Friday the 13th: The Series (TV Series) The Poison Pen (1987) User Reviews

Acceptable, but the show still hadn't hit it's stride yet

[movieman_kev · 5/10 · 4 March 2009]

In order to retrieve a cursed pen that has the power to make the written word into a reality, Ryan and Micki disguise themselves as monks and infiltrate the monastery where the pen and it's owner resides.

This was one of the worser episodes of the show. It hasn't yet hit it's stride that it would in just a few episodes. Why Micki would be so skeptical about people who can tell the future, after she just battled a demonic doll is beyond me, as is how any red-blooded male would be fooled into thinking she was a guy. But those qualms aside the idea of the cursed item for this episode was intriguing even if there wasn't too much use made of it. Again I feel the need to reiterate that while Friday the 13: the series was a very cool show, it didn't really hit the ground running that well, but in subsequent episodes it'll start to really shine. So stick with it.

My Grade: C

Yentl Meets In the Name of the Rose

[GaryPeterson67 · 7/10 · 4 September 2015]

Friday THE 13th: THE SERIES is an outstanding show with many, many stand out episodes. "The Poison Pen," alas, is not among them. It's not irredeemably bad, however, if you can overlook the shortcomings.

A cursed quill pen is discovered being used for evil in a monastery. Somebody has to slip in undercover and retrieve it. Jack is the logical choice, but inexplicably Ryan and Micki go. Why? Because John LeMay and Robey are the stars of the series and weren't going to sit on the back bench while Jack solves this case, even though that would have made a fantastic episode.

Instead we get Robey playing a poor man's Yentl who just by battening down the hatches, hiding her big eighties hair under a monk's cowl, and feigning a vow of silence succeeds in fooling every man in the monastery into believing she's one of the guys! That opened a credibility chasm that never closed sufficiently to allow full enjoyment of the story. It was just too over-the-top ridiculous. I can suspend disbelief, but this called for a negation of disbelief.

And just what kind of monastic order was this, anyway? I initially suspected quasi-Christian by the occasional cross--but never a crucifix--spotted in the background, but then why do the monks gather to meditate around a flaming cauldron like pagans? The order grows grapes for wine, yet they eat a cheerless staple diet of brown rice like an Eastern religion. No mention is ever made of Jesus Christ nor is a Bible ever seen, though a functional guillotine is on hand. This group was less anything recognizably orthodox and more akin to a rogue branch of Borgnine's wild bunch in THE DEVIL'S RAIN.

There was much to enjoy, despite the missteps along the way. The premise of a cursed quill pen with which one can write prophecies that invariably come true was really inventive. When Abbott Le Croix writes a death sentence for Brothers Matthew and Simon he's perplexed why it failed to kill Ryan and Micki. But it didn't fail--in faraway Yorkshire a couple hapless and unsuspecting brothers named Matthew and Simon did die! That was scary, tragic, and would maybe have created an ethical dilemma for Ryan and Micki had they learned of it.

Colin Fox played with aplomb the scheming Abbott Le Croix, in reality a corrupt businessman who murdered his partner. His suave and sophisticated villainy really shines when he turns the tables on the real estate broker who was playing him for a rube. When Le Croix brought out a cigar and expertly clipped the end I was immediately reminded of Carl Betz playing a similar cigar-chomping criminal disguised as a clergyman on STARSKY & HUTCH. Presenting evil veneered in the garb of holy men has long been an effective and appealing trope in television and movies.

And speaking of which, this episode swipes from and/or pays homage to a number of that era's epics, from PORKY'S to IN THE NAME OF THE ROSE. I was also reminded at different times of THE FLYING NUN and BOSOM BUDDIES. I have to credit the creators for bringing together strange bedfellows in their borrowings!

This episode did succeed in cementing the camaraderie between Ryan, Micki, and Jack. They really worked well together as a team, dedicated to a common cause. This one also implies that neither Ryan nor Jack is attracted to Micki. How else to interpret the scene in which she leaped from her bed in fetching French-cut underwear and Ryan doesn't even glance up and Jack's more interested in stroking the spider? What is it with these guys?! Even the scene-stealing Brother Drake appears more excited by the fact that he uncovered "Brother Simon" is a woman than by the uncovered woman herself. The ravishing Robey risked an inferiority complex from the utter lack of male interest she aroused in this episode.

The series was just getting steady on its feet, and having watched it first run I already know of the great things to come down the road, so I was forgiving of this episode's faults. Stay tuned because, as the song goes, "the best is yet to come!"

OK episode.

[The_King_of_Cool · 5/10 · 16 September 2017]

Episode 2: The Poison Pen- ***

The trio attempts to get back a cursed quill pen that when used whatever is written comes true. Fairly good episode, what works well is the scenes with Ryan and Micki, besides that this one falls a bit flat at times. The one thing that bothers me, while maybe silly is Ryan and Micki go undercover as Monks to get back a cursed pen. How anyone can mistake Micki for a guy is beyond me. Despite the flaws the episode works well and is still setting up the premise and characters.

An Okay Episode, For an Early One

[Gislef · 6/10 · 19 July 2020]

For a first half of a first season episode, "The Poison Pen" is okay. Colin Fox makes a decent villain, even if isn't as good as in his future appearances.

