Ghosts Season 5 Episode 16 Review: Woodstone Royale

With Ghosts Season 5 Episode 16, “Woodstone Royale,” everyone goes home a winner!

The poker night gets back to the fundamentals of a good Ghosts episode with fun world-building and petty crime. The stakes have never been higher for Woodstone’s fate, and the gang faces uncertainty with resilient humor and heart.

This richest of episodes flourishes under Flower’s sweet disposition and Alberta’s bootlegging expertise.

This is one of those outings where the entire ensemble is firing on all cylinders. That is no small feat when you consider that successful execution includes the basement ghost ensemble.

There are standout moments, and no more standout than Flower’s repeated attacks on our funny bone. From her assumption that Patience is involved in an “underground” poker game to visualizing how whales would play poker, the hippie’s usual antics are as fresh as ever.

It’s when she steps into that heartbreaking lucidity that Ghosts kicks this storyline into high gear.

Setting Flower up to be the only one who sees the cards puts Sam and Jay’s money in the hands of an unreliable narrator.

It’s an upsetting crossroads as the couple grapples with believing the one ghost so high she thinks the wallpaper is moving. That uncertainty is where Flower’s innocence works its magic.

Flower saving the day, as Trevor is humiliated for putting the couple in this situation, allows us to come away from the poker table feeling like we won something. Even if Sam and Jay ultimately did not.

Any time this premise can take a concept a touch further and carve out that raw human undertone to the situation, it elevates everything around it.

By preying on that devastating combination of incredible intelligence from an unreliable mind, Flower’s attempt to help poker night go smoothly is anything but a losing hand.

It’s good to have our girl back. It’s even better to see Ghosts utilizing Flower to her fullest potential.

It’s honestly great to see the sitcom revisit the bones of its early foundation.

There was a time when bodies were discovered left and right, gazebos burned down, and the police visited often. While it seems like the series has lost its taste for petty crime, this episode not only puts corruption back on the table, it outright says, “Let’s do more crime!”

Ghosts is embracing a life of crime. Sam and Jay are in a reckless era that reflects the stakes of losing the mansion and the ghosts if they don’t embrace the criminal lifestyle.

It puts the show in a familiar yet bolder space where accidentally lighting the gazebo on fire is child’s play.

And I, for one, am eager to see the world burn for this found family.

With crime comes a desire to revisit more than just the brash and brutal parts of this premise’s early days.

Ghosts calls in the original police officers who so often had to make a trip to Woodstone in Season 1 when something went awry.

Isaac hilariously sneezes mid-poker game and is quickly reminded of his act of abandoning Patience in the dirt when one of the ghosts yells, “How many lives will your sneezes ruin?”

Then there’s Sam having to remind the ghosts that when livings are around, she has to pretend to talk on the phone. Isaac, rather delighted, replies: “Thats a good bit, we haven’t done that in a while.”

Most plot points throughout this poker night include a jab or callback to an old plot line. Call me sentimental, but it’s nice to see this nefarious sitcom remind us of the good old days — especially when it has had so many of them!

Despite removing the B-storyline with Sas and Pete from the commotion upstairs, their time with the basement ghosts is delightful.

That has to do with the episode’s desire to give this storyline over to the basement ghosts to flesh out a world of lore we are so desperate to catch a glimpse of each season.

Nancy calls many of the ghosts by name, some for the first time in the series. When a basement ghost sits in the chair, they reveal a new piece of backstory for their character that often doubles as a joke.

Their choice to once again reject the creature comforts of the upstairs in favor of the new water heater speaks to the unique likability of this downstairs ensemble.

“Woodstone Royale,” is the comedy we know and love, but stronger and bolder than ever.

It’s deflating to see Sam and Jay lose the poker funds so swiftly after working the entire episode to secure them. Yet, the realization that losing Woodstone means leaving the ghosts for good will inevitably justify drawing out this torture.

This ending is not the most satisfying to watch after such a strong outing, but it suggests more thrilling endings are to come soon enough.

If Ghosts plays its cards right, this could be one of the most significantly rewarding and upsetting storylines to haunt the halls of Woodstone.

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

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