S01.E05: Ft. Ghost Child

[AnimeMania]

When a rap star rents a client’s recording studio, a tragic secret is revealed in the playback.

SYFY Premiere date: August 13, 2021

Directed by Melanie Sarofano.

Edited August 13, 2021 by AnimeMania

[Ceindreadh]

I love the way the show can go from the hilarious - August and Phil banishing the 'chain dragger' while Luke is assuring the client that everything is perfect - to the poignant - Phil talking to the picture of Jesus - to the downright heartbreaking - Luke telling the ghost to go to the light - all in the space of a single episode.

It is a bit of a mood whiplash sometimes, but I'm enjoying it nonetheless. 

[Maren]

I'm really enjoying this show. I so felt for poor little George! And his mom. And all the other kids and moms there. That scene with Luke telling him to go into the light was heartbreaking!!

I really hope this show makes it. Or at the very least, we find out what Luke is and the story with his mom.

[Johannah]

Another good outing.  I really liked Phil talking to Jesus.  

Felt so bad that the boy had to spend years hiding from the evil spirit, but glad he could finally go to his mom.

Still don't like Susan.  Now she's a rap expert or whatever was going on?  She was only mildly annoying, but still annoying.  

[seacliffsal]

I was very confused through most of this episode.  I guess that they also manage rental properties but don't clear out the spirits until a renter is coming in, oh and the rental just happened to have a recording studio?  And, they make so much money off of the rental that Susan can stay with the rapper the whole time and cater bbq from his favorite place somewhere else?

And conveniently, the parish in which the orphanage was located was the same one Father Phil worked?

Oh, and Roman has a bowling alley as well as a miniature golf course where he meets his deceased father?

[call me ishmael]

32 minutes ago, seacliffsal said:

I was very confused through most of this episode.  I guess that they also manage rental properties but don't clear out the spirits until a renter is coming in, oh and the rental just happened to have a recording studio?  And, they make so much money off of the rental that Susan can stay with the rapper the whole time and cater bbq from his favorite place somewhere else?

And conveniently, the parish in which the orphanage was located was the same one Father Phil worked?

Oh, and Roman has a bowling alley as well as a miniature golf course where he meets his deceased father?

I think actually that was a sale.

But yeah, I didn’t think that this was that great an episode.  The clients seemed basically tropes and i found the ghost less than compelling.  I also thought it was a strange ending with them all looking on while Roman identified with the ghost to get the boy peace and there seemed no fallout.

i did think that the whole idea about the Church succeeding as an institution because it is an institution was interesting.

 

[Johannah]

1 hour ago, seacliffsal said:

...

Oh, and Roman has a bowling alley as well as a miniature golf course where he meets his deceased father?

I meant to mention that.  Does Luke own the whole town?  Or is he just in charge of turning off the lights everywhere?

32 minutes ago, call me ishmael said:

...  I also thought it was a strange ending with them all looking on while Roman identified with the ghost to get the boy peace and there seemed no fallout.

...

 

Yeah, they can't all see ghosts, so basically, it was some crazy guy talking to himself.

[auchic]

I almost skipped this one, because I'm not a fan of ghost children, but I ended up really liking it.

Yay for some character development for Father Phil! I thought Adam Korson did a fantastic job showing the pain and the anger and the exhaustion of both the church's rejection of him and his rejection of the church. As someone who's struggled a lot with faith vs religion, I really liked that he could feel all these emotions and yet still want that security that the church used to give him. 

Otherwise the ghost story was a little meh, which is okay to me because I don't need dreams of scary giggling ghost children. Poor little George. All he wanted was a mom to hug and a friend to play with. I was a little surprised how emotional Luke got at the end there, encouraging George to go to sleep and move on. He knows it's best for the spirit. I guess he identifies too much with feeling abandoned.

On 8/15/2021 at 4:35 PM, Johann said:

On 8/15/2021 at 3:24 PM, seacliffsal said:

Oh, and Roman has a bowling alley as well as a miniature golf course where he meets his deceased father?

I meant to mention that.  Does Luke own the whole town?  Or is he just in charge of turning off the lights everywhere?

The sign outside of the bowling alley said "Funland" which was the name of the park from the pilot (where he was in the batting cage). My guess is it used to be Luke's father's place and he inherited when Dad passed on. It could be it's a whole complex with kiddie rides, mini golf and a bowling alley and Luke's dad is 'haunting' it.

My nitpick is similar to the cabin episode, in that those orphanage pictures should have been 30 or 40 years older. Not saying there wasn't orphanages in the 60s, but I think the church-run places where girls 'in trouble' could discreetly have a baby were few and far between. Those pictures looked more like they were from pre-WWII to me. Also, those places were not happy places for any children or expectant mothers. They were often shamed for their 'sins' and treated horribly. The Roman Agency were lucky they got lonely little George, instead of an angry and hurt child who had been beaten and neglected.