‘Ghost Whisperer’ 4.02 Review: More Haunted Than Haunting
Episode: Big Chills
Original Air Date: October 10, 2008
Luckily for me, the latest episode of Ghost Whisperer is much more enjoyable than the season premiere. Sure, it still has one of those emotional breakdown endings the show is famous for, but I suspect fans would expect and accept no less.
The spook-of-the-week this time is a young-ish guy named Lucas (Christian Campbell), who happened to attend Hamilton High School, along with Melinda and his two best friends, doctor Ryan (Jason London — for those, like me, who notice such things, it was his identical twin Jeremy that starred in the excellent I’ll Fly Away) and Ryan’s girlfriend Grace (Rachael Leigh Cook). Since longtime viewers already know what a hard time Melinda had as a child and young adult, it’s no surprise she’s less than thrilled to be in the company of her former classmates again.
Her ghost whispering experience is sorely in need, however, so it’s a good thing she swallows her reluctance and goes to Lucas’ funeral, with reliable Jim providing emotional support. Several spooky incidents involving blood on windshields and just about every other available surface eventually reveal that during a road trip to visit colleges when they were seniors in high school, Lucas, Ryan, and Grace mistakenly killed a motorcycle rider who tried to pass them on the road one night. Yet, instead of calling help for the middle-aged, married father, they left the scene of the crime because all were drunk.
Of course, nothing can be that simple on a paranormal show. So, there are a few more twists thrown in casting suspicion on Ryan, who met Lucas’ crush Grace through Lucas and later prescribed Lucas the sleeping pills that weren’t safe to use with the antidepressants Lucas required to cope with his lingering guilt.
Ryan’s role in Lucas’ death turns out to be just as accidental as the trio’s roles were in the motorcycle rider’s death ten years ago since Lucas unintentionally overdosed when his sleeping pills failed to make him sleep. In fact, although he seems indifferent, Ryan’s tough exterior is just a front to hide the guilt he feels for causing Lucas to get drunk that night. A non-drinker, Lucas turned to alcohol only after he found Ryan kissing Grace, the girl he liked and met first.
Once everything is all out in the open, with a little ghost “hearinger” help from Eli, Ryan and Grace visit the motorcyclist’s widow and young daughter before turning themselves in to the authorities, and Lucas walks onward into that bright white light. Mission accomplished, Melinda and Jim are free to settle their differences about how much baby groundwork they should lay before they actually get pregnant.
Melinda has been intent on doing as much as possible right away, although Jim prefers to wait until they’ve 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 does the right thing for her peace of mind and helps her start putting together a nursery.
This is an okay episode, although Jamie Kennedy remains too stiff as Eli James; I’m still not buying him as some kind of psychiatry maverick whom his colleagues distrust. I’ll give him a few more episodes to get into a groove, though, even if I’ll never understand why Camryn Manheim is so underused. She might as well not even be on the show since she only gets about fifteen seconds of screen time each episode. I wonder what’s up with that…
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POSTED IN: Ghost Whisperer, Recaps
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