The Tale of the Twisted Claw

Description: Season 1, Episode 4

Storyteller: David

Plot Summary: Two kids are given a vulture's claw that grants whatever they wish for but at a steep cost.

Review: There are a few items worth mentioning with this episode. First, this episode would have also served as a better premiere than "The Phantom Cab." However, I have read sources saying this episode was the original first episode in Canada the year prior. I really can't say how true that is since the kids don't really look that much older in the series proper. This leads to my next point--David is the storyteller yet again, and the characters emphasize that he hasn't told a tale in a long time. You mean like last week?! This rearranging of the episodes could explain the discrepancy, BUT this won't be the last time that a storyteller has two stories back to back. Last, I want to acknowledge that this is AYAOTD's obligatory Halloween episode; it's not the only one though. I mean, you can't do a show for kids without a Halloween episode, can you?!

 We seriously had this mask at home when I was a kid! We made my dad where it one year too.

In essence, this is the kiddie version of "The Monkey's Paw" with a Halloween twist added for good measure. Due to the countless times this tale has been retold and tweaked, I think everyone on the planet is familiar with this be-careful-what-you-wish-for setup. In this instance, the source of the wishing is altered to the claw of a vulture, and the supplier is an alleged witch that the main characters prank on Mischief Night. As one would expect, the kids make innocuous wishes at first that usually end badly. For example, one wishes that they would, basically, stop trick-or-treating, and then punks mess with them and steal their candy. Eventually, the wishes escalate into more dangerous territory that follows the format of the original story where you end up wishing someone back from the dead; this wish is usually a staple. By the end, one of the kids wishes to undo the prank that set everything into motion which undoes all of the wishes. The witch leaves the kids a present, but this wraps up in a kid-friendly manner nonetheless.

Overall, I'd rank this among the better episodes, but with a slightly lower score due to its lack of originality. It is a shame that we never get whatever the story Eric was telling at the beginning, but I think this is another instance where the interactions with the Midnight Society worked to complement the tale at hand. Of course, having this as a Halloween episode added some spice into the mix too.