S03.E04: The Demon of Piper Beach

[Bort]

When life-threatening sleepwalking suddenly spikes in town, the Drew Crew races to protect everyone from the supernatural threat that’s causing these terrifying experiences, and Nancy begins to question whether the case of the Frozen Heart murders has been solved. Meanwhile, Nancy’s unspoken feelings for Ace resurface, and George is shaken by an unwelcome friend request from a surprising source.

Airdate: Friday, 29 Oct 2021

[AnimeMania]

I was hoping that the Bess Bus looked more like the Scooby-Doo Mystery Machine.

[Cheetara1986]

Another great episode. This season really his hitting all cylinders.

- Loved all the lil elements they threw in: Nightmare on Elm Street, lil Scooby Doo, Terminator.

-They continue to give us new team ups like with Bess and Ryan, which is gold in it self.

- love that they continue to not push the slow burn to the forefront and have it take over the show. We already know, Nancy is going to continue to not listen to the dream and follow her instincts. She'll repress her feelings for Ace, try to distance herself and give Agent Park a shot. All the while, Ace finally starts opening his eyes, and starts getting jealous. Leading to a big crescendo probably in the finale.

-Which I believe, they way they continue to fake out a kiss between Nancy and Ace, they will give them their first one at the end of the season.

- I think we found another of the prophecies: Bess fulfills her destiny with Woman in White, which will cause the others to fall. To go along with Ace possibly going the Joe Kelsey route.

- Ryan finding his purpose in helping lil kids is great to see. And his surprised  reaction that the kids liked him was precious.

- Definitely see an Ace/Carson/ryan team up where they help clear Ace's name and put Papa Bobbsey behind bars.

[thuganomics85]

Pretty good episode for Bess this go around and I liked that she was the one who ended up finding a way to defeat The Sandman.  While I don't think the Drew Crew means to take her for granted, I do think it can come off that way sometimes, so it was nice for her to remind them that she has value and they'll hopefully take that into consideration going forward.  That said, even though it did work out this time, they aren't wrong to worry about her getting assistance from Temperance, because she really isn't someone who can be trusted.

Carson busting out a special dish of some kind to charm D.A. Rosario!  Love that not only does Nancy know about it (and how great it is), but Ryan already does as well, which means that at some point Carson has already cooked it for Ryan and he thought it was amazing too.  They really are a family!

Speaking of Ryan, the idea of him working at Nick's Youth Center never occurred to me before, but that is an interesting idea.  As Nick pretty much said, even if Ryan is from a different part of society, his upbringing probably will make him relate to these other troubled kids and he will hopefully be able to use it to benefit them (and maybe even himself.)

So, George's birth father/sperm donor is being played by Osric Chau (Kevin Tran!  Or Ryan Choi!  Either works!)  At first I thought he was too young for the role, but he is about 35 in real life, so I guess it's possibly if he had her young.  Granted, Leah Lewis is only ten years younger than him in real life as well, but George is suppose to be about 18-19 now.  Either way, looking forward to seeing him here.

Looks like Ace's time with Daddy Bobbsey is already coming to ahead.  I do think Carson will actually listen to him first, so I imagine a team-up of some kind will happen again (ah, memories of the time Ace basically broke Carson out of jail to protect him!)

Looks the Frozen Heart murders are far from over as there is another killer on the loose.  And his first victim seems to be that jackass cafe owner that was giving Nick grief about his youth center.  Twist! 

[quarks]

Loving the way this show continues to weave together various small threads.

1. Can't say I'm going to miss Jake the Mildly Racist Cafe Guy. That said, Nancy probably won't either. And that said - I realize that this is probably partly thanks to the fact that the various serial killers can only go after a pretty limited number of people, especially given Covid-19 filming limitations and a need to limit the number of day players/extras as much as possible, but...no, show, it has not escaped my notice that the serial killers are only killing people who have had run-ins with various Hudsons.

