Nancy Drew Review: The Haunted Ring (Season 1 Episode 4)

New characters and new secrets complicate what we know on Nancy Drew Season 1 Episode 4, “The Haunted Ring.”

A good mystery is always good to get into the Halloween spirit. With this version of Nancy Drew, show and holiday go hand in hand.

Of all the stories to explain what we’ve learned about Bess, her being a British citizen determined to prove she’s a forgotten member of a high-class local family might not be the first that jumps to mind.

This does feel like the kind of twist you’d expect from a CW show, but it isn’t the reason Tiffany’s ghost is trying to track Bess down. That would be the ring we’re meant to believe she found in a parking lot and wore without question.

Both these points suggest that while we’re still in a much more solid narrative than where we started, the effort to make everyone a suspect is creating a patchwork quilt of plot points that pop up and get written off in minutes.

Case in point: we barely question Bess’s assertions, which do soon prove to be true. This story is just a vehicle to carry us to more terrifying supernatural interactions, and in this regard it’s a wild success.

The newly dead Tiffany is confused and afraid, all of which is meant to explain why she explodes various devices in Nancy’s house, scratches up Bess’s legs, and pursues George in the form of a vapor trail. That last one looks exactly how it sounds.

We learn of this ghost nature from George’s mother, whose introduction we don’t get nearly enough time for. We’d never expect someone like George to have a clairvoyant as a parent, and it’s backstory I’d like to see explored more.

Nancy doesn’t believe a report that Tiffany died of natural causes. The question is why anyone does. Ryan Hudson shows little apart from blunt greed for her fortune. It’s absurd that even those who suspect him are so quiet about it.

So yes, there’s still a lot here that’s pushing the limits on what creative license should allow. Still, the stories are at least well told in their rapid-fire pace. On that note, I am very much here to learn more about Tiffany’s sister.

The plot of Ace having some secret deal with the police captain is rather anticlimactic– another drop in the “everyone’s suspicious” bucket that I’m henceforth referring to as “Rule #1”—but it does tie into his much more intriguing relationship with the woman.

Despite stealing a newspaper from Nancy’s hand, Tiffany’s sister seems like she’s probably (Rule #1!) someone we can like. She’s got good chemistry with many other characters, and she doesn’t accept the natural causes line, either.

After she makes this point by playing Tiffany’s terrified 911 call at the funeral, things do kind of fall apart. But that brings us to this episode’s best and most important scene, strong enough to smooth over any potential plot holes.

Nancy meets her father at her mother’s grave, revealing through flashbacks that the latter passed after sending her daughter out to a school dance, knowing her death was hours away. Nancy blames Carson for her lost chance to say goodbye.

Their interactions, stemming from her anger to grief and then some form of understanding, are a gut-punch. This is the kind of emotion and depth that connects us to characters and that’s only been hinted at thus far.

I should acknowledge that the plot of Carson’s own secrets seems completely forgotten for this episode. While I’d be happy if they vanished altogether, continuity demands that we remember we may well suspect the man of murder.

Still, this is what I’ve been waiting for from these father/daughter scenes: a relationship that’s far from perfect but that shows signs of healing. They’ve both had reasonable perspectives all along, and this is a point we’ve needed to get to.

What’s coming up next? From the last scene and promos, that would be George being possessed by Tiffany’s ghost in her thirst for revenge. You know, just in case you thought the vapor ghost was a sign of something logical.

Snark aside, I fully admit that the intensity is completely drawing me in. We can call out plot that seems tossed together just to get people invested, but we can’t pretend it doesn’t meet that end. This show knows and embraces everything that it is, and you have to at least admire that.

 

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Nancy Drew airs Wednesdays at 9/8c on CBS.

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