Todd & the Book of Pure Evil - The Phantom of Crowley High
The Book of Pure Evil seizes upon the yearnings of a
no-talent musical education drama student, Charlotte (Angela Jill Guingcango),
who so badly wants the lead female role in Atticus’ autobiographical play on
his teenage romance disrupted and daddy issues. Obviously at the beginning of
the episode, The Phantom of Crowley High,
Atticus is being ridiculed by his Satanist father for his lack of any real
talent heading a play in his high school, how much of a joke it is. Atticus, of
course, takes it as a challenge. So the play selection process begins, with
Todd and Jenny—neither of whom has any stage singing chops—chosen as the leads
when Charlotte, granted this angelic voice (that reaches high and goes long) by
the Book of Pure Evil, almost wins the main female part. But as the Book of
Pure Evil always does, Charlotte’s wish is short-lived as a light lands on her,
knocking out her tongue! Donning a white mask, Charlotte takes on the persona
of the Phantom of the Opera, except she’s haunting the theater of Crowley High.
Using a blow pipe, Charlotte targets Jenny out of revenge for taking her part
from her, but instead consistently misses, hitting numerous stage cast members
instead! Bumping off the students (seriously, you’d think parents would be pulling
their kids from this school!), Charlotte’s obsessive quest fails time and
again. However, she does hit it off with Curtis, bumping into her while smoking
grass. Both see themselves as freaks, and this results in a romantic bond.
Hannah and Curtis are in Atticus’ office seeking out evidence of his possible
link to Satanism, hiding in his closet, kissing so that when he catches them he
won’t realize what they are truly up to. Hannah finds herself smitten with
Curtis, touching off an agonizing crisis of love she doesn’t know how to deal
with. Should she tell him she loves him? When she learns Curtis is involved
with the phantom, Hannah will come to rescue before his life is endangered…
The stage play hints at Atticus’ ties to unwanted bestiality, fatherly interference in his happiness, and pulling him into Satanism although he just wants a normal life. It has the usual quirky dialogue (Atticus is quite the quirky guy) and metal music applied because Atticus realizes parents hate it (according to Todd who loves metal and used it as his presentation for the part). Hannah remains my favorite character of the show. I haven’t commented on that a lot as I have wrote about the show, but she is. She is kind of painted as a nerd with those big-lens glasses, but her pouty lips and sleepy eyes are so attractive, allowing her to buck any stigma that might be attached. Jenny takes it upon herself to join the play to see if the Book of Pure Evil will turn up…she seems to be the one aggressively pursuing the book while Todd passively shows interest, almost exclusively when he’s lured into its numerous traps. Tongue gags and jokes accompany the expected satire on school plays/musical theater. Like Charlotte’s inability to speak without subtitles (when she accidentally hits Curtis with a poison dart, it takes Hannah a great deal of time to decipher the kind of substance used when Charlotte tries to tell her) and Curtis romancing Charlotte’s tongue in memory of her as the screen fades to black (and this image of him French-kissing the severed tongue I am still trying to unsee)! Jimmy is only involved in the plot as he mulls over his missing dynamite (stolen by Charlotte). The play’s musical numbers are pure black comedy the show always made its bread and butter.
The stage play hints at Atticus’ ties to unwanted bestiality, fatherly interference in his happiness, and pulling him into Satanism although he just wants a normal life. It has the usual quirky dialogue (Atticus is quite the quirky guy) and metal music applied because Atticus realizes parents hate it (according to Todd who loves metal and used it as his presentation for the part). Hannah remains my favorite character of the show. I haven’t commented on that a lot as I have wrote about the show, but she is. She is kind of painted as a nerd with those big-lens glasses, but her pouty lips and sleepy eyes are so attractive, allowing her to buck any stigma that might be attached. Jenny takes it upon herself to join the play to see if the Book of Pure Evil will turn up…she seems to be the one aggressively pursuing the book while Todd passively shows interest, almost exclusively when he’s lured into its numerous traps. Tongue gags and jokes accompany the expected satire on school plays/musical theater. Like Charlotte’s inability to speak without subtitles (when she accidentally hits Curtis with a poison dart, it takes Hannah a great deal of time to decipher the kind of substance used when Charlotte tries to tell her) and Curtis romancing Charlotte’s tongue in memory of her as the screen fades to black (and this image of him French-kissing the severed tongue I am still trying to unsee)! Jimmy is only involved in the plot as he mulls over his missing dynamite (stolen by Charlotte). The play’s musical numbers are pure black comedy the show always made its bread and butter.
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