The mystery of Nancy Drew’s first season is heating up and the show seems to have found its sense of fun. After last week kinda blew it when it came to making a possession scary, the show bounces back by focusing on what it’s good on. Jump scares and espionage. They show manages to make its core mystery more interesting and complicated each episode without feeling like it’s stalling. The new clues we learn are always fascinating, though at this point, we can’t tell if they’re red herrings or if they’ll actually mean something. More than anything, this show feels like a refreshing twist on the teen soap opera after Riverdale’s antics each week.
Last week’s episode ended with Nancy Drew digging up a time capsule from 1999 that links Ryan Hudson to Lucy Sable. All she can find is a poem filled with mythology references that she can’t make sense of. It’s only when she does a little breaking and entering at Ryan’s house that she finds a clue. The drawing at the top of Lucy’s poem is the same as a symbol found on the invitation to an exclusive underground auction called The Velvet Masque.
Riley Smith as Ryan and Kennedy McMann as Nancy. (Photo Credit: Dean Buscher / The CW)
Nancy has a new lead, but now she needs a way in. Fortunately, there’s one at her house: Ryan Hudson is hiding out there because he thinks people are out to kill him. After his dad cut him off, he went into debt with some scary people. He needs to sell some old Roman burial coins he got as a wedding gift to get the money. The problem is they’re locked up in his family’s private storage facility. Nancy offers to break in and get the coins if Ryan takes her to the Velvet Masque. Fortunately for her and the show’s pacing, she’s gotten a lot better at B&E since the first couple episodes of the season.
This episode splits up the main group so that they’re both after the same thing, but for completely different reasons. It’s a cool way to tell this story, and it adds some inter-character drama. Ultimately, they both want the same thing, but the way Nancy goes about it is pushing her friends away from her. Particularly Ned. He’s not just insecure about his girlfriend hanging out with all these handsome rich dudes, he’s concerned that Nancy is more focused on solving a cold case than Tiffany’s murder. While Nancy is trying to decipher a 20-year-old poem, Ned, George, and Bess are after the coins for a different reason. They’re mentioned in the manifest for a ship that mysteriously sank, killing 12 crew members. They guess Ryan doesn’t realize that he’s trying to sell evidence linking his family to 12 more murders.
Leah Lewis as George, Tunji Kasim as Nick. and Kennedy McMann as Nancy. (Photo Credit: Dean Buscher / The CW)
The split between the friends gives the whole episode a nervous tension that works in its favor. The characters aren’t actually working against each other, but their goals are just similar enough that it feels like they are. It also means both plots are equally fun. While Nancy’s uncovering the mystery of what Lucy saw 20 years ago, the other three are enacting a heist. Or trying to, anyway. See, there’s also a very cute subplot where Bess is preparing for a date with Lisbeth, the Hudson family’s transporter. Watching Bess get all nervous for a date is just so endearing. We barely know anything about Lisbeth by design, but I already love them and want to protect them. The date goes poorly. Later when the gang gets into the Velvet Masque, Bess sees Lisbeth there. They hit it off again, and when it’s time to enact their heist plan, Bess is busy kissing Lisbeth. She’s just one second late, and is caught with her hand on the coins. Great plan guys. Fortunately, Owen Marvin bails them out, saving Bess from losing a hand.
Meanwhile, Nancy gets up to some sleuthing. She sees masks of mythical creatures and it doesn’t take her long to figure out what Lucy’s poem meant. She saw Ryan’s mom kissing Owen Marvin’s uncle, her husband’s business rival. And she was caught. Nancy then finds Ryan making out with Lucy’s ghost. When he realizes what he’s doing, his ring starts to burn. This is probably the best use of the ghosts we’ve seen all season. Their appearances are brief, but effective. They don’t just look scary, they do scary things. Nancy inspects the ring and finds the message Lucy left for her. That hers and Tiffany’s death are connected.
Teryl Rothery as Celia Hudson and Kennedy McMann as Nancy. (Photo Credit: Dean Buscher / The CW)
The encounter convinces Ryan to finally be honest about what happened. He was in love with Lucy. He brought her to the Velvet Masque to impress her. Something bad happened, but Lucy wouldn’t tell Ryan what. (Probably the illicit Hudson-Marvin make out sesh.) After that, Ryan wasn’t allowed to see her anymore. She was murdered while he was away at boarding school and his parents told him never to speak of it. Ryan also says her parents handled Lucy the way they handled everything back then: Carson Drew. So Nancy’s dad is implicated in all this. That alone makes me anxious to see the next episode. Though for now, it looks like Ryan’s mom is higher on the suspect list. Some of the DNA results came back on the samples Nancy stole from the morgue. Lucy’s sample contained two people’s DNA. The second belonged to a woman.
Nancy Drew has found a pace and tone that works for it. The central mystery is interesting enough to keep me going, and the more we learn about these characters, the more I like them. I’m not really a fan of the love triangle story that seems to be developing. Mostly because the show doesn’t seem to know where to take it. Nancy steals the coins for Ned, George, and Bess, ensuring they can continue to follow Tiffany’s wishes. Owen shows up after realizing he paid 15,000 for a handful of quarters. Nancy convinces him to let it slide, assuring him they’re in the right hands. He tries to hit on her, but she says she’s in love with Ned. Only Ned is watching them out the window and looking all sad.
It just feels like the show’s trying spin relationship drama where there is none. There’s so much conflict in this show that’s actually good and motivated by the story, this just feels needless. If this leads to a big romantic falling out that could be solved by characters just talking to each other like humans… well, I’d hope Nancy Drew is better than that.
Nancy Drew airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. on The CW.
Previously on Nancy Drew:
- Nancy Drew Season 1 Episode 5 Recap
- Nancy Drew Season 1 Episode 4 Recap
- Nancy Drew Season 1 Episode 3 Recap
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