When it comes to the week’s focus character, Ghosts Season 4, Episode 1, “Patience,” delivers everything it needs to and more, with a surprising emphasis on loneliness that’s both unexpected and familiar for the show. With all the talk of how feral she is and the detail that she’s been stuck in the dirt for centuries, it was easy to picture Mary Holland’s Patience as the season’s villain. Instead, the season premiere softens her and makes the scenario even more complex.
Patience isn’t feral—she’s broken, sad, and deeply lonely. Who wouldn’t be if they were stuck in a well for that long? The episode also gives viewers a flashback, which shows us that she didn’t just start feeling left out once Isaac let go of her hand in the dirt, but it began when she was part of a colony, exiled and forced to start a new one. Once she did this, it’s clear that the loneliness took her even farther in its snare. Yet, the Ghosts Season 4 premiere works to showcase that Patience will have an even more prominent role than we thought, which could be excellent for her character development and Isaac’s as well.
Who Is Patience in Ghosts Season 4?
Puritans can be well…a lot. There’s no denying that, and before Patience, the Puritan ghost, left her colony, we get details that she takes things a bit (way) too far. Now the world looks and behaves differently today, so even while she’s stuck in the Woodstone Manor grounds, Patience needs to adjust to all the changes—Hetty did.
Further, through Patience’s inclusion in the show, the episode examines the idea that loneliness isn’t just not having people around you, but it’s feeling like even your thoughts and opinions aren’t shared. If the season looks into this even deeper (which it feels like it might), then we could be for something emotionally gripping because Holland is already crushing me with her performances.
MORE: Ghosts Season 4 First Look and 5 Things We’re Hoping to See
How Patience’s Presence Can Help Isaac’s Character Development
Isaac needs to grow up. It’s the truth that we need to look into, especially with everything that happened with Nigel and their wedding. As secure as he is in his sexuality (thankfully), Isaac still hasn’t accepted things in his past like the fact that he feels like a failure. He can be selfish at times; therefore, every new thing he learns is a chance to become a better version of himself, which I hope Patience’s presence can help with because she’s a part of “his failures.” Failures meaning, he hasn’t really done anything but be a human—er, ghost—with complexities but the point stands that he needs to believe in himself far more than he does. He needs to show up for people in the same they have for him. And he needs to do it without grumbling.
Because Patience isn’t the villain of Ghosts Season 4, there’s also plenty of room to explore how her presence will allow the ghosts to understand their privilege more. In a sense, they still don’t realize how lucky they are to be entertained, even if that means listening to conversations about the water bill or watching TV. Sure, the show could also pull a major twist and make Patience worse than we imagined (she is set to put Sam through a witch trial according to the Halloween episode synopsis), but something tells me that’s not this show’s brand. If nothing else, the thoughtful writing does a great job of digging into an even bigger heartache that could ensure the season dives deeper into the loneliness they all carry with them.
Ghosts Season 4, Episode 1, “Patience” is now streaming on CBS and Paramount Plus. What are your thoughts on the newest Woodstone resident? Let us know in the comments below.
