Ghosts Season 5 Episode 20 Review: Polar Opposites

Ghosts Season 5 Episode 20, “Polar Opposites,” gaslights its way to victory with a Sam-centric outing.

Any day our ghost-seeing protagonist can take center stage and further her development in a meaningful way, it’s a win for Woodstone.

Throw in a storyline that champions her writing career and features the fictional dating show It’s Getting Hot in Here, and you can believe this episode concept came to us in a dream.

Sam’s writing career is something we always desire to see more of because writing is her passion in life. Often, the reality of that dream is unkind to Sam, with our leading lady facing dozens of rejections to get her first book published.

So it’s refreshing to see industry doors open willingly for Sam now that she has the experience and connections to back up her resume.

Polar Opposites is a project Ghosts established for Sam last season and continues to tease in the many episodes after. Pair that history with her known love for holiday rom-coms, and it’s beyond exciting to see Paula so open to accepting Sam’s script.

It’s nice to see Sam get a win for once with minimal pushback. Sam was reluctant to write a happy ending, but rewarding someone with an easy win isn’t always the weakness we believe it to be.

Not only do we care about Sam’s writing career, but delving into the Hollywood film industry and holiday movie clichés opens up a whole can of worms. (It also solves the issue of having to air a Christmas episode in the spring next season.)

Which is also why we’ll hold our disdain for the dismal homecoming celebration this episode gives It’s Getting Hot in Here.

At first, it was urksome that Thorfinn and Sas couldn’t care less about their favorite reality TV show scouting out Woodstone. After all, the fictional show was a central part of their friendship development in Season 1.

Thankfully, the episode ends with a promise that it’s merely giving us a tease of the real show. Because It’s Getting Hot in Here is indeed filming its All-Star season at Woodstone next season — a storyline six seasons in the making!

Between Thorfinn’s adorable “It’s getting hot in here? Yes!” and the concept of an insane dating show infiltrating the ghosts’ space, we can understand why Ghosts is saving the good stuff for later.

In addition to an engaging plot and needle-moving character development, this episode has real gumption!

It has Joan, for one thing. She’s an effortless addition to this ensemble, and it’s incredible how easy her fast-talking persona slips into the pre-established dynamic. It feels as if her quips and quick-footed problem-solving have existed in this space since day one.

That charisma is contagious throughout this installment, with the other ghosts dropping truly diabolical dialogue in her presence.

Flower’s assumption that every group gathering is “like” an orgy is iconic. Even better is the revelation that Flower joined many riots in her day simply because people were yelling “It’s a riot!” and she assumed they were there for a good time.

Additionally, Sas telling Joan, “She might have her finger on the pulse, because she has one,” has no right to be as funny as it is. Meanwhile, whoever wrote the line “It’s dog crap! Let her read!” for Trevor deserves a raise.

The inaugural ball concept has its ups and downs. 

First off, the concept that Thorfinn is a “First Man” now to Madam Ghost Representative Flower is a hilarious power dynamic to establish for what is essentially a non-existent position.

That’s kind of the beauty of this storyline. The representative title means nothing, but for ghosts that have little to fill their days, they have decided to establish an entire governing system.

In addition to what they decide matters in this fictional government, the ghosts also use the fake title to gaslight each other. Sending Isaac off to the woods because he’s the “Designated Survivor” is too funny. Only Hetty could convince a dead man to stay behind in case of a mass casualty.

Ultimately, Hetty and Thor going at each other’s throats as co-event planners is the most toxic, volatile storyline Ghosts could cook up. And boy, do we love it for that!

However, there are a lot of quieter lulls shared between the two plotlines.

While the episode features a gaggle of extremely on-brand jokes, there isn’t an urgency to fill every second of silence with comedy. Normally, that choice works in Ghosts’ favor, but here, it aids a slower pace that works against the dialogue-forward storylines.

This episode is very much relying on showing not telling with an annugural ball we never see and a location scouting session that happens entirely off-screen.

More physicality or banter would have this outing firing on all cylinders.

Nonetheless, we love a good excuse to gaslight somebody!

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

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