The season 1 episode 10 finale of Goosebumps gave literal goosebumps, ending on a rather shocking and game-changing cliffhanger as the Disney+ series awaits a second season renewal. 

I was actually surprised to learn that there were even plans for a second season as I thought this was more of a limited-series scenario, however, the cliffhanger was compelling enough—and I realized I’ve developed a fondness for the characters—that I was excited at the prospect of more. 

Goosebumps managed to do something that’s quite rare—it reinvented itself over the course of 10 episodes. Biddle storyline is now a distant memory, Slappy’s backstory has been revealed and explained, and now we’re finding ourselves invested in the outcome of Margot’s jaw-dropping decision and Nathan Bratt’s second possession.

With a full-fledged franchise backing the series, there’s no shortage of source material, but there are also plenty of stories left to tell when it comes to the five teens.

Throughout the season, much of what was happening to them was a result of other people’s misguided actions—their parents initially with Biddle’s death and then Mr. Bratt’s decision to bring Slappy back to life for selfish reasons. 

But that all changed now that Margot made the conscious decision to save Isaiah’s life using the same incantation that started this whole mess in the first place, filling the crevices of Port Lawrence with a darkness that connects all the way back to the 1800s. 

The episode broke everything down in tangible terms, introducing a villain much more sinister and menacing than Biddle, but one that was here all along as his darkness inhabited Slappy and thus manipulated Harold Biddle into doing his evil bidding.

The man who rose from the grave following a moment of weakness and desperation from Bratt was Rupert, later known as Kanduu, a soldier who would have been killed on the battlefield during a war if he hadn’t found shelter in a temple and uttered the incantation engraved in the walls, healing himself in the process and absorbing the dark energy that fueled his rage to raise the true horrors—ghosts, monsters, curses, etc—to make mankind pay.

His journey took him to a small town where he found Franz Mahar, a puppet maker and Bratt’s great-great-grandfather (keeping it really in the family here), whom he used to lure in people that he then turned into puppets for his ritual. 

When Mahar realized that he made a huge mistake (a deal with the devil of sorts), he had the common sense to use one of Kanduu’s spells against him, banishing him into the body of Slappy, and thus kicking off the dummy’s reign of terror that we saw pan out in the first nine episodes of the horror-series based on the popular ’90s franchise. 

IRL Slappy is much more terrifying than puppet Slappy, not to mention he’s able to do quite a bit more damage by essentially showing the people in town what they want to see before turning them into dummies, including all of the teens’ parents and Lucas. 

Credit: Goosebumps/ Disney+

My guess is that because of everything that the group has been through with Slappy, they were able to see through Kanduu’s charade, so he was unable to turn them before unleashing his longtime plan on the word. In his mind, he’s doing this for the greater good to rid the world of the horror people created on their own, including wars, but Margot blatantly calls him out for trying to justify what’s doing by punishing the world for what he’s been through. 

It’s all a little convoluted—Kanduu’s purpose for wanting to raise hell on Earth falls flat, and essentially, he just wants to be evil. And we’ll take it, solely because of what happens once they destroy Kanduu using one of his own spells, undoing all that he’s done, and sending him back to where he belongs. 

In his final moments, Rupert manages to fire his gun in Margot’s direction, just as Isaiah jumps in front of her, taking a bullet for the girl he just professed his love for mere hours ago. 

All of the townspeople, including the parents, are awakened from the trance and immediately rush to Isaiah’s side before the next scene shows the doctor delivering the bad news to them in the hospital—there’s nothing more that they can do for him besides keep him comfortable.

It’s rare that a show willingly kills off its own protagonist (or one of them) unless there’s a bigger plan in place, which was the case when Isaiah takes the bullet for Margot. His near-death wasn’t in vain, as it pushed Margot to go somewhere she was too afraid before and admit that she’d been in love with Isaiah for years. And this is why you should always tell people how you feel when they are still conscious. 

Her feelings for him are so strong, in fact, that she decides to risk it all and reads the incantation, fully knowing just how dangerous it was and how many problems it caused in the first place. There’s nothing you won’t do for love, right?

Isaiah immediately shoots up, very much alive, while Bratt, who is still blaming himself, goes to the bathroom and sees Kaandu’s reflection in the mirror as he mutters, “Not again.” 

