S04.E11: The Sinner's Sacrifice

[jewel21]

Quote

Ryan shows up just in the nick of time to help Nancy. Meanwhile, Nick is thrown by a statement George makes. Lastly, Bess is left feeling concerned after speaking with Ace.

Airdate: 08/09/2023

[quarks]

An episode that left me with more theories and speculation than answers.

Theory 1: 

The original idea was for Nick and George to get back together - in season 5. Or maybe season 6.

Most of their dialogue in this episode - all drafted, if not filmed, before the show got the cancellation notice - seemed to be a setup for that, and to reassure fans 

Theory 2:

The Fan sisters should just go ahead and dedicate themselves to a life of crime. They can donate their gains to marine biology causes. 

(I kid, I kid, but that stuff was fun.)

Theory 3: 

Thom knows full well about the supernatural, but hasn't clued Rebecca into it.

Theory 4:

Speaking of Rebecca, those were not the best bowls.

Theory 5:

That ASL interpreter is never entering that restaurant ever ever again, no matter how much she's paid for her services or how much she craves lobster.

Theory 6:

Jean is pregnant with a little baby Sin-Eater!

Ok, maybe not, but I seem to recall something about the Sin-Eater getting reborn every generation, and I'm otherwise kinda at a loss for why this show would try to introduce a baby at this point - Carson's baby, no less. I suppose it could be intended as a sort of bookend to the first season, which was sorta/kinda about Carson finding a baby and deciding to keep that secret, or an attempt to give Carson a happy ending, but this episode had a draft or shooting script before they were told about the cancellation - which means that they hired Erica Cerra before they were told about the cancellation.

It's also quite possible that in the original script for this episode, Jean had another role in this episode, rapidly changed when the showrunners heard about the cancellation and started making revisions to try to wrap up the show.

Or, baby Sin-Eater.

Theory 7:

The response to everything on this show should be "Bring Nick."

Theory 8:

Inviting a ghost to dinner is probably not a good idea; inviting a ghost to a combined dinner/religious event is definitely not a good idea.

(That said, the seder scene in general? Comedy gold.)

Theory 9:

These last few episodes, where Nancy is once again trying to figure out who she really is, are meant to mirror the first and second seasons, where Nancy was trying to figure out who she really is.

Theory 10: 

Something is really, really weird/wrong with Ace and his ghost friend. We have definitely seen Ace fall fairly quickly for someone - hi, Amanda! - and we've seen him moderately obsessed with someone - hi, Nancy! - but never to this point. And sure, Ace has definitely acted without thinking before this, but again, this all seemed a bit over the top. What is the ghost - or the curse - or the Black Door doing to him?

Theory 11:

Yeah, so, basically, even when Nancy and Ace try to forget the curse through the Black Door, they are still cursed. 

Theory 12:

But it's ok. You two crazy kids still have - (checks) - two episodes to get together! 

[tennisgurl]

You can really feel the show trying to get things finished up even though they clearly didn't script this season out that way. I liked this episode better than the last one, but it still feels like they are trying to scramble to get to where they want to be by the end. 

Callie being the keeper of the Sin Easter shouldn't surprise me, but it actually did. I always appreciate that the show tries to find ways to connect all of their stories and I like this way of connecting the League of Karen's to the Sin Easter and the towns history. I guess the real reason she wanted to take the historical society from Bess was so that the gang couldn't stop her? 

I am really weirded out and annoyed by Ace dating this random ghost, especially so close to the shows end, which also makes me feel like they weren't planning on this being the end of the show and were going to draw this out more. I know that Ace tends to latch onto girls he likes pretty quickly and doesn't always make the best choices, but him being so obsessed with this ghost, so much that he doesn't want the ghost to move on, seems out of nowhere. I did love Nancy's face when Bess told her that Ace has been getting really close to this cute ghost girl, like even she needed a second to deal with how ridiculous it is that she's jealous of the ghost who her ex has a crush on. 

Ace leading the Passover Meal was really nice, Ace's mom was just so stressed out. Bess, are those really the best bowls? Moses is getting the call in 10 minutes!

[Shorty186]

Yeah, Ace's behavior really weirded me out. Ghost is basically a non-entity entity, seeing as she has no memory of anything. All she can do is listen to Ace talk about things. So is that what Ace wants? Someone to be at his beck and call and give him her undivided attention? Actually, that does seem like something he would want.

I will give the writers their due on George's family. I complained about their absence last week and now here they all were, with even a Victoria mention.

I kind of don't think it's fair for Carson to get to raise another baby. Why don't they make Ryan the dad and then when baby is 19, they tell them the truth? 

[thuganomics85]

While I'm wild about any of these "holding pattern" romances with Nancy/Tristian and Ace/Ghost Girl, the latter really does annoy me more because at least we got a little build up with Nancy and Tristan, and we could see it forming: even if it was rushed.  But it really feels like Ace is just latching on to Ghost Girl because she's dare and he can mainly have one-sided conversations with her, and even when she does respond, it's just to make him feel better.  To be fair, there could have been an interesting idea where Ace's loneliness is making him grasp out for any kind of connection in an unhealthy way, but we just don't have anywhere near the time to explore it.

Glad the Glasses have been taken off the board, but I wonder what this will mean about trying to cure Tristan of being the Sin Eater.  Should have totally seen that Callie plays a huge part in all of this, and while she did help them this time, she clearly is going to be a main threat to stop when it is all said and done.

Totally knew that Jean was pregnant with her first scene with Nancy.  Carson might be a father again!

Protective and supporting father looks good on Ryan!

They definitely were planting seeds about Nick and George reconciling at some point.  Liked seeing the rest of the Fan sisters as well.

Heh, Connor not even flinching when he sees Nancy walking in the morgue using Ace's keycard.  No questioning or anything.  He has accepted that Nancy is going to Nancy at this point!

All of the scenes with the Seder was nice.  Well, until it all went to hell supernatural style!

Not a bad episode, but I worry about this having a satisfying conclusion.  I just wish they were more prepared for this to be the true ending.

[quarks]

17 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

I know that Ace tends to latch onto girls he likes pretty quickly and doesn't always make the best choices, but him being so obsessed with this ghost, so much that he doesn't want the ghost to move on, seems out of nowhere.

 

14 hours ago, Shorty186 said:

Yeah, Ace's behavior really weirded me out. Ghost is basically a non-entity entity, seeing as she has no memory of anything.

 

12 hours ago, thuganomics85 said:

While I'm wild about any of these "holding pattern" romances with Nancy/Tristian and Ace/Ghost Girl, the latter really does annoy me more [deleted] but we just don't have anywhere near the time to explore it.

 

 

All of this is why I think something is really off with Ghost Girl/whatever is happening with Ace. Granted this show has had a lot of fast romances in general and especially this season - Jade was in, what, two episodes before presented as a serious potential endgame for one of the main characters? But nobody has been this obsessed this quickly - we even have the counter-example in this episode of Jean and Carson, who have had some sort of thing going for two seasons now, seriously and calmly discussing whether or not they could/should raise a child together, as opposed to shouting and sounding obsessive. And the counter-example of Nick and George, and even, to an extent, Nancy and Tristan - Nancy was visibly not willing to do anything to save Tristan's life. 

So I think something's up. What, I don't know.

[nokat]

We saw at the end why Ace latched on to ghost girl even other than the loss of Nancy.

Tristan's parents though, willing to sacrifice someone.