Best Friends Whenever Episode Review: "Cyd and Shelby's Haunted Escape" (#1.09)

Yeah, okay, here's a brief review for the crossover episode. I suppose, if I had to choose, then this was a better episode than GMW's Halloween one. It seems like a dumb show, but nothing about this episode really bothered me. I actually liked the subplot of the annoying guy (whose name I forget) trying to trick Barry into being scared to get him into Halloween. That's the kind of Halloween plot I'd like them to do (I mean, if they even absolutely have to do a Halloween episode) something just about the holiday itself, and not about introducing magic and spookiness. Halloween's a big holiday for kids - parties, trick-or-treating, costumes, there's a lot of material there. Is that not enough for you?


I actually liked the character of Barry a lot too. While I think few are the teen shows that really require a teen character who casually invents time machines and teleporters, he was a fun character. In fact, in one episode, I already prefer him to Farkle in terms of smart guy supporting character. Farkle's smarts are generally told to us, not shown. Most of the times he just acts weird. But then they tell us "Farkle gets A's, Farkle tested better than the rest, Farkle's on the debate team" and then it's like "Right, he's the smart guy, got it." But this Barry fellow just... actually seemed smart. It wasn't, like, his whole thing - he's also arrogant and condescending but in kind of a friendly, cheerful way. I don't know, I'm making too much of the character now, since it's not like "Oh man, Barry's the best, I'm going to watch this show now." But I appreciated that he plays much the same role on this series as Farkle does on GMW, and yet seems to be a better done version of it. But then, I think I'm less into Farkle than most of you are. He's still ultimately not somebody I like all that much.

I did not like Barry's annoying friend. Naldo, I think? That actor sucked and felt really miscast in the role. Why go with that guy? Weird. 

As for the main girls themselves - meh, they're fine. Cyd's a brunette Maya, Shelby's a blonde Riley. I know they're not exact match-ups (From the little we saw, Shelby's a little more down-to-earth than Riley, Cyd doesn't seem to have any angst whatsoever), but it's roughly that equation. Cyd had some legitimately funny lines, but she sometimes felt too quippy, and her actress had pretty flat delivery. Given to a stronger actress though, some of those jokes would have really been pretty good. Shelby's actress was a lot stronger, but wasn't given very much material to work with. 

The main plot was dumb. But like it's Halloween spookiness plot, so of course it is. This could be a decent show, maybe, in a regular episode. I'm... not gonna find out. But it could be. 

Hey, Riley and Lucas were in this one too. I'm confused, because this is happening at the same event as in the other episode, the Central Park Spooktacular, and Riley's still in her flapper regalia. So, like, did this also happen that same night? Where was F. Lucas Fitzgerald while all this was going on? (They mentioned they were waiting for him and Farkle in the GMW episode, but he never showed.) And where's Maya now? I like the idea that Riley was in the middle of dealing with all this ghost shit that night, but took a break to go do a little haunted house adventure game.

Riley and Lucas were given a lot more to do than Austin and Ally were, which was good. But meh, what is there to say? They were fine. Didn't feel wildly off despite being written by another show's writers. I don't know. I don't really have anything else to say.

Episode Rating: C
Episode MVP: Either Barry or Shelby.

We need to permanently ban wishy washy language like "meh it/he/she was fine." I'm not trying to single you out, I'm guilty too, but it's completely meaningless and impossible to disagree with. No one, not me, not you, not anybody, can ever convince you that "meh, it was fine" is incorrect. It's safe and meaningless. It is the bubble wrap of opinions. 

Now I'm going to single you out. This show is terrible. What was this episode even about? Tell me. Tell me what it was about. The girls wanted to go to the party. Congratulations. That's nothing. That's nothing, Christian. At least Meets World of Terror had a plot. There was a ghost and a some sort of window, and that was actually related to the haunted house at the party. We almost universally agreed that it was an insane plot, but I respect that a hell of a lot more than not just not trying at all. That's why you have nothing else to say, there's nothing else to review. 

I like what you said about the side story, that it's a legitimate Halloween story, no magic or spirits or whatever. And Barry has more personality than a lot of characters on Disney, I agree. But holy shit, that Naldo guy was so punishingly unbearable that it ruined any fun I might have had.

And that takes us to the next point. The acting. The brunette on this show doesn't just have "pretty flat delivery," Christian, she is the worst actress on this network. I mean maybe there's a worse one on a show we didn't watch yet, but I doubt it. Worse than Debby Ryan, MILES worse than Dove Cameron, worse than anyone on Teen Beach 2. Naldo might not have the worst actor on the channel, but he very would could be the most poorly written character. God, when we finally got some Petyon and Rowan, it was like the end of Shawshank Redemption. Or the end of the first act of Count of Monte Cristo. 

The actress for Shelby falls somewhere between Debby and Dov, but below Rowan. She might thrive if she had someone with a modicum of skill to play off of. 

