'The Creep Tapes' Season 2 Episode 1 Recap & Ending Explained: Is Joseph Dead Or Alive?

In the first episode of The Creep Tapes Season 2, we see Peachfuzz walking into a lavish-looking cottage with his video camera. He goes into the basement, and there’s a guy in there sitting on a chair; his hands are tied, and his face is covered with a pillowcase, but it’s evident that he is injured because the blood flowing from his nose or mouth is all over the pillowcase. Peachfuzz, who is using a voice modulator, is surprised that his victim didn’t try to leave and compliments him for doing so. He sets the camera down, and after praising the scared guy some more, he lays him on the ground and seemingly chops his head off with an axe. When he approaches the camera and takes off his mask, we learn that it’s not the real Peachfuzz (played by Mark Duplass), but a copycat (played by David Dastmalchian). Somehow, the real Peachfuzz has attained a copy of the copycat Peachfuzz’s video, and after watching it, he comes to the conclusion that maybe imitation isn’t the sincerest form of flattery. What happens next? Let’s find out.

Spoiler Alert

Okay, so, this whole episode of The Creep Tapes is essentially a rehash of the 2014 Creep movie, except, instead of Peachfuzz luring an unsuspecting videographer into a trap under the pretext of shooting a video diary for his unborn child that he won’t get to see because he’s dying, it’s Peachfuzz being lured into a trap by Joseph. En route to Joseph’s house, we even get a glimpse of the rental house with the yellow door where Peachfuzz killed Aaron. When he finally gets there, we see the advertisement that Joseph has used to get Peachfuzz’s attention. He has claimed that he’ll pay $100 to anyone who’ll be willing to film him for one day without questioning why he is doing what he is doing. Peachfuzz promised to pay Aaron $1000. So, even though he says that he isn’t judging Joseph, he’s totally looking down upon him for being such a cheapskate. Right when he is about to go on a whole rant about this situation, Joseph arrives and introduces himself as Joseph. Since Peachfuzz had introduced himself to Aaron as Josef, he addresses the fact that they have the same names. Joseph then begins doing the same things that Peachfuzz did in his video with Aaron, but since Peachfuzz is one step ahead of him, he outdoes Joseph every time. 

So, if Joseph hugs him hard, Peachfuzz hugs back harder than him. When Joseph goes off into the bathroom, Peachfuzz critiques the fact that his copycat is messing up the pacing of the “I am dying of cancer and this is a video diary for my unborn child” routine and the “Tubby Time” bit. While lying in the bathtub, Peachfuzz actually managed to convince Aaron that he was trying to drown himself before surprising him; Joseph fumbles that too. So, Peachfuzz goes ahead and helps him drown, which is obviously not appreciated by Joseph. Later on, Peachfuzz and Joseph sit down to have some beverages. One of the cups has been laced with drugs, while the other one is alright. In Creep, Aaron put the drugs in the glass of whiskey that he gave to Peachfuzz in a desperate bid to get out of his clutches. Peachfuzz got knocked out, but in the time it took for Aaron to figure out a way to get away from him, Peachfuzz regained consciousness, and Aaron had to fight him and escape. Joseph, though, refuses to partake in the drinking game, especially since it has been revealed that one of the cups has been tampered with. Hence, Peachfuzz ends up drinking both of the beverages to make things exciting and gets knocked out. 

In the ending of The Creep Tapes Season 2 episode 1, Joseph drags Peachfuzz into the basement, ties him to a chair, puts a gag on his mouth, and compliments him for being a formidable foe. He says that he has learned from the best and then pulls out his phone to show a version of the tape made by Peachfuzz that was available on the dark web. Joseph admits that he isn’t as good as the OG, but he is getting better. He takes out his axe, and he is about to kill Peachfuzz, but that’s when Peachfuzz amps up his mind games and asks Joseph to remove the gag so that he can give him some pointers. Joseph obliges him because he is way too confident that there’s no way for his victim to escape. 

Firstly, Peachfuzz says that at no point in this whole ordeal has Joseph actually tricked. Secondly, Peachfuzz thinks Joseph’s mask is really bad. And thirdly, Peachfuzz is impressed by Joseph’s knot-tying skills, but it’s not enough to hold him down. Joseph thinks that his victim has seen that dark web video too, which is why he knows everything that Joseph is about to do. That’s when Peachfuzz reveals that he is the killer in that video. This scares Joseph a lot, and he tries to make a run for it. Peachfuzz advises him to not do it because it’s pointless. So, Joseph takes a seat, and Peachfuzz tells him that he had high hopes for him. He wanted to collaborate with Joseph, but it’s evident that he’s not prepared enough to be Peachfuzz’s shadow. This demoralizes Joseph, but Peachfuzz says that he can still salvage this day by doing something unexpected. He hands his axe back to him, and, after doing the Peachfuzz dance, Joseph plunges it into his skull, thereby killing himself.

I was expecting Joseph to be a recurring villain in the series, especially because it’s David goddamn Dastmalchian in the role. But I guess the whole point of casting him in this role was to make us expect that he’s going to be around for a while and then surprise us by killing him off so casually. Also, Joseph serves as a commentary on copycat killers or “casual fans” cosplaying as dangerous characters without thinking about its implications. I mean, people are playing as the Grabber or Art the Clown on Fortnite. The Grabber is a child molester, and Art is one of the most debauched fictional clowns in existence! Why are kids playing as them?! I don’t know. What I do want to know is how did Peachfuzz’s murder of Aaron end up on the dark web? Peachfuzz doesn’t have any digital footprint. He does store his videos on the cloud. He keeps physical copies of his kills and stores them in his cabinet. So, how did the Aaron video find its way onto the internet? I think there are 2 possibilities. 

The first possibility is that Peachfuzz himself uploaded it in order to see if he can inspire any copycat killers, which would explain why he took extra care to blur his own face. Maybe he plans to spend the rest of this season hunting for a successor because, let’s be real, Peachfuzz isn’t getting any younger, and he probably needs someone to take the mantle. Or maybe this was a one-off experiment, and Joseph has convinced him that nobody can replace him. The second possibility is that the leaked video is a calling card for Peachfuzz’s enemy. Maybe this is their way of announcing that they have gotten access to Peachfuzz’s cabinet and they’ll be leaking his work until he confronts them. Peachfuzz probably thought that Joseph was the leaker, but now that it has been confirmed that he was not smart enough to do something like that, maybe Peachfuzz has to find some other way to look for his nemesis. It’ll be really awesome if said nemesis is revealed to be Sara, the girl from Creep 2 and probably the only victim of Peachfuzz who managed to get away. Anyway, those are just my thoughts on this episode of The Creep Tapes Season 2. If you have any opinions on the same, please let me know in the comments section below.