There's one mask Jim Carrey won't touch.
Crypt Keeper: (dressed as a card shark and seated at a poker table with a heart on it, between two skeletons in the midst of a game; he tosses in some chips) Hmmmm. I see your raise and I call! (stabs the heart with a spade) Bleed 'em and weep! Spades beat hearts every time! (snickers, notices the camera) Oh, hello creeps. So glad you could join me for my weekly game. My deal! Hacks and chokers are wild. Are you in? Good. So's the man in tonight's terror tale, except his game is relationships. It's a ghoulish little gamble I call: Only Skin Deep.
Carl Schlag, a CPA accountant with a furious temper and a history of horrifically beating the women in his life, crashes a Halloween party to try and reconnect with his ex-girlfriend Linda, making everyone uncomfortable in the process. After striking out with Linda, who has no intention of ever getting back together with him, Carl comes face to face with Molly, a mysterious guest who wears what seems to be a featureless, bone-white fright mask. Molly takes a liking to Carl and invites him back to her house, which resembles a warehouse, to make a move on him. The two of them engage in a long one-night stand, where Molly persuades Carl to channel all his pent up fury toward her. The morning after, Carl grows enamored with Molly and begins to seek her out for more loving. As he explores the house however, Carl discovers that Molly might have more skeletons in her closet that he does, especially in regards to what's under her mask.
Tropes:
- 13 Is Unlucky: The address on one of the envelopes Carl discovers in the kitchen is for a place called 1313 Ash Street.
- Adaptational Deviation: The entire episode takes the concept of a man falling for a masked woman in a completely different direction.
- In the original comic, Herbert and Suzanne meet each other every year at Mardi Gras in costume and only at Mardi Gras. One year, Herbert has enough of being separated from Suzanne and asks him to marry her, despite supposedly not knowing what she looks like. Suzanne refuses to take off her hag mask, even after she officially marries Herbert and sleeps with him. Herbert attempts to remove Suzanne's mask, only to rip off her face and watch her slowly die realizing the horrible truth.
- In the episode, the abusive Carl runs into the mysterious Molly at a Halloween party and goes back to her place. Whereas Suzanne had the face of an old woman, Molly's face is bone white and looks like an actual fright mask. Herbert and Suzanne loved each other and Suzanne's death was the result of a misunderstanding and tragic impulse. Molly's a Serial Killer who lures men to her apartment, cuts off their faces, and keeps them preserved in a wardrobe, with Carl just happening to be her latest Asshole Victim.
- Ambiguously Human: If The Reveal of her mask actually being her face is any indication, Molly isn't human. Yet despite this, the episode never reveals what exactly she is. It's likely that she could be a succubus or some kind of demon.
- Asshole Victim: Carl, who has been historically known to engage in violent outbursts and strong physical abuse towards his ex-girlfriend Linda, as well as women in general. He ends up drugged and has his face sawn off by Molly, who puts said face in a wardrobe with her other victims.
- The Bad Guy Wins: Molly makes Carl her latest victim, and his skinned face is made the newest addition to her collection.
- Big "NO!": Carl lets one out as Molly goes in for the kill.
- Black Eyes of Evil: To go with her bone-white face, Molly's eyes are pitch black.
- Call-Back: Just like in Cutting Cards and Split Personality, the Crypt Keeper's framing segments revolve around poker.
- Molly is played by Sherrie Rose, who previously played the equally evil and sexy/slutty Vendetta from On a Deadman's Chest. Much like that episode, this episode begins with heavy rock music, played by the in-house band.
- Casanova Wannabe: Carl views himself as a lady killer who thinks he's cock of the walk. He's actually a sleazy, Jerkass, hot-tempered lady beater instead.
- Creepy Souvenir: Molly collects the severed faces of all her victims in her wardrobe.
- Dead Guy on Display: Carl's sawn-off face, along with the faces of Molly's previous victims, are stored in a wardrobe.
- Evil Versus Evil: A hot-tempered man who has beaten every woman he's ever gotten together with goes up against a demonic serial killer who saws off the faces of men she has one night stands with. The killer wins.
- Fanservice: Carl and Molly's infamous sex scene, noted as being one of the sexiest scenes in the whole series.
- Foreshadowing: A mysterious man appears at the door of Molly's bedroom, shuddering violently and having his mouth stuck in a permanent gasping gape. Carl later learns that this was the man's ghost, whose severed face is in the same position in Molly's wardrobe.
- Molly gives Carl a drink while holding her saw (which she says she's using to build a stand) the morning after. We later learn that she slipped "a little something extra" in said drink to drug Carl while she saws his face off.
- Carl finds these same pills when he roots through Molly's medicine cabinet, and then learns that Molly has no ID or a listed home address.
- Molly gives Carl a drink while holding her saw (which she says she's using to build a stand) the morning after. We later learn that she slipped "a little something extra" in said drink to drug Carl while she saws his face off.
- Genuine Human Hide: Molly's collection of severed human faces fits this trope, as well as her fright mask actually being her own face.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: Carl has one of these, as lampshaded by Molly, and he unleashes it in the form of physical violence towards women. He's even said to have strangled the girlfriend he had before Linda, by Linda herself even.
- Halloween Episode: The episode's first half is set on October 31st (the same date it premiered), as Carl crashes a Halloween party to get back together with his ex, then meets Molly at the same party.
