The Curious is shown playing in a wood where mysterious, macrame-like dolls hang from the trees.
Dent goes on a camping trip with the Hedgehog Rangers, a Girl Scout-style organisation. Patrol Leader Paxton puts Dent under the care of her second-in-command, Janie; Janie unknowingly makes fun of Dent for not having earned any badges. Around the campfire, Paxton explains that no one has ever camped out in this spot before, and talks about an unknown evil living in the woods. When the girls go to bed, Janie tries to ask why Dent came on the trip when she hates camping, receiving badges and nature. Dent says that her mother went on a cruise where kids aren't allowed, and as there was nobody able to look after Dent, her mother forced Dent to join the Hedgehog Rangers as they were having a camping trip. She puts her headphones on and refuses to talk to anyone. Another girl, Arlene, goes out to use the bathroom; she hears a faint buzzing noise. It seems to be coming from a patch of a strange purple moss-like plant, but when Arlene tries to listen for the sound, something crawls into her ear.
The next morning, Dent deliberately gets Janie into trouble and Paxton revokes one of Janie's badges. When it's noticed that Arlene is missing, Paxton splits the girls into two search parties. Dent listens to her headphones rather than pay attention to Janie, but they come across Paxton and her group; all singing a creepy tune and moving strangely. Dent realises that whatever is happening to everyone is contagious, just as another of the girls becomes possessed. Dent, Janie, and Jo break away from the group and run into the woods where they find an abandoned shelter. Janie remembers a creepy campfire story about a troop of Rangers called the Lidlands Troop who disappeared thirty years ago. She and Dent read through an old handbook and diary left behind, while Jo keeps watch. The book indicates that the same thing happened to the missing troop, and Dent and Janie find the words "WHATEVER YOU DO, DON'T LET THEM IN" written inside the shelter. Meanwhile, Jo becomes infected when she opens a plastic box containing a sample of the purple moss. Janie and Dent hear her scream, and run outside. Jo complains of hearing music, before becoming possessed like the others
Dent tries to phone for help but can't get a signal. Dent and Janie argue; Janie thinks they should follow the Hedgehog Ranger protocol, and accuses Dent of running away from her problems. Blue slime begins to drip from Janie's ear and she begs for help; she began to hear the music and tried to suppress it, but it is becoming too strong for her. She wants to use Dent's headphones to drown it out, but soon becomes completely possessed. Dent runs to the Hedgehog Ranger bus and gets trapped inside as Paxton and the other girls catch up with her. She plays loud rock music on her phone, which breaks the spell over the others as a blue, alien-like creature drops out of each girl's ear and shrivels up. Janie and Dent become friends, and Janie gives Dent one of the badges off her uniform - awarded for bravery. Suddenly, Arlene returns, accompanied by the missing Hedgehog Rangers from thirty years ago - all now middle-aged women and still possessed. Dent, Janie and the others prepare to save them by playing loud music.
The Curious records a sample of the music and labels the tape "DO NOT LISTEN.”
This episode contains examples of:
- Abandoned Camp Ruins: The rangers find the long-abandoned camp in the woods belonging to the previous scout troop who came out there long ago.
- Artistic License: The group only has one adult leader on an overnight camping trip, which IRL would be extremely frowned upon at best.
- Camping a Crapper: Arlene gets possessed whilst going to the toilet.
- Chekhov's Gun: Dent's headphones, which she plays over and over because she doesn't want to be at the campsite, provides one of the ways to overcome the "ear worm".
- Chromosome Casting: The episode has no male characters at all (justified, since the premise is a Girl Scout camping trip.)
- Creepy Children Singing: All the girls become this after being possessed by the alien moss.
- Don't Go in the Woods: The mutated purple moss doesn’t leave the forest, and so anyone who enters the forest will be turned into mindless singing zombies.
- Dwindling Party: After everyone starts becoming infected.
- Ear Ache: The girls are infected by an alien parasite crawling in their ears.
- Ear Worm: Uses a literal example for horror. All the victims sing the same tune, over and over.
- Fire-Forged Friends: Janie and Dent.
- Foreshadowing: Mixed with Bilingual Bonus: The valley the girls are camping in is called "Anna-Ciall". While Dent translates it as "death", it actually means "madness" in Irish, hinting at the true danger of the trail.
- Here We Go Again!: The ending features Dent and the other girls having to play loud music against the still possessed Lidlands and Arlene, but this does presumably save them.
- Hockey Mask and Chainsaw: Arlene unsuccessfully tries to tell a story like this around the campfire.
- Innocently Insensitive: Janie may have lots of knowledge of nature, but she lacks social skills. When first meeting Dent she is surprised to see she has not got any badges and exclaims this as an insult, despite not meaning to be rude.
- Manchild: The Lidland troop became possessed when they were around the same age as Dent, Janie and their troop. As such, they are dressed in a troop uniform for children. However, as they remained possessed for 30 years, they are dressed as young Girl Guides, but are in the bodies of middle-aged women, as the mutated moss infection didn’t stop them from ageing.
- Nature Is Not Nice: Dent's response when Janie claims that nature provides a solution to every problem.
- Our Zombies Are Different: After the moss crawls into their ears, the girls come to resemble zombies, except that they sing eerily under their breath.
- Parental Neglect: Dent's mother goes on holiday alone, abandoning her daughter on a camping trip with the Hedgehog Rangers where she clearly doesn't want to be.
- Scout-Out: The Hedgehog Rangers.
