S04.E16: St. Hetty’s Day

[ofmd]

Regarding Bela, did I miss a scene in recent episodes where she left? Because my impression was she was staying with Jay and Sam and working for them in some capacity.

[shapeshifter]

5 minutes ago, ofmd said:

Regarding Bela, did I miss a scene in recent episodes where she left? Because my impression was she was staying with Jay and Sam and working for them in some capacity.

Right!
It seems like an oversight that they didn't throw in a line about Bela being out of town, but maybe since she's not a "regular" the rule of thumb is to not mention absent characters that audience members do not see regularly?
I've seen this on other shows too.

FWIW, Punam Patel (Bela) was in an episode of the show Running Point, which aired Feb. 27.
The 2 Ghosts episodes in which she got hired to help run the business aired Feb. 6 and Feb. 17.

[iMonrey]

2 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

It seems like an oversight that they didn't throw in a line about Bela being out of town, but maybe since she's not a "regular" the rule of thumb is to not mention absent characters that audience members do not see regularly?

She's managing the restaurant so she was probably busy dealing with the cleanup. I see her as recurring like Nigel, Carol, Baxter, Jenkins, etc. You know they're around but you don't see them every week.

[shapeshifter]

38 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

She's managing the restaurant so she was probably busy dealing with the cleanup. I see her as recurring like Nigel, Carol, Baxter, Jenkins, etc. You know they're around but you don't see them every week.

Sure. But it seems weird to not even mention Bela in the episode when her cousin is staying there.

[Dimity]

2 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

Sure. But it seems weird to not even mention Bela in the episode when her cousin is staying there.

Also Thor wasn't in this episode was he?  If he was I didn't notice him - and he's hard to miss!  I think this is pretty consistent though that there is usually at least one 'main' ghost absent from each episode.  I'm not sure if there is a reason given for this other than it must be hard to give at least some lines to each member of a fairly large cast each week.

[Annber03]

I think it's a money/budget issue. Probably the big reason they have all that Amazon product placement - this show's in its fourth season now and it ain't gonna get any cheaper to produce from here on out, so...

[Dimity]

1 minute ago, Annber03 said:

Probably the big reason they have all that Amazon product placement

Do they?  I've never noticed that! 

[Bastet]

6 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

maybe since she's not a "regular" the rule of thumb is to not mention absent characters that audience members do not see regularly?

They don't even mention the absence of whichever main ghost is missing each episode.  Only Flower's extended absence.

48 minutes ago, Dimity said:

Do they?  I've never noticed that! 

They get a lot of Prime deliveries, and usually leave it at that, but once they included dialogue about how fast Prime delivery is and once the delivery guy came to find them in a room and announced "I have a delivery from Amazon Prime for you" in a totally unnatural way.

[kathyk2]

1 hour ago, Dimity said:

Also Thor wasn't in this episode was he?  If he was I didn't notice him - and he's hard to miss!  I think this is pretty consistent though that there is usually at least one 'main' ghost absent from each episode.  I'm not sure if there is a reason given for this other than it must be hard to give at least some lines to each member of a fairly large cast each week.

I don't notice if a recurring character isn't in an episode but I'm aware when a main cast member isn't there. 

[chaifan]

4 hours ago, iMonrey said:

She's managing the restaurant so she was probably busy dealing with the cleanup. I see her as recurring like Nigel, Carol, Baxter, Jenkins, etc. You know they're around but you don't see them every week.

I think Bela's absence was weird because she's supposed to be working there, it's her cousin visiting, and she already knows about the ghosts.  All 3 combined make it weird.  I have no problem with her popping up only every once in a while, but this should have been one of those instances.

In the episode that she started working for the restaurant/b&b, I thought they should have thrown in a line that she'd mostly be working remotely from where ever she lives.  I don't know where that is, but I get the sense it's not really close, but not a plane ride away. 

