The story arc featuring Valerie Gray just may be my favorite of the series. She changes so much over the course of just a few episodes, each development proceeding logically from the last, each one tantalizing us further with contradictory possibilities. Valerie is deliciously ambiguous, as the episode title suggests: a snob who learns humility, a villain who thinks she's a hero, equipped by and destined to be betrayed by the most evil of ghosts. I'm impressed that Butch took a minor background character and “fleshed her out” (so to speak) and gave her such a prominent role. He could have invented a new character from scratch, but he took the girl Tucker stood up in Parental Bonding, who commiserated with Paulina in My Brother's Keeper, and gave her the center stage.

The stand-alone tale of Cujo the ghost dog was extremely well done for such a short story. Although it is left to the viewer to infer, it’s pretty clear that he and his fellow guard dogs had been euthanized because Damon Gray’s high-tech security system had rendered them obsolete. The constant demands for attention, the abrupt changes from adult aggression to puppy sweetness and back again, all combine to make the ghost dog a surprisingly well-rounded character—especially considering the fact that he doesn’t have any lines. His apparent ‘moving on’ as soon as he was reunited with his squeaky toy just about broke my heart. (Incidentally, it is unlikely that the dog’s name was actually Cujo. Danny was probably just making a reference to a Stephen King novel about a dog with rabies.)

Tucker shines as a generous and kind individual, in a rare “C” plot that doesn’t focus on his inadequacies. Throughout the episode he repeatedly extends friendship to Valerie, despite her initial rebuffs and the continuous criticism and mistrust of Danny and Sam. Sam is particularly sour towards Tucker’s effort to be nice, especially when she explicitly questions Tucker’s loyalty.

As for the “Fake out make out”: I thought it was perfect for what it was. Not a romantic moment by any stretch of the imagination, any more than the Tucker/Sam kiss in Life Lessons was. It was a wonderful example of quick thinking on Sam's part, and Danny's panicked, ground-pounding reaction was perfectly appropriate and priceless to boot. The awkward, confused aftermath was just right, as both kids try to sort out their emotions and motivations in a atmosphere that has just become a little more highly-charged.

By: bluemoonalto

Rating: none given

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