‘Ghost Whisperer’ 4.01 Review: New Ghost Whisperer in Town
Original Air Date: October 3, 2008
After being a faithful follower of Ghost Whisperer during the first season, my interest kind of waned. I felt — and still do feel — that the series has never fully lived up to the potential of its paranormal premise. Instead of delivering genuine scares that go deep, the show nearly always seems to settle on weepy, schmaltzy conclusions, I suspect to appeal to female viewers (as much as I hate to make such a distinction).
I remain wary of Ghost Whisperer’s tendency to go in that direction, but after watching the fourth-season premiere “Firestarter,” I’m also concerned that the acting and storytelling have gotten too wooden, hence predictable and unbelievable. Roughly half of the scenes in the episode were disappointing to me because the actors seemed just like that: actors. I hope these negatives will recede as the season progresses and new series regular Jamie Kennedy settles into his role as Rockland University psychology professor Eli James, a risk-taking man who’s not well liked, even among his colleagues.
To introduce the Eli character into the Ghost Whisperer world, the premiere focuses on the incident that gives him the ability to hear, but not see, ghosts like Melinda. It all starts when he meets with his young, pretty patient Fiona (Alona Tal) one night at Rockland U. and her jealous former foster brother and current roommate Christian (Russell Sams) starts a fire that kills her and gives Eli the gift after a near death experience.
Predictably, Christian suspects the therapist and patient are lovers, and he’s kind of correct since both do have feelings for each other. In fact, Eli later tells Fiona’s ghost that he had to end their therapy relationship because his feelings were inappropriate. This revelation fixes Fiona’s broken heart (hey — she says that, not me), the reason why she haunts him after dying, and allows her to go into that familiar light.
Aside from helping Eli become accustomed to the reality that his gift requires him to help ghosts cross over, Melinda also has an important encounter with a ghost who reveals intriguing information after saving Melinda and Christian’s lives during the fire he starts in the Archives department to commit suicide.
She tells Melinda that a group of ghosts watch her and then warns Melinda that she doesn’t understand the full consequences of moving back and forth between the realms of the living and the dead. Apparently, it exacts a price such that Melinda could bring back death to the land of the living and give it to those who are alive that she touches. This is not good news, especially since she and Jim have been trying unsuccessfully to get pregnant for four months.
Or, we could speculate that the message has something to do with Jay Mohr’s Professor Rick Payne, who has to leave now that Mohr headlines a new sitcom at CBS called Gary Unmarried. Last season, Payne had a weird experience when he saw five shadows for six people. Of course, this kind of thing sticks in your head when you’ve been through what Melinda has.
Mohr exits the show, with room to return in the future, when Payne leaves for a sabbatical to study artifacts and whatnot in the Himalayas. The final scene with a tearful Melinda and a typically wry Payne is the best — and most believable — of the episode. This was a weak premiere to me, but at least it sets the stage for more engaging storylines down the line. I just hope Kennedy and the writers can step up to the plate and deliver.
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POSTED IN: Ghost Whisperer, Recaps, Season Premieres
1 opinion for ‘Ghost Whisperer’ 4.01 Review: New Ghost Whisperer in Town
‘Ghost Whisperer’ 4.02 Review: More Haunted Than Haunting
Oct 13, 2008 at 12:00 am
[...] conceived. When he finally learns Melinda is troubled by the ghost’s claim at the end of the season premiere that she brings death with her as she travels between the realms of the living and the dead, Jim [...]
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