If there’s one thing Ghosts always knows how to do, it’s deliver a holiday special. Both the Halloween and Christmas-centric episodes tend to bring solid character development, all while cranking up the Woodstone Mansion antics as dramatically as possible. But interestingly, the first Season 6 special, “Halloween 6: The Mirror,” is on the sadder side than previous spooky season antics. More specifically, last year’s wild adventure in “Halloween 5: The Mummy.”
Interestingly, we don’t get Richie Moriarty’s Pete Martino back until the episode’s very last second, but the returning travel agent also isn’t the man we lost in the Season 5 finale, “Across the Pond.”
How Pete’s Return Changes Everything in Ghosts Season 6 Halloween Special
There’s little we know now other than what happens when Pete’s body fully disappears when he’s away from Woodstone for too long. On the anniversary of his death—being two months this time around since we last saw him—he dies all over again. Or, at least that’s what seems to be the case.
Heavy, heavy sigh. Pete’s character journey in Ghosts has always been one of the most thoughtful. How his family’s navigated through their grief, the second chances he’s gotten with his daughter, his friendship with Jay, and finally, his budding relationship with Danielle Pinnock’s Alberta. It’s impossible to believe that all of that is something he won’t ever remember again, but that’s also a huge possibility we might have to get used to. There’s the Pete we knew, and the one we’ll get to know, but how the two versions come together only Season 6 can tell. (Like, there’s gotta be some way to reset everything!)
MORE: Everything We Know About Ghosts Season 6 After SDCC
Part of the issue with Ghosts Season 5 was how exposition-heavy it got toward the back half. This isn’t a jab at the writers as much as it feels like something the network is pushing because of second screeners (people who are on their phone while watching). Ghosts was unfortunately one of the shows to take this tumble, and it’s a problem when the show already requires certain moments of exposition when Sam has to repeat to Jay what the ghosts are saying. Doubling that has been deeply frustrating for a show that was always excellent in its execution, but now I’m slightly concerned that we’ll see the ripple effects of starting over because of Pete’s journey.
Maybe the show will only spend an episode or two trying to see if the characters can awaken his old memories, but even that seems too easy for the sitcom. I’d expect at least a few episodes, until we get another that’s fully Pete-centric to bring everything to a peak revelation. There’s also the alternative that it can be a complete cop-out where he does remember, and he’s just messing with everyone, but that’d also feel too easy, and as a result, we’d have no stakes.
It’s also interesting that Sam’s absent in this episode, but we now have Ben Feldman’s Kyle as a series regular, so there’s plenty that can be solved while she’s gone. Still, either way, things are about to look different in Woodstone Mansion after the Ghosts Season 6 Halloween special. Every dynamic that’s been strengthened because of Pete already feels different. The typically cozy (and wild) vibes during Halloween celebrations are sorely missing, even as we get tender and thought-provoking character development for Hetty because of everything she experiences with her sister.
Ultimately, Pete’s character, like all the core ghosts, brings something impossible to replicate. When one’s gone, you feel their absence, and that much has never been true. Because even when Flower was gone for a few episodes in Season 3, we all knew she’d be back. With Pete, there was the genuine concern of how he’d come back, and it’s all proven to be somehow more ominous than I imagined. Yet, for the most part, I trust the Ghosts team to give us something heartfelt in the process, even if I’m antsy about how we’ll get there and how different things can be.
