Another revamped version of R. L. Stine’s Goosebumps returns to the small screen. Instead of individual stories set in sporadic places, Rob Letterman and Nicholas Stoller’s series puts the iconic horrors (like Say Cheese and Die— the episode starring a young Ryan Gosling and The Haunted Mask, a personal favorite) in a singular small Washington town. Soon, the young angst brings another horror altogether. Allison, Isaiah’s popular girlfriend, has competition for his waylaid affections in the next door neighbor Margot and even the vengeful, invisible Isabella. Yet, of the three girls, only one isn’t included in the upcoming Scooby Doo-ish quintet that eventually forms.
If you’ve read any tweets, you can see from the start that watchers write off Allison as an insecure, jealous, and annoying Mean Girl. Allison, a gorgeous Black teen sporting a moisturized Afro and killer fashion sense, vents about her canceled secret party, unknowing that Isabella has been cyber bullying her— supposedly as tit for tat. The quiet, unsuspecting girl is this year’s cruel hacker and it doesn’t take a mask to showcase that Isabella too behaves nastily. She just exhibits it differently.
Allison’s Halloween party goes off without a hitch at the haunted home of Harold Biddle until new owner Nathan Bratt, the English teacher / failed writer, kicks everyone out. Allison runs into the woods— questionable behavior, Sis— and meets Biddle’s ghost. Isaiah happens to find her and seems genuinely concerned for her well being. This care begins fading away in the next episodes. Allison sees the closeness between Isaiah and Margot and questions it, which is understandable. How can anyone compete with the childhood girl-next-door, the one who has seen him grow up, whose families are also explicitly intertwined? Plus, she’s beautiful, fair, and soft spoken. Of course, Allison feels threatened by Margot, someone many would prefer. The writing makes this storyline glaringly obvious— its noticeably drawn feminine parallels of darker versus lighter complexion characters. Allison showcases a brash and loud external personality whereas Margot is a vulnerable and shy internalized figure. So, yes, this specific (yet expected) conditioning begins early in adolescence.
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| Allison inspecting the haunted Biddle House with Isaiah (Zach Morris) and James (Miles McKenna) for her secret costume party. DP: Stephen McNutt and Thomas Yatsko. |
The other takeaway is that Isaiah and Margot’s parents went to high school together. They too formed a close-knit pact with the other parents in town, excluding Allison’s own. She would always be on the outside looking in, a girl with no connections other than being the stylish babe on the football player’s arm. There is no interest in developing where she comes from, her Cordelia Chase behavior, or why she even dates Isaiah. Perhaps that’s just old-fashion high school sentiment, the popular always seeks the popular, no questions asked. Often, it seems Isaiah doesn’t really like Allison as much as she likes him. Young, dumb, teenage coupledom stuff. She’s a placeholder until the one he truly wants admits her feelings.
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| Once the lights go out, the curious trio: Isaiah (Zach Morris), Allison (Rhinnan Payne), and James (Miles McKenna) inspect the mysterious Biddle House. DP: Stephen McNutt and Thomas Yatsko. |
Thus, the cheating happens— a metaphoric coincidence of Isaiah copying off Margot’s test (which she allows) while Margot’s father, the school guidance counselor Colin is having an intimate affair with restaurateur Nora— Lucas’s mother. Meanwhile, Allison is suspicious, asking Isaiah if anything is happening between him and Margot. He denies and denies, expressively stating that nothing is there. Allison’s strong women’s intuition should have told her not to settle, especially upon witnessing the five (Isaiah, Margot, James, Isabella, and Lucas) having secret meetings. Allison could have helped move things further along, the first seeing the ghost burst into flames before her very eyes and keeping mum about the experience.