[Chit Chat]

Will anyone else be wishing their friends & co-workers a Happy St. Hetty's Day tomorrow?  😄🍀

[BMGepinniw]

4 hours ago, Dimity said:

Also Thor wasn't in this episode was he?  If he was I didn't notice him - and he's hard to miss!  I think this is pretty consistent though that there is usually at least one 'main' ghost absent from each episode.  I'm not sure if there is a reason given for this other than it must be hard to give at least some lines to each member of a fairly large cast each week.

I can't locate it at the moment; however, someone had posted a link in the media section where a showrunner was asked about main cast's absences.  Their response was exactly as Dimity surmised - difficult to have them all participating each week.  I don't know if the stars are paid if not there, but it would be rather noticeable to viewers to have all of them standing around with nothing to do/say.  ;-)

[Bastet]

5 minutes ago, BMGepinniw said:

I don't know if the stars are paid if not there,

They're paid per episode.  An actor can negotiate it into their contract that they're paid for any episodes in which they don't appear, but I doubt any of the ghost actors had the clout for that when the series was cast.

[iMonrey]

18 hours ago, chaifan said:

I think Bela's absence was weird because she's supposed to be working there, it's her cousin visiting, and she already knows about the ghosts. 

Maybe she doesn't like her cousin. She might have been deliberately avoiding him because she knew what a downer he was being after his breakup and didn't want to deal with it. That seems like it would be in character for her.

But yeah, considering it's another family member, you'd think her name would have least come up but to be honest it never really occurred to me when I was watching it.

15 hours ago, BMGepinniw said:

I can't locate it at the moment; however, someone had posted a link in the media section where a showrunner was asked about main cast's absences.  Their response was exactly as Dimity surmised - difficult to have them all participating each week. 

They can't come right out and say it's $$$. Every "main" ghost appeared in every episode in Season 2, so the excuse that it's "too hard" to write lines for all of them doesn't wash. The cast is bigger now, there are more recurring characters, and their budget is not unlimited. I didn't particularly miss Thor this episode but the truth is, any one of the ghosts not directly involved in this episode, like Alberta, Trevor, Sass, Flower, or Pete, could have been swapped out for Thor. So it's not like they went "Oh, we don't have any lines for Thor this week." They just had to sideline someone and it was apparently his turn.

[ItCouldBeWorse]

On 3/13/2025 at 9:22 PM, Annber03 said:

Still, I"m also not surprised that Chris wants to move on and explore, and Isaac protecting Nigel by claiming Chris had been sucked off, so as to spare him yet another rejection..my heart!

On 3/13/2025 at 10:01 PM, PaulE said:

I, too, thought, when Chris couldn't remember his name at first, that Nigel had made up the smooching story to make Isaac jealous.  And it was terribly sweet for Isaac to shield him by lying about what happened to Chris, especially because it left Nigel with the idea that Chris actually preferred him to Isaac when in fact Chris couldn't have cared less about either of them.  I agree that the old Isaac wouldn't have done that, and I was really touched.  He's truly trying to be a better person.  He knew Nigel would've become even more depressed if he'd learned the truth.

But how could Isaac be sure that Chris wouldn't revert back to the mansion after landing?  Even if Chris had tried it (landing outside the boundary) and didn't automatically return, perhaps he doesn't know about Pete's "disappearing" problem.  But Isaac does. And if Chris started disappearing, maybe it would occur to him that he'd better get back to the mansion ASAP.

On 3/14/2025 at 3:44 AM, possibilities said:

I predict that when Chris comes back it leads to Nigel discovering that Isaac lied to him. Either, like me, he hates being lied to, or like everybody else, he's touched by it and it leads to some kind of reconciliation between him and Isaac.

Yeah, I'd be really surprised if this plot point (the lie) doesn't reoccur.

On 3/13/2025 at 10:31 PM, Snow Apple said:

I was wondering how Chris can just fly around all over the world and not vanish like Pete, but remembered Jessica the car ghost. And ghost ships.

