Ghosts shakes things up in season 4

When we last checked into Woodstone B&B, we were dealt an almighty cliffhanger in the form of…well, an angry Puritan woman emerging from the dirt and dragging Isaac (Brandon Scott Jones) into the depths below. Some might have felt the captain deserved it after he left poor Nigel (John Hartman) heartbroken and quivering with all sorts of repressed emotions at the altar (hey, he’s British!), but there’s no getting away from the fact that “kidnapping by a vengeful underground-dwelling ghost” is a tad extreme in the punishment stakes.

We wondered: What would Patience (Mary Holland) do to Isaac? How long would he be trapped down there? Might it prompt Nigel to forgive him? And could Isaac’s sudden absence, much like the meandering third-season plot surrounding Flower (Sheila Carrasco)’s unexpected disappearance, go unnoticed and unsolved for multiple episodes? 

Thankfully, the fourth season picks up exactly where we left off: A bereft Nigel is languishing around the house, Alberta (Danielle Pinnock) and Hetty (Rebecca Wisocky) are still reveling in all of the drama of the wedding that never was, and Isaac is desperately trying to make a pale-faced Patience forgive him for leaving her in the darkness all those years ago. Which, considering A.) how much time she’s had to marinade in her discomfort and B.) that she can only communicate in clipped sentences and guttural Hodor-style croaks of her own name, might be more than a mite tricky. Especially as, per her introduction in the season premiere, she was once the sort of Puritan who was kicked out of her Puritan community for being too Puritan. (‘‘’Twas none so severe and devout as she.”)

Fair warning: Patience is creepy. Up until this point, the eponymous ghosts of the series have been bumbling, jovial, more than a little silly, and generally sweet-natured. Patience, on the flip-side, feels as if she’s glided into the show straight out of a horror movie. Her presence is purposefully jarring with that of the ghosts we know and love. And her mind, to quote the late Sir Terry Pratchett, is as brilliant as “a fractured mirror, all marvelous facets and rainbows but, ultimately, also something that [is] broken.” She’s no one-trick pony, either. We won’t spoil anything here (and besides, only two episodes were screened for critics), but she will become something of a Ghosts staple, creating some genuinely compelling new stories as a result.

Also here to shake things up is Jay (Utkarsh Ambudkar), who, until now, has been wholly reliant on Sam (Rose Mclver) to let him know what their ghostly housemates are doing. As promised, though, this season will find him finally able to see the spirits for himself (although Wisocky has already teased that this is “not necessarily a new permanent condition”). Elsewhere, Breaking Bad alum Dean Norris joins as Samantha’s father. And, as if that weren’t enough change to keep things feeling fresh, it’s worth noting that Pete (Richie Moriarty) will still be able to use his newfound power of travel to escape the confines of Woodstone every so often, allowing him to serve as a messenger for the other ghosts who might want to get in touch with someone on the outside. In short, there are plenty more wrinkles to the ghost/human dynamics to sink our hungry little faces into. 

With all of this newness, of course, comes the worry that the show itself will change. Reader, set those thoughts aside, as Ghosts remains every bit as comforting as it ever was. Much like Abbott Elementary (another series that has two season premieres this year) and Ted Lasso, it continues to juggle heartfelt emotion with humor as it delves into the lives (and afterlives) of its many characters. There are still mysteries aplenty to be solved, too. What really happened to Sasappis (Román Zaragoza), for example? How will Flower and Thor (Devan Chandler Long) fare when it comes to sticking to their promise of a committed relationship? And might there still be a chance of happiness for Isaac and Nigel? 

This isn’t highbrow television, obviously, but that isn’t what we want from Ghosts. Instead, we need it to be as cozy and comforting as a mug of hot chocolate—ideally served with sugary sweet marshmallows and cream bobbing enticingly on top—and that’s exactly what this new batch delivers so far.  

Ghosts season four premieres October 17 on CBS