Nancy Drew Review: The Mystery of Blackwood Lodge (Season 1 Episode 6)

Nancy Drew Season 1 Episode 6, “The Mystery of Blackwood Lodge,” connects past, present, and two of Horseshoe Bay’s most prominent families.

What does a show focused on solving mysteries do when there are no murders in the present? Apparently, it sends all its characters to an ultra-fancy party that gives the spotlight to those who are already dead

We’ve generally expected the cases of Lucy Sable and Tiffany Hudson to be connected in some way. It’s getting into the how and why that leads us to a point that’s surprisingly Shakespearean.

At this point, I’m not sure whether I’m impressed by just how much drama there is in what we learn or concerned that we’re setting up a soap opera prequel series focusing on the lives of the richest families of the town and how a feud erupts between them.

It all centers around a little bag of coins that may flip the script on Ryan Hudson. “May” is the key word. Nancy certainly sees him as a likely murderer even as she agrees to steal these heirlooms belonging to his ancestors in exchange for a pass to that party.

The story of the coins is more than a little rushed. If you haven’t come to expect rapid-fire plot points from the show before, you should prepare for them be the running theme of this episode.

I haven’t really thought about it before now, but it’s odd that we’ve waited so long to meet more of the Hudson family. No rich family on television (or at least The CW) comes without secrets, and that’s especially true for this one.

It’s enough for the coins to be stolen. I’m not sure we really need to involve a shipwreck that killed everyone on board, but mass disaster is a quick and easy way to family grudges. In this case, that also tells us a lot more about Owen.

His own family being double-crossed by the Hudsons is yet another of those plots that starts out leaving a long hanging without the story yet to come. That applies even more when we learn Ryan’s mother and Owen’s uncle had an affair.

This does serves a purpose: knowing the truth brings all Nancy’s friends to the party as well in an unsuccessful bid to steal the coins back– a task Nancy later accomplishes herself and that Owen is shockingly fine with, despite unknowingly spending $1.5 million on pocket change.

How does Lucy tie in? Once again, there’s frustratingly little to go off. We know she witnessed a moment of the affair between mother Hudson and Owen’s uncle when Ryan brought her to a previous party. We pointedly don’t know what led to her death.

The points that do matter are these: first, Ryan claims to have genuinely cared for Lucy and now seems affected by her death. Second, his mother now stands out as the shadiest person in the family. Finally, Carson Drew is involved. (Sigh.)

Do I believe that Ryan may be innocent of everything he’s accused of? Let’s just say the jury’s out. If so, why has been behaving as he has, and why is Lucy’s ghost both targeting him and trying to get a message out to others about him?

(Also, don’t get me started on that bit where she briefly appears as her happy human self and kisses him before turning back to the horrifying corpse figure. That is one romance I did not sign up for.)

I do strongly believe that Ryan’s mother is at least heavily involved with, if not the orchestrator of, all her family’s questionable actions. Even if she hasn’t killed anyone herself, I wouldn’t be surprised to learn Lucy’s death was at her order.

Then there’s Carson. I’m a broken record by this point, but I just want the show to pick a lane. The main character’s father as a possible murderer affects the dynamic of the whole show. How can we appreciate family scenes when this looms over them?

Mind, we don’t get any of those scenes here. Carson himself is nowhere in sight. For now, I think he’s involved in a cover up, but not the murders themselves. Either way, I have issues with this path and how believable its likely to be.

I want to end on a positive note, so let’s move to a path I’m more than happy to go down: Bess and Lizbeth. Whether these two were “more than friends before” (the backstory suggests as much,) they certainly are now.

I’m on board with all the ships the show has given us thus far, even though they come in small doses. I’m hoping they can stay as solid as Nancy politely refusing Owen’s offer of a date because she’s in love with Nate.

These human moments are such welcome breaks from suspect behavior and paranormal encounters. This show has a lot of flash, but it proves it can do more when it focuses on heart, too. I just wish it would do that more often.

 

 

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

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