PaulE

There was an interview with some of the writers (I forget where) in which they said that Trevor was originally conceived as a pure douchebag, but they liked what Asher Grodman brought to the character so they decided to go along with that and develop his personality. Likewise, it wasn't at all a done deal originally that Isaac's and Nigel's relationship would go beyond the unexpressed longing that we saw at the beginning, but when they saw the chemistry between the two actors they decided to capitalize on it and create an actual story arc. So it seems the writers of this show are flexible and willing to consider options for character development based on what the actors do. In Trevor's case, I'm glad he's got more layers than he did at the beginning because it makes him a much more interesting (as well as sympathetic) character. After awhile, a Johnny-One-Note can become pretty boring and obnoxious. Remember Frank Burns from MASH? He was a totally flat character serving as a foil for Hawkeye and Trapper John, and he was never allowed to grow emotionally or display any facets to his character, to the point where he seemed to be in the group but not of it. In fact, when the actor left the show he talked about how unchallenging it was to portray such a character, and that he left because he just got tired of doing it. I'd bet Asher would have gotten frustrated if Trevor had remained completely two-dimensional.

Roman Zaragosa who plays Sass is in his twenties we don't know how old any of the ghosts were when they died. I've always been under the impression that Sass was around 20 when he died and that this was mentioned early on in the show, but since no one else has mentioned this yet my memory must be faulty. Perhaps 20 came from an interview with Roman somewhere, but I really did think he was that age. Roman, I know, is closer to 30 than to 20 and I agree there's no way he could pass anymore as a teenager. Twenty makes sense, though, in terms of his lack of experience about certain aspects of life, yet he's clearly an adult. Since Native Americans didn't keep written records, I suppose it's impossible to know for certain whether there were exceptions to getting married in the teens, but I have to imagine there'd have been some. And of course, the various tribes would not all have had the same traditions and social standards. At any rate, I think it would be very interesting to have more of his back story, whatever it is. His is really the least developed of the ghosts, if you think about it.

I used to think that he would simply cease to exist, even on a spiritual plane. I mean, he's already disembodied, right? His physical body no longer exists, so if his form as a spirit disappears, there's really nothing left. I especially thought this because Pete was so frightened the first time it happened. To me, he clearly thought that would be the end of him--though on second thought I realized he probably reacted so strongly simply because he had no idea of what was going to happen to him, which is, I imagine, more terrifying than knowing. But we know from the attempted exorcism from Jay that he has a soul, so that implies he would still exist in some manner, and we also know that, in the canon of this show, there's a heaven and a hell. Many religions teach the concept of an immortal soul that, though without a physical body, is a continuation of the person, has a consciousness, and can be judged. I guess we're getting into both metaphysics and theology here, but I'm now inclined to think he'd continue to exist consciously by some definition, though how and where is anyone's guess.

I assumed that all ghosts have powers, but some are so negligible or only work in a specific circumstance, like Sam's mom having shrimp burps or the Buymore ghosts that can make people forget why they came down an aisle. I also assumed that all ghosts have powers of some sort (and, given the countless number of ghosts there seem to be in the world, some powers are the same or similar). But, to follow up on what Lugal said above about passive or negligible powers, I've always thought Isaac's and Flower's weren't so much powers as attributes. The others can do specific things at will, such as interfere with electricity, make walls bleed, move things, or travel beyond the ghost boundaries, but that's not really the case with these two. Sure, they can deliberately walk through a person or choose not to, but when they do pass through someone they can't control what happens. Nor can they, say, make an entire room smell bad or get every living in a room high just by willing it. Each so-called power in their case seems to reflect the state of their mortal bodies at the time they passed: Flower was full of pot and Isaac was full of shit (I'm sorry, I just couldn't resist, but it is true, after all). Remember, Isaac would give anything not to have his particular "power," but he's helpless. All he can do is try to avoid the conditions under which it happens. In fact, if the restaurant ever becomes a success, those two had better stay clear of it when it's crowded. Think of all the people moving around: waiters, customers arriving and leaving, or getting up from their tables to use the restrooms, etc. Isaac and Flower (especially Flower) might try to dodge one person only to inadvertently go through another if there's not a lot of space. I have visions of stoned waiters spilling trays on people or everyone leaving because of the smell, with complete strangers accusing others of being the cause and getting into a fight. That would be pretty funny, actually, but poor Jay! Word gets around.

