Welcome back Nancy Drew fans! This week’s “The Siege of the Unseen Specter” had no ghosts, wreaking havoc on Horseshoe Bay, just a solid mystery for Nancy to solve and it made for a fantastic episode, in my opinion. This episode also proved Nancy has still got it guys, no matter how lost or out of focus she thinks she’s become. Nick was actually useful, and I loved him in this episode, which is SAYING A LOT. Carson had a role to play, and George and Ace stole the episode with their interwoven possession storylines. More on that later though, for now we have a lot to discuss about Nancy Drew and The Siege of the Unseen Spector so let’s get right to it.
Nancy is celebrating her fake birthday with Carson when Det. Tamura barges in and places her under arrest at 7 p.m. I mean they hadn’t even gotten to eat dinner! It seems like a bummer at first but then the entire jail goes on lockdown from an unseen force and things start to get interesting.
It kind of reminded me of the Saw movies with this ominous voice guiding everyone’s next moves and confessions. The voice, who wished to be known as the Arbiter says everyone in the jail lobby was tricked into coming there, to gain information, and now they are all trapped with each other. If anyone tries to leave they will be electrocuted or worse, and the Arbiter says, the only person it trusts is Nancy!
Apparently a woman named Dolores Barrett, died about seven years ago “mysteriously.” The police said the woman was ran off the road, and likely drowned but the Arbiter isn’t buying it. Nancy pulls the file and it turns out the woman was Black, which is why no one gave her any thought, Nick chimes in. Turns out Nick is correct because Nancy can’t remember the case at all, and she feels like a missing person case would have made front page news, but why was this woman overlooked?
Ryan mentions to Nancy, that would have been around the same time Nancy solved the case of Rose Turnbull, a missing white girl, whose face did make the front page news. It’s a revelation for Nancy, but a reality for Nick who tells her crimes against Black women go under-reported every year, and no one cares.
Nick goes on to say that if Dolores had been a white woman she would have been found, or at least someone in Horseshoe Bay would have given a damn. Nancy knows he is right and feels bad, but she still isn’t sure what the case has to do with her? The Arbiter lets her in on a little secret, everyone in the room is a suspect and someone is lying because someone in the room is also the murderer! The Best/Worst game of Clue ever!
Nancy is all about playing the game and gets to work, with Nick, who is the only person besides her, that is not a suspect. Okay, I mean besides Det. Tamura too, but I hate him and he doesn’t matter so who cares. There’s this woman, named Mitzi, who is all like I’m not racist, I swear! I just told the police she was a drug dealer and that she was black because she hit my car. WTF?
Then there is Ryan, who was pulled over for a DUI that night and spent the night in Jail, although the bailiff let him out at midnight after he heard strange moaning coming from the pipes? Trust me it gets weirder guys. Then there is the city councilman who used to be a police officer who actually seems to remember Dolores, but swears he didn’t have enough manpower to try and locate her, because the department had no money. MMMMMMK.
Finally there is the asshole journalist who keeps stalking Nancy about lying to the judge and it turns out he was having an affair with Dolores! He even met her for dinner that night, where they got into a huge argument. The pieces of the puzzle are starting to come together for Nancy, and it’s about time too! The Arbiter has electrocuted Det. Tamura, and he needs to go to the hospital ASAP! Carson has figured out that Nancy is being held hostage thanks to a cryptic message she gives him over the phone but Nancy is running out of time, the Arbiter is going to start picking off people one by one, if Nancy doesn’t get some real answers soon.
Nancy asks Ryan to think back to when he was held in jail that night, who locked him up? Ryan says the bailiff standing right over there. Ruh Ro, girl you in trouble! The bailiff is all like, oh now I remember you! Bitch Please! That’s what Nick says, and me too. It doesn’t take long for her to start spilling her guts to Nancy, the councilman pulled Dolores over, and because of a suspected hit and run thanks to Mitzi. The former police officer slammed Dolores’s head into the car causing a brain bleed, and she later had a seizure in the jail cell, and died crying for someone to help her.
Think that’s crazy, the bailiff isn’t done, she goes on to say that the police officer told her to put the body into the car and drive it off a cliff to make it look like a drowning. DAMN! FUCK! DAMN! The entire police department in Horseshoe Bay sucks! They all need to be in jail! The Arbiter gets the confession they were after and unlocks the doors, and releases Nancy.
It was DEEP ya’ll, I was on the edge of my seat! What a great episode, kudos writers! There was someone in Horseshoe Bay who did care about Dolores besides her mother, who incidentally died last year. A white woman, named Reverend Adeline. Rev. Adeline remembered coming to pray for someone in jail, and noticed an earring in an empty jail cell. It turns out the earring belonged to Dolores, and the Reverend recognized it from the missing person flyer Delores’s mother left with her.
The Rev. Adeline did her own research and put some of the pieces together, but not enough to convict anyone or land any confessions, so she figured the only way to find out who killed Dolores was to get all the suspects in one room. Where did the reverend get her special ops training you ask? Quantico? Scotland Yard? FBI? She needs to join Nancy’s team, she would make a great asset. Home girl wasn’t playing around.
Things that happened but were not as important as Dolores:
- Ace agrees to be possessed by George’s dead aunt Mei
- Aunt Mei is proud of George and the woman she has become
- The love of Odette’s life moved on after Odette died and had a good life with her husband, children and grandchildren, she has moved on past the spirit world.
- Carson is good at solving clues too
- Detective Tamura knows something is up between Nancy and Ryan
Nancy Drew airs at 9/8c on The CW.
