Friday the 13th: The Series Ep. 63 Year of the Monkey Review

Year of the Monkey originally aired on January 15, 1990. This was yet again another good, but not great, episode. There are two cursed antiques in this episode. One that's mentioned at the beginning is a tea set that can make the tea become poisonous. This is retrieved off screen after the credits role. The second antique and the prominent one in the episode is three statues of monkeys. These are the see no evil, hear no evil, and speak no evil monkeys. If the children fall and use the monkeys evil powers, they will die. The villain is a father who has been the same father for six generations. He keeps on killing his children until he finds someone who is honorable. He finally finds someone in his daughter. She opts to take her own life as opposed to killing her father. She shows honer, however twisted it may be, even in her own death. The villain gets tricked and is killed by the own statues he used to kill his children for six generations. This episode was fine, but not very memorable in the long run.

Friday the 13th: The Series Ep. 62 Mightier than the Sword Review

Mightier than the Sword originally aired on January 8, 1990. This episode was all right. It was good enough, so to speak. The cursed antique was a fountain pen. By pricking one's finger and writing in blood it forced whoever had the pen injected into their neck to do whatever the owner of the pen wrote them to do. This is very reminiscent of episode 2's antique. The owner of this object was creating serial killers so he could sell books and capture the serial killers in the act. Micki, yet again, has the object used against her. In her murderous rage which was written into her, she kills the owner of the pen. This is the only episode where Micki directly kills a villain. Micki is very scarred by it even though it was the evil inside controlling her. It was a good enough episode. Nothing stunning, but nothing awful by any means.

Friday the 13th: The Series Ep. 61 Femme Fatale Review

Femme Fatale originally aired on November 20, 1989. This was an all right episode, nothing too good nor too bad. The cursed antique is a 16mm movie print. The print will absorb a woman to take the place of the actress in the film. The actress dies at the end of the film. This in turn makes the woman absorbed into the film die never to be seen again. It's another weird episode that's not very deep. Although, I must admit, I liked the fact that the main villain, the director was torn. He loved his wife, but he wanted her to be young again, which is what he was rewarded with when he fed the film a woman. The younger wife wanted the older wife to be killed. He tries a few times, but can't do it. Finally, he attempts, but she acts her way out of the scenario and actually kills him instead. She gives up her life to save Micki's, who was absorbed into the film for half of the episode. There's some interesting things in this episode, but for the most part it's just plain forgettable.

Friday the 13th: The Series Ep. 60 Night Prey Review

Night Prey originally aired on November 13, 1989. After a string of great episodes, we get a huge letdown. This episode is nothing short of terrible. The cursed antique is a cross that came from the crusades, the Cross of Fire. This cross after having killed a human gives the owner the power to burn vampires. I know, we're dealing with vampires yet again. I find it quite disturbing and insulting that a cursed object is a cross. I don't think that's acceptable. This is one of the more controversial episodes of the series. In 1989, this episode premiered and had a lesbian kiss between two female vampires. The main villain is dead set on killing vampires because he believes a vampire killed his wife. In reality, the wife was turned into a vampire. He is then at the end of the episode turned into one as well. It's his ultimate downfall. I don't like the bookends of Jack questioning what is right and wrong and that it's not clear cut. It is. This was just such a huge let down in comparison to the rest of this season so far.

Friday the 13th: The Series Ep. 59 Hate on Your Dial Review

Hate on Your Dial originally aired on November 6, 1989. I thought this was one of the most disturbing and most profound episodes the series has done so far. This episode had a high focus on hate crimes specifically dealing with racism. There are two brothers: one's a white power racist, the other is completely accepting of others and is mentally challenged. The older brother, the racist, is super pissed that his younger brother is friends with people of other races, specifically African Americans. The older brother kills a very young African American boy. The cursed antique in this episode is a 1954 Chevy car radio. After touching the blood of the dead boy, by turning the dial on the car radio, the older brother is able to travel back in time to 1954. The older brother had an obsession with his racist father who was lynched after being a part of a KKK meeting where they unjustly killed and tortured an African American man. The older brother is able to befriend his dad and becomes a part of the KKK clan. He partakes in the hate crime that his dad gets lynched for. He attempts to warn his father that there is a witness that will cause all of them to be killed. The time comes back to when he returns to the present. He kills his younger brother and returns back to 1954. Johnny and Jack save the day by providing a picture to a prominent African American lawyer. We learn that the witness is actually the boy's mother. His father had been physically abusive to him throughout his early childhood. The mother did what she could to stop it and hope that the hate didn't continue on. The KKK, which includes the town sheriff, decide to burn the older brother deeming him a traitor. His screams for the love of his father as he burns to death are excruciating. His father just stares on with no remorse for the loss of human life. What was so incredibly profound to me was that attempting to receive love by spreading hate destroyed this man's life. Even at the end of his life he was begging for the love of his father, which he never received. It was an incredibly awkward and painful episode to sit through, but immensely thought provoking.

Friday the 13th: The Series Ep. 58 Bad Penny Review

Bad Penny originally aired on October 30, 1989. The episode begins with a recap of the ending of episode 30. There are periodic flashbacks to episode 30 throughout the episode. Episode 30 found it's cursed object unattainable at the end, the coin of Ziocles. This was the coin that while it would kill someone, it would bring someone back to life. I was very satisfied with the pay off of this episode. Granted it took over an entire season before the storyline paid off, but it did and quite nicely, I might add. Especially in comparison to the Shard of Medusa retrieval which was retrieved off screen and briefly mentioned in dialogue at the beginning of an episode. I like that Micki is terrified of dying again. That was a huge episode at the beginning of the second season. They didn't flashback to her coming back to life, which I thought was the most memorable shot of the episode. Micki makes an attempt to write to Ryan because she's scared. I always like the nods to Ryan. The fact that he was written off so strangely is compensated by Micki's occasional reference to how much she misses him. Johnny uses the coin for evil in this episode. That's a little up for debate though. He uses the coin to bring his father back to life, but also uses it to kill him. The gravestone however said his father died in 1987. The episode that his father died aired in 1989... Overall, I thought this was a great episode though and I'm glad there was some pay off to open ended storylines.

Friday the 13th: The Series Ep. 57 Stick it in your Ear Review

Stick it in your Ear originally aired on October 16, 1989. Our heroes recover 5 cursed antiques at an auction, but none of them are seen, nor are their qualities discussed in this episode. The main antique in this episode is an old hearing aid. The wearer is able to hear the thoughts of those around him. He's able to read peoples minds. This was a very effective episode. As always, I am amazed by the special effects this TV show has. This episode has pulsating skin and ears, it's quite remarkable considering this was made for television. Our main villain is arrogant. His ego becomes his downfall. Overall, it was a good episode that I would gladly view again.