Main cast: Ryan Beil (Jay Stratton), Sara Canning (Astrid), Marlee Walchuk (Nicole), Kelly Metzger (May), David Beairsto (Stephen Bachman), Sachin Sahel (Richard), Rachel Drance (April), Maemae Renfrow (Jean), Kingston Chan (Daisy), Elfina Luk (Detective Kiernan), and Rebecca Davis (Dr Spence)
Directors: Kailey Spear and Sam Spear
Jay Stratton is not happy. The author of a single horror novel has bad writer’s block and his deadline looms near. How could his idol and the object of his envy, the famous horror author Stephen Bachman, write two to three horror novels a year and still maintain the quality of his works? Well, he will soon find out in The Hat, and oh boy.
Yes, Stephen Bachman is just Stephen King and his pseudonym Richard Bachman mashed together, because let’s face it, we’re not exactly spoiled for choices when it comes to present day horror author icons that normies will recognize, so he would have to do. More the pity, really.
Anyway, Jay’s agent Nicole keeps some horror author paraphernalia and mementos in her office, and one of them is a homburg hat owned by Bachman himself, kept inside a glass container with a sign that says DO NOT OPEN. Naturally, he does and even puts it in.
Far from annoyed, Nicole offers to loan him the hat, stating that it helped Bachman overcome his own episodes of writer’s block, and if Jay would make the necessary sacrifices to succeed, it will help him. Wait, what kind of sacrifices again?
I wonder if this segment was intended to be an allegory for the dangers of using AI to replace writers, because that’s what the hat does, turning Jay into a word generator.
Mind you, I don’t want having a few of those hats. Not for myself, of course, but for a few minions that will write bestseller novels under my name, muahahaha. Oh, the lovely life I could have had with a few of those hats! Where can I order some?
Anyway, this segment is a very entertaining one. Ryan Beil steals every scene he is in, and Nicole is also fun as the deceptively cheery agent that is actually very cutthroat underneath that façade of hers. The premise is fun, although the ending “twist” can be seen coming from a mile away.
Next is Grieving Process. Richard has lost his job, which frees up plenty of time for him to make his wife April breakfast and generally being the best househusband ever. Wait, why does he need to get another job again?
The whole thing is just too sickly sweet to last, so of course it doesn’t. April gets attacked while heading toward her car on her way out of the office. Things go downhill when she comes back from the hospital not being herself, to put it mildly…
This one is another solid episode, although it gets really silly toward the end with the unnecessary addition of that child. Not everything needs to be laid out explicitly to the viewer, and having that child only ruins the dynamic between Richard and the new and improved April that is going so well up to that point.
This segment boasts some nice gore and practical effects, and Sachin Sahel carries the whole thing on his shoulders like a pro. Richard is so adorable as the husband that will the extra mile and then some for his wife, and the whole thing is very Santa Clarita Diet in a fun and wholesome way.
All in all, this is an actually well done episode with two rollicking segments. Dare I hope that this show will maintain the momentum?
