THE PRIMARY SOURCE
Sam and Isaac are incredibly close to getting Isaac’s biography written, but they need their source verified before the publisher will move forward. Meanwhile, the other ghosts find a ghost snail that leads to revelations about Trevor’s past.
Forgotten Forefather
Sam meets with the publisher she pitched the book to who loves her idea. Unfortunately, she needs to verify the primary source. This is problematic since Sam can’t just say that her primary source is the ghost of Captain Isaac Higgentoot. Sam and Isaac need to find a way to forge a primary source before the verification agent arrives at the manor.
Isaac reveals that he kept a diary and buried it at Fort Ticonderoga. Sam, Jay and Pete head off to find the diary in hopes of it being useful. During this timeframe, Sam mistakes a re-enactor for a ghost, setting up some of the troubles for later in the episode. They find the diary, but it’s not helpful, because Isaac only ever wrote about sandwiches.
The ghosts and the livings come up with a plan to have Jay forge Isaac’s thoughts into the diary before it can be verified. Unfortunately, the verification agent arrives a day early, and Sam mistaking him for one of the ghosts tells him everything they were doing, putting an end to Isaac’s ghostly dream of being remembered for his time in the American Revolution.
Escar-ghost
The B-plot of this episode comes with the discovery of a ghost snail. Jay steps on the snail but his foot goes right through it. Hetty, Thor and Flower decide to adopt the snail as their pet, but Trevor is opposed to it. He claims he doesn’t care about pets, but at a certain point he takes the snail from Thor and cares for it while the others don’t know where the snail is. He then reveals that he loves animals and doesn’t think they should have pets, but something else is clearly going on.
Eventually, the other ghosts are able to convince him to talk about it, and he feels guilty that he didn’t return to his dog who was his best friend. His dog was always there for him and he feels like he let his dog down by dying. Eventually, this leads to him telling the snail he’s a “good boy.” This leads to a bright light that looks like Trevor is finally getting “sucked off.” However, it’s revealed the snail is the one who is ascending.
Sam’s New Book
After revealing what they had wasn’t verifiable, Sam has to find a way to get Isaac’s book published. She pitches a historical fictional novel where Isaac is a vampire during the American Revolution. While Isaac isn’t thrilled by the revelation, he’s willing to accept it to get his story out in some way. Plus, being a vampire allows him to attack his nemesis, Alexander Hamilton. Plus, he loves being Captain Isaac Higgentooth.
Funny sidebars
Isaac’s vampire name helps set up some of the funnier aspects of this episode. Pete and Jay battle over the front seat on the ride to and from Fort Ticonderoga. Pete keeps beating Jay to the call on “shotgun.” Of course, Jay can’t interact with Pete, so Jay doesn’t find it fair. Jay’s right, but it’s a funny sidebar in this episode.
The other funny sidebar is the snail’s ascension pace. As it is known that snails are notoriously slow, it’s a slow “suck off” for the sail. Trevor sticks with him for hours, but eventually even he gives up and wishes the snail his best.
Rating
This is easily my least favorite episode of season four. Ghosts delivers far more than any other comedy on network television but not every episode can be a home run. While the aspect about Isaac’s book makes sense, since he’s not a fictional character, the whole charade just felt pointless. Meanwhile, the snail subplot really did nothing for me. I know that it helped advance Trevor’s character as a genuinely good guy pretending to be a “bro,” but I just can’t get behind this one. This episode felt like mostly filler.
Check out Ghosts on CBS and Paramount Plus.
Article Written By: Jeremy Brown for Stelmach Brown Media 2024
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