Bless This Mess Review: Scare Night (Season 2 Episode 5)
Halloween and sitcoms go hand-in-hand. Many shows have a Halloween special that fans look forward to every season for the dastardly tricks and light-hearted scares. Bless This Mess Season 2 Episode 5, “Scare Night,” is this show’s first foray into the sinister holiday, giving us a hilarious look into a couple of cerebral scares and Halloween hijinks.
It turns out that Mike and Rio have a tradition every Halloween. They stay home, have a nice dinner featuring a lovely bottle of wine, and Mike does his darndest to scare the crap out of Rio. Of course, this is a hoot and holler for Mike, but for Rio on the other hand, it is a nightmare.
This whole shebang is born from when they first met. While at a Halloween party, Mike and Rio introduce themselves to each other under false pretenses. Mike tells her he loves to scare people, and Rio pretends she loves to be scared.
This seems like a white lie to Rio. How many absent-minded conversations do we have where we run our mouths without any thought to the possible consequences? The truth is, probably way more than we would care to admit.
We never know when a meaningless conversation means something more to someone else.
Think of it this way, I could tell a new acquaintance that I love the newest Star Wars movie. Truthfully I haven’t even seen it, but who cares, they won’t remember 5 minutes from now anyway.
Nope, wrong! Next thing you know they are inviting you to the convention next Tuesday, and you are going to be the tail-end of a Jabba the Hutt costume.
That escalated quickly now, didn’t it?
This is pretty much the same thing that happens to Mike and Rio. Together they go down this rabbit hole and can’t find their way out until years later when Constance tells Rio to fess up.
On the surface, this action seems simple enough. Do it all with one quick swoop, like removing a band-aid, and the problem is solved. Cue the credits — shows over.
Not so fast, life isn’t that simple. Well, it is, but humans like to complicate things — and Rio is human after all.
To Rio’s defense, she does try to be open and honest with Mike. She stumbles over her words repeatedly but refuses to back down.
That is until Mike takes her down memory lane. You know that place, the road we tend to only see with rose-colored glasses on.
Memories are strange like that. We tend to remember the best of things or the worst of things — not much else in-between. This tunnel vision we have over things can often skew our feelings on what really happened and people’s reactions to it.
Throughout the episode, it is rather obvious that Rio isn’t a fan of all this creepiness, but Mike refuses to see it based on the memories of her at the party.
Brandon: So your entire relationship is based on a lie?
How often we trick ourselves into believing we know exactly how the other person thinks. We become so convinced of how they feel, we don’t think to ask them about it. Of course she likes elephants, I buy her one every year for Christmas!
Instead of coming clean to Mike, Rio decides she is better off one-upping him at his own game. She wants to scare him so bad that he realizes how not-fun it is to be terrified. This makes sense in some twisted form of logic.
If we don’t like something being done to us, show the other person how it feels.
While this kind of works with Mike and Rio, I wouldn’t recommend it in real life. People often get more easily offended in the real world.
Honestly, if someone shows me a video similar to the one Rio makes for Mike, they are likely to get a black eye — or at least a stern talking to.
That doesn’t mean the video isn’t hilarious!
The cerebral assault Rio enacts on Mike is devastating. Glimpses of your greatest failures and worst fears all wrapped into a ten-minute video are enough to break anyone. The title card alone would have me running for the hills.
Since this is done to someone else we find humor in it — I know it gives me a good chuckle. But the truth of the matter is, very few people could take this in stride. It is even likely for the person to retaliate in some form.
As this year’s Scare Night finally unravels, Mike and Rio confess all their truth to each other, and that truth is that they are only doing Scare Night for each other.
In a way, it is kind of touching. Mike and Rio care so much for each other, that they don’t want to drop the charade for the other’s sake.
A series of miscommunications combined with a white lie or two birthed something unintended and for the wrong reasons. Have you ever had that happen to you? It is an easy trap to get caught up in.
Let this dose of comedy be a cautionary tale for you. White lies seem harmless most of the time, but every once in awhile they can catch up to you. While not necessarily a twist of karma per se, you never know what path tiny words of deceit can take you down.
You can save yourself and others from hurt by being forthright and honest nearly all the time. As Mike proves, little lies can be a real pain in the neck.
What did you think of this episode of Bless This Mess? What was your favorite Halloween prank? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Bless This Mess airs Tuesdays at 8:30/7:30c on ABC.
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Charles E Henning
Charles E. Henning lives in a quaint town of Illinois with his ever-loving wife since 1998. He is new to writing reviews, but has over thirty years of fictitious writing for his own personal fulfillment. His interests range from science fiction to character-based dramas, but he is a sucker for anyone in a cape.