Stay Tuned #56: Goosebumps - The Vanishing
Article by Sean Wilkinson,
The Goosebumps reboot that began in 2023 on Disney+ was given an eight episode binge release on January 10, 2025, with the crew returning from the first season, but with a new cast and story.
I know there are other characters and plot points I didn't mention, but they all get lost in an ADHD "villain" that serves the individual episodes better than the overall story (and even those in-name-only "efforts" don't land half the time), has motivations that the writers epically failed to justify, and is so "LOL you thought I died, but it was me, Dio" unstoppable that there ceases to be any stakes (which is a statement that I assure you makes more sense than it sounds like).
a.k.a. the Ticketmaster
"Stay Out Of the Basement," Ticketholders!
Last year, I dedicated the month of October to R.L. Stine, when I reviewed the Fear Street trilogy of movies, the late-90s Goosebumps anthology series, the 2010s movies, and the first season of the 2023 Goosebumps reboot. Today, I'm starting off February (for no thematic reason in particular; I just wanted to) with a look at the second season, subtitled The Vanishing.
So don't worry; I didn't vanish on you (and I hope you won't vanish on me, either). I'd appreciate as always if you please remember to Become A Ticketholder if you haven't already, comment your thoughts on the second season of the Goosebumps reboot at the bottom of this post, help out my ad revenue so I don't get abducted by aliens, and follow me on Tumblr, Reddit, Facebook, YouTube, and LinkedIn to like what you see and receive the latest hair-raising news on my content. Also, I'm on BlueSky now, with plans to expand to Instagram later this year.
Like the first season, The Vanishing concerns the emotional and supernatural fallout of an unexplained incident that took place in the 90s (so expect the usual mix of nostalgic and contemporary music cues throughout). In the fictional Brooklyn neighborhood of Grave's End (because Goosebumps), twins CeCe (Jayden Bartels, Side Hustle) and Devin (Sam McCarthy, Dead To Me) visit their father, Anthony "Stink" Brewer (David Schwimmer, Friends), for the summer. If that last name rings a bell, you'd be correct in guessing that Mr. Brewer is a botanist who doesn't want his kids going in the basement (which is much more organized and a different kind of unsettling than in the 90s adaptation). Also, his older brother and his friends mysteriously disappeared in 1995 while filming a dare at an abandoned summer camp/military research facility. The only other survivor of the incident is Jen (Ana Ortiz, Ugly Betty), Anthony's childhood friend who became a detective and doesn't quite hit the love interest mark here. Throw in Francesca Noel (Pretenders) as Jen's delinquent daughter and CeCe's love interest Alex, Galilea la Salvia (Talia In the Kitchen) as Devin's love interest Frankie, and Stony Blyden (Hunter Street) as Frankie's possessive boyfriend Trey, and The Vanishing officially has the mandated YA love triangle, "adorably" misogynistic teen of color, and female same-sex couple boxes checked off the Disney+ Goosebumps scriptwriting list as well.
While the stock character relationships (with the exception of Anthony, Jen, Devin, and Alex, whom I will slightly elaborate on later) fail to impress, the plot flits from one movie reference and book adaptation to the next with no thought for sensible progression, motive, or faithfulness. Upon discovering an unusual substance on his missing brother's jacket, Anthony gets infected by an alien entity that goes from being the smoke monster from Lost to Audrey from Little Shop Of Horrors to turning Trey into Swamp Thing to possessing Trey's car like it's a ghost crossed with The Thing (but it's kind of a plant, so maybe more like The Thing From Another World) to The Blob (because it was the best Monster Blood adaptation they could come up with, given the unstated budget) to having long-range telepathic powers that make people see brainwashing ghosts to making pod people like in Invasion Of the Body Snatchers to being an extension of a living alien ship (because it's the closest Disney will ever get to doing Venom halfway right while still screwing it up) to turning Anthony's brother and his friends into A Quiet Place-meets-Aliens monsters...and yet this is all written off as the ship defending itself from human xenophobia despite it attacking humans and displaying overt world domination behavior before experiencing any human aggression. Add on the cliffhanger ending (which felt more like a lead-in to a ninth episode that never happened, rather than the definitive, R.L. Stine-esque finale stinger we got last season) where Trey (having miraculously and nonsensically dropped his overt jealous behavior after being eaten by a plant, turned into a zombie, crushed by and possessing his own car, getting podded, and waking up in a catatonic/mute state in Voorhies Memorial Hospital - yes, I'm serious) vomits up the alien substance well after the ship has left with the souls/minds of its long-podded victims aboard (because Independence Day: Resurgence and Moonfall, too, I guess).
