Ghosts Review: Sam’s Mom (Season 1 Episode 11)

I ask you, is any show more in tune with its chaotic nature than Ghosts?

Ghosts Season 1 Episode 11, “Sam’s Mom,” isn’t even on its feet, and Sam is announcing she’s going on vacation to see her dead mom, who perished in a racist food chain restaurant eating shrimp. What even is this woman’s life? 

If any other series threw these huge developments at us with no warning, they’d look foolish. Oh no, not this paranormal comedy. It has the wit, the intelligence, and the nerve to maneuver the weirdest pop-up storylines with total unblinking confidence.

Ghosts may be gatekeeping, but it’s also girl-bossing. It makes the spur-of-the-moment plot developments of this condensed story-arc feel like intentional satire.

I appreciate that when it comes to spicing things up, this delightful world just goes for it with Sam deadpanning her tragic backstory to a bunch of dead people. Only for them to gloss over the absurdity and make it clear they are only present to make sure she leaves the TV on.

It’s a savvy way to downplay a critical omission of Sam’s life that has suddenly appeared, whilst reminding viewers why none of these heathen ghosts will ever see heaven.

Any show would use this clean escape to distance the episode’s arc from more sporadic development, but this sitcom is not most shows. So Pete immediately reveals he has a thing for Alberta, sending this tale further into its chaotic spiral.

Sas is right; that is some good tea. Good enough to carry “Sam’s Mom” single-handedly.

Thankfully, Pete’s bombshell doesn’t have to because Rose McIver’s wheelhouse also includes strained mother-daughter relationships.

It’s commendable to witness this episode avoid sugarcoating the dynamic between Sam and her mother, Sheryl. The easy route would be to have Sam peddle a fairytale version to comfort her tragically dead mother.

The more on-brand option would have Sam using her New York Times lie as an episode-long ruse. But how great is it to see our lead give herself up immediately?

Instead of falling into the usual sitcom trappings, Ghosts leans into the uglier themes of morality that make it so unpredictable and pushes Sam’s darker personality traits to surface as she jumps back into the last fight she had with her mother alive.

Sam has spent all season arguing with self-centered ghosts, and she does not hold back for the sake of keeping her dignity in a busy restaurant.

Even better, neither does Sheryl. The fantastic Rachael Harris brings to life a mother who puts Sam’s dueling mood swings into perspective when she tries to use her daughter to get “sucked off.”

Together, the two bring to life a messy and cruel relationship in all the fitting ways.

The real payoff isn’t Sheryl’s closure (we didn’t know she existed until today). Instead, she is this episode’s justification for handing the mother torch to Hetty. This storyline goes down questionable paths, but Sam’s smile in that final shot suggests the destination is worth it.

It turns out, giving the ghosts free reign off the manor is always a good idea.

They may have spent years entertaining each other, but Sam has spoiled them with TV and frozen pizza. So now, to our pleasure, they are even more insufferable at the slightest inconvenience.

The fact that the driving force behind this storyline’s drama is the TV going into sleep mode is *chef kiss* perfection.

Pete jumping to fake girlfriend the second his crush on Alberta is outed is so chaotic. It allows this hilarious witchhunt to fall apart in wondrous ways. It’s wise to pull personalities from the cholera pit to unhinge this gossip session further.

Ghosts is sitting on a comedy goldmine, yet these spirits standing around roasting each other is all we really need. The ensemble spends this episode simply reacting to Pete’s scramble, and it’s arguably one of their strongest installments as a unit.

Ghosts enters the back half of its season with a renewed determination to keep the material bending and even breaking to the needs of these narcissistic housemates.

The sitcom’s formula is comfortable with stand-alone stories and has witnessed great success with its condensed character-driven episodes. This success is on full display when Alberta and Pete share a sweet exchange that has us going all-in on a ship that just came into existence.

However, “Sam’s Mom” demonstrates cracks in that methodology.

Pete’s fake girlfriend ruse has the potential to span multiple episodes, a first for the series, and it would be in Ghost’s best interest to see this lie through for the sake of avoiding near-sighted storytelling.

Ghosts is going strong, and it is becoming clear this stellar storytelling is outgrowing its small scope. It’s time this show set its sights on larger-scale storytelling, preferably involving Sas escalating things every time the TV turns off.

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Ghosts airs Thursdays at 9/8c on CBS.

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