Through the trees approaches... Gary! By the fire, with its back to him, a small figure whirls around. Above its jacket and cravat is face of a living corpse. Gary turns and runs. From behind a tree pops his grandfather, who fretfully beseeches his help. Gary wakes to a ring of his bedside telephone. He picks it up.
In a rocking chair on her front porch, Grandma Aggie quietly weeps. Before his abrupt death, Grandpa Gene was desperate to tell Gary something. From inside a leather bound-album, she hands Gary a jagged fragment of black vinyl, inscribed with the hand-printed message "listen to the music." Tucker arrives. Gary tells him not to cancel tonight's meeting.
That night, at the clearing, Gary joins the current Midnight Society. In 1937, his and Tucker's grandfather, with four friends, at this spot, founded the Midnight Society. In a magic shop, they found a charm, the Silver Sight, whose magic turned out to be evil. One of the friends secretly used it. Another of the friends hid it. On record, he left instructions on how to find the Silver Sight; broke the record into fragments, and kept one himself. Recent attempt to track down the Silver Sight gave Gene a fatal heart attack.
The rest of the current Midnight Society agree to help find the other members. Before they set off, Gary takes the pouch of Midnight Dust, and flings some onto the fire. The flames die, plunging the clearing into near-darkness. Nervously, they leave. Onto the clearing bounds the quaintly garbed Waif Kid from Gary's dream. His face now that of a healthy young boy, he gazes at the dead fire ring, and chuckles insidiously. In a flash, the flames return. Perhaps not for the approval of the Midnight Society, he calls this story "The Tale of the Silver Sight".
Gary and Tucker approach the tree-shaded stately house of General Liang Candle, oldest of the original Midnight Society. Atop the front door steps, Gary rings the doorbell, Tucker looks around. On the grass below, he sees a young boy in a Victorian suit. He alerts Gary to their observer - but the Waif Kid has gone.
Inside, in a wheelchair, a sharply suited old man rolls forward. Of the original Midnight Society, the General gives them a monochrome photo. Shocked to hear of their quest for the Silver Sight, he invites them back in a few hours, whereupon he'll have it. Meanwhile, Grandma Aggie hears someone at the door. She calls out, but receives no answer. She flees upstairs, closely followed by the black-clad intruder, and shuts herself in a bedroom.
In Gary’s dorm room, Tucker and Vange consult his personal computer. Tucker introduces the General’s photo. Andy reports his and Vange’s failure to find any record of Bruce McGorrill. The phone rings. Gary takes a call from his frightened grandmother, whose line is abruptly cut off. Gary and Tucker hurry over. Amidst her roughly displaced belongings, a badly shaken Grandma Aggie recounts the masked intruder’s demand for Gene’s piece of the record.
Back at the General’s estate, Tucker manages to open the gates, but can’t seem to open the front door. Behind him appears the Waif Kid, who brightly offers to try. He easily pushes open the locked door, and runs inside. Tucker follows. In the spacious hallway, the Waif Kid is nowhere in sight. In a silent corridor, Tucker calls to the General, and bumps into Quinn, who, from the wall, a sketched portrait of the face of a young woman, Donna Tilton, one of the original Midnight Society - this belongs to someone else. Quinn hurries out.
The Waif Kid leads Tucker into an expansive, high-ceilinged gallery, rowed on either side with mounted mannequins, each of which model a specimen of combat attire; mainly suits of armour. At the far end, beneath a green curtain, a plinth displays the jagged lower half of a record. On his approach of the promised item, Tucker uneasily lifts the visor of a looming suit of armour. Inside is only darkness. As Tucker turns away, the metal helmet, as if occupied, swivels, as if to watch him. Tucker turns around. Towards him, sword aloft, lunges a lifeless, unseen figure in a seventeenth century war helmet. The automated mannequin crashes to the floor. From one of the displays, Tucker grabs a sword and shield - just as a medieval knight bears down on him. It fiercely swings its sword at Tucker, who, with the shield, manages to deflect each blow. As it lunges, Tucker ducks. The knight falls. Instantly, another advances. With his own sword, he knocks off the metal helmet. On the floor, its visor swings open to reveal a human skull.
As Tucker reaches the door, the seventeenth century-helmeted mannequin throws a javelin - which lands in the wood of the door, inches from Tucker’s face. Tucker ducks. A knight entangles a seventeenth century-helmeted mannequin. Tucker throws a net over them, and runs for the mounted record fragment. In the instant he grabs it, the gallery falls silent. On the record’s label, Tucker reads a hand-printed message: "not all the eyes are brown."
This episode provides examples of:
- Back for the Finale: On the death of his Grandpa Gene from a fear-induced heart attack, Gary suspects a reputedly cursed item acquired by the original Midnight Society, and requests the current members’ help.
- Continuity Nod:
- A shop’s provision of a dangerously magical item recalls Sardo’s Magic Mansion.
- Tucker’s attack by spectrally automated suits of armour recalls "The Tale of the Bookish Babysitter".
- The Corruptible: A comedic, innocent variant; around each other, Tucker and Gary respectively revert to playful impudence and corrective exasperation.
- Creepy Child: The Waif Kid, an ominously casual young boy in anachronistic attire.
- Cursed Item: Reputedly, the Silver Sight may bring potentially fatal misfortune.
-
Fake Nationality: Surrey-born James Bradford, last seen in "The Tale of the Magician's Apprentice", here affects a North American accent as General Candle. - Hidden Depths: Tucker acquits himself rather well against a gallery of sword-wielding possessed armour suits.
- Jump Scare: In a Dream Sequence, Gary approaches the clearing, where, seen from behind, stands a young boy, who turns around, to reveal a feral, deathly face.
- Old Soldier: General Candle is somewhat strict.
- The Reveal: The Midnight Society dates back to 1937.
- Scenery Porn: Some lovely shots of the General’s stately house and forested surrounding grounds.
- Wham Episode: After years of sharing scary tales, the Midnight Society happen upon a threat which just might be genuinely supernatural.
