The Tale of the Dangerous Soup

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Midnight Society

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Air Date: Saturday, April 16, 1994
Storyteller: Frank (Jason Alisharan)

Frame: In one of my favourite intros, Frank goes around the Midnight Society circle, having everyone fess up to their worst fears, ending on Tucker (Daniel DeSanto), who tries to say he's not afraid of anything. Frank then shares his fear of the dark, admitting to it fully, and how we're all fearful of something irrational. Despite knowing it won't or can't hurt us, there's still something about whatever it is that scares us that makes us nervous. He concludes his introduction by stating that his story is about fear, which lends itself beautifully to the title of this show.

Story: A fancy restaurant known as "The Wild Boar" is a place people flock to from all around for their signature soup, which, despite looking somewhat unappetizing, turns out to be a taste sensation. One day, a young man named Reed (Greg Haberny) applies for a job. He gets interviewed by Nonnie Walker (Neve Campbell), who is assisting the restaurant's owner, the one and only Dr. Vink (Aron Tager), after a slew of workers quit for unknown reasons. Before long, Vink gives Reed and Nonnie the nightmarish explanation that links the flavour of his famous soup to the reason his employees keep quitting.

Review: At this point, Campbell was a little-known entity, save for her parallel appearance in 'Party of Five', which aired the same year as this episode. But as cool as it always is to see a known celebrity in their beginnings with this show, her appearance is a little extra special to me, as she would then go on to become a scream queen as Sidney Prescott in the 'Scream' films. Otherwise, I enjoy the episode's intro a lot, and I always like Vink as a "nut bag" character. However, the scares are pretty basic, and even repeat in one case with a snake. It's perfectly passable, but the writers could have added a little more fuel to this fire.

Final Rating: Spooked

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