2. So, basically, the entire town has decided to hold regular festivals to prevent supernatural creatures from killing them? I can see this.

3. Chore wheel! I can't help but feel that, as fun as this show is, it would be even more fun if we were getting more of the My Two Dads sitcom sideshow stuff.

4. I am trying very very hard to think of this as Carson dating Jo from Eureka and not ALIE from The 100 because the first, yay, and the second - I just can't help thinking that this town is teetering close enough to destruction as it is. 

5. "My dad's a cop." Look, Ace, I'm not here to judge your personal life. I am here to judge your extremely unconvincing excuses about it.

6. And on the subject of Ace tidbits this episode, if Ace does turn out to be a secret tech billionaire spending his life slicing up vegetables and driving a terrible car....well. I'll laugh.

7. And speaking about the veggies, sometimes you can tell when an actor has not sliced celery too frequently in his past.

I'm not saying that happened in this case. I am just making an observation.

8. And while still chatting about Ace, dude, if you are carrying around that many pairs of handcuffs - and as I said, I'm not here to judge that - keeping track of the keys should be habitual by now. I don't care how tired you are.

9. Awww, Ryan may have finally found something to do with his life! 'Bout time, dude.

10. George's father is going to turn out to be very bad news, right? And no, I'm not just saying this because he's clearly had enough dealings with the supernatural to look like her brother, not her father.

[Alice Mudgarden]

Carson and Ryan had some serious Sam and Dean Winchester energy in the scene about the "working lunch date", and I'm here for it.

[Lady Calypso]

I love that Bess took the forefront in this episode. I'm all for more of the Drew Crew taking the forefront in episodes to solve the mysteries (it can't ALWAYS be Nancy, after all) and Bess has honestly been the most underutilized member of the Drew Crew to date. So seeing HER get to step up and take control? Really great, and it showcased Maddison's talent. She's been saddled with either being a sidekick or being a romantic love interest for so long (besides her brief story with the Marvins) that I'm actually excited for her arc this season. I always love personal story arcs, and this is going to be a great one for her.

I actually was hoping for some true build-up with Bess being resentful of her friends not taking her seriously. I actually think it would be a fascinating arc to explore all season and, as we saw with this episode, it worked rather well. 

Plus, her and Ryan team up! Speaking of Ryan, I know he's not part of the Drew Crew officially, but I also feel like the show hasn't known what to do with him beyond being part of Nancy's Two Dads stuff. So this episode really showcased what his arc will be this season, and I think it's great. I think him working for Nick's youth centre is a surprisingly wonderful story for him this season. Last season, I was a bit sad that the only plot he seemed to have was a half assed romantic arc with the journalist. I think this works better for him, especially for his own personal growth. And he got to help save the day, which is always good.

They also don't seem to quite know what to do with Carson, BUT with his own romantic arc and his potential story with Ace, I hope this also gives him more to do.

George is also getting an arc set up with her biological father...I mean, is it REALLY going to be Osric Chau? I love the actor, I do, but he seems about ten years too young to be playing George's father. I thought, at first, he was maybe an older half brother or an uncle or something. But her dad? Just a tad too young. But maybe it's because Osric definitely doesn't look his age, he looks a bit younger, and Leah also doesn't look 18-19, she looks more her age as well. 

But still, it's nice that George's arc this season won't be ENTIRELY surrounding ghosts and possessions like the first two seasons. I know she still has Odette in her body, but with her locked away, George is finally getting some non-ghost related plots, which is nice. 

They're really slow-burning Nancy/Ace but, at the same time, making it clear that it's Nancy's main focus this season. I'm not sure if I'm loving the obviousness with that, but Kennedy and Alex do work well together and I still have trust in this show to do well with it (and, I assume, throw in some sort of surprise along the way).

