Room 104: Mark Duplass Previews Series' Biting, 'Bonkers' Animated Tale

Room 104 will soon close its door for good, but not before dropping its rather… transformative penultimate episode, which serves as the series’ first-ever animated story.

“Fur” (which airs Friday at 11/10c on HBO) was written and directed by executive producer Mel Eslyn. The official logline reads: “It’s 1987 and friends Finley and Grey crash Room 104 to celebrate their last summer before starting high school, but Grey’s insecurities flare up when popular jock John comes over.” The story that unfolds sees Grey preparing for a certain disruptive life change, and it’s not quite what you think.

“We had this idea for a long time about a werewolf story, and how it is oddly reminiscent of puberty in a lot of ways,” executive producer and co-creator Mark Duplass told TVLine ahead of the season’s launch. “As soon as we said that, [Mel] was like, ‘Oh my God, I’m going to put two girls in the room and tell a feminist story with werewolves.’

“She loves corny old animation, she loves karaoke and dancing, and she’s a kickass feminist. I was like, ‘Mel, go make an animated episode where you just go bonkers,'” he said.

As is typical with the genre-bending, rule-breaking anthology series (which, of course, takes place entirely inside the walls of a single hotel room), “Fur” is unlike anything the show has ever attempted. According to Duplass, the dip into the animation world was made possible thanks to the creative partnership and freedom he was allotted by the network.

“That episode, maybe more than any other this season, shows what can happen when a place like HBO supports you and gives you full creative control,” he said, “and when you swing the bat high and fast, even if you’re not sure what’s going to happen. There’s something incredibly electric about that process.”

Room 104‘s series finale is set for Friday, Oct. 9, and though it wasn’t originally intended as the show’s final curtain, Duplass says he is proud of how his show will bow out.

“It wasn’t something that we planned on being the series finale initially, but once we realized what it was going to be, we shaped it into that and it became this perfect way to stick the landing of what Room 104 is.”

Are you sad to see Room 104 go and will you be watching the series’ first animated entry? Sound off in the Comments below!

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