Goosebumps season 1, episode 9 recap: “Night of the Living Dummy: Part 2”

The last episode of Goosebumps ended with the ghost of Harold Biddle finally at peace and Slappy getting thrown off the side of a cliff, where he smashed into a dozen pieces. It feels like that would be a good ending for the story, but apparently not. 

Goosebumps season 1, episode 9 recap – An ending that doesn't work yet

See, Nathan Bratt decides to take all that has happened and turn it into a book, disguising the truth as fiction by changing the names of everyone, slightly, for the book version. It turns out that Nathan has always wanted to be an author.

Six months before the events of the series, he was about as down as a person could get. He lost his job, had no friends, his dog got run over by a car, and he was just about to be evicted when he got the news that he had inherited the house.

And now, he finally had a story in mind that would make a good book. That is, except for the ending. 

When Nathan sends off the manuscript, he's told that the story is great, but it needs a better ending if he wants to get it published. The only problem is that Nathan can't come up with an ending, since the rest of the book is just based on the things that had happened. 

Goosebumps season 1, episode 9 recap – The kids try to move on... with mixed success

As Nathan tries to figure out how to end the book, Margot's mother suggests that Margot come and live with her in Seattle for her senior year of high school. While Margot hasn't decided, she does go down to Seattle for the weekend, and the rest of the teenagers come along on the road trip. 

While they're in Seattle, things start to fall apart for Lucas and Margot. While Margot seems to be enjoying her time in the city, Lucas who wants her to stay in Port Lawrence with him, is acting more distant, assuming that she's already decided that she's going to move.

It doesn't help that Isaiah seems to be hitting all the right beats of letting Margot know that she would be missed if she moved, but still wanting to support her in whatever decision she makes. He acknowledges that there are a lot of positive aspects about living in Seattle.

In the end, Lucas ends up leaving early to go home. Margot tries to reach out to him, but he ignores her messages and gets on a bus to go home. 

Back in Port Lawrence, in a feat of desperation, Nathan seeks out the remains of Slappy to try and come up with a real-life ending. Upon reading the words, Slappy comes back to life and promises Nathan the ending that his book needs, as long as Nathan follows his instructions.

Slappy brings Nathan's dog back to life, though it's now some kind of demon hound, and leads Nathan to a spot where he's supposed to dig. Nathan digs up a coffin, which he drags back to his house.

Following Slappy's orders, he pulls out another paper with an incantation on it. As he starts to read the incantation, he gets a vision of fire and despair, just like the vision Ephraim got in the flashback episode.

This time, however, Nathan goes through with reading the words, and the spirit trapped inside the dummy of Slappy leaves and goes into the body of the person inside the coffin. The revived person steps out, just as Isaiah's father is arriving at the house to talk to Nathan about his book.

The newly revived corpse turns Isaiah's father into a dummy and walks out into the night as the episode comes to a close.

Goosebumps season 1, episode 9 recap – The proper Goosebumps storytelling

The last episode feels like one that could have ended the season. But there are two episodes left, so you know that something else has to go wrong again.

For those who obsessively read the Goosebumps books when they were kids, this might seem familiar to you. R.L. Stine loved to say that the three parts of a story were, "the beginning, the middle, and the twist."

It's a quote that even gets stated in this very episode. Stine never seemed interested in a satisfactory ending in those books.

The best part of a roller coaster is never climbing out of the cart once it comes to a stop.

What did you think of Goosebumps season 1 episode 9? You can watch Goosebumps season 1 on Disney Plus.