We all hoped the ghost that showed up behind Nancy at the end of the last episode would be paid off somehow at the beginning of this one. I think deep down, we all knew it wouldn’t be. We’ve seen too many of these CW shows at this point. There’s still plenty of mystery to be had in Nancy Drew’s second episode, fortunately. Why does her dad of a bloody dress belonging to Lucy Sable, the girl who was killed 20 years ago. And then there’s the case of Tiffany Hudson, in which Nancy’s a suspect. That’s the number one priority for now.
At the end of last week’s episode, we learned that everyone’s connected to the murder in some suspicious way. Nick went to jail three years ago in a case where Tiffany was an eyewitness. Bess somehow ended up with Tiffany’s engagement ring, which was taken off her body. And George is having an affair with Ryan Hudson, which makes both of them suspects. Not that Nancy, or the cops, know any of this, other than Nick’s potential motive. Ryan gets even more suspicious when Nancy finds out his family is having the body transferred to their preferred coroner. Nancy thinks they’re trying to cover something up.
Riley Smith as Ryan — Photo: Robert Falconer/The CW
Nancy wants to get some of her blood to test before the body moves. That means breaking into the morgue that night, which Ace says is haunted by the ghost of Lucy Sable. Yes, despite the ghost just disappearing at the beginning of the episode, the supernatural elements aren’t going anywhere. Ace might have a point. When Nancy initially tries the morgue during the day, she glimpses what looks like a ghost behind her. When she goes to investigate, a hand seems to grab her head. Again, it disappears when she looks behind her.
Speaking of creepy happenings, the town has a strange ritual that the gang of suspects uses as cover for their morgue heist. Everyone fills a bucket with seawater and leaves it on their front porch. At midnight they kick it over. If seawater is all there is in the bucket, you live for another year. If the seawater turns to blood, you’re doomed. Yeah, we’re going to see a bucket of blood before the episode’s over, huh? I’ll give the mystery credit: So far, it’s only predictable in the fun ways. Nancy sees the ghost again during the ritual too. When she breaks into the town coroner’s car to get his ID, she sees a pool of blood underneath the car. Then a drowned corpse reflected in the window. The scares in this show are better than I thought they’d be.
Kennedy McMann as Nancy, Alex Saxon as Ace and Maddison Jaizani as Bess — Photo: Robert Falconer/The CW
Ace and Bess distract the out-of-town coroner by intentionally breaking Ace’s car. They stall her as long as possible in a scene that adds some light, very light, comic relief while Nancy breaks into the morgue. She draws a blood sample from Tiffany’s body, and decides to stick around when a body appears to disappear from a table. She decides to go rummaging around in Lucy Sable’s tissue samples because, why not? Then the alarm goes off and Nancy’s trapped inside the morgue with the cops coming. This time it’s George who comes to the rescue, taking the blood before the police arrive. This is the second time in as many episodes Nancy’s needed to be saved during an investigation. I get that she’s rusty after not doing this for a while, but I’d like to see some competence or coolness from her before too long.
OK, despite her complete lack of breaking and entering skill, she quickly redeems herself with some sneaky detective work. While Karen processes her, she notices the Tiffany case file open on the computer. Nancy sends Karen away for coffee and learns that Tiffany was texting with an unknown number before she died. When her dad shows up to post her bail, Nancy learns more. Specifically that Ned Nickerson would never have known who testified against him three years ago. He doesn’t have a motive. That’s a relief for Nancy. Less reassuring is her dad’s reaction when she asks about the bloody dress. He insists it’s a prank he played on her mother a long time ago. It’s a super flimsy-sounding excuse. His answers are even more suspect when Nancy asks him about the trunk she saw him and her mom digging up when she was a little girl. He definitely knows more than he’s letting on. Especially since, at the end of the episode, we see him burning the bloody dress. What are you hiding, Carson Drew?
Scott Wolf as Carson — Photo: Robert Falconer/The CW
So Ned’s off the list for Tiffany, but her father definitely looks connected to one murder. And Nick’s only off Nancy’s list for now. After her dad bails her out, by taking on Ryan Hudson as a client, Nancy heads to Nick’s for some celebratory you-probably-didn’t-kill-anyone sex. Just before, she decides to check the number she got off Karen’s computer, but Nick comes back before anyone picks up. As the scene fades out, we see Nick’s phone has one missed call. Damn it Nick, we wanted to believe in you! I have to say though, Nick fixing up Nancy’s mom’s old car, a classic blue convertible, is a fun homage to the books. I like that they’re keeping that here, even with the updated setting.
I have to admit, I think this show got me. I wasn’t entirely sold on it after last week’s premiere. I still wish we had other mysteries for Nancy to solve, but I’ve accepted that’s not what this show is doing. And the two mysteries it’s introduced are interesting. The revelations that characters are somehow connected to either murder are doled out at a pace just quick enough to keep us hooked, but they’re given time for the twist to feel earned. I only wish these characters were better established. The revelations would probably hit harder if we better knew who these people were.
Riley Smith as Ryan and Leah Lewis as George — Photo: Robert Falconer/The CW
I think that’s coming, though. The premiere gave us the broad strokes of who these characters are and hinted that they each have more going on underneath. This episode really focused on George Fan, which is why I found myself liking her more than any other character. Even Nancy still feels one-dimensional, but the show has time to fix all that. We really got to know George here, and as a result, I’m invested in the budding friendship between her and Nancy.
I also liked that they resisted the urge to make it sappy or wrap it all up in a neat “we’re best friends now” package. She still puts up a tough front and bristles when Nancy tries to lecture her about stuff she already knows. I hope the rest of the cast gets this treatment. I want to like them as much as I now like George. Which at the end of the episode turned out to be a problem. As everyone kicks over their buckets of seawater, George’s has turned blood red. Please, Nancy Drew, don’t kill off the coolest character you have right now.
Nancy Drew airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. on The CW
Previously on Nancy Drew:
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