Review: Monster High “Case of the Moondays; Portrait of a Monster”

Overview

“Case of the Moondays”

To evade monster hunters, Clawdeen must embrace her human side to save herself and Cleo…

“Portrait of a Monster”

Frankie’s picture-day panic causes them to ZAP the school camera into a soul-sucking menace…

Our Take

In the first half which is written by Leah Longoria of The Casagrande’s and “Jane the Virgin” fame Clawdeen discovers some new tricks to her Wolf powers as a possible side-effect to the full moon according to Cleo which is kind’ve a reverse parable to the classic werewolf tropes we’ve come to expect from fiction given that Clawdeen is often in her Wolf form 24/7 and attempts to interact/fit in with two other wolf characters we’ve never seen before named Romulus and “Barkimedes”. But in the process, we’re introduced to a group of Monster Hunters that don’t seem like a scary presence in terms of their approach or how they look and behave like ill-prepared dolts.

As for the other episode, written by “Mae Catt” who wrote episodes of “Young Justice”, puts the focus on Frankie who is in a bit of a dilemma on how she wants to look for the upcoming “Fearbook” It’s when the Camera becomes hostile, leading Frankie to find an unusual but effective solution…

Overall, both episodes were passable even if Shae Fontana wasn’t at the helm. The first half introduced more characters that might play a major role somewhere down the line depending on the writing. Along with the introduction to possibly the first antagonistic force of the show in the form of “Monster Hunters” who design-wise look like low-tier street thugs with no weapons or anything that would label them a legitimate threat at all, but that also remains to be seen in later episodes.

As for the 2nd half, it mostly worked as your typical by-the-numbers anxiety-driven premise that some teens go through on how they want to be remembered in a school yearbook story. Only it’s comically elevated to 11 due to a series of blunders on Frankies end, yet at the end of the day, both episodes show how two of our 3 leads are capable of putting their ingenuity and wits to use when the situation calls for it while hinting an unraveling mystery regarding the necklace Clawdeen is wearing that’s somehow tied to her powers.