Sibling Rivalry
Written By: Melanie Dale
High school freshman Lola Pierce (Maddie Nichols) sits in the office of Manchester High School's guidance counselor Mrs. Porter (Molly Ringwald), frantically insisting that her brother Andrew (Andrew Brodeur) is trying to kill her. When Lola is asked why she thinks this, she offers to start at the beginning: Lola was at her friend Grace’s (Ja'ness Tate) house for a sleepover the other night, and after getting sidetracked talking about Grace's hot brother and the fact that they TP'ed the house of a girl they hated, Lola says that she woke up to Grace supposedly trying to kiss her in her sleep. Mrs. Porter becomes concerned with what she views as possible sexual assault, but Lola insists that it was a misunderstanding. Going back to her brother, she recounts that his behavior was growing unusual, since he seemed to be peeping on her and wouldn’t give her a ride to school. When Mrs. Porter tells her to get back to class, Lola hurriedly recaps how she sat through her morning classes and got through lunch, but she had started feeling nauseous after lunch. When the nausea passed, she stayed after school for a meeting of the Homecoming Committee, then returned home to see Andrew making dinner, something he apparently never does. Lola mentions that Andrew had made spaghetti that night, and kept staring at her as she ate it. After doing so, Lola ran to a trash can to vomit, thinking that it was because the cheese Andrew used had gone bad.
Sometime after that, Lola saw her brother researching weapons on the internet, causing Mrs. Porter to become gravely concerned that Andrew may be plotting a school shooting. Lola manages to assure the counselor that Andrew wasn’t looking up guns, but medieval weaponry like swords and axes. When Mrs. Porter estimates that Andrew may have been doing so for an assignment, Lola mentions that she thought the same thing, but then Andrew tied her up in the basement. A shocked Mrs. Porter asks if her parents were in the house when this happened, but Lola mentions that they weren’t, so she ripped through the ties (which she admits weren’t very strong), spent the night at Grace’s, and came to Mrs. Porter’s office on this very day. While initially glad to see that everything turned out okay, Mrs. Porter asks Lola why she has no marks on her wrists to prove that she was tied up, revealing that she views her as delusional. As a frantic Lola pleads that her brother is trying to kill her, Mrs. Porter nonchalantly writes her a note and advises her to get some therapy, thinking her entire story is a desperate plea for attention.
Lola spots her brother after school, who walks away without responding. Grace soon arrives and asks Lola if she wants to go eat later. After the pair are harassed by a trio of obnoxious students, Grace repeats her question to Lola, who agrees after Grace finishes her lacrosse practice. When she gets home, Lola searches the house for Andrew, checking every room and narrowing it down to the garage. Turning on the light, Lola finds nothing amiss in the garage, but she neglects to notice an ax missing from the workbench's pegboard. As she rummages through the pantry for a snack, Lola ultimately catches Andrew sneaking up on her with the missing ax. The frightened Lola tries to tell Andrew that, regardless of whatever he’s going through, she’s going to tell their parents on him. Andrew reveals that she can't tell their parents... because they’re dead. Lola freaks out and accuses Andrew of killing them, but Andrew retorts that he wasn’t the one who did so, revealing to Lola that she’s a vampire. The supposedly tainted spaghetti he made for dinner turned out to be loaded with garlic, which is what made Lola sick. He did indeed tie her up in the basement as well, but as an attempt to keep her from hurting anyone else. It failed, as she ripped through them with ease, since vampires have superhuman strength. After compelling her to think back to what happened the other day, Lola finally remembers what really happened:
When she came home from the sleepover, Lola was indeed revealed to be a vampire, having slaughtered the siblings' parents in a state of feral hunger. Andrew, who had witnessed the murders, cleaned up what was left of the bodies and threw them in the trash, neglecting to call the police in an effort to keep his little sister out of trouble. As for the ax, he read online that vampires need to be beheaded to be killed. As a frightened Lola asks how she even became a vampire in the first place, she thinks back to the sleepover, where it’s revealed that Grace was the vampire who bit Lola’s neck and turned her. With Lola fully aware that she is a vampire and knowing that she killed her parents, Lola tearfully tells her brother that she'll find alternate solutions to her bloodlust. Andrew simply tells her that he can’t let her kill again whenever she gets hungry, and moves in to "do the right thing" and chop her head off. The two then end up sharing a frightened laugh when Andrew tells Lola to stay still for her death. After this brief comedic moment, Andrew becomes torn with what to do, not willing to kill his sister and become the sole living member of the family. Instead, he proposes to go after Grace, who is the true source of all the pain. Lola argues that Andrew can’t fight off Grace by himself, and decides to go with him, turning him into a vampire so he can utilize his newfound super strength against her.
