| The Tale of the Night Shift | |
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| Season 5 , Episode 11 | |
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| Air date | February 3, 1996 |
| Written by | Chloe Brown |
| Directed by | D.J. MacHale |
| Episode guide | |
| Previous The Tale of a Door Unlocked |
Next The Tale of the Jagged Sign |
The Tale of the Night Shift is the eleventh episode of the Fifth season of Are You Afraid of the Dark?, as well as the Sixty-third episode in total.
Cast[]
Midnight Society Cast[]
- Joanna Garcia as Sam
- Ross Hull as Gary
- Daniel DeSanto as Tucker
- Codie Wilbee as Stig
- Jodie Resther as Kiki
- Raine Pare-Coull as Betty Ann
Story Cast[]
- Oren Sofer as Colin
- Elizabeth Rosen as Margot
- Andreas Apergis as The Vampire
- Jennifer Engels as Nurse Laurette
- Kathleen Fee as Nurse Hantin
- Irene Contogiorgis as The Beautiful Girl
- Tyrone Benskin as Jack Palmer
- David Siscoe as The Security Guard
- Richard Azimov as Bud
- Elisha Cuthbert as The Young Girl
Special Guest Stars[]
Intro[]
That night Gary & Sam, walk into the clearing and bump into each other. Then at the same time, they both apologize. Gary goes to sit down while Sam goes to get more firewood. When he sits down next to Betty Ann & Kiki, Betty Ann asks him if he told Sam. Gary in a bummed out mood says that yes he told her. He told Sam that they've known each other for a long time now. So now he thinks she knows how he feels about her. So maybe they should talk about it, and decide whether or not they should begin dating for real. Turns out Sam said she does like him, but she doesn't want to get into a relationship at the time being. Because she has a lot going on at the time being. Gary is really bummed out. He says that she doesn't want to have anything to do with him. Now he feels that he never should have asked her.
Stig comes in excited for the meeting to begin. He is followed by Tucker who asks who is up tonight. Sam comes back with armfuls of firewood. Then she places them into the fire and says she is. Then she its on the Storyteller's Chair. Sam tells them that she has a story she's been saving for a long time. So now she feels that tonight is the best night to tell it, a story about illusion and deception. Sam picks up a rock and says some things may look familiar, but they can be hiding a secret that you've never expected. Then she turns it around to reveal it's a geode (part rock and part crystal). The geode is clear and beautiful and shows the shimmering reflection of the campfire. Sam says that it can be beautiful or mysterious. Or like in her story, something EVIL! Everyone now seems intrigued when hearing this.
Sam, throws in the campfire dust to make the fire more intense while she submits her story for approval of The Midnight Society. She calls her story "The Tale of the Night Shift" and begins her story.
Story[]
Sam tells the story. The story takes place at a hospital. It is called the United Hospital. It is now the night shift. Just as all the visitors are leaving, the hospital administrator Jack Palmer is seen. He is talking to the teenage janitor Felix. He calls him Zeebo and madly lectures him. Since he found out that he (without permission) signed for an order in receiving. The order contained a water pump, which seems to have gone missing. He unreasonably tells Felix to find it or he'll be fired. So Felix rushes to go where the pump was left, passing by a pretty teenage girl named Amanda. Amanda rushes to the elevator, followed by Nurse Laurette. Amanda is a hard worker, she always seems too busy to have any fun. She goes to school all day, and works all night volunteering at the hospital. Laurette is confused. Since Amanda's schedule seems to leave her without any time to sleep.
Amanda and Nurse Laurette check in with the head nurse: The very gruff Nurse Hantin. Nurse Hantin gives Laurette her tasks, and tells Amanda about a new volunteer. The girl is named Margot who seems like a pretty red haired girl. However, something about her seems strange. In the basement, Felix is puzzled about how a huge water pump can just suddenly go missing. All that he finds, is a part of the broken crate for what he signed for. Then suddenly, a beautiful girl with short blonde hair appears. She wants to show him something. Felix allured by her beauty, follows her. He lets his guard down for a moment. Then suddenly a green-skinned vampire appears and closes in on him.
Amanda is then told that there is a cute new patient, who says he's a friend of hers. She goes to the room to see, and it's a boy named Colin. He is from her class, and he seems to be really sick. Now she feels bad for him. Then it turns out he's putting on a little façade and show for attention. All that he's in for, is to get his tonsils taken out. Colin wants her to date him, and has been after her about it for quite some time. Then as Nurse Laurette is checking things off on her clipboard, a young girl down the hall calls out to her. The young girl quickly runs off. So Nurse Laurette runs after her into a cleaning room. Thinking the young girl is playing hide n seek, she calls around to her. As she slowly walks around the room to find the young girl, the vampire closes in on her too.