And that doesn't even touch on the whole "Deedee playing in Dexter's Lab" thing they're trying to do. I mean, THIS is what you use TELEPORTATION and TIME TRAVEL for? THIS IS WHAT YOU DO? I mean it's just not a low budget affair! You can't do time travel if you don't have the budget to create interesting sets. But this episode wasn't really about the time travel aspect, so I'll leave it be.

Episode Rating: I hated it. F.
MVP: Rowan and Peyton.

Meh, I thought it was fine.

No, but seriously, I actually disagree with that first paragraph. Sometimes one's feeling on something is just "Meh, it was fine." Sometimes I don't feel strongly about something one way or the other. That's how I felt about this one. I grant that less extreme emotions like that don't lend themselves to debate, and make it difficult for you to refute it, but I don't think the solution is taking a hard-line on something when it's not actually what my opinion is. And I don't think it's completely meaningless, it has meaning: That I found it okay/inoffensive but didn't particularly care for it either. 

Likewise, I don't agree that this episode has no plot. Obviously it didn't have no plot. The plot was that Cyd and Shelby used a teleporter to go to New York for a party, where they ran into Riley and Lucas at a haunted house. There, a side effect of the teleporter turned them into, I guess, ghosts which caused a dilemma because they couldn't hug in order to go back in time. Eventually they figured out how to do it by possessing Riley and Lucas, and so they made it home. Is it a stupid plot? Sure. But I don't think it's any less of a plot or any dumber than GMW's plot, beyond that it involves time travel and teleporters and shit, which is just a conceit of the show. I will grant it's a pretty shitty use for their "teleporter episode." It was just a way to get them to New York. Just... have it be that they're visiting New York, and explain why they're ghosts some other way.

I grant, too, that it was kind of light on the plot, though, and they often took their sweet time getting there. But plot's less important to me on a sitcom - characters and jokes matter more in that context. The greatest sitcom of all time famously eschewed plot at times, devoting entire episodes to people just waiting for a table in a restaurant or wandering around lost in a parking lot. Now, of course, this show isn't Seinfeld, but I do think the point still stands. There were jokes in this episode I actually thought were kind of funny, and I enjoyed the B-plot for the most part. I thought the episode was okay. Not good, by any means, but fine. Certainly among the same level of enjoyment as the other C episodes of GMW we've been having lately. And I did think it was a lot better than GMW's episode, which involved a lot of repeating the same song over and over and poorly choreographed dancing. 

Is the actress who plays Cyd the worst on Disney Channel? Quite possibly, but that's actually not the most damning insult in the world. As we've discussed before, by and large, the young actresses they have are strong suits of the show. Sabrina's great, I think you're starting to come around on Rowan who I think is quite good,  Dove Cameron and Lauren Romano are good, the main girl on Dog with a Blog was decent (AND FRANCESCA CAPALDI IS A NATIONAL TREASURE), and Debby Ryan's fine. Those are the only ones I'm familiar with, and yeah, Cyd's worse than all of those, if this episode is any indication. But, like, I didn't feel like she was the shittiest shit in shittown. She just didn't seem great. There's at least a handful of young actors on Disney Channel, who I think are worse. Maybe I'd need to see more of her and in more dynamic situations to be able to gauge.

But yeah, Naldo could easily be the worst actor on DC. At least Peyton's starting to get some polish to him. As for Shelby, yeah, I'd probably agree, better than Debby, not as good as Dove or Rowan. On par with Lauren Romano, maybe? But this show's brand new, she's got time yet.

Yeah, a brief look at the episode guide on Wikipedia does make it clear that time travel is definitely something they make a priority in their episodes, and they deal with Butterfly Effects and shit. It probably just didn't make a lot of sense in this context since they had to include two characters who live in the modern day. 

While I too care more about Riley and Lucas than I do about any of these people, what about their performances really warrant MVP material though? Peyton may be better than Naldo, but he's still... Peyton. And I actually kind of felt like Rowan was phoning it in, you get any of that? 

Ultimately, for me, the thing that puts this episode ahead of GMW's is that I found this one somewhat funny at times. I chuckled more than once. I don't think at any point in World of Terror 2 (beyond, maybe, seeing Doy in his cute little lion costume) did I so much as crack a smile. 

The problem is that "meh they were fine" doesn't translate well from person to person. "Fine" is one of the top 5 most subjective words in the language. I made that up, but still. I prefer how you explained it in your second segment. You don't need a hardline stance to be descriptive.

There was less time dancing in MWoT than time spent in the foxhole in No Guts No Cory. Your move.

Her name is Lauren Marano, but I agree that she's good. She has a very unique enthusiasm that I can't find the right words for. She could be great, but I'm not going to watch her show to find out.

I'm glad you said something because it was poking at the edge of my mind, yes, Rowan definitely seemed like she phoned this in. She didn't care at all. On the other hand, don't come in here acting like there's rules for the MVP, mister picky pants. I mindlessly chose her and Peyton as a middle finger to BFW. 

I think... Cory... said something funny in their episode... 

Whoops, you're right, Lauren Marano. Some die-hard Austin and Ally fan I am.