And the characters are so different! Viking Thor v. gentle Robin, for example. And space, free-love Flower v. naive Kitty. I agree. I've never thought it was very worthwhile to compare the two in terms of which is "better." They're different, each reflecting to an extent the type of humor and cultural references of each country.

I just thought of a completely whacky scenario: Mark gets possessed by Nigel. Could you imagine? It could happen somehow when Mark is doing something at or in the shed. Of course, Mark doesn't know about the ghosts, so he'd have no idea of what was going on, but after things were back to normal, Sam and Jay could explain. Some of you have said you'd like Mark to know about the ghosts so this could be a way of introducing that. I'm seeing a situation in which Nigel is at first horrified that he's in Mark's body (so undignified, and a Yankee at that!) and wants to get out as soon as possible, but then he notices one of Mark's workmen is really cute and overhears him telling a co-worker that he just broke up with his boyfriend. Well, all of a sudden, maybe Nigel's not in such a rush after all . . . Pretty bizarre but it could be hilarious.

I think it was harder to imitate Thor because it's not just his speech and mannerisms but the timbre of his voice, which is too deep for most women to duplicate. Also, more than most of the other ghosts, there's the issue of his sheer physicality--when you see Devan standing next to other actors, including the men, you realize he is one big guy. He's a giant sequoia where everyone else is a garden-variety tree. It's not really possible for Rose or any other actress to be able to capture that convincingly, through no fault of their own. Even many men probably couldn't.

Well, sure but that's where half the humor comes from. I know I keep going back to this, but what if Darrin was suddenly immune to Endora's witchcraft? I think the issue is not that Jay is exploited but, rather, the extent to which this is done. It's interesting that you mention Darrin in "Betwitched," because I remember that, by the last season or two, just about every episode was about Endora or another of Samantha's witch relatives casting a spell on Darrin and doing mean things to him so that I didn't really find it all that funny (or even interesting) anymore. That wasn't true in the the earlier seasons. He just became basically the defenseless tin can they all kicked around simply because they could, and he almost never was able to get the better of any of them or retaliate. It actually made me uncomfortable, especially because there was nothing at all bad about him other than that he was a mortal. In the case of "Ghosts," I think some of us may feel that Jay is being taken advantage of a bit too often. A subjective point, admittedly. As I said earlier, I wonder if the dynamics between Jay and the ghosts has been slightly altered after he was able to see them, and if so, whether this will be reflected in the stories. For instance, it would be nice if, once in a while, the ghosts tried to help Jay solve some sort of problem or get out of a sticky situation. That kind of thing. Now that they've been able to talk to him directly, he might be a little more "real" to them emotionally so they'll care about him more, and that could show up every now and then in the plots without doing away with the conflicts and hijinks that create the comedy.

Plus he wasn't used to all the technology--even starting the car was guesswork for him because he'd have been used to the old key-in-the-ignition routine.

My parents' house had an old oil-burning furnace (by now most of these have been replaced by gas furnaces) and every year in the fall we had to get a technician from the oil company to clean out the chimney and get rid of the sludge that would sometimes collect during the summer and clog the fuel line. I can remember watching him do his thing and muttering "Come on, baby!" when he was having difficulty getting it to start for one reason or another. And he also referred to it sometimes as "she." So, yeah, some people have a thing for furnaces and kind of relate to them as people. Weird but cute.

