The Last Car
Stacey (Begoña Plaza), a young college student, boards a mysterious train that arrives at the station in the darkest hour of the night to travel back home for Thanksgiving. She's seated in the train's last car, where she meets a kindly old woman named Mrs. Crane (Mary Carver), a bratty young boy named Joe (Scooter Stevens), and an old man with a box of treats (Louis Guss). Overtime, Stacey finds that the train hasn't stopped moving since she got on, the passengers' activities and belongings have changed, and unnerving events occur when her car passes through a "tunnel". She tries to find the conductor to get an explanation as to what's going on, but she soon discovers a horrific truth about the train, the passengers, and even herself. Or does she?
Tropes:
- Afterlife Express: Everyone aboard the train is dead, including Stacey. Maybe...
- And I Must Scream: Anyone stuck on the phantom train and its never-ending journey, which befalls Stacey by the episode's end.
- And Then John Was a Zombie: The final shot of the episode features Stacey joining the ranks of her fellow passengers, turning into a mummified husk who is doomed to ride the train forever.
- Arc Words: "Tunnel!"
- Be Careful What You Wish For: As Stacey waits for the train to take her home, she pleads "Be my train!" to the approaching locomotive. She gets her wish granted, but doesn't get to leave said train ever again.
- Berserk Button: Mentioning time to Joe causes him to go ballistic, usually sending him running into the arms of Mrs. Crane.
- Bottle Episode: The episode takes place in Stacey's car in the titular train, aside from the opening scene of her in the station.
- Bratty Half-Pint: Joe, whose antics include changing costumes in the blink of an eye, constantly shooting Stacey and the others with his toy gun, and going absolutely crazy at the mention of time.
- Conditioned to Accept Horror: Mrs. Crane and the old man have grown accustomed to their fates aboard the nightmare train, and usually comfort Joe when he gets scared or agitated. Stacey ends the episode similarly conditioned, only she's more broken than conditioned.
- Dead All Along: All of the passengers, plus Stacey. Or are they?
- Downer Ending: Stacey is shown to be dead as well, and brokenly succumbs to her fate of her never-ending ride on the nightmare train. She also has a boyfriend and family waiting for her back home, and they'll never know what happened to her.
- Eldritch Location: The nature of the train is anything but clear, and the tunnels are even worse:
- As the first "tunnel" is entered, Stacey's reflection acts on its own accord, closing her window for her while shooting a glare at her. The window rolls back up when the train exits, revealing that the reflection is no longer there.
- The "tunnels" themselves induce insanity and fear whenever the train passes through them.
- They can also warp reality, as demonstrated by Joe's toy gun becoming real and accidentally making him shoot the old man, though he comes back to life.
- The conductor becomes skeletal when he steps outside the train as it passes through a tunnel, just as all the passengers inside become mummified husks.
- When not in a tunnel, there's no scenery to be viewed outside the windows, just blackness as far as the eye can see. Stacey tries opening the rear door at one point, only to find the same black void, accompanied by thick fog and furious winds.
- Foreshadowing: Stacey chats with Mrs. Crane and tells her that she's "dead" from finishing mid-terms. It may or may not be the definite case, but it's eerily accurate to her situation.
- Four Is Death: The train goes through four tunnels over the course of the episode, and the last one reveals that Stacey has become a mummified corpse just like everyone else on the train.
- Here We Go Again!: The episode ends with another tunnel being entered, but this time it's Stacey who announces it to the passengers, having been broken by the horror she's seen and submitting to her maybe-dead fate.
- Horror Doesn't Settle for Simple Tuesday: The episode takes place the night before Thanksgiving, as Stacey wanted to take the train back home so she can see her family.
- I'm Cold... So Cold...: Stacey is given a quilt by Mrs. Crane so she can stop feeling the sudden coldness she claims to be feeling, revealing that she's dead. Possibly...
- Last Note Nightmare: Stacey's final declaration of "Tunnel!", which keeps going over the end credits and the fade to black.
- The Man in the Mirror Talks Back: It doesn't talk to her, but the opening act ends with Stacey's reflection shooting her an unnerving glare and shutting her window for her, then disappearing when the window opens again.
- Mind Screw: With all the unanswered questions lurking about, good luck figuring this episode out...
- Moving the Goalposts: The car itself manifests new signs with new rules on them to keep Stacey from escaping.
- Mundane Object Amazement: One of the first clues that something isn't quite right about the train is Mrs. Crane's fascination with Stacey's watch, thinking it to be a strange bracelet.
- Nightmare Fetishist: At the end of the first act, Joe smiles after gunning down the old man, then gleefully turns the gun on Stacey, who just barely escapes.
- No Name Given: The old man and the conductor aren't given any names.
- Nothing Is Scarier: Everything about the nature of the train and the state of its passengers.
- Riddle for the Ages: Did Stacey die before the episode began, or did she die sometime after boarding the train? If it's the former, how did she originally die?
- Rule of Three: Three separate times, the train conjures never-before-seen signs with new rules to keep Stacey from escaping her car, each time having Mrs. Crane reading them aloud.
- Scatterbrained Senior: Stacey initially believes Mrs. Crane to be one, given her fascination with her watch.
- Title Drop: The title is stated by Mrs. Crane, describing the car of the train they're riding on.
- Token Evil Teammate: Joe is a total brat to Stacey, even going so far as to fill her with lead while in a tunnel, while Mrs. Crane and the old man are more hospitable.
- Wham Shot: At the end of the episode, the train goes through another tunnel. When the lights come back on, Stacey is now a cobwebbed, mummified corpse, just like her fellow passengers.