The next day, Lola again meets with Mrs. Porter, who tells Lola that Grace has gone missing, asking her if something happened. After a brief shot of the beheaded Grace flashes on screen, Lola plays dumb to her former friend's whereabouts. Mrs. Porter declares that she’s going to find out what really happened, only to run into Andrew in the doorway. Upon calmly assuring Lola that her brother isn’t actually trying to kill her, Lola confirms that he was, but she killed him first. The two vampires proceed to back the frightened Mrs. Porter into a corner of the office and kill her as Manchester High School's students leave for the day.
An animated epilogue shows the Creep hiding in a pot of food in the school cafeteria. He proceeds to drag the lunch lady who was stirring the food inside the pot, then emerges from it and shakes the food off an issue of Creepshow, laughing maniacally.
This episode contains examples of:
- Actor Allusion: Mrs. Porter is played by Molly Ringwald, who appeared in several raunchy high school films with her fellow members of the Brat Pack. The fact that Mrs. Porter is a tired and apathetic faculty member stuck dealing with a wild and crazy teenager could be considered a dose of karma for all the hassles Ringwald's older characters gave their faculty.
- As detailed below, Lola tells Mrs. Porter that she was stuck riding the bus to school after Andrew wouldn't drive her, which she implies to be horrific. Since Porter is played by a Brat Pack member, she's definitely shared Lola's opinion of the bus. Her interest even appears piqued when Lola brings this up to her.
- Actually Pretty Funny: When Andrew asks his sister to "hold still" so he can behead her, Lola asks if she's seriously expected to comply with this. After a pause, the two burst out laughing at Lola "busting out the SAT words" during her command, as well as how insane the entire situation is.
- Adults Are Useless: Mrs. Porter, the guidance counselor. While she's justifiably concerned with issues of possible sexual assault and an upcoming school shooting regarding Lola's story, she doesn't believe the bulk of it and thinks of Lola as a delusional nutcase. As a result, Lola and the newly-turned Andrew team up to kill her.
- Affably Evil: In spite of being a vicious monster who feeds on people for their blood and turns her best friend into a vampire, Grace behaves like a normal teenage girl.
- Ambiguously Bi: When recalling how Grace "kissed" her in her sleep, Lola admits that she was "flattered" and "kinda liked it", but she was saving herself for a man.
- Ambiguous Situation: Regarding Lola's very spotty memory, as detailed below, does she genuinely not remember killing her parents while she was feral, or did she remember all along and blocked out the memory to hide the truth from herself?
- Amnesiac Hero: As well as her being an idiot, Lola also demonstrates a terrible memory, neglecting a great amount of details that are essential to fill in the blanks of her story. The amnesia could be justified, since it's hinted that memory loss is a side effect of a vampire's bite.
- Anachronic Order: The story frequently jumps back and forth between past and present when Lola explains her situation. It also happens when Andrew tells his own story to Lola, where we see what happened through his point of view.
- Anti-Climax: After having Lola turn Andrew into a vampire so they can kill Grace together, the story jumps ahead to the next day, when Grace has already been taken care of.
- Apathetic Teacher: Guidance Counselor Mrs. Porter, during her meeting with the frantic and idiotic Lola, wears a look on her face that tells us she'd rather be anywhere else right now.
- Asshole Victim: Grace, Lola's so-called best friend, turns her into a vampire without her consent. This ends with her being decapitated.
- There's also Mrs. Porter, the guidance counselor who does nothing to help Lola and thinks of her as an idiotic nutcase. And then, when Grace goes missing, she has the audacity to finger Lola as the possible culprit.
- Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: One of Lola's main characteristics. During her story about her brother's behavior, she keeps getting sidetracked and veers into different trains of thought.
- Attention Whore: Mrs. Porter accuses Lola of fabricating her story about her brother as a ploy for attention.
