The villain of the season isn't a single monster. It is a series of shadowy figures:
Their breakup (Episode 15, “The Wild Brood”) is not played for laughs. Velma’s subsequent bitterness and Shaggy’s retreat into food-symbolism illustrate the season’s thesis: true intimacy is impossible in a town built on secrets. The “mystery” solves external problems but cannot suture internal psychic wounds. scooby-doo mystery incorporated season 1