[tennisgurl]

I really like that we got a Bess centric episode, she is probably the member of the Drew Crew that has been focused on the least lately so I am really glad she got some time to shine. I am glad they focused more on her learning magic (even if working with Constance probably wont end well) and that she got to defeat the creature and save the day. We also got a rare Bess and Ryan team up, which was awesome, he is always just so happy to be included in mystery solving and I can see him and Bess getting along really well. I do wish they had built up her resentment of the Drew Crew not taking her seriously more in the previous episode or so, but I like what they did with it here. I am glad that she is finding purpose, but I am still sure that Constance is not to be trusted. I continue to love this season, they are doing a good job mixing monsters of the week with the greater story while also trying to give the whole cast some time to shine. I also like the world building we are getting of the town, its creepy history is one of my favorite elements of the shows mythology. 

A Chore Wheel! Nancy's Two Dads is still my favorite sitcom, I would kill for a bunch of webisodes of Carson trying to teach Ryan about how to be a normal person and how chores work. I loved Ryan teasing Carson about his "work lunch" with the DA, and I am really excited about the idea of Ryan working with Nick at his Youth Center, I never even considered that but its a great idea. Ryan clearly needs real direction in his life, this means that he can spend time with kids the way that he never got to spend time with Nancy when she was growing up, and, like Nick said, Ryan might be from a very different economic background then the kids, but he does understand growing up in a turbulent household and being a troubled kid. 

If Ace actually is a secret tech billionaire and has just never mentioned it, I really wouldn't be that surprised. Looks like his brief foray into unwilling crime with Bobbsey the elder is already catching up to him, but at least now he has Carson, who I really hope will be able to help. He probably could have stopped the video when he realized he was in it and blamed it on the computer, but letting Carson know what's going on is for the best.

Nice to meet George's dad, who looks more like her younger uncle or older brother then her dad, I guess he could have had her in high school? The actor looks younger then he is and George looks a bit older, so it seems kind of weird, but I am interested in seeing what his deal is. 

Love Nick commenting on all of the weird traditions and festivals that Horseshoe Bay has, I guess we should all be preparing for whatever is going to happen next month. Have we checked the area for any Hellmouth entrances lately?

They are really going slow burn on Ace and Nancy aren't they? Even giving us dream sequences of Nancy and Ace getting together just to tease us with the possibilities. Oh yeah, I can wait as long as I know that I am going to love where we end up. 

So we don't have just one heart themed serial killer, we could have a whole squad, who just took out the jerky guy who disapproves of Nicks Youth Center. Of course, catching a lone wolf serial killer is WAY too easy. 

Edited November 1, 2021 by tennisgurl

[secnarf]

Finally able to watch this episode - super annoying that it airs at 10pm on Sunday nights in Canada now.

I also thought the guy who answered the door was George's half-brother rather than her father.

The Bess Bus was amazing. I really enjoyed this episode, and love the different pairings. All of the characters work so well with each other.

As someone who occasionally has hypnagogic hallucinations, the Sandman was kind of realistically terrifying.

For a moment I was a bit worried about Ryan's safety at the end of the episode, but the racist diner owner can die, no problem. Of course it is a group of serial killers, secretly defending the Hudsons from those who have wronged them 😂

[CrazyDog]

This really is the best show that not many people are watching. I am loving this season.

Ace looked so ashamed when he had the video with him and Daddy Bobbsey. He does seem to look up to Carson.

Bess has never been my favorite character, and I hated the Marvin storyline, but at least she has a better arc now. I love that everyone on the CW is just becoming witches now, lol. (coughRiverdalecough).

My Two Dads are a wonderful storyline. They really have redeemed Ryan's character to the point that he's one of my favorites now.

I am already hoping we can squeak out another season or two.

[bettername2come]

On 11/3/2021 at 8:23 PM, CrazyDog said:

My Two Dads are a wonderful storyline. They really have redeemed Ryan's character to the point that he's one of my favorites now.

It really is amazing how they've made that happen. Like he went from spoiled rich guy dating teenagers who seems like a murderer to dependable dad with good rapport with kids. I've been watching Riley Smith in stuff for 20 years and this is the best character he's ever had.