The Geezenstacks
The cheerful and imaginative Audrey Hummel (Lana Hirsch) is given a dollhouse by her Uncle Richard (Larry Fine), who happened to find it in an empty house. Audrey discovers that the house even contains a family of dolls, when she affectionately names "the Geezenstacks". During Audrey's playtime, her father Sam (Craig Wasson) soon notices that whenever she describes what the Geezenstacks are doing, an uncanny coincidence engineers the same thing to happen to him and his wife Edith (Tandy Cronyn), including her purchase of a new fur coat, Sam coming down with a sickness, and nearly smacking Edith Sam in a rage. Thinking that the dollhouse is responsible, Sam tries to get rid of it before his family ends up becoming someone else's playthings.
Tropes:
- And I Must Scream: Thanks to Audrey, she and her family are left trapped inside the dollhouse forever, and their souls are implied to be sucked into the smaller dollhouse within the dollhouse, being taken by Satan, masquerading as Louise.
- Awful Wedded Life: Sam and Edith's marriage is greatly tested near the end of the first act, where Edith burns the pork roast (which she doesn't even like) she made for a candlelit dinner, Sam gets home an hour late, and he almost smacks Edith across the face in their ensuing argument, thanks to the Geezenstacks and Sam's suspicions about them.
- Bookends: The episode opens and ends with the Satanic dollhouse being discovered in an empty house.
- Bratty Half-Pint: Audrey certainly fits some criteria, being too preoccupied with controlling her dolls' lives to notice her father's sanity going down the drain.
- Creepy Child: Heavily implied with Audrey, who is shown to enjoy controlling the Geezenstacks with absolute authority to the point where she ignores her father's growing concerns about them. Her actions towards the doll family include threatening to spank them, making Mr. Geezenstack smack his wife in the head (just before Sam nearly does the same thing to Edith), and even saying that Mr. Geezenstack jumped out the window and possibly died. Her phrasing of the Geezenstacks going on "a long, long trip" further imply that it was she herself who not only let the dollhouse suck her and her family's souls out, but did so willingly, even remaining sound asleep with a smile on her face as Richard shakes the house and sobs for his missing family to come back.
- Creepy Doll: The Geezenstacks, formerly the owners of the house where Richard found the dollhouse. Anything that Audrey describes them doing carries into reality through her own parents, and we don't know where they go after the Hummels take their places.
- Cursed Item: The dollhouse Audrey is gifted by Richard turns out to be a cursed toy created by Satan to suck people inside it and turn them into helpless dolls in the process. A miniature dollhouse within the dollhouse then proceeds to suck out their souls, which Satan themself, in the guise of Louise the realtor, eagerly takes to Hell.
- Downer Ending: Thanks to her last command of her dolls "taking a long trip", Audrey and her parents are sucked into the cursed dollhouse to replace the Geezenstacks. Richard joins them soon after he discovers the truth, and it's further revealed that the dollhouse was created by Satan (who appears as realtor Louise Filer) to steal peoples' souls while turning them into helpless, immobile dolls, the fate which befalls the whole family.
- Droste Image: A variation occurs at the end, where Satan opens the dollhouse they created to steal families' souls to reveal a smaller dollhouse with smaller figurines of the Hummels inside it, likely being the families' actual souls.
- "Everyone Dies" Ending: They don't necessarily "die" in the traditional sense, but all four members of the Hummel family are turned into soulless dolls destined to be imprisoned in that dollhouse.
- Foreshadowing: The beginning of the episode has Richard telling Audrey and her folks that the dollhouse was found purely by chance in a completely empty house. The ending reveals that this was because the cursed house sucked its previous owners inside it so Satan could snatch their souls, which then befalls the Geezenstacks.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: The brief shot of Satan's name tag, which reads "SC Realty: Louise Filer".
- History Repeats: The Geezenstacks are composed of a family of four cursed into soulless dolls, and by the end of the episode, another family of four take their places.
- Louis Cypher: Satan appears at the end of the episode in the guise of a female realtor named "Louise Filer", removing the smaller dollhouse from the dollhouse's interior to reveal miniature figurines of the Hummels, likely their souls, which they eagerly take with them.
- Meaningful Name: The Hummel family likely gets their name from the figurines of the same name, and it's rather appropriate given that they end up transforming into lifeless porcelain dolls.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Audrey telling her mother that the Geezenstacks are going to be taking a "long, long trip" when she plans to sell them has the family, including Richard, becoming lifeless dolls stuck in the dollhouse while Satan is free to take their souls to Hell.
- No Sympathy: Audrey is too wrapped up in her make-believe family's life to notice the effect that her cursed dollhouse has on her actual family.
- Nothing Is Scarier: The episode goes heavy on unanswered questions. Why does everything that Audrey describes happening to her dolls force her parents and uncle to do the same? What happened to the original Geezenstacks when they went on their "trip" and the Hummels replaced them? How did Satan even create the cursed, soul-stealing dollhouse in the first place? And how does the house even draw in its victims?
- Only Sane Man: Since Edith is flighty and absent-minded, while Audrey is immersed in her fantasy world, Sam is the only character who notices that the Geezenstacks' actions carrying over to his own family isn't just coincidence.
- Recursive Reality: Whenever Audrey describes something that the Geezenstacks do, a member of the Hummel family does the same thing without even knowing it, such as Edith showing off her new fur coat immediately after Audrey describes Mrs. Geezenstack buying one, and Sam coming down with a sickness and being forced to miss work when she says that Mr. Geezenstack has to do the same.
- Red and Black and Evil All Over: The dollhouse is red with a black roof and windows, highlighting its status as a cursed object with demonic origins.
- Riddle for the Ages: As stated above, it's never revealed why everything that Audrey insists the Geezenstacks are doing causes the effect to carry over to her family, shrugging whenever her father asks her why it happened. This could imply that the house itself may be erasing her memories of her commands, but this is still a stretch.
- Satan: They appear in the guise of Louise Filer, a realtor who places the cursed dollhouse they created in random houses, then returns after the house sucks its inhabitants inside it to take their souls to Hell.
- Taking You with Me: One interpretation of Audrey allowing the dollhouse to suck her and her family inside it was to get revenge on Sam and Edith's previous abuse of her.
- Thousand-Yard Stare: Sam spends a good portion near the end of the episode staring out the window in a catatonic stupor thanks to his experiences with the Geezenstacks.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Richard brought the dollhouse to Audrey thinking it was a present for his beloved niece, and it's thanks to him that he and his entire family are sucked inside said dollhouse and have their souls dragged to Hell.
- Voice of the Legion: Richard's voice is deep and booming when the now-doll sized Sam and Edith hear him calling from their former house.
- Wham Shot: Richard discovering the doll versions of Sam, Edith, and Audrey inside the dollhouse.
- Your Soul Is Mine!: The dollhouse sucks its current owners inside it and turns them into dolls. A miniature dollhouse inside the house removes the transformed victims' souls, which Satan brings to Hell.