- Hated by All: With the exception of Molly, every character in the episode is made uncomfortable or outright enraged by Carl's presence, knowing full well about his "history" with women.
- Hate Sink: CARL, who routinely beats every woman he gets romantically involved with.
- Hell-Bent for Leather: Molly dresses as a body bag at Linda's party, the costume made almost entirely of black leather.
- He-Man Woman Hater: Carl has definite shades of this with the way he treats women.
- Horrible Housing: Molly's "house" is a huge warehouse with no address arranged to be a single person's living quarters. Given that Molly's a serial killer, it's understandable why she'd pick such a place to live.
- Hot as Hell: Molly is an insanely attractive and sultry individual. And she's also a demonic serial killer who saws off her victim's faces.
- Hypocrite: Initially, Carl wants him and Molly to stick to a purely first-name basis and keep their masks on for their one night stand. The next morning, after he falls in love with her, he spills everything about himself to her.
- I Gave My Word: Molly reminds Carl about the deal they made the night before regarding a first-name basis, not wanting to learn any of Carl's personal history after the deed is done.
- It's All About Me: Carl only cares about himself, painting himself as a Casanova who women throw themselves at. He also pays no mind to how angry or uncomfortable people get around him and the various acts of violence he's committed.
- I Warned You: After Carl tries to proposition Molly for sex when she wants to sleep, Molly tells him that he had better be gone forever when she wakes up. The end of the episode has her words taking on a different meaning when she saws off his face for her collection.
- Jaw Drop: The ghost of the man who Molly killed that visits Carl has his face stuck in this position, since his physical face, and all the others in the wardrobe, are posed in the same way.
- Karma Houdini Warranty: Carl has spent years assaulting every woman he's been involved with (even killing one in the process) and claiming that their claims of his beatings are lies. He gets his face sawn off by the last woman he gets involved with.
- Line-of-Sight Name: Molly may not actually be our serial killer's real name. She just told Carl it was the first name he listed as "a coincidence".
- Lingerie Scene: Molly gives one when she changes out of her body bag costume.
- Love Makes You Dumb: While Carl was already an oafish thug who beats every woman he loves, his one night stand with Molly turns him into a lovestruck fool who spills all of his personal information to Molly, who soon kills him.
- Never My Fault: Carl never shows any fault toward all the beatings he subjected Linda and all the other women who dated him to, telling his friends that she and the others have been lying.
- Not a Mask: That bone-white fright mask Molly wears for the whole episode? It's her face, as Carl draws blood and tears her flesh trying to take it off.
- Nothing Is Scarier: Molly's revealed to not be human when Carl rips her flesh trying to take her mask off. But despite this, it's never revealed what she is.
- The ghost of the man who Molly kills also appears out of nowhere the morning after the sex, and it's never revealed why this happens either, apart from his face being a part of Molly's collection.
- Obviously Evil: Molly dresses in all black on the night she and Carl meet, and has a bone white face that resembles a fright mask with pitch black eyes. Carl reasonably thinks that she's just wearing a costume, but the morning after Halloween, he's soon distracted with how hot she is.
- Offscreen Teleportation: The ghost that Carl sees is capable of disappearing into thin air and reappearing from nowhere.
- Oh, Crap!: Carl, when he discovers that Molly has no forms of ID or a written address.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: Carl's costume at the Halloween Party is a pirate outfit and a single gold mask. Linda sees right through it before he even shows his face to her.
- Sadist: Carl routinely assaults every woman he falls in love with and shows no remorse for the acts of violence, thinking his lovers were justifiably given what they deserved. He even shows no hesitation when Linda points out that he strangled the girlfriend he had before her.
- Serial Killer: Molly's revealed to be a potentially-demonic serial killer who slices off the faces of every man she brings back to her "house".
- Carl is also hinted to be one of these, since Linda reminds him that he strangled the woman who came before her.
- Sex Is Liberation: Molly has this view of sex, and suggests that Carl should release all his pent-up rage through their one-night stand. Carl tells her that it actually worked on him, since his anger and need to hurt is gone. But that changes a minute after she doesn't want to hear what he has to say to her.
- Slipping a Mickey: Molly drugs Carl's drink with pills that paralyze him so she can saw off his face.
- Spared By Adaptation: In the comic, Suzanne dies after her entire face is accidentally ripped off by Herbert. Here, Molly deliberately murders Carl by skinning his face off with a surgical saw.
- Stalking is Love: Carl goes incognito at Linda's Halloween party to get back together with her. Linda herself even tells him that she's gonna need to get him a court order sometime soon.
- Tear Off Your Face: Molly does this to every man she brings home, slicing their faces off with a surgical saw and putting them in a wardrobe as trophies.
- The Unreveal: While Molly is a serial killer who isn't actually human after Carl tries taking her mask off, it's left unrevealed as to what she actually is.
- The reason she decided to ascend to Earth from Hell is never listed either, though it could be for her own sadism.
- Villain Protagonist: Carl, the woman-beating scumbag who goes back to Molly's place.
Crypt Keeper: I guess that's one way to wear a guy out! (snickers) Still, I think Carl and Molly make a hell of a couple. I mean, talk about boo of a kind. (looks over his hand, to one of the skeletons) Okay, I see your raise and raise you $20. Call! (the skeleton throws down its own hand, then has a metal poker stabbed through its eye socket) Now that's a poker face! (cackles)
