Recap / Reba S 05 E 06 Best Lil Haunted House In Texas

"Best Lil' Haunted House in Texas" is an episode in the fifth season of Reba.

Reba is determined to continue the tradition of prank-pulling on Halloween, despite the seeming lack of interest from everyone else in the family. Cheyenne, meanwhile, introduces Frank, whom she met from her Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, to the Hart family, and tension rises when Cheyenne is suspected of cheating on Van with Frank, though it turns out to be an elaborate prank on Jake's part.

---

Tropes in this episode include:

• A Deadly Affair: Played with. Van states that he'd kill Frank should Cheyenne actually cheat on him with Frank. Late in the episode, he allegedly proceeds to stuff him inside a car trunk after seeing him with Cheyenne, though he manages to escape. Not that it matters anyway, for it turns out to be an elaborate prank in the end.
• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Barbra Jean's account of a private investigator she hired to tail Brock during their separation is: "He followed you everywhere you went: to your dental office, to the golf course... to that tanning salon you say you don't go to", much to Brock's embarrassment.
• Halloween Episode: The entire episode takes place shortly before Halloween and concludes on it.
• Locked Out of the Loop: Barbra Jean is not let in on the truth of Cheyenne's "affair" with Frank for obvious reasons, as Cheyenne's exchange with Reba near the end of the episode makes it clear.
  Reba: You didn't tell her [Barbra Jean]?
  Cheyenne: Come on, mom. Everyone knows she can't keep a secret.
• Mood Whiplash: Several times.
  • Van at one point rants in anger about the way Cheyenne appears to be affectionate towards Frank before venting his anger on a severed head prop hanging on the stairway, only to wince in pain because Reba had placed it inside a freezer earlier in a failed attempt to prank anyone opening the freezer before having it taken out.
    Van: *shakes his hand in pain* Why is it frozen?!
  • On the night of Halloween, Van takes Jake out for trick-or-treating in the neighborhood, followed by Cheyenne (dressed in a French maid costume) heading out to meet Frank, dropping a matchbox that's from a hotel. As Reba, Brock, and Barbra Jean discuss the potential implications regarding the matchbox and the hotel, Jake enters the house in a panic after Van's reaction of seeing Cheyenne with Frank.
  • Finally, Frank stumbles and collapses on the front door after a series of build-up about Van's reaction to seeing him together with Cheyenne, and Reba is in a panic about what to do about him... only for Jake to take a picture of her and tells her "mom, you've been Jake'd" before the whole incident is revealed to be a part of an elaborate prank.
• Oh, Crap!: Two versions.
  • Reba has her usual Catchphrase.
    Reba: Cheyenne would never cheat on Van! She's a good girl!
    Barbra Jean: I was a good girl.
    Reba: Crap.
  • Brock's version is "oh, boy", which he utters twice: first when Van mentions that Cheyenne spends time with Frank for hours after the Alcoholics Anonymous meetings end, and then when he realizes, after the whole "affair" is revealed to be an elaborate prank all along, that Barbra Jean is still Locked Out of the Loop, before he runs out to find her in order to clear up the whole issue with the truth.
• Person as Verb: Played for Laughs.
  • Early in the episode, Reba says to whomever is unlucky enough to bear the brunt of her prank "you've been Reba'd!".
  • Late in the selfsame episode, Jake says "you've been Jake'd" to Reba after taking a picture of her in her frantic moment over the effects of Cheyenne's "affair" with Frank.
• "Shaggy Dog" Story: The whole issue regarding Cheyenne's possible affair with Frank and Van's reactions to it turn out to be an elaborate prank set up by Jake.
• So Proud of You: Given Reba's determination to get someone — anyone — in her family to carry on the tradition of prank-pulling on Halloween, her reaction upon realizing after the fact that Jake had pulled a prank on her (and with the added support from the rest of the family, though unwittingly from Barbra Jean) is one of pride.
  Reba: *to Jake* I pass my hat to you.