Nancy Drew Review: The Case of the Wayward Spirit (Season 1 Episode 5)

Leaving restless lost souls without the things that will bring them peace has serious consequences on Nancy Drew Season 1 Episode 5, “The Case of the Wayward Spirit.”

If ever you find yourself targeted by a ghost that wants you to perform a ritual involving both a ring and a mirror, please remember to do both parts. Possession is serious business, you guys.

I jest, but the scenes in which a distraught Tiffany takes over George’s body are very effective. Tiffany can’t accept that she’s no longer living, and her actions threaten George and everyone around her.

Some elements are a bit over the top. The strange, otherworldly voice Tiffany-George speaks is horror movie material, even if, unlike a certain other “hand shooting up from a grave” bit, it doesn’t come straight from the final moments of Carrie.

Still, this plotline has my pulse racing even before George’s mother reveals that if Tiffany can’t be expelled from her human host soon, George will be lost forever. Leah Lewis does a great job transitioning from bewilderment to stony anger.

I’m not sure Tiffany thinks her husband is her murderer, especially since it takes so long for her to accept her own passing. I do think she shares my view that something is up. What else can it mean to write “I Know” on his mirror in blood?

Tiffany-George wanders around with a knife for a bit, though we’re unsure who she may want to attack. She approaches Ryan and others without lifting it. Why is she never moved to a safe, knife-less holding spot, anyway?

Regardless, the final moments before Tiffany is cast out are intense and more emotional that we might expect. This effort to make this story about more than scary images is the biggest part of why it works.

Tiffany gets a too-brief moment with her sister and is assured by Nancy that her murder will be solved. Nick, who knew her best in life, stays by her side to comfort her as George’s mother chants another ritual, this one removing her for good.

Everything else that takes place around this is mostly there to move the over-arching plots of the show forward. The tidbits aren’t all that interesting yet, though they do hold promise of bigger revelations to come.

One of these involves Karen, who admits that she was best friends with Lucy Sable for most of high school. This does help to humanize “Dead Lucy”, though it also ties to the buried dress, and that brings us the needless Carrie scene.

It’s notable that Nancy’s father doesn’t appear in this installment at all, considering he’s the one who buried that dress in the first place. I’d still prefer we find a way to dismiss what is seen as dubious behavior, but alas, Rule #1 prevails.

Laura Tandy, when not getting a few additional seconds with the sister she thought she’d lost forever, maintains the aloof air she’s held since we’ve met her. The last time we saw her, she was breaking into Nick’s place.

Her nonchalance about this and nearly everything, including her relationship with Ace, puts her emotion while talking to Tiffany in context. Even with the threat to George, it’s hard to blame her telling Tiffany to flee as the spirit makes a final dash from those looking to banish her.

We meet yet more new characters. One is an old friend of Bess’s named Lisbeth who she’s been disconnected from but clearly cares for. More secrets lurk in the truth of why Bess left Lisbeth’s calls unanswered for so long.

The other is Owen. We don’t learn enough about Owen for me to care about him at all yet, but as he hangs about a memorial for Tiffany, it’s clear he wants to be more relevant to Nancy’s and our interests.

Much like Ryan Hudson, Owen has influence. Unlike Ryan, he’s happy to do a favor for Nancy that involves unearthing a time capsule from the high school lawn. Opening the thing before its destiny is kind of the worst thing Nancy’s done yet. I’m only half kidding.

Still, this is a mission for the greater good. An old DVD reveals Tiffany and Ryan both at the same school. And…I’m mostly surprised that this is meant to be so shocking. I suppose it’s one more point whose payoff we’ll have to wait for. I hope we won’t have to wait too long.  

 

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Nancy Drew airs Wednesdays at 9/8c on The CW.

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