I did, too. And that was brought home by the fact that Jay's mother had problems with Sam only because she tried too hard. That showed how desperately Sam wanted to connect and how inept she was at being able to do so because of her own family background. Many of us have been very critical of Sam in the past because of the way she treats Jay and allows herself to be taken advantage of by the ghosts, but I have to admit I developed a lot more sympathy for her after this episode and it did my heart good to see how happy she was when her mother-in-law added her to the family thread. Well, from an actor's standpoint, he might actually find the role fulfilling precisely because it's such a challenge. The other members of the cast have commented in interviews on what a difficult job Utkarsh has because he has to react to situations while pretending he can see no one else but Rose, even though the rest of the cast is standing right there. And he does have a major role in the show--I think his character is more developed than the the husband in the British version.

I was actually a little irritated that Flower made such a big deal about Sass being a virgin. I guess she just feels sorry for him, but that secret was supposed to go no further than Thor, and he broke that trust. Not cool, Thor! Flower needed to mind her own business and not try to force someone on Sass just for the sake of sex. She was out of line. I feel the same way. So Sass was a virgin--big deal! I suppose it might be considered a bit unusual, though I think Sass was only around 20 when he died, so it could easily be assumed that he just hadn't gotten around to it yet. I don't know when Native Americans tended to marry or how they thought about sex outside of marriage, and although they seem not to have been as uptight about sex as Europeans, virginity at that age might not have been all that unusual. We live in such a sex-obsessed culture that it's supposed to be shocking that a young man hasn't had sex yet. I can understand Flower's reaction because she lived in the era of "free love" (remember, she and Thor even talked about the Virgin Mary's restraint!), but Sheila Carrasco went a bit overboard by referring to Sass's virginity as something "really, really important." Nah, I think he's got more interesting aspects to his character than that.

Just no. It would totally ruin the whole basis of the show and lead to it's quick cancellation. Jay seeing the ghosts all the time would lead to just a typical "family comedy" of the parents (Sam and Jay) and the kids motif. No, no, no. A thousand times no. You don't destroy an absolute perfect and wonderfully unique set-up for some tired old sitcom genre. I have to agree, though I also loved the fact that finally Jay could see the ghosts because many of us have wanted this for so long. But in the long run, I think giving him the ability permanently would lessen the nature of this show. However, I wouldn't mind if, every now and then, Jay is able to interact with them briefly. But it shouldn't happen too often or for too long. But even doing it only once, it still deepens Jay's relationship with them because, although he always believed in their existence, he now knows them as individuals since he's seen and heard them. Even though he goes back to not being able to do so, he still has the memories of that experience, and it's bound to change how he thinks of and relates to them. It would be great if the writers could capture that somehow. It would be tricky to do because, of course, he's back to the way things used to be, so they'd have to be very subtle in the way they portrayed that extra dimension to their relationship. But I hope the writers try to depict that.

I loved this episode! It had just about everything, including some hilarious lines, and was heartwarming as well. Rose McIver really did a phenomenal job as Nancy. Utkarsh was also pretty convincing as Pete, though of course there wasn't as much to work with. The zombie twist was unexpected. I was a bit surprised that the exorcism included a trinitarian invocation in Latin, as well as Thor and Flower talking about the Virgin Mary--up to now, the writers have wisely stayed away from religion, so hopefully no viewers will be offended, though in today's thin-skinned climate there's no telling. Great to see the beginning of Thor and Sass's friendship, and it was wonderful for Jay to be able to see the ghosts. We've often discussed how the ghosts don't seem to value him much but I suppose that was mainly because they couldn't communicate with him. Once that changed, they were all very warm toward him. I guess it was as nice for them as for him to finally be able to interact. The supreme irony, though: Jay got to meet all the main ghosts except his buddy Pete! I'd love it if Sass could bring him into one of Jay's dreams. Sweet Jay, willing to risk his body and perhaps his entire existence so Pete could see his family for holidays--aww! Pete's hug with his daughter--yeah, that got to me. And so did Jay and his father at the end. A lovely Christmas episode!

Regarding the Playbill, I've also wondered whether it might possibly have to do with Isaac's love of musicals. No Playbills back in the eighteenth century, of course, but the symbolism is still there.