Colin follows Amanda around the hospital, and tells her that he only wants one date. Then if she doesn't like him after it, then he'll leave her alone. She tells him that she does like him. And she thinks he's a nice guy, but at the time being, she is just too busy. Along with school and all the work she does to have a relationship. They are almost bumped into by a boy in a wheelchair. The boy is named Bud who broke his leg and he is Colin's roommate. Margot is treating him. Bud says he's bored and wants to check out the morgue.
Amanda is annoyed with Colin. Since he tells her that he won't give up until she says yes. Then Nurse Laurette passes by and she seems exhausted. She looks really out of it and not very responsive. A little later, when Amanda is getting more bed linen, Colin startles her walking up from behind. He apologizes for scaring her. Then he explains that his roommate Bud is missing. So he wants help finding him. Colin says he doesn't want to get him in trouble, by telling Nurse Hantin. Then he convinces her that they can have fun together searching around for him. Amanda is talked into it, and agrees to help him look for Bud.
Amanda & Colin walk around the halls quietly. They call for Bud by name and get no responses. Then hearing a noise, they hide inside a nearby closet. Nurse Hantin passes by and sees someone. So she goes after them. Inside the closet, Colin is reflecting on them being alone at last. Then suddenly they see are horrified and disgusted, to find many empty blood packs left on the floor (thinking possibly a wild animal broke in). They go to report the incident to Nurse Hantin, but she now seems out of it too. Nurse Hantin says she'll report it to security. Then when they leave she puts down the phone and does nothing. Then it is revealed that there are two bite marks on her neck.
They then pass by the door to the morgue. Suddenly Colin remembered that Bud wanted to see it. They enter the morgue, but do not see Bud in there. They are about to leave, when they notice that on a table is a dead body. Amanda wants to leave, but Colin is intrigued to see it. This is because he's never seen a dead body before. When lifting off the tarp, Amanda looks away upset and terrified. Because it's Felix, the night janitor who was alive just this past evening (Felix also has two bite marks on his neck). Amanda is too upset to take it anymore. So they cover up his body and leave. Then just after they leave, Felix gets up smiling. He opens his mouth with fangs extending.
They head back to the front desk. Here they find the phone was left off the hook, and nobody else is around. Amanda calls out, but no one answers. The phone line is dead. They are freaked out, by how quiet the place is getting. Then out of nowhere Jack Palmer appears. Jack closes in on them smiling and says that Felix is fine. Then he offers to take them to go see him. Then they run off scared. When they leave Jack also has two bite marks on his neck. Freaked out, they try to head back to the lobby. Then much to their shock Felix walks up the stairs. Felix laughs and smiles to them showing his fangs, and they run off scared again. Felix follows them into the room. Then he tries to bite Amanda and she screams. So Colin throws him away.
Felix says his problem, is that he was the first victim. So too much blood was drained out of him. So now he's becoming a vampire. Felix says that his will is strong. So he can fight it off for now. Felix then says that no else is left, everyone else has been fed on. Soon the vampire will be back to drain them completely. Then it will turn them all from zombies into vampires. Noticing they're still normal, he tells them it might not be too late. Therefore they might be able to stop it. Because he can't fight it off for much longer, and soon it will get them too.
Felix convinces them to come with him to the basement. There he shows them a vampire's coffin. This reveals to them that a vampire was smuggled inside. So now it has been preying on everyone in the hospital. Colin doesn't believe it. Then losing control, Felix attempts to bite him to prove it. Amanda throws him out of the way. Felix then explains that the vampire mailed itself in his coffin to the hospital, under the false pretense that it was a water pump. Felix mistakenly signed for the order and had it brought into the hospital. He then tells them that if they burn the coffin, they'll destroy the vampire. Since a vampire can't live without a coffin.
Margot then appears from nowhere. She asks them if they're okay. Felix hides from her terrified. Margot tells them that Vampires don't only need a coffin. They also need to feed every fifty years. Also that there is no better place then a hospital. Because it's like a candy store. She apologizes to Felix, telling him that she made a mistake. Because he wasn't supposed to change so soon. Then she tells them her "work" is almost done anyways. Terrified, they try to leave. Margot stops them, transforming into a old hideous vampire. One with receding white hair, green skin, red piercing eyes and yellow teeth. The vampire then closes in on Felix to finish him off. Then they run off terrified. But the doors are blocked off by security guards who have also been bitten.
They run off and hide inside a room, revealing how scared they are to each other. Colin says that it wasn't the first date that he had in mind. Amanda replies by saying that she hopes that they can make to a second one. Colin suggests they follow Felix's instructions to destroy the coffin. Colin suggests that he will try to lure it away. Then he asks for Amanda to push the coffin into the incinerator. Amanda disagrees, because she thinks it'll be too heavy for her. Then he reluctantly agrees to let her to lure it away and for him to push it into the incinerator. Amanda goes to the main floor and runs into the elevator. Then she calls out to get Margot's attention. Then on another floor, she tries to pull the fire alarm. However Nurse Hantin stops her. Then she keeps running into everyone who's now under Margot's control. Margot follows her up all the staircases, all the way to the roof.
