey Queen". This melody is also used as the Honey Festival’s theme in general. (Also, when Sheila Young starts putting the moves on Ted, we get a little bit of "Young At Heart".)
- Mayfly–December Romance: The mortal Duke falls for the immortal Miss Holloway.
- Only One Name: Miss Holloway is never referred to by her first name.
- Power Echoes: When Miss Holloway shows off her powers to Rose by puppeteering her into eating her pie, her voice echoes.
- Rock Trio: The band Needy Beast, which is comprised of Thrash, the lead singer, Rose, the lead guitarist, and Skud, the drummer.
- Shrouded in Myth: Very little about Miss Holloway's past is known, not by her choosing, though. Everything about her past is erased from the memories of everyone she tells.
- Simultaneous Arcs: The entirety of Nightmare Time 2 takes place in a single timeline and in the rough vicinity of the Honey Festival, and nowhere else is that better displayed than in this story's climax; among many other small snippets of people attending the festival, we see Zoey's friend Hailey shopping for the tea that she brings Zoey in "Honey Queen", as well as Sheila seducing Ted shortly before she brings him home in "Daddy".
- Sleazy Politician: Solomon Lauter reveals himself to be this as he makes an announcement over the intercom at the Honey Festival, implying that he only hosts grand festivals to earn voters, not because he cares about the citizens.
- Temporal Paradox: Miss Holloway creates a paradox by travelling back in time and placing herself in Rose's body, so that she hears the song instead of Rose.
