Ghosts Season 3 Episode 3 Review: He Sees Dead People

Ghosts gets sentimental with an episode that feels plucked from the best of its inaugural season.

Indeed, Ghosts Season 3 Episode 3, “He Sees Dead People,” is vintage Season 1 chaos with emotional backstories, storylines working in harmony, and the rapid-fire assault of jokes that this comedy does so well.

The expert blast from the past highlights an assortment of successful storylines from previous outings. It leans into the zany, imperfect energy of a large ensemble sitcom. It also draws on our eagerness to learn more about these characters one-on-one.

Hetty’s Saucy Era

It’s almost as if Ghosts is aware it has us in its clutches when a much younger Hetty comes bonding into that opening frame. We are scoundrels for a good flashback, and this show knows it.

And it is an excellent flashback. The kind that is given sparingly to keep the mystic of their past lives alive. To see Hetty in a new outfit — this gorgeous white number that screams innocence — in love with a painter, and standing up to her father is worth a lot more to us than any Woodstone fortune.

So kudos to this show for understanding what is valuable currency in its storytelling. Because Hetty is being scolded for her saucy ankle portrait while her mother is somewhere on the seaside rotting away from hysteria is worth so much to fans that adore character lore.

In true Ghosts fashion, showing a little ankle also becomes a powerful vessel of storytelling for Hetty, Isaac, and Nigel.

The flashback sets up a flawless episode-long arc as Hetty projects her father’s twisted ideals of transactional love onto Isaac.

It is conflict that suits Isaac’s insecurities and Hetty’s unresolved issues with her family and marriage. The ability to include Sas as a soothing voice of reason for Hetty ties the B-story ensemble together.

Also, the beautiful irony of this storyline is too good. After all, Hetty loves money, and exploring how that trait was instilled into her by her father at the cost of her happiness reaches emotional heights most comedies cannot reach.

However, none of this measures up to Betsy Sodaro’s comedic timing. Three seasons were spent cultivating meaningful storylines and top-notch punchlines, just for Nancy the cholera ghost to outdo it all with “Cover your ankles, you whore.”

I am still clutching my side, laughing!

He Might* See Dead People

The Eric/Bela storyline is so incredibly cringy at times I, too, want to tumble down a flight of stairs for reprieve.

However, it is a triumph of twists and turns that fits beautifully into the chaotic comedy this show has cultivated. So I will let the sour taste of secondhand embarrassment slide this time, Eric.

This entire ruse is executed expertly by Ghosts. Goating us into thinking this episode is one thing, just to pull the rug out from under us with the reveal Eric cannot actually see ghosts is too good. The few seconds of fallout as we process the realization alongside the ghosts is worth being misled.

Additionally, an equally great reaction follows it as Sam tells Jay that Eric is lying seconds after celebrating the news. Poor Jay cannot catch a break.

And the show once again circles back to Flower’s “death” and uses it as a pivotal plot point. Even though Sheila Carrasco is absent, her character is still a part of this season’s success.

One-of-a-Kind

Ghosts reminds me more and more of New Girl; it understands the best ensemble comedies are not perfect punchlines. They are chaotic, and messy, and loud, and weird — so damn weird.

The best episodes of this show are the scrappy ones fighting for space to tell the weirdest, most unhinged jokes to fill dead air.

Thorfinn’s rambling side commentary on what he thinks bachelorette parties are adds nothing to the story itself. Still, he provides memorable entertainment that helps the flow of this high-energy episode keep its stride.

And then there are the jokes that move the plot along in significant ways, fleshing out this show’s more profound lore.

Pete is constantly forced to relive the red flags of his marriage, most of Hetty’s trauma processing comes to terms through jokes, and at the center of Eric’s unhinged ploy is the realization that Sam’s ghost-seeing abilities are rarer than we initially thought.

Just as temporarily dying doesn’t guarantee someone will see ghosts, being funny doesn’t make a comedy one of a kind. With Ghosts, there are many more layers to engage with and enjoy.

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Ghosts airs Thursdays at 8:30c/7:30c on CBS.

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