Don't Have a Cow (''That's So Raven'')

"Don't Have a Cow" is the second episode and Halloween Special in the second season of the Disney Channel television series That's So Raven, which aired on October 17, 2003. It was written by Michael Carrington and directed by Rich Correll.

In the episode, Raven and Chelsea attempt to use magic to attend the Halloween party of Raven's nemesis, Alana. While the plan works, a mistake in their spell-casting causes them to start turning into cows. In the subplot, Cory tries to convince his parents that he's too old to be trick or treating with them.

Plot

At Bayside High, Eddie shows off his invitation to Alana's Halloween party to Raven and Chelsea, who weren't invited due to Raven's bad history with Alana. The two go to the Chill Grill after school, where Victor serves them their respective burgers and reveals that Alana's having the party at the restaurant, which Raven knows Alana did to spite her. Chelsea panics after realizing Victor accidentally switched their orders and she's been eating a hamburger rather than a veggie burger, breaking her vegetarian commitments.

At the Baxter home, Victor, dressed up as Victor Frankenstein, prepares to go trick-or-treating with Cory, who's wearing a body builder costume. Cory tells Victor that he wants to trick-or-treat with his friends rather than his father. Victor, though disappointed, allows Cory to go with his friend William, who's going as a remote control that causes nearby electrical products to malfunction. Tanya, dressed as Igor, cheers Victor up by offering to trick-or-treat with him in Cory's place.

Back in Raven's room, Chelsea starts wearing a button with a cow on it out of guilt. She and Raven find a magical book belonging to Raven's grandmother, Viv. After discovering a spell that can grant wishes, they set up a magical concoction and cast it to be invited to Alana's party. Raven then gets a call from a hypnotized Alana confirming their invitation. The two then wish to be the most popular girls at the party and win the costume contest. While casting the spell, Chelsea's cow button falls into the concoction. The two fail to notice and run upstairs to prepare their costumes.

While looking for outfits in Raven's room, they find to their horror that their ears are shaped like a cow's and they have white tails on their backsides. Eddie arrives to take them to the party, but the two force him to leave with the spell book as they start mooing sporadically. Raven and Chelsea discover that they are turning into cows due to Chelsea's button and cannot stop it since Eddie took Viv's book to the party. Raven suggests that they go to the party and get the book back, figuring that the students won't question their changing appearance on Halloween.

Cory and William return to the house empty-handed from trick-or-treating due to William's costume setting off multiple alarms in the neighborhood. Victor and Tanya arrive back with a bag full of candy and allow the two boys to take some of theirs. Cory tells Victor that he misses trick-or-treating with his father and wants to do it with him next year, but Victor takes Cory and William out to get some more candy.

At the party, Raven and Chelsea continue to develop more bovine traits as they try to find Eddie. They gain snouts, hooves, and larger tongues while eating straw, chewing cud, and mooing excessively. After locating Eddie, Chelsea ends up eating the reversal spell book page. Alana's friends halt the party to announce the costume contest winners. Alana places second and is further enraged upon finding that the winners are Raven and Chelsea, who have completely transformed into Holstein cows and decide to "milk it".

It is revealed that the whole episode was all a vision that Raven was having back at the Chill Grill right before Chelsea eats the hamburger. She stops Chelsea and nervously tries to tell her what happened in the vision. Chelsea calms her down and tells her, "don't have a cow."

Back at the house, Victor and Tanya spend their alone time eating their Halloween candy.

Reception

Even a decade after its release, "Don't Have a Cow" is considered a Halloween classic, with a number of publications praising the main plot revolving around Raven and Chelsea's cow transformations. MTV named it #1 in their "9 most iconic Disney Channel Halloween episodes" and called it one of the scariest Disney Channel Halloween experiences, stating "When the spin-off series debuts, I seriously hope they remake this episode, because what's more traumatizing than becoming a cow? NOTHING."^[1][2] Glamour listed it in their "9 Disney Channel Halloween Episodes to Watch," saying, "All you need to know about the Halloween episode of That's So Raven is that it ends with Raven and Chelsea turning into real-life cows. Like, they grow snouts, moo excessively, and chew cud. If that doesn't explain the high school experience, then what does?"^[3]

References

External links

• "Don't Have a Cow" on IMDb