Nancy Drew Review: The Celestial Visitor (Season 2 Episode 15)

Tom Swift is a character who has bounced around literature for more than a century. On Nancy Drew Season 2 Episode 15, “The Celestial Visitor,” he brings high tech to the usual brilliant inventor profile, along with a couple other more significant changes.

A quick look at the Tom Swift Wikipedia page will show that he’s been the main character of several series of books. In each, that character has been a handsome white man written by white men. On occasion, overt racism has been included in those volumes.

Here, Tom’s impressive litany of gadgets– very reminiscent of Iron Man and feeling a bit out of place in the Nancy Drew-verse– aren’t nearly as important as the fact he’s a gay, Black man. (Though it is fun to hear Levar Burton voice his virtually-present father.)

We get a couple relevant conversations about racism from this that build on the dynamics of the previous episode. Nick being one of the few Black people in town is rarely touched on, and Tom gives him the chance to discuss the code switching he engages in daily.

Away from Tom, he also has a conversation with George about why she doesn’t post pictures of them as a couple that winds up discussing biases between different minorities. It can be an uncomfortable topic, but that makes it still more relevant.

As a character, Tom is outgoing, straightforward, and logical. He’s hunting a meteor that hit Earth nearly a century ago, and whose ~entirely scientifically explained~ effects include strange weather phenomena and turning people murderously insane.

Of course, on this show, we already know the true explanations go well beyond the rational. In this case, that means wrangling the spirits of an exclusive society group who were the first to fall victim to the influences of the meteor and turn on each other.

With the paranormal so established in Horseshoe Bay, we’ve gotten used to most characters accepting the explanation to strange happenings without question. Tom’s outsider perspective offers a refreshing dose of bewilderment that the average person would feel.

Nancy responds by cheerfully pressing him to accept what he sees, and we wind up with a fun dynamic between the two characters. He’s as adept as she is, albeit in an entirely different area, and they balance banter and skill in helping each other out.

The case is fairly typical fare, even with Bess being taken over by the spirits and attacking everyone with a sword. After a few jump scares and a small fire, peace is restored as the Drew Crew helps the meteor’s victims find closure and move on.

We touch on ongoing storylines even less than on other single episode plots, but the dynamics of Nancy’s interaction with the Hudson family cannot go ignored. Celia invites Nancy to a Hudson party as the reporter interviewing Ryan makes moves against her.

The tightrope Nancy walks is that she must maintain this bond in the public eye in order to keep herself safe even as her friends move toward the end goal of taking Everett down. It’s a task that could mean giving up her very name.

It also means that any other efforts against the Hudson legacy could put her at risk. We question every step she will or should take. It’s definitely an engaging process, but I find myself wishing we could just see the end and put Everett away.

Again, too, we have to question Celia. She seems genuinely invested in Nancy and yet is clearly loyal to her husband above all. When the chips fall as we know they must, she’s the character whose fate is most in question, and I have no idea what to expect.

 

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

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