| Worry Dolls | |
|---|---|
| Season 3, Episode 18 | |
| |
| Air date | October 26, 2013 |
| Written by | Nicole Dubuc |
| Directed by | Neill Fearnley |
| Episode Guide | |
| Previous "Funhouse" |
Next "Lovecraft's Woods" |
"Worry Dolls" is the eighteenth episode of season 3 of R.L. Stine's The Haunting Hour: The Series. This episode aired on October 26, 2013.
Summary[]
As a souvenir from her traveling parents, Jordanna receives a box of knitted dolls known as "Worry Dolls" that magically fix people's worries - which prove disastrous when she worries that her busy parents don't care for her and her younger brother, and they suddenly quit their jobs and become creepily smiling, clingy and obsessed with family togetherness.
Plot[]
Jordanna and her little brother Maxwell are preparing a surprise party for their parents when they get back home from their long trip. Their nanny, Mrs. Niffenberger comes in to tell them to clean up and get to bed. They try to reason with her in hopes of getting her to reconsider, but she tells them that they should just go to bed. But before anything else happens, they arrive back. Everyone quickly exchanges greetings while their dad goes to pay Mrs. Niffenberger for her help watching Jordanna and Maxwell. But they go on to inform them that they have to leave for something in town for the evening, which annoys them.
Because of this they offer to give them presents before they go. Max got lizard jerky, while Jordanna got these strange little dolls. Their mother fills her in on the legend involving them, saying that if you are worried or upset about something, you just have to tell the doll and then put them under your pillow at bed time.
Jordanna goes on to ask her mother if she would like to see the work she did for art. But they begin to act strange and take their leave suddenly. Mrs. Niffenberger comes by and takes them to bed. Where, in her bedroom, Jordanna overlooks the worry dolls. She begins venting to them, then tosses the box they are inside. As Mrs. Niffenberger comes by she tells her to be more respectful, since her mother probably went through a lot of trouble to get those for her. Instead of responding, Jordanna slams the door in ther face and goes to bed.
That morning she awakens to find the Worry Dolls sitting beneath her pillow. Jordanna runs into the hallway and asks Mrs. Niffenberger if she sat them there, but she claims she didn't even come into her room before telling her to be quiet, since their parents are sleeping still and would like some alone time. Jordanna accuses her of lying while Mrs. Niffenberger tells her to get ready to practice her violin. As she runs into another room, Max comes by to ask her what all of the drama is about. Jordanna informs him of how much Mrs. Niffenberger annoys her, but he tells her she would be better off getting used to it since they will probably be stuck with her until they're old enough to be alone.
Before going into the other room to practice, Jordanna wishes to be left alone and begins to practice. But has a difficult time trying to play it and worries over the upcoming event she is to be performing in. To her surprise, she sees the four Worry Dolls sitting inside of her violin case, which surprises her greatly. She throws them into the trash, then goes to get breakfast.
Maxwell and Jordanna are surprised to find that their old nanny has left suddenly. This frustrates their parents, but nobody knows why she should have just vanished like that. They go on to explain to them that they have yet another trip to leave for the following day, due to their demanding business. This makes Jordanna and Maxwell ask them if it's possible they just don't love them, but their parents claim they do so much work because of their love for them. It's then they all hear a loud crash and rush to the other room to find the violin on the floor, all broken up. Jordanna tries to claim she didn't leave the violin carelessly out like this, to make it just fall onto the floor. However, her dad doesn't buy it and he tells her she's only making it worse by lying. So he storms off while holding the broken violin and Maxwell asks her why she did it. Instead of bothering with him she checks the trashcan, only to find the Worry Dolls have gone missing.
Jordanna tries to look upstairs but can't find anything. But when she hears a strange sound, it appears to be their mother. Who wanted to say goodbye since they need to leave really early the next morning. So chances are they wont see them off. Jordanna makes an attempt to confide to her mother reguarding the suspicion of the dolls, but their mother simply thinks she's trying to make up stories in hopes of keeping them home. She promises everything will be fine and offers to get her some expensive jewelry from where they will be going. But Jordanna doesn't take this and instead claims she would rather have a real family instead of this. Their mother never responds to this though and tucks her into bed while informing her that they will have a brand new nanny coming the next evening. Unknwon to Jordanna though, the Worry Dolls are closer to her then she thinks...
The next day, Jordanna wakes up to hear a bunch of noise and smells pancakes, which surprises her when she finds they're being made by her smiling parents. They announce that they talked things over the previous night and decided to cancel the trip and both quit their jobs so that they could spend more time with them. Which makes everyone very happy as they all sit down to eat. Unaware that the dolls are still watching. As everyone is finishing breakfast, Jordanna and Maxwell realize they need to get ready go to school now, but their parents suggest they simply skip school in hopes of using this day to catch up with them. At first this sounds really nice, until they mention their own idea of homeschooling them. Jordanna and Max don't really want that though since they would miss all their friends too much. But their parents claim they would understand, only to suggest another group-hug right after. Their dad then gets everyone to sit down and play a board game. While they have fun, Jordanna and Max are growing annoyed because they keep losing, as well as the fact they have played the same game three times already...
