![]() ![]() One of the pleasures of “Story” is listening to the Celtic stew that is his accent. He grew up in Northern Ireland (it’s a shame that he didn’t direct “Belfast” instead of Kenneth Branagh) and now lives in Scotland. The great thing about the setting is that it is completely desolate, so when the writers plonk a phone booth out there the juxtaposition provides humour.The way Cousins says things is almost as interesting as what he actually says. This implies that the only reason Eustace cannot understand Courage is because he knows from his form that he is a dog, and if only he were to listen closely enough he’d understand perfectly. The phone theme is continued when, unable to speak to Eustace using human language, it turns out he is able to (perhaps) be understood if he is calling on a phone. Eustace, exclaims, “He never answers my calls!” The seance is treated like a realworld telephone call. This starts off the jam-making subplot which will keep Muriel occupied in the kitchen while Eustace is hell bent on opening the box. With Muriel and Eustace’s plan winning out, we are treated to a highly comedic sequence in which Muriel talks to Gertrude, Horse’s dead wife, and the first thing they talk about is how much vinegar to use when making jam. Muriel is of a much kinder nature and unwittingly shuts him up by shoving a taste-test of jam into his mouth. He tries to alert the people who can help. That many coincidences piled up are themselves comic.Ĭourage has already looked into the box and knows there’s nothing good inside. ![]() We can make the most of these coincidences when writing comedy. An advertisement for a psychic medium comes on the telly just as they’re discussing Horse and his unwillingness to spill the beans on the money.Eustace just happens to mention the box of money.Courage just happens to find a box of money while looking for his yo-yo.All of these things are happening at once: The interesting comic technique here is piling coincidence upon coincidence. Muriel wants Eustace to wish Horse a happy birthday while Eustace wants to connect with his brother in order to find out what he did with the key to his box of money, which Courage has found while looking for his yo-yo, and naively handed over. This story is similar to the mattress episode in that the plan comes from Muriel and Eustace initially. Instead we see Courage watching the ghouls. (This is also the least interesting opponent.)Ĭleverly, the audience is not shown the ghouls. The Minotaur opponent: The ghouls inside the box.Between Courage and Eustace/Muriel, who won’t listen to him.Between Eustace and Muriel - Muriel is conciliatory whereas Eustace alienates.Courage, too, knows that nothing good will come of Shirley’s helping to open the box. In this case he doesn’t like handing over money for a service he feels hasn’t been provided. Shirley the Medium, who Eustace dislikes - because Eustace automatically dislikes everyone.He’s dead and I’m not!” In the Pandora mythology, Prometheus (“Foresight”) and his brother Epimetheus (“Hindsight”) likewise have a problematic relationship. Eustace’s reaction to Horse on his birthday is comically over-the-top: “We have settled our differences. Muriel tells us that there was always a long-running feud between Eustace and Horse. The dead brother, comically named ‘Horse’.There is plenty of opportunity for conflict in this episode. Despite the creepy hand, Shirley is revealed to be a small, rather cute cat. ![]()
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