Director's Notes – Episode 89

(As always, don’t read these until you’ve listened to the episode unless you don’t care about being spoiled in which case la di dah, aren’t you so above it all.)

I love beagles.

Let me back up. I love dogs. But of all dogs, I love hounds best. It’s their dumb floppy  ears, you know? And of all hounds, I love beagles best.

Beagles are my everything.

When I was a small child, I used to hang out with my neighbor’s beagle, Romeo, in their driveway. He would be tied up outside while my neighbor was in his garage, and the neighbor was nice enough to let me just come over and sit with his dog, because his dog was a beagle and therefore my favorite thing in the whole world.

One time I hugged Romeo too hard and he lightly bit my face to get me to let go. I once got bit by a beagle because I hugged it too hard.

I wonder if most of the plot for this year was pretty much written so that we could name the last episode of the year “Who’s A Good Boy?” Probably.

We were doing an event with Maureen Johnson to promote our new Welcome to Night Vale novel, and I turned to Maureen and said: “I have this idea where Satan brings an army to attack Night Vale and you end up as Satan’s right hand woman. Does that sound good?” and she was very into the idea.

There was a clue we put very early on in this year that the thing that Chad had summoned was Satan, but I don’t think anyone caught it. Maybe no one ever will. If you want to try to find it, here’s a hint: it was during one of the episodes of our show.

Incorporating some traditional horror elements into the Night Vale story this year was a lot of fun. We don’t often swing completely creepy, but sometimes it’s nice to take away all humor and let the horror stand on its own.

We’re already talking about what we’re planning for year 5, and I’m very excited about it. More on that soon. But for now, who’s a good boy? Who is it? Who is it?

- Joseph Fink
June 1, 2016