On 3/14/2025 at 6:14 AM, shura said:

Jessica was attached to the car though, and the poltergeist baseball guy was attached to a living person.  Chris doesn’t seem to be attached to anything in the physical world.  That’s new.

On 3/14/2025 at 6:44 AM, shapeshifter said:

Chris is literally attached to his parachute/parasail. Works for me.

On 3/14/2025 at 6:47 AM, shura said:

Nope, the parachute he uses is not in the physical world. It’s like Thor’s shield.

I agree.

On 3/14/2025 at 11:38 AM, iMonrey said:

Chris not being bound to Woodstone doesn't make much sense either, unless he died in the air before crashing into the roof. Which is more or less what they implied in his dialogue I guess? Still - being strapped to that parachute backpack for eternity would suck. Those things are HEAVY. 

I would think it's more statistically likely he died when he crashed through the roof of the restaurant.  Although Nigel didn't mention feeling crushed ribs, etc.  You'd think his body would be a bigger mess than the parts we can see.

 

On 3/15/2025 at 11:37 PM, Skooma said:

He said that at a certain height the boundary didn't hold him implying it would not hold any of the ghosts back as in the boundary didn't reach that far up into the sky.

 

On 3/14/2025 at 1:13 PM, ams1001 said:

I assume the parachute is necessary since he said the boundary doesn't seem to apply when he's in the air (which makes me wish they had shown him trying to walk across the property line...would he get turned back like the others?). He at least needs some way to fly over and the parachute is what lets him do that. Maybe it has something to do withe horizontal vs vertical plane they were theorizing about when trying to explain why they go through walls but not floors. Is there a minimum altitude he needs to get to? Could the others try finding a way to fly over? Trying to think of a vehicle they could ride on that would be able to take off from the yard...hot air balloon, maybe?

It's a good thought.

On 3/14/2025 at 1:50 PM, ams1001 said:

Then I guess the question becomes, what happens when they land outside the property? Can they move around on the ground outside or do they zap back home from wherever they land (which sounds like it would be unpleasant if they were far away; when they hit the property line they can just keep walking even though they get turned around...what happens if they land in the next town over?).

On 3/15/2025 at 10:04 PM, foxfreakinmulder said:

Great episode. Did I hear Chris correctly, did he say as long as he stays in the air he could travel out of the boundary of the inn?  So, does that mean he'll have to stay in the air forever or he'll pop back?

On 3/15/2025 at 10:10 PM, Orcinus orca said:

Apparently not since he said he was going to Australia to watch a cricket match from right  on the pitch.

But how does Chris know that that's what will happen?  He's never tried it for any extended period of time.  He presumably needs to sleep, just like the other ghosts do, and not in the air.

Maybe he'll pop back.  Maybe he'll start to disappear after a certain amount of time and realize he needs to return.  Even if he's not aware enough to think of these possibilities, Isaac should be.  Better if he had said to Nigel that he saw Chris flying away while asking him to say goodbye to Nigel, (implying that perhaps Chris wasn't in control of the parachute.)

I was going to say that he'll have trouble sleeping on his back, as Thor must, but if the "Ghosts" rules are consistent, they should be able to remove the shield and parachute so long as they keep one hand on them when sleeping.

Edited March 18 by ItCouldBeWorse

[shapeshifter]

1 minute ago, ItCouldBeWorse said:

But how could Isaac be sure that Chris wouldn't revert back to the mansion after landing?  Even if Chris had tried it (landing outside the boundary) and didn't automatically return, perhaps he doesn't know about Pete's "disappearing" problem.  But Isaac does. And if Chris started disappearing, maybe it would occur to him that he'd better get back to the mansion ASAP.

A-a-a-nd comedy ensues. 

 

2 minutes ago, ItCouldBeWorse said:

I would think it's more statistically likely he died when he crashed through the roof of the restaurant.  Although Nigel didn't mention feeling crushed ribs, etc.  You'd think his body would be a bigger mess than the parts we can see.

