iCarly

iCarly

Episode 7: iDream of Dance*

Episode 8: iScream on Halloween*

By: Carlos Uribe

iCarly is a show about a girl who does a weekly webcast with her two best friends. It runs on Nickelodeon.

Spoilers Ahoy!

The first episode I'm reviewing tonight is less of an episode with a set plot structure and more of an excuse to incorporate elaborate choreographed dance sequences into the show. The episode's plot never reaches a conclusion and the episode's plot lacks a structure. There is the set-up and then what could be considered the climax, the dance sequences, but there's never any rising action or falling action. The episode is less about comedy and more about showing off the dancing moves of the cast. There's still comedy within the episode, but it's not the focus. This is an episode that is largely difficult to review simply because it doesn't have a lot of depth. It's an episode that revolves around dance but unlike Community, it doesn't have any emotional core that I can attach myself. This created an episode that was entertaining but it didn't have the viewer invest into what was happening. This is probably a good thing since this episode would have left the viewers with an unfinished plot-line. In essence, this episode accomplished what it wanted to do but without any significance to the overall show or it's characters.

Consider the four dance dreams of the episode. The first takes place in the school hallway with all of the characters. There's some jokes as they express confusion as the entire school breaks into dance. It's a decent dancing sequence. The second sequence involves Sam being in detention and finding herself forced to dance to an Irish dance. The joke is that once again she expresses confusion and even anger at what is happening. This reveals nothing new about Sam, but it simply uses the established “this character is always in detention” trait to set the setting of the dance. Carly's dance sequence involves boys, including one that she finds attractive, and it's rather shallow. Freddie's dance sequence is the most interesting since he doesn't question the dancing, but is the most willing to go along with it. If this shows anything, it's his willingness to accept the status quo without question. The series doesn't actually explore this, or state this, but is merely my thoughts on the matter. The episode ends not with a video of the numerous talents of kids, but with Spencer dancing in a dress. He claims he likes it. This is probably more of a joke than a reveal that Spencer is secretly wishing to be a cross-dresser. Ultimately, a shallow episode.

The second episode I am reviewing is iScream on Halloween. This is obviously a Halloween episode. It's the first one that the series has produced and it covers all the bases. The three characters all decide to spend the night at an “abandoned” and “haunted” apartment for their web show. This leads to a lot of “freaky” things happening that are easily explained at the end of the episode. This is an expected plot line for the series to take and just about everything was predictable. It would have been a twist to actually have the apartment be haunted, but the supernatural always has to explained in comedies like these. The plot didn't really do anything with this, as it was merely having a stereotypical Halloween episode.

There was also a sub-plot that involved Spencer. He has to carve a large pumpkin and deal with kids who want candy. Candy that he forgot to buy because the pumpkin he has to carve is huge. The jokes were predictable and the plot doesn't make complete sense. There's a scene where he decides that he has to hide from the kids. This would make sense if there was no way to leave the apartment, but it's been established that there's a back exit and an elevator that he could use to escape. The sub-plot is silly but it doesn't really add to the main plot.

*It appears that Netflix has changed it's episode order to match the air date rather than the date of production. Therefore, for this site's purpose, these two episodes will be counted as the seventh and eighth episodes. Beginning with iWill Date Freddie next week, the episode count should be fine and it looks like I'll now be following the actual episode order and not the production code. Sorry for the confusion, but blame Netflix.