At this point, the responsibility for all that’s been happening shifts from the parents and Bratt solely onto Margot, and by association, the teens, who will undoubtedly back her up in what she’s done but will also have to face the consequences, whatever they may be.

Will Isaiah be a completely different person? Will he be possessed by the evil juju? What’s with Kaandu’s return?

How will they undo this while also sparing Isaiah’s life?

And can’t anyone catch a proper break?

As far as finales go, this one was superb, finding the right mix of mystery, courage, risk, friendship, and romance, though I do hope that come season 2, we’re allowed to explore the other characters as deeply as we’ve gotten to understand Isaiah, Margot and Lucas. Isabella and James provide the levity as comical sidekicks—and I cackled when she said she knew something was wrong because her mom said it was “nice” to see her—but they definitely have main character energy that isn’t being tapped into. 

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And just when we thought Slappy was as bad as it gets, the dummy’s soul transferred into a previously deceased body intent on unleashing all on Earth… or, at the very least, disaster in the form of ravaging fires, as witnessed in a vision by Nathan Bratt, who went through with reading the incantation regardless. 

Bratt seemingly learned nothing throughout the course of this season, even after his body was used as a vessel by Harold Biddle’s vengeful spirit. He saw firsthand the evil effect that Slappy had on Biddle, and yet, in a time of desperation, he not only found Slappy, but read the spell that revived him and then went through with another one to bring one of his ancestors to life, who then proceeded to turn Isaiah’s dad, Ben, into a puppet.

And all because Nathan couldn’t let it go. Goosebumps Season 1 Episode 9 had me feeling sorry for Nathan at first, especially when we saw his backstory depict the extent of his loneliness and financial woes, but as the episode progressed, I understood why he had no friends. 

His desire to get a novel published based on what happened to him (aka the plot of the series) and become the next Stephen King was so strong that he threw caution to the wind without even considering the consequences or repercussions. Slappy gave him an ending alright, but the ending doesn’t matter if the world is burning and no one is around to see it. 

Bratt wanted to capitalize on what he went through, which is fine, even understandably, but you’d think an English teacher would be better positioned to use his imagination to come up with an alternate ending rather than to live through the horrors once again. 

He, however, wasn’t the only one who couldn’t simply shake what happened to him as Lucas was also struggling in the aftermath. While all the other soon-to-be seniors were thriving after getting a second chance at life, he was in a constant state of worry, and it took a toll on his relationship with Margot. 

Margot was considering moving to Seattle after her mother left town and offered her a place to stay, but that didn’t jibe with Lucas, who made up his mind to stay in Port Lawrence, close to his mom, and eventually take over the family business. 

I can’t say I’m too distraught by this breakup because I’m rooting for Isaiah—and while Isaiah tried to be supportive to Margot throughout, he was clearly happy that she was single again. I would’ve hoped that their brush with death would’ve made everyone more upfront with their feelings since you never know how much time you have left, but Isaiah hasn’t been honest with Margot just yet. And speaking of romantic relationships, Isabella continued to crush on Isaiah, though she didn’t say a word about her feelings to him either. 

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This group is bonded by shared trauma at this point, and though they may think that it’s safe now that they’ve defeated Biddle’s spirit and can let the guard down, as we now know—and they soon will too—that couldn’t be further from the truth. Since Bratt couldn’t let it go, Slappy’s reign of terror was only the beginning of the menacing plan in motion.  

The episode felt mostly like filler and padding for the final battle to come, with too many scenes that didn’t serve the overall purpose—like the parent’s dinner or the whole getaway to Seattle, right down to standing in line for overpriced donuts. I was happy that Goosebumps episode 8 wasn’t the finale since there was so much that needed to be addressed character development-wise, but the following episode wasn’t able to keep up with the pacing of the former episode, and thus, it would’ve probably done best if condensed into one longer episode, meshing 9 and 10 together for optimal enjoyment. 

How will Mr. Bratt handle the situation moving forward? Will he call the teens for an assist? Can they just kill someone who was magically returned from the dead? 

Will the parents get involved since they know the most about Slappy? And is Ben’s dad permanently dead? Because that would just be heartbreaking. 