While the stock character relationships (with the exception of Anthony, Jen, Devin, and Alex, whom I will slightly elaborate on later) fail to impress, the plot flits from one movie reference and book adaptation to the next with no thought for sensible progression, motive, or faithfulness. Upon discovering an unusual substance on his missing brother's jacket, Anthony gets infected by an alien entity that goes from being the smoke monster from Lost to Audrey from Little Shop Of Horrors to turning Trey into Swamp Thing to possessing Trey's car like it's a ghost crossed with The Thing (but it's kind of a plant, so maybe more like The Thing From Another World) to The Blob (because it was the best Monster Blood adaptation they could come up with, given the unstated budget) to having long-range telepathic powers that make people see brainwashing ghosts to making pod people like in Invasion Of the Body Snatchers to being an extension of a living alien ship (because it's the closest Disney will ever get to doing Venom halfway right while still screwing it up) to turning Anthony's brother and his friends into A Quiet Place-meets-Aliens monsters...and yet this is all written off as the ship defending itself from human xenophobia despite it attacking humans and displaying overt world domination behavior before experiencing any human aggression. Add on the cliffhanger ending (which felt more like a lead-in to a ninth episode that never happened, rather than the definitive, R.L. Stine-esque finale stinger we got last season) where Trey (having miraculously and nonsensically dropped his overt jealous behavior after being eaten by a plant, turned into a zombie, crushed by and possessing his own car, getting podded, and waking up in a catatonic/mute state in Voorhies Memorial Hospital - yes, I'm serious) vomits up the alien substance well after the ship has left with the souls/minds of its long-podded victims aboard (because Independence Day: Resurgence and Moonfall, too, I guess).
Schwimmer brings a decent level of gravitas and clinically unhinged desperation to his character (sometimes), but lacks the physical flexibility to be as entertaining as Justin Long was in the original season. Devin as a character grounds the series in reality, filtering his supernatural experiences (being dragged away and possibly drugged by the alien substance early on in the season, which afflicted him with hallucinations and memory loss, but never becomes an important plot point again after he mentions it) through the lens of a very real fear: the loss of self, particularly genetic mental deterioration like Alzheimer's or dementia. Jen is a complicated character (relative to an unfocused, formulaic, eight-episode Goosebumps story directed at a modern teen audience) with compromising secrets despite being an officer of the law with a delinquent daughter. And speaking of delinquent daughters, Alex may be the standout supporting character of the season, getting a decent backstory worth the viewer's sympathy and a personality that fits her redemption arc (unlike Trey, whom I want to invite to a Huey Lewis & the News listening party so I can show off my new plastic floor and my axe collection).
I wouldn't be surprised if the reboot got cancelled after this, but if there is a third season coming, I'd still watch it.
D-
If you take too long to engage, I'll start talking nonsense, vomit my own cocoon, and transform into a Body Squeezer, so give me a hug by remembering to Become A Ticketholder if you haven't already, comment your thoughts on the second season of the Goosebumps reboot at the bottom of this post, help out my ad revenue so I don't get abducted by aliens, follow me on BlueSky, Tumblr, Reddit, Facebook, YouTube, and LinkedIn to like what you see and receive the latest hair-raising news on my content, and look forward to me coming to Instagram later this year.
Ticketmaster,
Out For A Scare!
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