The Haunted Mask – As the second episode of Goosebumps begins, Isabella Chen Lopez (Ana Yi Puig) posts about the troll online. When she gets to the school, she hears the coach telling Isaiah (Zack Morris) that this needs to be his best game since there will be a scout in the stands. She tries to get Coach Rifkin’s attention to give him the footage he wanted but he ignores her. Later, she hears Margot Stokes (Isa Briones) asking Colin (Rob Huebel) why her mother doesn’t want to spend her birthday with her husband and daughter. Isabella tries to check on her, but Margot keeps walking without saying anything.
Lucas Parker (Will Price) almost crashes into Isabella as he skates down the stairs. She posts as the troll before running into Allison (Rhinnan Payne). Isabella hears about the party so she tells Allison’s parents. Isaiah tells Allison that they need a new venue now. At home, Isabella talks to her brother, Alan (Ian Ho), about going to the party at the Biddle house. She complains that she is invisible to everyone at her school. Isabella ends up going to the party anyway. When she goes inside, she hears something in the basement calling her name. She enters the basement where the mask tells her that she deserves to be seen. Isabella is urged to put the mask on.
She puts it on. Once she returns to the party, she gets attention from Isaiah and Allison. At home, Isabella is excited because the party was so wild. Her excitement turns to fear when she realizes she can’t get the mask off. After she finally removes it, the mask seems to have a smile. Isaiah calls James to say they need to talk. Margot comes over to check on him. Isaiah says his scholarship is up in the air because he has to do rehab. Margot apologizes for the other day. Margot wants to know what he saw on the field because something was clearly wrong. Isaiah suggests staying away from all this.
The mask convinces Isabella to take it with it. Nathan Bratt (Justin Long) wakes up on the floor. When he realizes it is Monday, he rushes out of his home. At school, Nathan struggles to walk because something seems to be controlling him. He goes to the bathroom to collect himself until he sees Harold Biddle (Ben Cockell) in the mirror. Harold wants Nathan to help him find someone. Outside, Isaiah asks Isabella if she has videos from Friday’s game. He finds it odd that they’ve been at the same school for years yet he knows nothing about her. Isaiah thanks her after she lets him access the video.
When Isabella goes back outside, she pleads with Lucas not to destroy the drone but he doesn’t listen. Lucas apologizes to Isabella and Colin in private. As Lucas explains himself, the mask tells Isabella that he is lying. Colin thinks Lucas is going to have to make things good financially. Lucas offers to give them 5 bucks a week until it is paid for. The mask convinces Isabella not to accept the offer. She says Lucas will never pay the money back even if he manages to graduate. Isabella says she is just telling Lucas to his face what everyone says behind his back. When Colin tries to calm things down, Isabella tells him off too.
Isabella comes to her senses and agrees to accept five bucks a week. Isaiah tries to remember everything that happened on Friday. Nathan scares him before explaining he is practicing to be a ref. He knows that Isaiah’s dad did some work on his house. Colin visits Nora Parker (Rachael Harris) to talk to her about Lucas. She learns about Lucas destroying Isabella’s drone. Colin wants Lucas to get things sorted out so it won’t hurt his future. Elsie (Michelle Cyr) from the nursery comes in seconds later. At home, Isabella tries to explain to her mother what happened. She is reminded she took the drone without her father’s permission and took it to school. Isabella is grounded so she will have no phone, no Internet, and no computer.
Nathan visits the café where Nora tells him they’re just closing. She agrees to serve him anyway. Nathan learns that her son, Lucas, said he wasn’t the worst. They talk about the Biddle house and whether it is haunted. Nathan says kids can be cruel since everyone seems to have forgotten about the boy and moved on. Nora says not everyone. Once the sandwich is ready, Nathan scares her by showing up behind the counter. Later that night, Nora approaches Isaiah while he taking out the trash. She wants to talk to him about the game. Before she can, Ben comes out and tells Isaiah to go inside. Ben doesn’t believe that Biddle’s ghost broke his son’s arm. He is going to call the others since they need to talk.
Nora asks Margot to do her a favor. She gives Margot a photo and wants her to ask if Isaiah recognizes the kid. Isabella tries to find the computer stuff her mom hid earlier. Her brother shows her the video of Lucas breaking the drone. Isabella tells her brother that she is going to handle it. Margot shows the photo to Isaiah who admits he saw the boy on the football field. He was a referee before he was on fire. Margot is pretty sure the boy is Harold Biddle. She believes Nora knows more than she is telling. Lucas falls while skateboarding. Isabella comes out in the mask and throws the skateboard at him. Then, she throws Lucas around before the mask turns into a goblin-like face.
It runs away when Margot and Isaiah arrive. At home, Isabella’s mother calls her husband to tell him she could use his support dealing with her. After leaving a message, Victoria seems to hear something. Alan surprises her. She tells him that she has to go to work, but his sister should be home any second. Later, Alan finds the monster ransacking his house so he tries to call for help. When the monster comes after him, Alan hides in the playhouse outside. The monster comes looking for him. Alan yells for Isabella to stop. Isabella eventually manages to remove the mask. They go to a walking bridge where Isabella throws the mask into the water.
Once they leave, Nathan walks to the same spot and looks into the water. Isabella apologizes to her mother who hopes she means it. They visit Eliza (Laura Mennell) who asks James (Miles McKenna) to take Isabella to the game room. In private, Nora speaks to Ben, Eliza, and Victoria about the ghost coming back. They warn her that she could lose Lucas. James and Isabella talk about what they’re doing out there. Isabella hits the pool ball. It hits James who turns into slime.
Goosebumps Review
The second episode of Goosebumps was okay although the series is really cranking up the young adult stuff to a new level. While some of the monsters can be scary, others are silly so that prevents the series from really hitting the target. Nathan’s character is more of a Nutty Professor than a horrifying possession. The young characters aren’t that deep so it is somewhat difficult to care whether they survive.
The characters from the novels were relatable while the characters in the series aren’t. There really don’t seem to be any average kids since they’re either super wealthy, football players, or have $3,000 drones. In the novel, young Carly was bullied. As for Isabella, she just doesn’t get the attention she thinks she deserves. She is also much older and should be over that by now.
This probably would’ve been better as shorter episodes with individual stories instead of trying to interlink everything because this makes it very unbelievable. If we don’t care about the characters now, we’re not going to care about them after three more episodes. Most are going to watch this hoping to enjoy a bit of nostalgia and relive their childhoods, but the series is so different through two episodes that they’d be better off reading the novels again.
If this wasn’t called Goosebumps, it’d be easy to accept the show for what it is. However, it clearly hasn’t lived up to the original novels at this point. This episode scores a 5 out of 10. Recaps of Goosebumps are available on Reel Mockery here. Find out how to support our independent site at this link. Learn more about advertising on Reel Mockery here.
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