Post-Apocalyptic Slumber Party

We recently looked at the first season of Haunted Hotel, a show that I enjoyed at times even if I thought that it never really rose to the level it could have. The show has promise, between its haunted setting, fantasy accoutrements, and a game voice cast. The problem with the show was that despite having all these elements in play, the first season never felt like it went far enough, pushing beyond the bounds of a sitcom set at a hotel. The occasional episode showed spirit, but most episodes basically amounted to, “something funny happens at the hotel, and also there’s a ghost.”

This was especially baffling considering the show is animated. It could easily go big, doing things in the animated format that would be impossible if this show were done as live action. But rarely in the first season did it feel like that ever happened. There’s the Abaddon episode at the end that really stretches the format, but most of the time the fact that the show is animated didn’t really factor into the stories that were told or the scenes that were pursued. It was just a show about a hotel, sometimes with ghosts, and occasionally something interesting would happen.

Now with this second season (which is, notably, two episodes shorter, capping at just eight total for the season) the show has a chance to expand and really push the boundaries of its format. In the era of streaming we live in now shows don’t get a single pilot episode, they get pilot seasons. That was the first season here, establishing the shape and format for Haunted Hotel. With that out of the way, the show has to prove it can do new things instead of just recycling simple sitcom plots, but with ghosts. Sometimes this second season is successful at pushing itself… other times it’s not.

Considering the show ended its first season with Abaddon averting an apocalypse by looping time over and over on itself, one would think the show would go bigger for its season two premiere. But we get a pretty mild debut, with purple slime invading the hotel that could be a harbinger of something worse, something much bigger… but the crisis is averted because the hotel gets a new resident, Shayna, a homeless drifter who spent two years in the hotel pretending to be a ghost before she got caught. But because Shayna is also weirdly tied to the hotel, and her being there physically keeps the apocalypse demon at bay, Katherine hires her to work in the hotel.

For the record, this barely does anything for the story and Shayna really makes an impact on the plots afterwards, only occasionally appearing in a handful of scenes that barely needed her anyway.

From there it goes back to life as normal at the hotel. There are ghosts. There are demons. Occasionally a man looking suspiciously like John ConstantineAlso known as the "Hellblazer", John Constantine is a detective and con-man who has skills with the dark arts and a penchant for taking on demons. (who is very much not John Constantine and don’t ask questions) shows up to fight the apocalypse, but many of the stories are more basic, and more mundane. It’s a hotel that also happens to have ghosts and sometimes there’s not much more going on. But when the show actually decides to spice things up, that’s when it gets interesting.

One of the best episodes of the season is “Ghost Day Out”. When a full moon lands on Friday the 13th, the boundaries that trap ghosts to the properties where they die weakens and ghosts can roam freely around the world until dawn. This lets Nathan walk around town with his niece, Esther, so he can do a whole list of things he never got to try while he was alive. But while they’re wandering they meet Bridget, a ghost from the town’s lighthouse, and Nathan finds an unexpected spark of love with this woman.

This episode is solid because it pushes the characters out of the hotel and into new locales. We haven’t really seen much of the town before now (largely just a few glances at the school where Ben and Esther go) so this was a good way to expand the show’s world and illustrate new areas. And it also gave us some new characters while letting Nathan, who hasn’t really been that well defined on the series, actually find some character growth and motivation. It’s not the most groundbreaking plot, basically giving us a twist on starcrossed lovers, but it works at actually trying to push the show outside its comfort zone.

“The Concierge” is another standout, this time for actually using the idea of a haunted hotel as a stepping stone for a unique story. Katherine is overworked and underappreciated, and she needs a break. She learns of a haunted desk bell that, when rung, summons spectral arms that extend from Katerine’s back and do work for her. Anything she can think they’ll do. But the longer the arms are out, the more control they have over Katherine and soon it’s hard to tell where one ends and the other begins…

This episode works on two levels. The first is that it actually presents a haunted effect that would be very hard to pull off in live action. The arms move, extend, grow, and multiply, creating for a really neat look that is, at times, also very creepy. But it also helps to extend Katherine’s own character, diving deeper into who she is and what she needs. She hasn’t really had the kind of exploration needed to make her more than “mom who runs a hotel”, and this is the kind of episode that at least adds some shading to the matter.

On the flip side there are a few episodes that really are just “sitcom plot, but with a fantasy creature included”. “The Witch” is about Katherine, Ben, and Esther getting cursed by the local Witch, but what it really boils down to is a hoary sitcom plot about a cranky old neighbor who really just needs a friend. “Astral Esther” explores how Esther is pushing her magic too far and is getting reckless (swap in drugs or gambling or what have you in a normal sitcom) and Katerine has to rein her in. “Dinner Party” is literally an episode about a dinner party, but with ghosts. These episodes fail to capture the magic that the best episodes of the season have, and they make this second season feel very uneven.

Thankfully even in the most basic episodes of the show Abaddon still delivers. During any episode that felt boring, like the show was just recycling old sitcom storylines, Abaddon could be pulled in to be weird, say a funny line, and spice things up. One episode sets him on a quest to make mac and cheese because he wants it and no one is around to help him. And it does become an epic quest, which is hilarious to watch. Abaddon is not the kind of character that could lead a series, but Haunted Hotel uses him to great effect within the confines of its own, larger narrative.

I just wish the show could commit harder to what works so well. When the show comes up with new ideas, and really gets going, its episodes are great. Season two has many episodes that I enjoyed and could easily watch again. But there is still a little too much filler here, a handful of episodes (in a short season) that could be skipped during a rewatch. They weren’t bad, but they also weren’t Haunted Hotel’s best efforts.

And that really does still define the show. When Haunted Hotel tries, it goes for broke and I love it. But it has a habit of settling back and doing basic storyline with minimal effort and those episodes don’t hook me. I like this show, maybe even more than I did after watching its first season, but I also still don’t know that I’d recommend it to anyone looking for a good binge. It’s amusing, but not terribly so.