S03.E08: The Burning of the Sorrows

[AnimeMania]

SECRETS – Nancy (Kennedy McMann), Bess (Maddison Jaizani), Agent Park (guest star John Harlan Kim) and Temperance (guest star Bo Martynowska) have to join forces when an attempt to trap a killer ends up unintentionally unleashing a deadly supernatural entity that feeds on people’s sorrows. Meanwhile, Ace (Alex Saxon) and Ryan (Riley Smith) discover a haunting at the Historical Society, and George (Leah Lewis) meets a friend from Nick’s (Tunji Kasim) past who may have secrets of her own. Also starring Scott Wolf. Larry Teng directed the episode written by Katie Schwartz.

Original Airdate: Friday, Dec. 3, 2021. 

[Bort]

So was this episode an elaborate sequence to recast Temperance?

[thuganomics85]

Yeah, the "supernatural problem of the week" was alright, but it definitely felt like it was something they had to do in order to recast Temperance.  I wonder why?  Did Bo Martynowska book another gig and needed out or was this always the original plan?  Either way, I figured Charity was going to be more significant than just flashbacks since they got Olivia Taylor Dudley (Alice from The Magicians) to play her, and it looks like she's the "new" Temperance now.  But it sounds like Temperance main goal is to still reunite with Charity and recover her soul after it was split apart during the Civil War.  Also, the monster Frozen Heart Killer is actually Charity's husband, I think?  A lot to take in, here!

Agent Park is handling all of this supernatural stuff admirably!  I liked that part of it was because he was well aware of all of the mythical rumors that have plagued Horseshoe Bay, so seeing all of this right before his eyes just made him go "Well, I guess that's all true.  Might as well roll with it!"  But I still cracked up at some of his reactions and questions: especially when he wondered how many times has Nancy and the Drew Crew had to deal with this stuff.  You have no idea, Park....

Looks like Nick's sudden disappearance was just a fake out and he really did just need to go unwind somewhere and be by himself.  Understandable, but considering what tends to happen with them, he really should have at least clued someone in (if not George) that he was going to be off the grid for a bit.  But it looks like his respite is already ending, as now someone else from his past has arrived and needs his help.  There are no days off for the Drew Crew!

Ace and Ryan made for a good team.  Ryan even helped in a major way!

[quarks]

This episode felt very much like "ooh, filler episode to recast Temperance!" And yet we got quite a bit of information and some decent character moments.

I guess part of the problem, for me, was all the OMG NICK HAS VANISHED LEAVING HIS CELL PHONE BEHIND followed by the ok, yes, he's just at a .... football field? Or I should say, still at a football field? Because my impression was that several hours went by in this episode. Was he at the football field that entire time? Did he not go to get lunch? Or dinner? Does the football field have nice clean available bathrooms? 

The other issue is that none of this explained why he left his cell phone behind. Nick has spent the last five months in show dealing with near death followed by near death followed by near death experience, and/or watching his friends nearly die. He knows they are still hunting/dealing with supernatural forces. Given the situation, I didn't buy that he would leave his cell phone behind in the last episode, and I didn't buy it in this episode. 

Anyway, as it turns out this was all mostly a setup to force Nick - again - into a situation involving murder and a woman he knows. And to think the original setup was that Nick was going to reevaluate his life and potentially make some changes! I do hope this ends up leading into a solid mystery because otherwise everything to do with Nick felt so sidelined, it wasn't just a C plot, but more like an M plot. Ok, I guess an N plot.

Moving on - this one is just me, but find another Civil War battle besides Gettysburg. I know that was one of the big ones, but there were others. That war lasted five years. Ok, really moving on - I gotta say I totally appreciated Agent Park's complete acceptance of supernatural stuff and his willingness to profile screaming villains AND ghosts. That's FBI training for you. And - apologies to Nace fans - I also liked his interactions with Nancy. (Don't worry, Nace fans; I'm not getting the impression that these two are long term, or that there's even much more to this right now beyond Nancy feeling appreciated by a cop at last. But they have decent chemistry and I liked their scenes together.)

And Temperance - I get that obsessing over something can make you seriously obsessed, but....I can't help but think that therapy would be cheaper and easier than everything you are going through right now.

[Kaiju Ballet]

That was a *lot* of exposition crammed into one episode. I'm still dizzy from all the twists and turns in the Temperance storyline and frankly would love a recap that maps it all out (anyone know of any?)--a bit of a letdown after the general excellence of the rest of the season. Luckily, still some shining moments , such as Agent Park's superhero origin story: beautifully written, beautifully portrayed. That quiet reveal of "she was six years old" gave me more feels than the melodramatic laddering of miseries in Charity's story. 

Also flurvvved the interaction between Ace and Ryan. Ace's personal growth, how he feels about Ryan's "freeloading" situation esp vis-a-vis his own....also sensitively scripted and acted. Not to mention Ace's thoughtfulness in keeping what they're going through from Nancy, because "she's going through something". This show really excels in these quiet character development moments, in the midst of supernatural occurrences.

Looking forward to Bess' reaction when she finds out not only was her historical society hookup watched, but there was a supernatural entity present and active there too! That gave me the creeps!

[tennisgurl]

I might need to watch the Temperance backstory again, that was a ton of exposition they dumped on us, I am still pretty confused. I guess this was all in the name of a recasting? That was a lot of twists and turns, including her sudden but inevitable betrayal, which is so not shocking but I feel bad for Bess. She has gotten really attached to her as a mentor and this has been a real boost to her self esteem, so finding out that Temprance is playing her is going to hurt, especially as Bess is normally good at picking up on a con. This episode was a bit weaker then the season has been so far, but really only because the rest of the season has been so excellent. It was still a solid episode with a lot of great character moments even being a little less excellent then the last episodes. 

I really loved Ryan and Carson teaming up, they were a great team. I really liked Ace drawing a parallels between his situation and Ryan's and how they are both trying to figure out their purpose in life. Ryan is making some strides but Ace clearly feels like he needs to be doing something more then crashing on his friends couch while cooking at a seaside greasy spoon, although I would say doing battle with supernatural monsters is a solid use of your time. Ryan also totally caught the vibe that Ace is into Nancy, yeah I see you show. Ryan even got to really contribute to figuring out how to communicate with the ghosts, he's really watching on to these magic mysteries. 

I am still always going to be team Nancy/Ace, but I do like Agent Park and he and Nancy have nice chemistry. I really appreciate how quickly he has accepted the supernatural, and his backstory was quite moving. Hopefully he makes it out of Horseshow Bay alright even if he and Nancy aren't going to be meant to be. 

After all that drama Nick...is just hanging out by a football field. I can get why he wanted to clear his head, but it was really stupid and inconsiderate of him, it felt out of character. He knows how often he and his friends are in danger and that they fight monsters and killers on a regular basis, he should have at least left a note or texted George and let her know that he was fine he just needed to clear his head, he had to have known that George and the gang would worry. 

Edited December 9, 2021 by tennisgurl

[Noneofyourbusiness]

On 12/6/2021 at 2:39 PM, tennisgurl said:

I might need to watch the Constance backstory again,

I think you mean Temperance.