First off, I posted a new thread earlier about a review my wife and I did for this episode on our blog where my wife & I review Holiday episodes. I posted in another thread, I'll post it here too:
http://holidayfilmreviews.blogspot.com/ ... oween.html
I've got some reactions/observations to some of the comments here:
Re Sharon's costume being out of character for her:that's what Halloween is all about, right? Just like Angela says in the intro. She can be an exhibitionist once a year.
Brian & Jordan's lack of costumes:
Brian is in a weird place in school and life right now. He wants to be seen as "mature", so wearing a costume could prevent that from happening. Based on what we know about his parents, one (or both) of them would likely frown upon him wearing a Halloween costume.
He's picked on by jocks & other bullies (as we see in the pilot and the opening credits). He's also picked on by outsiders like Rayanne. So wearing a costume could likely result in more ridicule from all sides.
Also, Brian's "costume" is that he's a "rebelious kid" for Halloween. Rickie is wearing Brian's clothes, he does the "good kid" thing and takes off when Rayanne wants to break into Liberty. Brian breaks into the school, he takes Rickie's place in the Angela/Rayanne/Rickie trio. Even as he cautions Angela, he breaks the law and (possibly worse in his mind) violates school rules!
I'm guessing Jordan wouldn't participate in Halloween for the same reason he wouldn't go to the World Happiness Dance. It's just not part of his world and/or he sees himself as "too cool" to wear a costume. The "aresholes"(as starbug called them) he hangs out with on Halloween would likely make fun of him, and he couldn't handle that. Being seen as tough or macho (or thinking of he is) is one of the only things he has going for him in life.
In my review I linked to, I give special props to AJ Langer and Devon Gummersall. I love those scenes of them in the basement, some of my favorite scenes in the entire series. Even if Rayanne is lying about being locked in the basement, she confides in Brian about her father never coming home. Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't recall her talking about her father prior to this scene (it's been a few years since I watched the whole series).
The scene with Rickie & Jordan was great too.
I see where some of you don't like the "magic" aspects of 'Halloween'. For a long time I felt the same way, that "ghosts" have no place in a show that's supposed to be "like, real" (as the characters might say). But this year, after re-watching it for the season, I figure, it's Halloween, anything can happen in a Halloween episode, even on MSCL.
But I did find the "Angela/Jordan/Nicky Driscoll" story to be less interesting than the "Rayanne/Brian", "Patty/Graham" and "Sharon/Danille" storylines. And with Angela off on her own for the second half, this episode is a nice reminder of what a great ensemble cast MSCL featured.