Two Guys and a Girl‘s season two Halloween episode “Two Guys, a Girl and a Psycho Halloween” was not just a fun, creative little one-off holiday endeavor; it was a moment of realization for the series, proof of concept that its versatile cast and always-malleable world gave the comedy a lot of unique, creative opportunities other formula-bound sitcoms of the pre-Scrubs era (outside of the occasional NewsRadio episode) were seldom allowed to have. Its return to Halloween in season three, “Halloween 2: Mind over Body”, is almost a full-circle moment for the series, returning to the place where its divergence from normalcy and complacency began – and while it’s not quite as tightly crafted as the original, the ambitious sequel is a strong sign that Two Guys and a Girl has no plans to rest on its laurels when it returns to the “real world” for the rest of season three.
“Halloween 2: Mind over Body” takes a similar approach to its predecessor – madmen tortures the mostly-oblivious TGAG crew at a Halloween party – but trades in its Jason-like serial killer for a mad scientist archetype (played gleefully by Robert Joy, more recently seen in Julia and From) who performs brain swap experiments on the crew; first with Pete and Ashley when investigating the hidden basement room Sharon’s chosen for the Halloween party, and later with Berg and Sharon when they’re setting up for said party. Thankfully, “Halloween 2” is not a repetitive rehash, trading in the fourth wall-breaking gags, dual Bergs, and bloody axe murdering scenes for a more straightforward, almost stage play-like episode that makes a specific, surprisingly effective choice to place Johnny as the story’s de facto protagonist, rather than one of its titular trio.
For the most part, “Halloween 2: Mind over Body” relies on a single comedic thread: having its ensemble give exaggerated performances as each other following their brain swapping scenes – which, to Two Guys and a Girl‘s credit, are incredibly campy and unsettling, without having the blood sprays and heavy soundtrack cues of its predecessor. And they mostly work, with a few caveats; “Halloween 2” definitely leans a little too heavy on Ryan Reynolds as Sharon, and the Pete/Ashley scenes are a mixed bag, as their acidic dynamic is simply maintained as they mimic each other’s behavior.
Where it clicks into place is with Johnny, a simple, sometimes anxious man who looks for practical solutions; he’s the perfect “everyday man” protagonist for a story like this, as in normal episodes of the series he’s the straight talking, blue collar guy. Here, you get to see a little bit of Nathan Fillion’s charm shine through in Johnny, as he scrambles to get everyone’s brains back in the right bodies before the mad doctor returns with his bone saw (and terrible surgical hygiene). And thanks to his performance, his scenes with Berg-as-Sharon are not just empty gay panic bits, with Johnny genuinely struggling with trying to be loving and affectionate with Sharon while she’s stuck in a dude’s body; in the midst of a very silly, perfunctory episode that often feels more like a cheap two-act stage play than an episode of scripted television, Fillion gives a performance that resists some of the hacky, slapstick-y nature of the material, which helps balance the episode’s tone, and serve as a great reminder of what an endearing character Johnny is.
It’s why the ending works so well; as Johnny is getting everyone’s brains back in the right bodies, he accidentally crushes Sharon’s then-empty skull while defeating the mad scientist (the sight of Sharon’s body twitching is priceless). So what does he do? He puts Sharon’s brain into the mad scientist’s body, and they live happily ever after as a couple – and again, though it would be easy (and apropos of the time) to make some crass gay jokes, Two Guys and a Girl lets the visual of the mad scientist – now dressed like a WASPy-wife – sitting on Johnny’s lap while the gang watches TV, the only joke being that his girlfriend’s beard grows a lot faster than expected.
Though “Halloween 2: Mind over Body” doesn’t have the benefit of being the first Two Guys and a Girl Halloween episode, it is a fine sequel, one that finds its own comedic lane and charm as it runs through its homage to the tropes and cliches of the “mad scientist” subgenre, with its own, twisted little spin on Freaky Friday meets Hannibal and Frankenstein. And after another creative overhaul to kick off season three, the pairing of this, alongside its predecessor “Sunday in the Apartment”, are strong reminders that Two Guys and a Girl, no matter its circumstances, was never content with its own status quo, something so many more comedies (and TV in general) could benefit from embracing.
Other thoughts/observations:
- my favorite running gag of the episode is the book of The Joys of Elderly Sex that Pete and Sharon find in the opening scene, and Berg is later seen reading; it is never explained why the doctor has it in his lab.
- “What’s that black spot on Sharon’s brain?” “She must have smoked marijuana once!”
- Berg-as-Sharon: “I have breasts, and a thong, and…. I’ll be right back.”
- Berg, when him and Sharon notice the power surge in the apartment building: “Maybe Mrs. Abernathy is listening to the radio in the tub again.”
- Irene’s second appearance is a brief, slightly unpleasant one: she’s just screaming outside of Pete and Berg’s apartment for no reason. Though her as Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz is adorable.
- Johnny doesn’t recognize Sharon in Berg until she yells at him; I know a lot of the jokes about their relationship are hacky, but it’s still a funny moment here.
- Of the four performances-within-performances, Traylor Howard’s Sharon-as-Berg is easily my favorite.
- … did the mad scientist freeze himself? The premise of the episode doesn’t actually make any sense, if you think about it. Hardly a complaint, though: a nonsensical villain origin story is entirely warranted here.
- Pete’s fear of basements, and his inability to not pee his Aquaman costume as a child, is a bit of an underexplored element here, since he ends up in Ashley’s body just as they are unpacking his many, many fears and paranoias.
- Up next: Everyone’s negotiating in “Berg’s New Roommate”.