The Cutty Black Sow
Screenplay By: Michael McDowell
Story By: Thomas F. Monteleone
Directed By: Richard Glass
The night before Halloween, young Jamie MacEvans (Huckleberry Fox) and his family gather around his great-grandmother Catherine (Paula Trueman), a superstitious woman of Scottish descent, as she lays dying. When the rest of the family falls asleep, Catherine takes the time to tell Jamie about the Cutty Black Sow, a demon of ancient Celtic lore that steals the souls of all those who die on Halloween, telling him to ensure that the demon doesn't take her soul before she finally expires. Desperate to fulfill her last request and save his great-grandmother's soul, as well as the souls of the rest of his family, Jamie attempts to keep the Cutty Black Sow away from the house by building a sacred fire with stones representing the souls, but he may not have taken every single variable into consideration.
Tropes:
- The Bad Guy Wins: The Cutty Black Sow gets Jamie's soul at the end of the episode, although the rest of his family's souls are safe from its grasp.
- Bookends: Jamie lies asleep in bed near the beginning, but awakens when he hears Catherine talking to herself. The end of the episode has him doing the same when the Cutty Black Sow finally gets his soul.
- Bratty Half-Pint: Jamie's little sister Gloria, who accidentally dooms her brother by impulsively throwing away the stone with his name on it after the siblings return from trick-or-treating.
- Butterfly of Doom: If one of Jamie's parents had volunteered to stay home, or even hire a babysitter, Jamie could've seen that the stone representing his soul had rolled out of the fire and put it back inside, keeping the CBS from stealing said soul.
- Cat Scare: Near the end of the episode, when it appears that the titular demon is preparing to open the door, Jamie is relieved to find that it's just his parents returning from the funeral parlor. It's subverted when Jamie's father is revealed to be the demon in disguise.
- Chekhov's Lecture: Catherine's rants about the ritual regarding the Cutty Black Sow is used by Jamie to keep her soul safe from it. Unfortunately, her tidbit about how a missing stone from the fire means that the CBS will take the corresponding person's soul comes to pass for Jamie, thanks to his little sister accidentally throwing away his stone.
- Cruel Twist Ending: Jamie saves his family's souls, including the little sister who inadvertently spells his doom, but the CBS takes his own soul to compensate.
- The Darkness Before Death: Catherine claims that her vision is darkening as she lays dying, to which Jamie's father tries to write it off by saying it's getting late.
- Death of a Child: Jamie's soul is taken by the titular demon at the end of the episode.
- The Dog Was the Mastermind: Jamie's father is hinted to have been the titular demon all along, given that he's the only one who knows what Catherine was talking about as she was dying, and is the first to comfort Jamie when he finds out.
- Don't Touch It, You Idiot!: When Gloria goes to pick up the stone that rolled out of the sacred fire, Jamie tries to stop her, since the object has been super-heated by the flames. She doesn't get the message and burns herself, throwing the stone across the room out of reflex. Thanks to this action, Gloria ultimately loses her big brother to the Cutty Black Sow.
- The Dreaded: Catherine deems the titular demon as such in her delirious rantings of the ritual used to keep it away. The incantations Jamie discovers as he researches the creature indicate that everyone in Scotland thought the same about the beast.
- Eat the Camera: The Cutty Black Sow does this at the very end of the episode, where it finally steals Jamie's soul.
- Everything's Louder with Bagpipes: The majority of the episode is set to a soundtrack of bagpipes to illustrate the MacEvans family's Scottish roots, as well as the ancient Celtic ritual needed to keep the Cutty Black Sow away.
- Foreshadowing: Jamie's father is the one to tell the rest of the family what Catherine's talking about as she dies, and is the first to find and comfort Jamie minutes after she finally kicks the bucket. The end of the episode reveals that this is the case because it was actually the Cutty Black Sow taking his father's form that Jamie was talking to.
- Halloween Episode: Though the episode originally aired in May, it's set on Halloween (or as Catherine calls it, "All Hallows Even"), as Jaime tries to protect the souls of his family from the titular demon, who steals the souls of all who die on the holiday.
