With the Midnight Society’s storytelling sessions on pause while they look for Connor, the premiere finds a clever workaround to deliver exposition. It gives Sardo (Ryan Beil) the ritualistic storytelling reigns, who regales the group with the Shadowman story. The story-within-a-story framework works as a nod to the original show and relays the Shadowman curse rules, entirely crafted around a sequence designed to terrify the show’s young viewers. Just when it seems it could be too frightening, cue Sardo to bring levity from the comfort of his magic shop.