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Goosebumps Season 1 Episode 8 wrapped up Harold Biddle’s story with a happy conclusion, well, as happy as it could be for a possessed ghost seeking revenge using a high school teacher’s body. 

Bratt (and props to Justin Long for his masterful acting) fought to overcome Harold’s strength so that he could find a way to help the teens escape the scrapbook, which was rapidly disintegrating after falling into a puddle. While Harold was surprisingly strong for a ghost, Bratt managed to draw a door that the five of them used to return to reality and jump into action to find Nora, who was headed to the family cabin with the goal of disposing Slappy’s body. 

Naturally, she encountered a few obstacles like a snowstorm, an overly chatty ranger who needed to inspect said bag because he thought it was a dead body (in his defense, she was acting very jumpy), and, of course, Harold, who showed up not too long after her (thanks to very clear directions from said Ranger) and set his sights on retrieving his best friend. 

Nora made a valiant effort to outrun and hide from Biddle, but eventually, he found a way to lure her in by pretending to be Lucas. He grabbed Slappy from her and pushed her into a ditch where he left her unconscious in the snow.

Though she wanted to handle things on her own (and who could blame her after she was institutionalized for telling her friends that Biddle returned), it was a good thing that the kids were not too far behind as Lucas was able to save his mother before she froze to death. 

At the same time, the other parents arrived to lend a hand—though most of them didn’t really do anything of value and shouldn’t be given any credit because Nora was the real MVP, going above and beyond and risking her life to protect everyone and do what she should’ve done all those years ago.

The weather conditions proved to be very dangerous, and during their quest to find Nora, Isaiah fell off of a cliff and hung on for dear life, with one of his hands barely even able to provide enough support due to his injury. They really put that boy through it this season. 

As he called out for help, Biddle, who was reunited with Slappy, peeked over the edge and promised that his death would serve as karma since Isaiah’s father was the last person Harold saw before he died. 

Thankfully, the parents and teens arrived just as Harold picked up a rock and planned to use it against Isaiah. It was a tense moment as Nora tried to remind Biddle that they were not the enemy, nor were they the ones that hurt him and caused him harm. In fact, they tried to take Slappy from him because he was evil and controlling, and when things took a turn for the worse, they tried to help him out of the fire. They didn’t kill him, nor did they ruin his life—it was all Slappy’s doing. 

Slappy, naturally, maintained that this was false and insisted that Harold should end them all. The only person to get through to Harold was Margot when she referred to him as “Harebare,” the same name that his parents, the ones he turned into puppets at the behest of Slappy, called him. Margot informed him that she saw them and they were waiting to reunite with him. 

An inner conflict played out as Harold realized that Slappy was the root of all evil. He reached out a hand to help pull Isaiah up (and honestly, I don’t know how he managed to hang on that long) and then threw Slappy off a cliff to his his demise… or so everyone hoped. 

But clearly, that evil puppet is determined to survive and continue his reign of terror as his eyes popped open in the final scene of the episode. 

If the parents were really dedicated to ensuring Slappy’s death, they would have made their way down to double-check that he was gone for good. 

Instead, a promo for the next episode reveals that Slappy will find a way to manipulate someone else, possibly Mr. Bratt, who now has this strange connection to the puppet, unintentionally. 

Biddle confronted Sarah, and though they didn’t exchange any words, there was a clear transfer of love and sorrow between them about what happened and what could have been, before he saw his parents, reunited with them, and found peace. 

Bratt was released from his scrapbook prison, though waking up at the edge of a snowy cliff and in a lot of pain wasn’t exactly ideal—but hey, at least he’s alive! 

It was a fitting conclusion for Biddle’s storyline, but the story is not over yet. As mentioned, Slappy continues his reign of terror by finding his next victim in episodes to come, and until he’s buried 6 feet in the ground, I don’t think anyone is going to get any peace. 

There are also plenty of interpersonal dynamics to address, including Margot and Isaiah’s will-they-or-won’t-they relationship. Sorry, Isabella, I hope that they will! Isaiah may have considered pursuing something with Isabella just like Margot is with Lucas, but it’s clear that they belong together—and his desire to tell Margot how he feels during a near-death experience is proof. 

What did you think of the Goosebumps episode? Are you happy with how Harold Biddle’s storyline turned out?