Maybe if Chris died on impact with the roof but before entering the Woodstone, that explains his  ghost power.

[ItCouldBeWorse]

1 hour ago, shapeshifter said:

Maybe if Chris died on impact with the roof but before entering the Woodstone, that explains his  ghost power.

Speaking of which, I hope that Jay (and Mark) make an insurance claim before paying to repair the roof on their own, if it's going to be as expensive as implied.  The way it happened was unusual, but should be covered.  (Chris might have had some sort of liability coverage, too, or the parachute maker might be at fault, but that's for Jay and Sam's insurance company to figure out.)

Edited March 18 by ItCouldBeWorse

[kathyk2]

13 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

A-a-a-nd comedy ensues. 

 

Maybe if Chris died on impact with the roof but before entering the Woodstone, that explains his  ghost power.

I don't think we have to worry about Chris coming back to Woodstone. Deniz is part of the main cast of High Potential which doesn't shoot in Montreal. High Potential is a great show but it's nothing like Ghosts. I think Morgan and Sam would be friends if they met.

[Annber03]

2 minutes ago, kathyk2 said:

I think Morgan and Sam would be friends if they met.

...thanks, now you've made me want to write/read a "High Potential"/"Ghosts" crossover fic :p. 

[iMonrey]

14 hours ago, ItCouldBeWorse said:

Speaking of which, I hope that Jay (and Mark) make an insurance claim before paying to repair the roof on their own, if it's going to be as expensive as implied. 

I'm not sure insurance would cover it. I'm assuming Chris was self employed so there's no one for the insurance company to sue for negligence. And it was Sam who hired him. It's not like he dropped in by accident. They paid him to do that. They just didn't expect him to go through the roof. 

15 hours ago, ItCouldBeWorse said:

On 3/15/2025 at 9:04 PM, foxfreakinmulder said:

Great episode. Did I hear Chris correctly, did he say as long as he stays in the air he could travel out of the boundary of the inn?  So, does that mean he'll have to stay in the air forever or he'll pop back?

On 3/15/2025 at 9:10 PM, Orcinus orca said:

It doesn't really make much sense. On the UK series, there was a funny bit where Alison and Mike were house hunting, and found ghosts wherever they went. In one sky-rise apartment, outside the window, there were two pilots suspended in mid-air where they were apparently shot down in WWII. So they, too, were bound to where they died - in the air.

So, if Chris died in the air, I would assume he'd be stuck there. Which means he wouldn't have been able to walk around on the Woodstone property. And if he has some special ability to fly around outside the Woodstone property, I would assume he wouldn't be able to land. Maybe he just thinks he can land. Who knows.

[ItCouldBeWorse]

59 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

I'm not sure insurance would cover it. I'm assuming Chris was self employed so there's no one for the insurance company to sue for negligence. And it was Sam who hired him. It's not like he dropped in by accident. They paid him to do that. They just didn't expect him to go through the roof. 

It doesn't matter if Chris('s estate) could be sued by the insurance company to recoup any payout.  Sam and Jay's own insurance company should cover damage to the roof (after any deductible) unless it's caused by force majeure ("act of God"), such as war, pandemic, terrorist attack, possibly extreme weather (which is why in certain areas, people need flood insurance (see Connie on Young Sheldon.))

It should be treated like a tree falling through the roof, or a car crashing through a house.

1 hour ago, iMonrey said:

So, if Chris died in the air, I would assume he'd be stuck there. Which means he wouldn't have been able to walk around on the Woodstone property. And if he has some special ability to fly around outside the Woodstone property, I would assume he wouldn't be able to land. Maybe he just thinks he can land. Who knows.

We saw him land near Isaac, didn't we?

I don't think he died in the air. I'm going to assume it was the crash that killed him.

