It’s been over a season since his last appearance, but Nevel Papperman, the prissy arch enemy of all things Carly, returned, revenge-minded as ever, on the latest episode of iCarly. As to why he returned for this particular episode, well, that is about as clear as his dastardly scheme.
“iHalfoween” begins when Carly, Sam and Freddie find themselves surrounded by costumed patrons at The Groovy Smoothie. T-Bo informs the gang that there is a costume convention in town. Already, the “logic” of the plot is established and what follows is just as sensible.
Carly, Sam and Freddie, reminded of the great social injustice that Halloween only comes once a year, decide to create a new holiday in honor of the halfway point between two consecutive Halloweens: "Halfoween." They then bring this idea to the masses through their webshow.
As always, Nevel is watching. He hatches a plan to crash the gang’s Halfoween party in a purple robot costume and feed them candy that makes their voices temporarily low. Naturally, this plan works perfectly, leaving an enraged Freddie, Sam and Carly to split up in search of the as-of-yet anonymous robot. Freddie finds him, at which point Nevel uses his hired muscle (two large men with masculine names like Dimitri and E-Von) to force Freddie into the purple robot costume. As you might expect, the head of the costume is magnetically sealed to the body, which prevents Freddie from taking it off.
This leads to trouble when Carly and Sam find the robot and proceed to torture it with a rope and pulley system that Spencer designed with which to play human claw machine. Poor Freddie.
If the plan seems as ludicrous to you as it did to me while I was describing it, you might take issue with the justification for such preposterous premise. True enough, not even a speck of explanation is given, but that doesn’t work to the detriment of the episode. In fact, to the contrary, this unapologetic approach to plot construction is exactly what the show needs.
Imagine iCarly as a brightly painted sports car, the driver of which has decided to commit suicide by speeding off of a cliff. If that driver pumps the brakes from even a second to consider what he or she is doing, the idea would just seem more questionable.
Creator Dan Schneider knows to keep the accelerator pressed firmly to the floor, never giving the viewer time to consider the merits of life before it is too late. What’s left is the exhilarating fall, just before the blackout.
By the end of the episode, it is weirdly satisfying to watch Nevel repeatedly beaten with the human claw machine rig. Perhaps it is satisfying only because I – much like Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis – never looked back.
This is the one thing that Schneider asks of the viewer: don’t turn around, just keep your eyes peeled ahead. The wind in your face may make it hard, but if you can stand it, you’ll be rewarded by the vast, beautiful landscape that opens underneath you.
Watching iCarly can be a very enjoyable experience, if you are willing to let it. That task proved to be slightly harder this week.
Memorable Moments:
A man in an Abraham Lincoln costume being chased out of The Groovy Smoothie by a man in a John Wilkes Booth costume. Who says Nickelodeon can’t be educational?
Gibby pointing out that his aluminum-based superhero is far superior to Iron Man because his superhero is half the weight of Iron Man. Again, who says Nickelodeon can’t be educational?
Spencer’s Red Skynaut costume: a callback to the long, illustrious tradition of Galaxy Wars references, dating back to Drake & Josh.