The fourth episode of Creepshow brings another interesting tale. In the garb of humanism, the episode talks about prejudice and ‘otherization’ in a way that is very entertaining. The two mini-episodes revolve around family, even though they might seem diametrically opposite in theme. The first episode, titled Meet the Belaskos, features a vampire family living in an ‘integrated’ suburban area where vampires co-exist with humans. The second episode, titled Cheat Code, deals with a father-son bond that gets a chance to repair itself when the father gives an old video game to his son. Both episodes don’t miss the chance to stuff every moment with humorous subtext while turning the tables midway and going into unexpected territory.

Spoilers Ahead

‘Meet The Belaskos’ Recap & Ending

The Belaskos, a cheerful ‘Vampire American’ family, shifts to a new location as they had some trouble in their previous neighborhood. Chuck Belasko, the head of the family, cared about his wife and daughter. His daughter had been assaulted in the previous town. The hope this time around was that there wouldn’t be any attempt at assault and they could live a peaceful life. This notion was erroneous, but their hopes were high as they had been told that the new areas they were moving to were ones where such incidents never occurred. That was true, but there was a subtext to it. The neighborhood was a strict, ‘you don’t cross my way, and I won’t cross yours’ type of place. In a ‘West Side Story’ type twist, a vampire-hating man’s son falls in love with Chuck Belasko’s daughter, Anastasia.

Alex, the neighbor’s son, completely fell head over heels in love when he saw Anastasia for the first time. As a vampire, Anastasia couldn’t see daylight; hence, Alex had to sneak out during the night to meet her. The meet-cute extended, and they discovered they were soul mates. But would society accept their relationship? The situation in the neighborhood was volatile as it is, and their relationship could add fuel to the fire. The ‘peaceful’ surroundings were about to go up in flames. The young couple threw caution to the wind, and when Alex’s father found out about them, he became vengeful. For him, the vampires were on a mission of spreading their ‘undeadness’ across America. He called in his gang to purge the neighborhood. They caught the couple in the park, and Anastasia had to take a demonic form to stop Alex’s father and his gang. Dawn was about to break, and Alex was hurt. Alex’s father didn’t want his son injured, but the mob knew only violence. Anastasia sacrificed her own life to get Alex to safety. The sun came up, and she burned to ashes.

What Did Alex Do?

Alex had wanted to cross over to the vampire side. One bite, and he would have been hers. Alex wanted to prove his love, but it was Anastasia who didn’t want that fate for him. She didn’t want him to face the prejudice she faced. Alex was sure of their love, but his father ruined everything. He became the villain of his life. The Belaskos were a peaceful family, but the neighbors couldn’t see them thrive. Anastasia had killed the gang in the park but left Alex’s father alive. He was brought by Alex himself and kept caged in the Belasko residence. When he gained consciousness, he found that he had turned into a vampire, and now he was trapped. Alex killed his father himself and started living with the Belaskos. It’s ironic that Alex’s father begged for forgiveness even though he knew he had turned into a vampire. He hated vampires more than anything, but the moment he turned into one, he understood what it was like to live in their shoes. Alex showed him no mercy, just like his father hadn’t shown any to Anastasia.

‘Cheat Code’ Recap & Ending

The second sub-episode of Creepshow Season 4 revolves around Dave and his father. Dave’s mother had died, and the father-son duo couldn’t really seem to find any connection. Dave was a cheerful teenager, and it wasn’t as if his father was a terrible man. They simply had nothing to talk about. One fine day, Dave’s father decided to give him an old video game called Weird Wednesday. Dave was a videogame fanatic, and his father must have thought that they could have something to talk about if Dave liked the game, and indeed he did. Dave immediately got hooked, and the duo started to outdo each other by beating each other’s high scores.

The game seemed impossible to win. The end level had never been reached. Dave started to sense that, through this difficult game, his father was trying to make them grow closer. His dad had said that if he couldn’t beat his high score, they would have to spend the whole Friday together. But Dave didn’t really like the idea of sticking to just one game for an entire Friday and hanging out with his father. So he called his friends Reina and Spencer over in an attempt to beat the game. Reina bought her own copy of the game online. The seller had told her that the game was cursed, but the trio only focused on the cheat code written on the game’s cover. Dave thought he could beat the game using the cheat code, but he didn’t know that those who applied the code in the game got sucked into its world. Spencer used the code first and died a violent death. Dave was next, and while his father played using his original copy, Dave got sucked into the game the moment he applied the cheat code. Dave became the player his father was controlling in the original game. Reina saw this and reached out just in time to inform Dave’s father about this new development.

Did Dave Bond With His Father?

Dave’s father was disturbed by the news, but he couldn’t afford to play casually. He had already killed the player character a lot of times, and Dave had just one life remaining, after which he would die in real life as well. Dave’s father played the best game he ever had and reached the final level. Dave had to fight an alien in the last level, and Dave’s father decided to help out his son. He turned on the two-player mode, as he knew that together they could beat the alien. Reina took the console, but Dave and his father were free to move however they liked. Perhaps a life-saving feature of the game. Dave’s father put his life on the line and distracted the alien, while Dave seized the opportunity and pushed the red button on the alien’s spaceship, which made it self-destruct. The duo immediately came out of the game after having won it. They embraced each other, and finally, there was love and mutual regard for each other, apart from just awkward smiles. They had finally bonded. Being on an adventure together brought down their walls and gave them a common ground to express their true feelings. The next thing they did together was bury the game, but the job wasn’t done properly, and it seems some poor chap will discover it and end up risking his life.