- Axes at School: Mrs. Porter becomes very concerned when Lola tells her that Andrew was looking up weapons on the internet, thinking that he may be planning a school shooting (after reminding Lola that the school recently had an active shooter drill). Even after being assured that he was looking up Medieval stuff like swords and axes, Mrs. Porter still asks Lola if her brother is planning to bring these weapons to school, prompting Lola to say that such would only be the case if Andrew plans to kill her at the school.
- Beat Still, My Heart: While feral, Lola tore her father's heart out and guzzled the blood inside it.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Grace, Lola's "best friend", turns out to be the vampire who bit her. What's worse, she does it for no given reason. She even stares at the clearly scared Lola and smiles at her after she wakes up nervous and disturbed, not even bothering to hide her fangs.Lola: I thought we were friends. Doesn't eat dairy, my ass.
- Bittersweet Ending: Lola's parents are dead, but Grace has been taken out of the picture. Andrew even becomes a vampire alongside his sister, who helps her kill Mrs. Porter. In spite of everything that's happened, this shows that the siblings' bond is stronger than ever.
- Blind Shoulder Toss: Lola, while feral, did this with her father's heart after guzzling the blood from it.
- Bookends: The story begins and ends in Mrs. Porter's office.
- Call-Back:
- A WQPS mug from Public Television of the Dead can be seen in Mrs. Porter's office.
- In a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment, one of the obnoxious students who harasses Lola and Grace is carrying an issue of Creepshow that has the same cover as Night Of The Paw.
- The ax Andrew wields happens to be the same one that Old Lady Spinster and her granddaughter used in Dead and Breakfast.
- Harlan's insect-themed calendar from Pesticide can be seen on the Pierce family's kitchen wall. While it displayed an ant in the former episode, it features a grasshopper here.
- Cassandra Truth: Lola's suspicions that her brother wants to kill her. Mrs. Porter doesn't buy it, but it does turn out to be the case. Of course, Andrew does have a perfectly valid reason for feeling the need to kill his sister.
- Chill of Undeath: After Grace bites her, Lola's skin turns cold and dead, and the skin of living people feels like it's on fire to her.
- Destroy the Evidence / Disposing of a Body: After Lola murdered their parents, Andrew ended up having to clean up all the blood and throw his parents' corpses into the trash, since he didn't want his Lola to get arrested for killing them.
- The Ditz: Lola is a complete and utter idiot. The whole story, she has absolutely no idea about what is happening to her, or why Andrew suddenly wants to kill her out of the blue. Her lack of intelligence frustrates nearly everyone around her, to the point where Andrew himself calls her out for being so idiotic. This may also be the reason why Grace was her "friend", since her air-headedness made her easy to take advantage of.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: The scene where Grace turns Lola into a vampire while she's asleep is framed in a way that makes it blatantly resemble date rape.
- Dumb Blonde: LOLA, 100% all the way.
- Evil-Detecting Dog: Dolores Claiborne, the Pierce family's weiner dog, is mentioned by Lola to have gotten "growly" when she came across Andrew, who she usually loves unconditionally. Of course, she may have gotten that way because Lola, the actual monster, was also in the room.
- Failed a Spot Check:
- Lola overlooks the missing ax when she searches the garage for Andrew.
- As Andrew reveals, Lola also somehow failed to notice that Mr. and Mrs. Pierce have been missing for days.
- Faux Horrific: Lola describes to Mrs. Porter that she finds riding the bus to school (because Andrew wouldn't give her a ride) to be unspeakably horrific.
- Feral Vampires: Lola is revealed to be one when she gor home from the sleepover. The first thing she did was murder her parents for their blood.
- Friendly Neighborhood Vampire: Averted with Grace, who puts on a friendly façade while in Lola's company, but then bites her and turns her into one of her fellow undead for her own amusement.
- After they take out Grace, Andrew and Lola play the trope straight, aside from killing Mrs. Porter as revenge for her inaction towards Lola's problem.
- Foreshadowing:
- After school, Grace asks Lola if she wants to go eat. After getting harassed by a trio of obnoxious students, Grace glares at the offenders, then repeats her question.
- After this, when asked where exactly she wants to eat, Grace glares at the offenders again and mentions that she has "some ideas".
- In addition to this, Grace is largely seen wearing black-colored clothing and black makeup, also possibly hinting her true nature as a vampire.
- One of the above-mentioned students also debates that Grace and Lola are probably "freaks". He turned out to be completely right about both of them.
