Weekly TV Reviews: Nancy Drew s2 ep13

 

Happy birthday to Nancy Drew!

The episode kicks off with a shock as Carson is making a birthday dinner for her birthday just in time to be interrupted by the handsome detective that arrests her for lying to the police. Nick and Ryan show up after being invited to talk about Nick's youth center. Meanwhile, George, Bess, and Ace are working on their own ghostly mission ... which ends with Ace being possessed by George's great aunt. 

1.) At the Police Station with Nancy

After mysteriously ending up at the police station at the same time, the station is placed under siege by a mysterious voice asking to speak with Nancy. The voice has a job for her. She must find out what happened to a woman named Dolores and the longer it takes, the worse things will get. Dolores went missing and her car was then discovered empty after falling to the waist side when a little girl went missing. The same little girl that Nancy found behind a stairwell and was in the newspaper for. Everyone that had been invited to the police station just happened to connect to the disappearance of Dolores. This creates a fun locked-room feel to the mystery that traps the potential suspects within a Saw-like arena with a mysterious voice threatening to electrocute them after flooding the station with water. 

Coincidentally Ryan was arrested that same night for a DUI, which leads Nancy to interrogate her biological father about his whereabouts. He doesn't remember much that night aside from the mandatory therapy and happy hour before getting arrested. It's his arrest that gives him an alibi for the night Dolores died. The episode creates a powerful commentary through Nick when he speaks to the detective about how Dolores (a young black woman) had been ignored these last several years. The style of the episode is intriguing with the suspects all locked within one room with Nick and Nancy at the helm of the investigation and interrogating the suspects. Carson arrives at the station to check on his daughter just the voice threatens to murder him if he makes it to the door which leads Nancy to snap at him to make him leave. They turn to the reporter as the next suspect which leads him to confess that he was having an affair with Dolores but claims he has an alibi. Carson arrives with Bess and George in time to help get the injured detective out but Nancy refuses to let anyone leave until they learn what really happened to Dolores. Though Ace is currently "soul searching," the trio comes up with their own plan to use floor mats to break into the police station. 

Nancy makes a break in the case when she learns that one of her earrings was found in the police station and that Ryan was released in the middle of the night while the records stated that he was released in the morning. Ryan overheard a moaning sound that he mistook for pipes when he was drunk but it turned out that he overheard Dolores that night. The truth comes out from one of the deputies that tells that Dolores was pulled over just before getting arrested and having her head hit on her car. When she seized from bleeding in her brain, the two cops covered up what happened and dumped her body in the ocean. The episode is a powerful veer away from ghosts and delivered an episode that's necessary for today's society. Nancy goes to the chapel where she confronts the local reverend about being the voice that held them hostage. 

2.) George's Great Aunt Plays a Visit

George and Bess get to business asking her great aunt (in Ace's body) to search for the ghost of Odette's English love. She just has one request first: her lost glasses. Her great aunt has several snippy comments about George's lack of ambition and future. Seeing Ace possessed by George's great aunt and wearing adorable big glasses is charming and humorous. The show has a natural way of weaving humor into serious episodes with ease that adds to the depth of the storytelling. Just as George and Bess are discussing her great aunt, Carson barges in with a desperate plea for help because Nancy was being held hostage. Nancy managed to use her mean statements to send a message for help to her dad and he immediately picked up on it. 

George's great aunt finally reveals what happened to Mary. Odette's lost love isn't a ghost at all. She had moved on after finding love again and dying of old age with family at her side. The news comes as a shock to Odette who's heartbroken. She reveals another bit of news to Geroge that is not what anyone wants to hear. If George doesn't separate from Odette then her lifeline will be shortened. 

The episode ends with Carson having her friends over for a birthday dinner. It's at the dinner that Carson shares where her name and her birthday came from. Nancy has a brief breakdown in her room and with a new mission in her life. The promo for next week reveals the first look at Tom Swift which should be an exciting episode and hopefully, the next CW show. 

Quotes:

"Because I wanted to know what it felt like to be a tall white man." - Great Aunt 

"And why did you wait until after eating dessert to tell us?" - George