Who needs a Halloween episode when spooky is Nancy Drew’s whole aesthetic? There’s a new suspect in the Tiffany Hudson murder and she’s sleeping over at Nancy Drew’s house. Nancy now knows Bess was lying about living with her aunt, likely lying about being a wealthy socialite, and has Tiffany’s diamond ring for some reason. It’s not looking good. That’s not even the creepiest thing happening in the Drew house that night. Lights and electronics keep turning off and on for no reason. When Nancy and Bess go to check, the TV flips on and plays the video of Tiffany’s murder. When it finishes playing, the TV breaks. You know you’re having a rough night when sleeping next to a murder suspect is like the third creepiest thing that happens.
The night passes though, and Nancy’s dad delivers some interesting news. The private coroner the Hudson family brought in finished inspecting Tiffany. She found that Tiffany died of natural causes. On the bright side, that means Nancy and her friends are all cleared of murder. Of course, Nancy doesn’t believe those results for a second. Those girl detective instincts aren’t going to let her give this one up. Her first stop is the Marvin house, where she casually drops Bess’ name to the family landscaper. He’s been working for the family for years and has never heard of Bess.
We learn a whole lot about Bess this episode. It certainly looks like she’s being targeted by some vengeful spirit. When she ducks into the walk-in at work to try on a ring, something in the ventilation shaft attacks her. When Nancy and George come check on her, she tells them she found the ring on the ground in the parking lot. By the time she found out whose it was, they were all under investigation for murder. Also, Nancy peeks inside her locker and finds a British passport. Bess has been lying about her identity the whole time.
Before they can really discuss what’s going on with that though, George calls a Claw team meeting. Her mother, a medium, is there to give everyone a brief lesson on ghosts. According to her, a new ghost doesn’t know they’re dead. That’s why they lash out at people like Bess wearing their things. It’s still unclear how much of the supernatural stuff is actually real. The show keeps one foot in the supernatural and one in the logical. For now, it’s charming. I am going to want some answers before the series is over, though. In any case, the crew decides to return the ring to Tiffany’s body. And the best time to do that will be her memorial service.
George offers to do it as an apology for sleeping with Tiffany’s husband. Just as she’s about to put the ring on the dead body’s finger, Ryan and his father enter the room. George manages to hide beneath the coffin, and hears something interesting. Ryan’s father says Ryan didn’t care much about her life when she was alive. Nothing incriminating, but still suspicious. The two men leave, and George is able to return the ring undetected. The weirdness at the funeral doesn’t end there, though. Tiffany’s sister plays the recording of her 911 call. She doesn’t believe the natural causes diagnosis either. And she thinks it’s real suspicious that in Tiffany and Ryan’s prenup, he only got her money if she died of natural causes. The only question now, is Ryan a murderer or just an opportunistic asshole.
The episode is pretty much over at this point, but it still has 20 minutes of runtime to fill. You can really feel the stretch here, and it’s not pretty. Nancy and her dad have a talk about her mom, and she finally sits down at her mom’s grave to talk to her. It’s a big emotional moment that the episode didn’t really build up to. It feels out of place with everything else that’s going on. Like the show just said, “well, they’re at the cemetery anyway, might as well get the mom grieving scene out of the way.” Nancy is crying through this scene and I really wish it made me feel anything, but it’s just not working for me.
Kennedy McMann as Nancy and Scott Wolf as Carson — Photo: Dean Buscher/The CW
Nancy finds out about Bess’ whole backstory at the funeral too. She came from a poor neighborhood in London. When times were tough, her mom would tell her they were descended from a rich family called the Marvins. Now that she’s an adult, she tracked them here to find out if that’s true. It’s an interesting enough motivation, and it gives us some non-murder mystery drama to look forward to.
It isn’t until the episode’s final minutes that it starts to pick things back up again. Nancy studies the video of the moments before Tiffany’s death closely. Right before she dies, a ghostly face appears in the distortion. It’s the most scared this show has made me. As Nancy studies the distorted face, it cracks her laptop screen in the exact shape of the town map. And the center of the crack is Nancy’s old high school. It doesn’t lead to much for now. Nancy just finds evidence that Karen and Lucy Sable knew each other very well, despite Karen saying they weren’t really friends. So yeah, suspicious, but doesn’t feel like the biggest deal just yet.
Adam Beach as Chief McGinnis and Alvina August as Karen — Photo: Dean Buscher/The CW
Nancy Drew didn’t really have a Halloween episode, but it didn’t really need one. There’s enough ghosts and horror already. This was honestly one of the weaker episodes so far. Any immediate mysteries are explained quickly, and don’t give us any new information. Tiffany’s sister also trying to solve her murder could be interesting, but it doesn’t really go beyond that here. Much of the episode felt like it was padding, just trying to get us to what happens at the end.
I will say though, that end is effectively creepy. While Nancy is poking around the school and Ned finds evidence that someone has been snooping around his safe, George is having a ghost encounter. Earlier, when she apologized to Tiffany’s grave, a ghostly mist swirled around her. Now, in the parking lot where Tiffany was killed, we see it knock her over. The last thing we see is George repeating Tiffany’s last words. Halloween may be this week, but we might be in for an extra-supernatural edition next week.
Nancy Drew airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. on The CW
Previously on Nancy Drew:
- Nancy Drew Season 1 Episode 3 Recap
- Nancy Drew Season 1 Episode 2 Recap
- Nancy Drew Season 1 Premiere Recap
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