‘The Creep Tapes’ Takes Manhattan — But Has the Killer Met His Match?

The Creep Tapes heads to New York in Episode 2, where an attempt to make a new friend quickly becomes a nightmare for one New Yorker when it becomes clear that no isn’t an acceptable answer.

That person is Mo (James Earl), a guy “Randy” (Mark Duplass) spots sitting alone on a park bench. Randy’s previous attempts to be friendly with random New Yorkers didn’t exactly go well, so he approaches Mo from behind, sneaking up on him, and offers him $1,000 to let Randy follow him around, get to know him, and film him for the day.

Mo isn’t interested. Even after Randy ups the offer to $1,500, Mo rejects the proposition and walks away. Fast. Unfortunately for Mo, Randy isn’t particularly good at taking no for an answer.

He follows Mo through the city and onto the subway, even as Mo repeatedly tries to get away from him. Randy sweetens the deal to $2,000, stating that “he’s obsessed” with him, causing Mo to grab the money and make a run for it.

He catches up with Mo, who begs him to leave him alone. “Leave me alone. You don’t want to see what will happen.” “I want to see it. I want to see it all. I want to film it too.” Mo pulls out his own phone and starts filming Randy, telling him to get the “f**k away.” But Randy keeps following him, and the increasingly bizarre encounter takes another turn when Mo actually gets one of Randy’s references to The Bridges of Madison County. Mo pushes Randy to the floor, and he begs for more.

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Mo finally tries to get some help from a security guard named Steve (Chris Gethard), but Randy manages to completely flip the situation. He gaslights Steve into believing Mo is the one who is agitated and has anger issues. Steve tells Mo that he’s being too aggressive and ultimately pepper-sprays him.

And who is there to comfort Mo afterward? Randy, of course.

That’s when Randy starts talking about the “wild animals” people have inside them and talks to Mo about an old friend. “I think we all have these wild animals in us. I got one, you know? He’s a wolf. I call him Peachfuzz,” Randy tells him. “I used to be afraid of him. I was like, if I let this guy out, he’s going to wreak havoc, but then I realized if I don’t let him out, he’s just going to take over, and he’s just going to destroy me. Do you have an animal in you, Mo?”

That actually gets Mo to open up to Randy. He explains how you can’t be too nice because people will take advantage of you, but if you go too hard, suddenly you’re toxic. Then he asks Randy, “Ever want to stomp the s**t out of someone? Smash in their face like a pancake?”

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Randy starts rubbing Mo’s shoulder, which immediately kills whatever bonding moment they were having. Mo asks if Randy may be trying to exploit him and punches him before running away.

The chase eventually takes them to Times Square, and somehow the two reconcile. Mo apologizes for beating Randy up, admitting, “I lost it today, man.” They hug and even end up taking a horse-and-carriage ride through Central Park as their increasingly strange day together hits just about every New York tourist spot imaginable.

For a moment, Randy seems to have gotten exactly what he wanted: a friend. Then Mo tells him he can’t hang out tomorrow. So Randy loses it, and Mo jumps out of the carriage. Randy chases him through the park, but once again Mo gets the upper hand, tackling him in the dark and beating him. “I’ll kill you, you f**king creep,” he tells him.

This time, Randy fights back. Randy kills Mo and stomps on his face, bringing Mo’s earlier words horrifyingly to life. But Randy’s final words reveal just how twisted his idea of their relationship had become.

“I don’t want to need you because I can’t have you.” And then he starts to sob.

It’s a surprisingly vulnerable ending for a very brutal encounter, and that strange mix of violence and a desperate need for connection is something Duplass says the series is exploring even further this season.

“I think we’ve always felt that Mr. Peachfuzz, first and foremost, is looking to connect with people. I think that’s part of what audiences have responded to. His goal is very rarely, ‘I just want to go out and kill this person.’ His goal is, ‘I want some deep, fast human connection.’ And part of his problem is that he moves a little too quickly for people’s comfort, and it sort of ends poorly,” explained Duplass. “But I think what is different this season is that we really listened to our audiences, and they’ve reflected back to us how much they love the emotional and sensitive side of him, which we didn’t know if the horror community would embrace. The more we push on that, the more we like it, so we definitely are leaning in a bit.”

“I think what we’re seeing with the evolution of the show is that, as we realize what our audiences are comfortable with, you’re seeing us push the character further,” said star and creator Mark Duplass about his main character’s new hunting methods. “There was some inherent insecurity when we started making this show of, ‘We want to make something that we like, but also that horror fans will like.’ And what they’ve reflected back to us is, ‘We like what you like. We like the weird sh*t that you like.’”

“What that allows us to do is dig a little bit deeper into the psychology of what makes this guy tick, and, honestly, the sweeter side of him that is just human and looking to connect with people and mine that a little bit more than we thought we would be able to in a show called The Creep Tapes. That’s been a really pleasant surprise for us.”

The Creep Tapes, Season 3, Tuesdays, Shudder