Previous Mike Flanagan series have often structured episodes loosely around particular characters, exploring their perspectives through flashbacks and centric stories that sometimes recall series like Lost. With “The Two Danas,†The Midnight Club seems to have the same idea — this isn’t an episode all about Anya, but it devotes a lot of time to complicating what we know about her.
In the first episode, Anya was defined by a generally harsh, sardonic attitude. That continues here with her merciless mocking of Ilonka’s herbal teas, a tirade that spills over into group therapy. Of course, as Dr. Stanton points out, Anya experimented with unorthodox remedies herself when she first came to Brightcliffe, so it’s not just about tea.
Anya may have been sick the longest of the eight, but she’s had to develop serious coping mechanisms. That explains her general coldness to Ilonka; she resents her for her first contribution to the Midnight Club, a story that only encouraged false hope. The teas are the same: To Anya, it’s delusional for any of them to pretend they have control over their illnesses. It’s delusional to think antioxidants will keep the shadows at bay.
That same brutal realism carries over to other scenarios, too. When Spence accidentally cuts his finger and runs away to get it patched up, Ilonka learns he has AIDS. But her pitying expression sets Anya off again — all of them are far too young to die and yet people react to Spence like his disease is different, like it’s either a deserved punishment from God for laying with men or a profound tragedy somehow worse than any other terminal illness. Kevin assures Ilonka that it’s not her fault Anya reacted so swiftly and harshly; she has seen a lot of death, and she values reality above false comforts.
It’s when Anya receives a visit from Stanton that we get proof of her protectiveness. Stanton recognizes it when Anya returns an old locket that belonged to her former roommate, Rachel. She likens Anya to her own late son, who used to drive her insane with his stubbornness. Julian reminded Stanton of herself, and now Anya does too. “You’re like a little me, only tougher,†she says, and you can tell how touched Anya is.
Anya’s story at the Midnight Club that night is the first, so far, to allude to events that happened in the storyteller’s life. It’s unclear just how much is true, but it seems likely that Anya, like her fictional counterpart, Dana, grew up in Ireland and got a scholarship to study ballet in America. And whether it was dance or cancer or both, she lost the chance at a normal teenage girl’s life.
So Anya’s story imagines a solution: splitting her body in two so she can be in two places at once. This is accomplished through a deal with the Devil (brought to life by Langenkamp, who channels Stanton’s maternal warmth while adding a threatening air to her temptations). Of course, Dana flies too close to the sun, with Dana Two (the partier) becoming addicted to drugs and sabotaging her ballet career. Dana Prime’s efforts to stop her — by cutting her wrists and leg like a voodoo doll, eventually stabbing herself through the hand — comprise the nastiest violence of the episode. Dana Two fights back, burning her own palm, and eventually there’s only one Dana alive, though she can’t remember which one she is. Either way, she’s lost a leg as a result, which puts an end to ballet.
Sandra thanks Anya for opening up like that about herself, earning a predictable “fuck off.†There’s an intriguing level of ambiguity here; storytelling gives these vulnerable young people the opportunity to share as much or as little of themselves as they want. Don’t want to share what scares you the most personally? Then just tell a fun story that has nothing to do with you, like Natsuki did in her jump-scare–laden tale. But something rewarding comes with showing your honest self, even if you can’t admit it’s you.
Outside Anya’s story, “The Two Danas†slowly lays more ground to set up the central mysteries of the series. Failing to glean any information from Stanton about Julia Jayne or the Paragon, Ilonka takes it upon herself to bottle some water from the spring running through the Brightcliffe grounds. While she’s out there, she meets Shasta (Samantha Sloyan, who appeared in Hill House and Midnight Mass, along with Flanagan’s Hush), a woman who lives on the edge of Stanton’s property and knows a lot about the “healing vortex.†Shasta seems warm and genuine, though there’s something slightly unsettling about her generosity. She points Ilonka to the best chamomile on the grounds, where Ilonka spots an odd hourglass-esque symbol carved into a tree.
The last bit of horror in the episode comes after Ilonka steals Julia Jayne’s patient record from Stanton’s office. Just as she separates from Kevin, the hallway around her suddenly becomes … different. Everything is in a flickering sepia tone, like a silent film, and countless tiny bugs scatter from a hole that appears in the old portrait Ilonka pokes. It’s like she’s transported into some old-timey nightmare, with the same old lady from her visions coming toward her. When she wakes up on the hallway floor, she’s stunned and horrified.
Most of the episode, though, is more about character than mystery. I appreciate all the time spent on the nitty-gritty of how these young adults live with their mortality; it’s more entertaining and sometimes more moving than the small-town drama that took up long stretches of Midnight Mass. Ilonka’s meeting with Stanton about her pre-need funeral arrangements is arguably more compelling than their more cryptic discussion of Julia. It helps reiterate Stanton’s mission to help these young people retain agency in a situation so out of their control. And it contains the funny character detail that Amesh requested his body be fired from a cannon into a shark tank.
Amesh gets some more development of his own in the group-therapy scene, when he opens up about how much it sucks that he won’t be alive to play the Playstation when it comes out later in 1995. And then the others help him make a thousand paper cranes to cross an item off his “Before I Die List.†(Other items include finishing his video game, making it to his sister’s wedding, hang gliding, and losing his virginity.)
There’s something nice about The Midnight Club’s approach, so far, to character development. This is a horror story, but it understands that beyond just scaring the audience, it’s important to show what scares the characters. As insistent as Anya is on preserving reality, sometimes fiction is the best way to show the truth.
Scary Stories
• The story of “The Two Danas†actually comes from Christopher Pike’s original Midnight Club novel. And subsequent episodes will adapt his other novels, judging by their titles.
• The Devil in Anya’s story first manifests as a shadow in her bathroom with glowing red eyes, which is taken from her disconcerting visions. It’s like Anya is rationalizing something that scares her by attaching it to the closest person she has to a parent.
• Nurse Mark (Zach Gilford) is really sweet in the scene when he stitches up Spence’s cut finger, reminding him he’s using rubber gloves and a sterilized needle for Spence’s sake, not because he’s afraid of Spence infecting him. He’s also sweet in agreeing to squeeze Natsuki’s friend Tristan’s hand for her. Unfortunately, this probably means Mark will die horrifically.
• I became a bit more aware of some ’90s anachronisms this episode. Kevin says that Ilonka using a library card to break into an office is “just so on brand.†And in the final moment of the episode, Ilonka says, “What the actual fuck?â€
• Given her general look, age, and proximity to Brightcliffe … Shasta is Julia Jayne, right?