Maxwell points out that he has Soccer practice to be getting to, but their mom claims it isn't nearly as important as being with them forever instead. Maxwell tries to tell them that he really likes soccer and would like to play it, but their dad suggests they should do a movie marathon instead. While Jordanna seems to be enjoying this, she is somewhat suspicious about everything else and claims she needs to find something in her room. As she attempts to take Maxwell, they ask if it's necessary that he has to come with her, but she claims it is since her room is really messy.
In the hallway, Jordanna informs Maxwell reguarding her suspicion once more. But much like their mother did previously, he blows her off and doesn't believe her. Jordanna attempts reaching him by pointing out the many coincidences, such as Mrs. Niffenberger vanishing, the violin breaking, and their parents' sudden positive change in personality. While he continues not believing Jodanna's claims, she asks him to help her rid of them anyway. Causing Max to suggest she simply flushes them down the toilet. When they come to her room to grab the Worry Dolls, they find that it has been covered in red bricks!
She had claimed her room was messy, so the Worry Dolls had fixed it for her by filling it to the brim in bricks. Jordanna left the dolls in there however, and she points out that they don't undo things so there isn't anyway to fix it. When they near a noise nearby and see the dolls surrounding them, she asks Max if he would believe her now. They run into the room nearby and she attempts to find something to help her rid of these dolls, but instead of getting a response she is shown many pictures of the Worry Dolls instead, which begin to show faster and faster by the minute. As this goes on, their screaming parents are trying to get into the room, desperately seeking their children. As she tries to think of something, Maxwell keeps trying to rush Jordanna, causing her to yell at him by telling him to "shut up!". But right after she does, she realizes he can no longer speak due to the dolls!
As she tries to get Max to talk, Jordanna tries to get the dolls to reverse this bad luck, but just then their smiling parents bust through the door. They beg and plead with them to never leave them alone like that, and in hopes of getting them off of her, Jordanna claims they were just playing hide and seek. Which suddenly perks their parents up as she claims it is now their turn to go and hide. They leave with Maxwell and she pretends to count until she is sure they have left. Jordanna then decides it's now time to just kill the dolls. She runs around the house in search of something to destroy them and happens to find the fireplace. She puts them inside, but when she attempts to light it she finds that they are out of the proper item needed to light it. So she runs into the kitchen to locate something to light the wood. But while doing this, she hears noise and looks around the corner to find Maxwell tied up with green tape.
Their parents bust out of hiding and when she realizes they have duct-tape and plan to tie her up she makes an attempt to call for help. But their parents reveal they already disconnected the phone and proceed to tie her up within a few seconds. The four of them sit them down on the couch so that they can all bond and 'watch the movie' when Jordanna uses this as an attempt to trick them now by saying a nice, warm burning fire would make the situation much more cozy. Their parents bide this and their dad gets up to light it with a match. As this goes on, nobody other then Jordanna seem to be aware of the Worry Dolls and as they burn, their creepy parents suddenly snap out of their happy hypnotic-state and try to figure out what exactly is going on. As they share a small laugh, Mrs. Niffenberger suddenly appears while demanding to know why she was locked inside of the shed for so long. But nobody is quite sure how to respond to that...
Later on their parents are busily packing up for yet another trip. But for once Maxwell and Jordanna are actually fine with it. Jordanna is quickly shifting through the residue from the fire, trying to locate any remains of the Worry Dolls. She points out that there should be some cloth or something but Max tries to tell her to just let it go since they're gone. With that in mind she doesn't give it another thought and walks away.
That night, as Jordanna gets into bed all seems calm and well. As the Worry Dolls are slowly revealed to have survived and begin to approach her bed, the episode comes to an end as she awakens and screams.
Cast[]
- Cameron Bancroft as Scott Hardin
- Katherine McNamara as Jordanna Hardin
- Griffin Parsons as Max Hardin
- Kristen Robek as Tracey Hardin
- Gwynyth Walsh as Mrs. Niffenberger
Trivia[]
- Cameron Bancroft first appeared in the season 1 episode "The Walls" as Sean and the season 2 episode "Creature Feature" as Doctor Wright.
- Worry Dolls are sold from Guatemala. They're supposed to help with children's doubts and fears. The child puts them under the pillows after telling the dolls their worries so they can sleep and in the morning they will wake up with no worries, but, in this episode, they solve people's worries a little too well, leading to more trouble.
- Nicole Duboc, the writer for this episode, would go on to be a writer for My Little Pony Friendship is Magic.
- Katherine McNamara would later appear in "R.L. Stine's Monsterville: Cabinet of Souls"
- In production order, this was the final episode of the season.
Video(s)[]
The Haunting Hour Worry Dolls Full Episode