Colin has the incinerator going, and begins to drag the coffin to it. However from being sick he has trouble. Felix closes in on him. He is now a vampire, and he is prepared to bite him! Felix closes in and he is just about to bite him. When Colin reminds him that soon Amanda will be killed. Hearing this with concern for his friend, he is able to fight off the urges again. Margot chases Amanda all the way to the edge of the roof, and transforms into the vampire. Then picks her up and dangles her in the air. He says he will drop her and let her fall to the pavement. Then he will just lick up the bloody mess. Colin and Felix lift the coffin together and prepare to place it into the incinerator. Meanwhile, the vampire has changed his mind and brings her back to the rooftop. He has decided to just do it the "old-fashioned way". The vampire extends his fangs and prepares to bite her, just as the coffin is pushed into the incinerator. The vampire literally goes up in a burning inferno of flames. Then it falls off the roof and crashes to the pavement below burning to death.
Soon all the staff, nurses, and patients are healed and changed back to normal. Nurse Hantin asks where Margot is, Amanda tells her she scared her away. Colin and Amanda rejoice and hug and they mention that no one can remember what happened. Felix says he remembers and thanks them for their help, (possibly he remembered because he was the first victim and the only one who became a vampire). Colin asks her if they can have their second date. She tells him that she's sure she can squeeze him into her tight schedule and they both leave happy.
Ending[]
Sam ends her story saying the end. She gets applauded with Betty Ann and Kiki saying it was great and cool. Gary gets up and begins to take off and leave. When Sam gets up she calls him by his name, asking to speak with him. Tucker & Stig tease them on their way out. Betty Ann shows them the way out, telling them to just keep on walking. Kiki walks up to them and says that it's getting a little hot and leaves, and Betty Ann takes her away too.
Sam tells him that her story was about someone being so busy that she missed a lot of possibilities. Gary looks to her and says Yeah? She tells him that she's been thinking about what he said and maybe they do have some possibilities. Gary smiles with delight and feels thrilled, so they decide to sit down together by the campfire and spend a little quiet time together.
- Sam's last story.
- One of twenty-one episodes where the Midnight Society didn't leave and douse the fire with the water-bucket (Gary and Sam stayed to talk).
- According to DJ MacHale, the final shot of the fire was to symbolize how this wasn't truly the end, as stories will still be told and the fire will still be going.
- Syndicated to be the finale of the fifth season.
- In the final scene, a door in the hospital behind the main characters closes, revealing the number 65. This was a nod to the 65 original episodes that aired. Meaning that during production this was meant to be slated as the finale, #65. However it was chosen to be aired as the sixty-third episode.
- Elisha Cuthbert who portrayed The Young Girl, came to the series revival as The Midnight Society member Megan.
- The final time a reference to Zeebo was ever made in the show. The first time was in "The Tale of the Lonely Ghost". The second time was in the "The Tale of the Whispering Walls". The third time was in "The Tale of the Crimson Clown". The fourth time was in "The Tale of Train Magic". Then the fifth time was in "The Tale of the Mystical Mirror".
- Andreas Apergis who portrayed The Vampire, previously appeared in the show before. He first appeared in the episode "The Tale of the Room for Rent" as Jacob the Spirit.
- Kathleen Fee, who portrayed Nurse Hantin, reappeared in the show again during the series revival. She next appeared in the episode "The Tale of the Gruesome Gourmets" as Dotty. Then the third time she appeared in the episode "The Tale of the Stone Maiden" as Vivian White.
- Kathleen Fee was the wife of Victor Knight.
- Irene Contogiorgis, who portrayed The Beautiful Girl, reappeared in the show again. She reappeared in the series revival's episode "The Tale of Many Faces" as Girl #90.
- Jorgito Vargas, Jr., seven years later, got a bigger break and become well known for his portrayal as Blake Bradley/the Navy Thunder Ranger in Power Rangers Ninja Storm.
- Jack calls Felix Zeebo when asking if he signed the chart (rather than "Bozo"), a reference to the clown from "The Tale of Laughing in the Dark". Sam was the first storyteller to make one of these references to him without having been around to hear his story.
- DJ MacHale he said the vampire in this episode is his favorite monster from the series.
- DJ directed the Midnight Society scenes in this episode, the first time he had done so since Season 1. He said he did it because he felt it was important for him to do it for what was intended to be the final episode.
- The basement set was shot at the same school they used for The Tale of the Sorcerer's Apprentice and The Tale of Locker 22.
