Ghosts Season 5 Episode 1 Review: Soul Custody

Oh, how it brings us great joy to dust off our metaphoric Ouija boards and reunite with TV’s most playful poltergeists.

Rather than be haunted by fatigue and repeat storylines, Ghosts Season 5 Episode 1, “Soul Custody,” meets its aging premise with the same youthful whimsy as it did on day one.

Jay’s possible demise may try to dampen the spirits of this premiere, but there’s no derailing Ghosts once it gets going. This show has demons to slay!

At a glance, the Season 5 premiere feels no different than every episode that came before it.

The banter is delivered with the same rapid-fire cadence as it is every season. The setting and the costumes do not reflect a passage of time. And characters still adhere to the cliches set out for them in the pilot — Dane-murdering jokes and all.

Yet, what makes Ghosts so fascinating is how it can continuously lean into the familiar, comforting beats of this premise without becoming stale.

Sam and Jay are noticeably more disheveled than usual as the threat of death looms. Alberta looks at Pete through rose-colored glasses, creating a whole new dynamic for them. Former outsiders, Patience and Nancy, now mill about the house casually.

At a glance, Woodstone Mansion is a time capsule, frozen in time. Storytelling-wise, this house is in a constant state of fascinating change.

That’s the beauty of Ghosts. It is a tapestry of weird little details and inside jokes that ages into those intricacies.

Jay prepares for the afterlife by wearing his favorite D&D shirt and placing an “etern-a-cookie” in his front shirt pocket. It’s a comical way to approach killing such a beloved character — one that needs years of detailed setup to land.

Throughout these silly scenes, it never feels like the episode is downplaying the severity of Jay’s situation. We know the ghosts have lived through too much death and supernatural tomfoolery to take this as seriously as they should.

As much as the devil’s existence should shock them, it actually excites the group even more. So it is entirely within character to mock Jay’s situation with poor song choices.

Plus, Ghosts capitalizes on the counter-perspective perfectly as Jay’s dread collides hilariously with their lively dance montage.

Then there are those beats where the characters stop laughing and acknowledge the painfully human aspects of their situation.

Sas, who prefers to frame his noisiness as fuel for gossiping, offers Patience the kindness she needs when she finds herself in a hole (because sometimes we need help getting out of those).

Thorfinn also illustrates to Patience that she is quick to judge others but rarely holds herself accountable. It’s a powerful observation from the Viking that beautifully sets up Patience for her almost-sacrifice later on.

So much about this season is already clicking into place.

Patience is beginning to care what the house ghosts think of her, and she is looking to them for help. A change that is necessary to transition her from a bloody nuance to a valued member of this ensemble.

Meanwhile, the shot of Carol’s hand accepting Elias’ handshake is a breathless moment of triumph for the premiere.

Sure, Jay gushing over Patience’s sacrifice as Sam delivers the line “Jay, she bailed” is diabolical comedy. And it is sweet to see Pete offer to take his light-saber-wielding best friend’s place in hell.

But, just as that loyalty lulls us into a sense of deja vu, Carol is the one to shock us by stepping up  — and it feels so right for her.

Carol makes the ultimate sacrifice to save Pete, the husband she never put first in her marriage.

It would be great to see Ghosts overcome its fatal flaw of wrapping storylines up quickly. It would be even better to see the series develop Carol to a point where she is worthy of being sucked off.

That said, it’s much more pleasing to live in this blissfully vague moment where Carol, so overcome with emotion by Pete’s love for Jay, makes her first truly selfless act and is rewarded for it. Carol gives Pete the apology he deserves, and it is precisely what the emotionally-charged scene calls for.

Only Ghosts would cast a demon back down to hell so that it could move on to bigger storylines. A whole season of threatening Jay’s life? Not in this comedy’s playbook.

Instead, it looks to frame Alberta and Pete’s romance as one of the central focuses of this season, and rightfully so.

Unlike the many slow-burning relationships that crumbled on The CW once they became official, this relationship is already showing it can go the distance.

Even when forced into being a source of conflict for the premiere, Pete and Alberta anchor their bickering in a playful wholesomeness that only makes the heart grow fonder. At the core of the couple’s palpable tension is a rich sense of familiarity between them.

Many comedies would tire of the familiar after five years, but not our beloved Ghosts. It has created one hell of a timeless formula.

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

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