The Creep Tapes Recap #5: Brandt

The Creep Tapes continues to find ways to get weirder, and I love that for all of us. This is possibly the most bizarre tape we have seen (so far), and I live every time I rewatch it. We basically watch Mark Duplass’ weirdo play with himself in what has to be the most unusual bottle episode I have watched in my entire career as a couch potato. Let us let Peachfuzz out of the bag and get into it!

The Creep Tapes – Season 1, Episode 5: ’ Brandt”

The episode opens with Kyle (Duplass’ alias this week) prepping a hotel room for company. He makes sure his ax and other instruments of death are where he can find them as he sings a catchy little tune. For the sake of brevity, I will not take that song apart line by line because we should all be leaning in. This whimsical moment does not last long because this episode quickly sets itself apart from any of our other Peachfuzz adventures.

Any good nerd picked up on how opening with Kyle (The Josef, The Peachfuzz, and the Holy Spirit) prepping for a kill is wildly different from how we enter these murder tapes. While we see our serial killer and the axe, this is still not our home turf. We might have expected this would lead to complications for our dude from being out of his natural element. However, a messy kill or difficulty catching his prey was clearly too simple. We should be ashamed for assuming Patrick Brice and Duplass would give us something so basic after all these years. Instead, they decide to use this episode of The Creep Tapes to separate the man from the wolf…sort of.

The Fuzz Is Hitting The Fan

We watch our man spiral once he realizes this hookup might be a no-show. The voicemails he leaves and how he looks into the camera as he acts as if he has a moral high ground remind us that he is not in our reality anymore. It is funny to watch and feels akin to that self-proclaimed cool uncle who gets too tipsy at family gatherings and lets the facade slip. However, we also got a glimpse of a breakdown triggered by perceived rejection and abandonment.

He continues losing his shit and argues with Peachfuzz, who disobeyed him and stowed away in his bag (we are so in danger) and setting this up to be one of the best things on TV. There is also a knock on the door from someone looking for the room of someone they were supposed to hook up with. While we do not know if that stranger ever found Harry P., we know he probably had a less eventful night than what happened in the Peachfuzz room.

We get a weird glimpse into how our sociopath sees himself as a separate entity from Peachfuzz. We watch him try to tiptoe around his alter ego’s feelings while also bickering and trying to assert dominance. What seemed like a way to pass the time, or maybe just a casual menty b, actually takes us a lot deeper into the psyche of this man we have followed for two movies and one (way too short) season of television. It is akin to pulling the curtain back on something without knowing if you are ready to lose some of the magic. It is also a deliciously weird episode and is possibly my favorite of The Creep Tapes.

But What Did We Just See?

I know people are going to argue that Peachfuzz Inc. is fucking with us, and this is another reminder these tapes are edited. I fully acknowledge that those two things are true. However, I also think our boy is more damaged than we gave him credit for. This penultimate episode serves as a reminder of who he is, as it also feeds us new stuff. Like any good media about a serial killer, we needed to see some form of an internal battle. Unlike most, there is no voice of reason telling him not to do the crimes or to feel remorse. There are two wolves inside him who both love playing this killing game for sport. 

What I love about The Creep Tapes is that it leaves so much to interpretation. There are countless ways to interpret every episode, depending on if you picked up your imaginary psych degree from Google, YouTube, or Twitter. We might all be wrong. Or we might all be right. At the end of the day, no one really knows what makes anyone tick. We know what they show us, and we have our suspicions, but how often do we get answers to why anyone is the way they are?

The Norman Bates Allegations

Duplass’ commitment to absurdity and creepiness in his performance always makes for a delightfully sinister time. Most people in my generation always thought he was good in whatever we associated him with before Creep changed our brain chemistry. However, this character is his Norman Bates, and it is cool to watch it happen in real time. This episode specifically drives that home. Not just because it takes place in a motel room and fully peels back queer tones for people who cannot do basic script analysis. I say that because after seeing him practically do a one-man show, something pretty obvious was confirmed.

This character cannot be transferred to any other actor like most franchises because it is so fused with what this likable actor brings to the table every outing. The people keep trying to make Psycho fetch, but it continues to fall flat without Anthony Perkins. The character and the actor are fused, and the audience benefits from watching them vibe on the same wavelength. This was a chaotically claustrophobic clusterfuck (of the mind) of an episode, and it is one of my favorites. “Brandt” also reminds us how wildly different The Creep Tapes is than anything else. Many shows do bottle episodes. However, how many rely on most of that work being done by an actor doing a solo piece for the bulk of the runtime? 

Catch!

Brandt (Scott Pitts) finally does arrive, and we get our quickest and most surprising kill of the season. I do not know if we got so absorbed in this tale of a man and his alter ego that we forgot we were waiting on a kill. Or because we are so used to watching him play with his victims that we have come to expect that foreplay before the murder. However, my jaw dropped to hell as Brandt opened the door and immediately caught an axe. I also love that the weapon was thrown by Peachfuzz in a bathrobe, signifying that these two halves have made peace for the night. Or, at the very least, he is done playing with himself for now.

The Peachfuzz Rundown: 

Peachfuzz Alias: Kyle

Deadly Double Meaning: “You need to let me out of this closet!”

Passing Strays: 

• “The Luckiest Boy in the World” is my new Exhibit A for whatever case Peachfuzz is tried for first. So, many things to unfurl indeed!
• I love that the person who got away was a person of color. He picked up on that Christian Camp Counselor vibe and passed. 
• It seemed weird that this episode was called “Brandt”, seeing as we just killed a Brad last week. However, this victim was not the focal point because we watched Duplass play with himself in a motel room.
• We learned this was supposed to be his first solo project independent of Peachfuzz. I need the  timeline of events because I am on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
• Everything that happens in the shower is a roller coaster. However, “You wanna be a big wolf. You just remember this…you take a shot at the king, you bet not miss.” sounds super familiar. The internet says it is a paraphrase from The Wire, but I have never seen that show. This is another spiral for me. 
• The way the air got sucked out of my apartment when the phrase, “I miss mommy” was dropped.
• “Bitch ass baby wolf” will be the name of something dear to me someday. 
• I will say it (again) next week, but this season needed more than six episodes. 

New episodes of The Creep Tapes hit Shudder on Fridays.

Did you miss Sharai’s last recap? Then read it here! Want to hear Sharai talk about the entire season? Then listen to this recent episode of Girl, That’s Scary.