I'll even accept that dying with his (faulty) parachute on gives him the ability to fly.  I'm just not clear on how he can land outside Woodstone and safely stay there, unless he's not breaking a boundary if he goes over the boundary, which again raises the question of whether the other ghosts can take a hot air balloon outside the boundary, and then come down safely and permanently.  Add if they can, they'd better stay away from the (vertical) walls of the gondola, because if they fall through by accident, who knows what will happen.

[kathyk2]

Sam and Jay should sue the pilot for flying so close to the barn. It wouldn't make sense for him to claim he couldn't see it.

[Orcinus orca]

5 hours ago, kathyk2 said:

Sam and Jay should sue the pilot for flying so close to the barn. It wouldn't make sense for him to claim he couldn't see it.

Pilots fly over a specific drop zone but the parachutists decide when to jump have the ability to control the path.  Chris was apparently not very good at it.

Edited Thursday at 09:37 PM by Orcinus orca

[iMonrey]

23 hours ago, Orcinus orca said:

Pilots fly over a specific drop zone but the parachutists decide when to jump have the ability to control the path.  Chris was apparently not very good at it.

Yup. I've been skydiving. I did a static line jump, not tandem, so I was in control of the chute. There are spotters on the ground with walkie talkies. They guide you to turn left, turn right, etc., so you land in a specific spot.

[shapeshifter]

6 hours ago, iMonrey said:

Yup. I've been skydiving. I did a static line jump, not tandem, so I was in control of the chute. There are spotters on the ground with walkie talkies. They guide you to turn left, turn right, etc., so you land in a specific spot.

Ah-ha! Perhaps a drunk spotter?
Ooo. Better yet: A spotter who sees ghosts and got distracted.

ETA:
And even better? 
The spotter who sees ghosts was Chris's lover!
Chris stops by to see his first ghost friends, and the spotter is there to do an out-of-court settlement with Sam & Jay.
Too complicated? 
Maybe a fanfic.
A fanfic series spin-off.

Edited Friday at 09:55 PM by shapeshifter

[iMonrey]

On 3/21/2025 at 11:18 AM, shapeshifter said:

Ah-ha! Perhaps a drunk spotter?
Ooo. Better yet: A spotter who sees ghosts and got distracted.

Well, there wasn't necessarily a spotter for Chris. I was a first-timer and this was at a skydiving school so there were spotters with radios to guide us to a particular landing site. My point is you can control the direction of the parachute and turn one way or another, so the only reason Chris would have crashed through the roof is if his parachute malfunctioned, or if he passed out or something and lost control. 

[Skooma]

7 hours ago, iMonrey said:

Well, there wasn't necessarily a spotter for Chris. I was a first-timer and this was at a skydiving school so there were spotters with radios to guide us to a particular landing site. My point is you can control the direction of the parachute and turn one way or another, so the only reason Chris would have crashed through the roof is if his parachute malfunctioned, or if he passed out or something and lost control. 

Or if he screwed up.  Or if there was a sudden gust of wind in the last 2 seconds.  I vote for him being incompetent.

[shapeshifter]

8 hours ago, iMonrey said:

so the only reason Chris would have crashed through the roof is if his parachute malfunctioned, or if he passed out or something and lost control. 

1 hour ago, Skooma said:

Or if he screwed up.  Or if there was a sudden gust of wind in the last 2 seconds.  I vote for him being incompetent.

If Thor lost his cool, a lightning bolt could've been involved. 
Sudden gust of wind sounds possible IRL. 
If Chris had a mid-air heart attack, that could explain his ghost superpower. 

 

[possibilities]

Would he land hard like that, though, if his parachute was working at all? I'd think he'd land softly, or at least not so hard that he'd go through the roof, if the parachute was in working order. 

On the other hand, they showed that the parachute still works, because he's using it to fly around the world.

[chaifan]

16 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

If Thor lost his cool, a lightning bolt could've been involved. 

That would have been hilarious.  For Thor to have been arguing with Sam or another ghost, sparks start flying, and somehow that's what causes Chris's parachute to crash.  That would have provided a great explanation for the crash, and provided a lot of new material to work with.