Instead of being a good boyfriend, much less a genuine pal, Isaiah shuts out Allison on the paranoia tip, but admits the plagiarism with Margot. This again parallels Colin and Nora’s scandalous affair. The sadness and disappointment sweeps across Allison’s face— that “how could you?” despair. Isaiah couldn’t ask Allison for help, ask the teacher or librarian for additional aide, let alone study. No. He runs to Margot and begs the smart girl to let him copy her hard work. Allison says Isaiah’s not who she thought he was and turns her back on him, heading to Colin’s office. In that moment, Allison would either lose a shifty boyfriend or pretend that she could overlook what was manifesting right in front of her. And it had nothing to do with an angry spirit. In that moment, she becomes another villain, a catalyst to the impending coupling of Isaiah and Margot. Also, Allison then is petered out, mentioned only casually as a stinging barb from Isabella’s lips.
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| Isaiah (Zach Morris) aka Fred and Margot (Isa Briones) aka Daphne of this makeshift Scooby gang. DP: Stephen McNutt and Thomas Yatsko. |
Once Isaiah dumps Allison offscreen, a relieved James vents about how much he never liked her (turncoat!). In the next breath, however, Isaiah relays concern over Margot and her soon-to-be stepbrother Lucas.
“You don’t think I have anything to worry about, do you?”— Isaiah asks James who gives subtle wingman flashbacks of Greg “You’re So In There” Wuliger from Everybody Hates Chris. It’s an eye rolling contradiction. Alas, that’s the honest thing about youth, still uncertain about who/what you want in your future. You may want mint chocolate chip cookie dough, but the rocky road has always been a divine flavor to your taste buds. Allison doesn’t symbolize true love to Isaiah. She was already established, a comfortable thing already conquered, a dying flame. They almost seemed brother/sister, platonic. Whereas Margot presents the untested boundaries, the forbidden possibility. Also, Isaiah and Margot’s interactions always held a tension that wasn’t apparent between Isaiah and Allison— that’s intentional.
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| There’s no room for Allison on this paper bag test couch anyway— the “Scooby” gang: Isaiah “Fred” (Zach Morris), Isabella “Velma” (Ana Yi Puig), James “Shaggy” (Miles McKenna), Lucas “Scooby” (Will Price), and Margot “Daphne” (Isa Briones). Plus, Isabella— who’s also harboring a crush on Isaiah touches his thigh. James is sadly sandwiched between the strangest quadrangle of unrequited crushes. DP: Stephen McNutt and Thomas Yatsko. |
Still, for Allison, if I were writing for her, viewers would see her coming to terms with the Biddle ghost and whatever else she’s certainly seen at night. What are her own reservations for the future? Would she prefer staying in a creepy town where ghouls and worm monsters swirl among the strangely empty streets? Or would she have done what typical lovers do— follow her boyfriend wherever he wound up? However, what if that first encounter in the woods made Biddle possess her as opposed to Nathan? Did her parents move to town after the five accidentally burn Biddle alive or did they two witness Slappy in action?
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| Maria (Rhinnan Payne) in the forthcoming short film, Are You Hungry?— cinematography by Belen Garcia, photo by Luka Ciprian. |
Allison’s portrayer Rhinnan Payne, who has a modest amount of film/television credits, shows a promising future here. An upcoming project— Rachel Rose’s short film called
Are You Hungry?— has Payne leading as Maria, a star varsity basketball player reflecting on the thrill of the game and appreciating an aggressive coach’s methods. Maria sounds similar to Allison, passionate, determined. There’s about twenty people or more in the male created
Goosebumps, so yes, this Maria role definitely gives Payne breathing room outside of big casts, especially as Payne is recurring and not heavily promoted on the latter.
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| May we always remember Allison (Rhinnan Payne) dressed as Uma Thurman’s infamous Bride and SZA’s Kill Bill playing on the rolling end credits— probably one of the more clever moments in the series. DP: Stephen McNutt and Thomas Yatsko. |
After binging all ten episodes (some contain good scares) and seeing that Black girls remain unloved by the white male gaze, the biggest takeaway is that Rhinnan Payne made an impression. Furthermore, Allison may not have been around long, she counts as a Final Black Girl anyway (though no one dies in this Goosebumps except Biddle and his parents— rest in peaches).