- For the Evulz: Since there's no determinable reason for why Grace turns Lola into a vampire, it can be assumed that she did so for her own sadistic amusement.
- Freshman Fears: Lola is specifically stated to be a high school freshman, and the major changes that come with enrolling are why Mrs. Porter thinks she is becoming delusional. In spite of her apathetic behavior towards Lola, she does give her some advice that while high school can be a big transition, she just has to "hang in there", promising that she'll get through whatever issue she's going through. The "I don't get paid enough for this" look on her face after Lola leaves reveals to us that she didn't mean a word of it.
- The Hedonist: Grace seems to believe that being a vampire allows her to do whatever she wants whenever she wants, and never face any consequences for it. When she bites Lola and turns her, that's when it all comes crumbling down.
- Idiot Hero: Lola, who infuriates her guidance counselor and her brother with her air-headedness.
- Irony: Grace, being a vampire, is on her school's lacrosse team.
- Karma Houdini: Though she was partially out of her mind at the time, Lola (and later Andrew) faces no punishment for killing her parents, her best friend, and her guidance counselor.
- Kubrick Stare: Lola states that Andrew gave her some unnerving ones in the past, peeking in her room and watching as she ate the spaghetti he made for dinner.
- Lampshade Hanging / Leaning on the Fourth Wall / Medium Awareness: All three tropes come into play when Lola starts her story with a long-winded explanation about her sleepover at Grace's house and her attraction to Grace's brother instead of why Andrew wants to kill her. When Mrs. Porter asks why she isn't focusing on her brother, Lola (seemingly aware that she's in a story) casually mentions that she needs to flesh out the backstory first.
- Mrs. Porter and Andrew also very pointedly call out Lola for spending the whole episode acting like a complete idiot.
- Laser-Guided Karma:
- Grace, who turns Lola into a vampire, gets beheaded.
- The apathetic Mrs. Porter, who dismissed Lola as delusional and did nothing to help her, is killed by her and Andrew when she vows to find Grace.
- Lethal Chef: Lola thinks that Andrew used moldy or expired ingredients in the spaghetti he made, which nearly poisoned her, unaware he intentionally loaded the spaghetti with garlic.
- Like Is, Like, a Comma: Lola has shades of this whenever she talks to someone.
- Looks Like Orlok: Lola's feral form borrows some hefty aspects of Nosferatu's appearance.
- Match Cut: A flashback of Lola discovering maple syrup spilled all over her hands and the floor includes a cut to the syrup being replaced with her father's blood.
- Meaningful Name: Lola's family name is "Pierce", which is given a more literal meaning when she and her brother become vampires.
- Mrs. Porter has a similar name to a type of steak, given that she ultimately becomes a meal for Andrew and Lola.
- Motor Mouth: Lola tells her backstory at an incredibly speedy pace.
- Mr. Fanservice: Grace's brother, who Lola has a crush on. He makes one appearance in the story, and that appearance has him seductively pouring milk on his muscular torso, with R&B music and a spotlight effect for emphasis.
- Mythology Gag:
- Lola mentions that her family owns a weiner dog named Dolores Claiborne.
- The trademark "Father's Day" ashtray is seen on Mrs. Porter's desk.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Grace biting Lola in her sleep and turning her into a vampire comes back to bite her hard in the ass, since Lola and Andrew lop her head off for all the trouble she's caused.
- Nothing Is Scarier: Even though the Pierce siblings team up to get rid of Grace, we don't actually see them do so. The one glimpse we get of their handiwork is a brief shot of Grace's severed head sitting in her own lap.
- Obfuscating Stupidity: After dealing with Grace, Lola continues her "dumb blonde" act by denying any knowledge about what happened to Grace when confronted by Mrs. Porter.
- Offscreen Teleportation: Andrew suddenly appears behind the pantry door when Lola opens and closes it.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Lola notes that Andrew making dinner made her a little concerned because her father is the resident cook of her household.
- Our Vampires Are Different: Vampires are immune to sunlight and don't turn into bats. When they get hungry, they not only gain fangs, but they also gain visible veins, orange eyes, long snake-like tongues, and wide jaws lined with razor sharp teeth. In addition, they can only be killed by decapitation instead of the traditional wooden stake through the heart.
- Perky Goth: Grace seems to be one of these at first, but it's a mask to hide her true self as a sociopathic monster.