Micki's complaining is annoying, and they got rid of that after they dumped her fiancée Lloyd in a later episode. She's more interesting when she's fully onboard with the antique hunting, and later when she becomes the voice of experience to Johnny.

Ryan is... Ryan. Chris Wiggins gets a chance to cut loose a little, and he's always fun whether Jack is oohing and ahhing over 14th century parchment, or chuckling at his own cleverness about forging a fake pen in a gambit that never comes to anything.

I like Arrupe, who gives a little kick of his feet before hopping into bed. After he gets the message that he's been promoted to abbot. I can't tell if he's kicking off his slippers or kicking his feet in joy. The little smirk he has suggests the latter. And why does he have such a big bed, when he was just promoted?

The episode is hurt by the bad CGI and the nonsensical plot device. Abbot Capilano flying into the air, and the guillotine blade swooshing after La Croix, are both bad examples. Fortunately the show would improve on the F/X, mostly sticking to practical effects. The bad CGI tends to take you out of the episode.

As far as the nonsensical stuff, the curse is inconsistent. The pen's prediction forces Currie to kill himself, but it doesn't make La Croix kill himself. Instead it levitates a guillotine blade around the room. Wha? And why is there a guillotine in the basement of a Canadian monastery? Yeah, Ryan mumbles some explanation, but it still doesn't make sense. And why does Arrupe rip the canopy from his face but still die? Did it crush him to death? If so, what was the point of him showing him clearing a hole for his face?

Having Micki disguised as a boy doesn't really work, either. Louise Robey as a man? Perish the thought. I guess becoming a monk makes you blind.

But overall, it's a decent episode from the episode's early run. La Croix basically defeating himself by signing the invoice he's signed with his real name, is an example of the cleverness the writers would display later.

But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. What do you think?

The Oracle of Death

[claudio_carvalho · 7/10 · 16 March 2024]

Micki and Ryan pose of monks transferred from Yorkshire to have access to an ancient monastery. They want to meet the reclusive Brother Currie, who is capable to foresee who will die and became notorious with his Oracle of Death. They are aware that he is using a cursed quill pen to write the deaths. However, Brother Drake suspects and follows them everywhere, reporting his findings to the monk Albert Le Croix. Jack Marshak poses as a monk from Ireland to join Micki and Ryan in the searching of the cursed pen and soon he discovers a dark secret about Brother Albert Le Croix, who will be the next abbot of the monastery.

"The Poison Pen" is the second episode of "Friday the 13th: The Series", with another interesting story. It is funny to see the beautiful Louise Robey posing as a man since she never convinces. The way Micki and Ryan talk loud it is impossible that the monks do not overhear them. The rest of the plot is highly entertaining. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "A Irmandade Eterna" ("The Eternal Brotherhood")

This pen is indeed mightier

[allexand · 4/10 · 1 July 2009]

Micki, Ryan, and Jack, now feeling obligated to retrieve the evil objects once housed in their store, follow a lead about a monk with an uncanny ability to foresee the future. Jack suspects that a cursed pen with the ability to make anything it writes come true might be the reason for his sudden clairvoyance.

"The Poison Pen" is a huge disappointment for the series. I had such high hopes going into this one. The premise about a pen which makes its words a reality is incredibly intriguing and has millions of possibilities. Yet it falls flat on its face.

I'll go ahead and start with the good because there are a few good points to be found here. The antique of the week, while on the surface would seem like an obvious choice, it's also very imaginative as well. We get to see Micki and Ryan play off each other very well. As a bonus, we get reminded that they are novices since this is only the second episode. The episode's main antagonist, played by Colin Fox, is quite convincingly evil. The creepy, yet harmless Brother Drake deserves also honorable mention.

Now for the bad. In the beginning we're treated to a cheesy and unnecessary line by Jack: "It's from a Chilean condor. They're the deadliest kind, you know. " So what. We go next to the whole set-up of this episode: Micki and Ryan sneak into a monastery to get back the pen under the guise of brothers Matthew and Simon from Yorkshire. Ryan, maybe, but what kind of blind fools would think Micki was a guy? Brother LaCroix tries to have them eliminated, via the pen, but kills the guys whose identity they stole instead. It's too much of a lucky coincidence that their alter-egos turned out to be real people from the same monastery, no less. Brother LaCroix writes that the current Abbott is to choke to death but yet his death scene perplexingly has his bed collapse on him. He does all this to gain control of the monastery so he can sell it for a quick buck. Instead of going to all this trouble, why not use the pen to write down, "I have millions of dollars?" As a side note, I don't even want to think about why there's a peephole in the shower of an all-male monastery. It certainly foreshadows the scandals that would tarnish the Catholic church's reputation for years to come.

In the end, Brother LaCroix finds out the trio's real identities so he can write out their deaths. How does he figure out who they are? Once again, instead of doing all this, why doesn't he just write down, "Micki, Ryan, and Jack never get the pen back?" Of course, they outsmart him and he dies a death, while meant to be grisly, is unintentionally hilarious. The method of death (a guillotine blade chases him around) is silly enough but the sub-par special effects will have your sides splitting with laughter. I don't know how authentic it looked back when it aired, but it's terrible now.

"The Poison Pen," could have been so much better than what it was. It was a big letdown overall with a never-in-a-million-years plot, horrible special effects, and a cursed antique concept that's totally wasted.