- Hope Spot: Near the end of the episode, Jamie is supposedly saved from the titular demon when his father comes into his bedroom and comforts him. Then, we see that his father's eyes are glowing, revealing himself to be the CBS, who's come for Jamie's own soul.
- It's Probably Nothing: As soon as his stone is tossed away from the sacred fire, Jamie hears branches pounding on the window, which he imagines is just the wind. When he hears the noise again after his parents call him to check up, he realizes that it wasn't the wind at all.
- Jump Scare: As Gloria tells him that it's time to go trick-or-treating, Jamie turns around to face his little sister in a wolfman mask, making her jump. Near the end of the episode, she returns the favor in the same fashion, while her older brother is already paranoid about the threat of the Cutty Black Sow.
- Kiss of Death: Catherine finally expires after pleading with Jamie to save her soul by building the sacred fire, topped off with a kiss goodnight.
- Never My Fault: Gloria tossing the heated stone representing her brother's soul at a lamp breaks said lamp, but she immediately places the blame on her brother.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Jamie tries to perform a ritual to save his great-grandmother's soul from the Cutty Black Sow. Though he succeeds in doing so, the demon takes his soul as compensation, since Gloria threw his stone away when it rolled out of the sacred fire, not knowing that it was red hot when she picked it up.
- No Name Given: Jamie and Gloria's parents.
- Nothing Is Scarier: The scene in the second act where Jamie descends to and investigates the darkened living room in the dead of night, as the Cutty Black Sow hides just outside.
- Our Souls Are Different: In ancient Celtic tradition, souls are represented by stones with the name of the person the soul belongs to written on it. The Cutty Black Sow was kept away from the houses of the recently-deceased by having the families place their souls in a sacred fire that was kept lit until dawn. Jamie tries to copy this ritual to keep Catherine's soul protected from the demon, but thanks to Gloria, the demon ends up taking his soul instead, as it's noted that any stone that's disturbed or removed from the flames is up for grabs by the demon.
- Plot-Triggering Death: Catherine, who expires at the end of the opening act, the night before Halloween, and persuades Jamie himself into saving her soul from the CBS.
- Sacred Flames: Catherine spends her last minutes reflecting on how the CBS would steal the souls of anyone and everyone who died on Halloween in ancient Celtic lore, and how they kept it away by making a sacred fire and keeping it lit until daylight, filling the fire with stones with the names of each family member written on them, representing their souls. Jamie does this to save her soul and those of his family, but Gloria throws the stone that represents Jamie himself away after it rolls out of the fire, leading to the Cutty Black Sow taking it from him at the end of the episode.
- Secret Secret-Keeper: Jamie reluctantly allows Gloria to help him gather the stones needed for the ritual to keep the titular demon away, but on the condition that she doesn't tell their parents about what he's trying to do.
- Spanner in the Works: As noted above, Gloria, Jamie's bratty little sister, throws away the stone with his name on it, leaving the CBS free to take his soul while she and the rest of the family are safe.
- Supernatural Gold Eyes: The Cutty Black Sow is depicted with a pair of solid gold eyes that lack pupils. Jamie's father gains the same eyes when the CBS reveals that it was masquerading as him all along.
- Uncertain Doom: Little Jamie tries to save his great-grandmother's soul from the titular Celtic demon, but the Cutty Black Sow comes and takes his soul instead. The final shot is of Jamie backed into a corner and left in slack-jawed terror as the demon closes in on him.
- Wicked Witch: Gloria's Halloween costume, and it does somewhat fit her bratty personality, as well as what she accidentally does to her brother.
- When the Clock Strikes Twelve: Catherine dies as soon as midnight strikes on Halloween. Jamie later has his soul taken a few minutes before midnight by the CBS, when it disguises itself as his father.
- Would Hurt a Child: The episode ends with the titular demon claiming the soul of Jamie, the little boy who wanted to save his family from its wrath.
- Your Soul Is Mine!: After everything Jamie does to try and stop the Cutty Black Sow from coming after the souls of his great-grandmother and the rest of the family, the demon takes his soul instead.