- Pregnancy Scare: When she was feeling nauseous in school, Lola wonders (multiple times) whether or not she is pregnant, thinking that sperm can become airborne and crawl up the vagina after landing on the skin.
- Rewatch Bonus: During her backstory, Lola mentions that she felt "pukey" after lunch the other day. Since it's later revealed that Andrew laced her dinner with vampire poison, it's very likely that he did the same to her lunch.
- Sadistic Choice: After discovering that his sister was turned into a vampire and murdered their parents, Andrew is faced with two very difficult choices to make: kill her to stop her from killing innocent people, or let her live so he won't be the last living member of the family.
- Self-Made Orphan: Lola's feral hunger causes her to murder her parents. She didn't mean to do it and is clearly shaken up when she finally learns the truth, but she still did it.
- Shout-Out: While describing how she "kinda liked" Grace's "kiss" to Mrs. Porter, she mentions that she's saving herself for Jacob Elordi, who she describes as "that guy from The Kissing Booth." It's also an Actor Allusion since Molly Ringwald, who plays Porter, also played Elordi's character's mother.
- Sibling Team: After resolving the plot of the episode, Lola and Andrew (now a vampire himself) promise to work together and look out for one another, as well as take out anyone who might be suspicious about where Grace might have gone to.
- Simultaneous Arcs: While Lola becomes concerned about Andrew's behavior and thinks he's planning to kill her, Andrew similarly becomes concerned about his sister's behavior and looks up what happened to her and how to stop her.
- Soundtrack Dissonance: The scene where Lola murders her father is underscored with cheerful-sounding morning music. The same music plays again when she and Andrew close in on Mrs. Porter.
- Spot the Thread: While appearing to believe Lola's story, Mrs. Porter asks her why her wrists don't have any marks on them to indicate she was tied up.
- Straight Man and Wise Guy: During their meetings together, Mrs. Porter plays the logical straight man to Lola's idiotic and off-the-wall mannerisms.
- Super-Hearing: When she comes home, Lola is able to hear her mother's heartbeat, which triggers her to go feral.
- Super-Strength: Andrew explains that this is a common trait for vampires. When he tied Lola up in the basement, she ripped through the plastic cords restraining her with hardly any effort.
- Take a Third Option: Instead of choosing either option in the above-mentioned Sadistic Choice, Andrew decides to go after Grace, the vampire who turned his sister, by letting Lola turn him into one and then killing her.
- Tampering with Food and Drink: Alex loaded Lola's spaghetti with garlic to see what happened to her at the sleepover.
- Teens Are Monsters: Grace is a literal example, as she's a vampire who preys on her best friend's trust and turns her into a vampire without her consent.
- Toilet Humor / Toilet Paper Prank: Lola and Grace TP'ed the house of a private school girl named Aynsley, who they greatly disliked... before they farted on the hood of her father's car.Lola: (to Mrs. Porter, who is staring blankly) What? She's awful!
- Tomato in the Mirror: Lola is revealed to be a vampire, and she killed her parents when she went feral.
- Too Much Information: Lola's story includes the rather graphic depiction of an orgasm a man she was giving a handjob to had.
- Vampire Episode: The first one in the series.
- Vampires Hate Garlic: Andrew loaded his sister's spaghetti with garlic as a test to see whether she was a vampire or not. The "results" say that she indeed is.
- Vampire Hickey: Lola finally understands that she's a vampire when she feels her neck, and discovers the puncture marks left by Grace's fangs.
- Vegetarian Vampire: Lola tries to get Andrew to spare her by saying that she'll go this route, offering to drink pig's blood or rob a blood bank with her super strength to satisfy her cravings.
- Viewers Are Goldfish: The story repeats the scenes of Lola murdering her parents, and Grace turning Lola into a vampire, minutes after they are first shown.
- Vomit Indiscretion Shot: After Lola eats Andrew's garlic-laden spaghetti, we get a shot of her vomiting in the trash can, and right onto the camera.
- We Used to Be Friends: Lola's reaction to discovering that her best friend turned her into a vampire and indirectly made her murder her own parents was to kill her.
- You Didn't Ask: Once Lola tells her that Andrew tied her up, an incredulous Mrs. Porter asks why she didn't start her story with that. Lola tells her counselor that she has no appreciation for storytelling.
- You Monster!: Andrew outright calls Lola a monster during their confrontation in the kitchen.
