(Review) 1.06 – Pete’s Wife

This new episode was once again a wonderful nice surprise. What a joy to be able to learn more about Pete’s past life. This episode had many sad and very touching moments, I felt very sorry for Pete. But in the end, I would take the quote that was said: “Forgiveness. This is more important than the rest. Because though we strive for perfection, we all fall short sometimes. And when it happens, we don’t give up on our fellow trooper. We forgive.” This was a beautiful moment and I wish this episode was one hour long, just to hear even more about his back story. On a more positive note, I loved the development of Thorfinn and Sasappis’s relationship and the humor in the scenes between these two characters. The little appearance of Flower in the background was once again so adorable, I love the simplicity of this character and all the love she exudes. This show is getting better and better, becoming an absolute gem.
P.S: Can we please talk about “baby” Pete? THIS was the cutest thing EVER. Almost cried.

Favorite quote:
Trevor: “Oh my god. I’m a DILF!”
Most memorable scene: Thorfinn’s apology
Star character: Sasappis and Thorfinn’s friendship
Overall rating: 7.5/10

The first thing I have to say is that I appreciate how cleanly this episode puts together three independent ghost issues that coalesce surprisingly well: Trevor’s potential child; Thorfinn and Sasappis’s falling-out; and Pete’s wife visiting Woodstone Manor with her second husband.

Trevor has slowly but surely become my favorite character with his infectiously positive attitude that is similar to a Golden Retriever. This episode gave him a lot of hilariously quotable lines, and Asher Grodman moves seamlessly between a clueless (but sweet) frat bro and a man whose life has suddenly flashed before his eyes. While clearly inspired by both Julian Fawcett and Thomas Thorne from the original series, he has become an entirely unique character that is funny in his own way and has definitely won me over. (With an added bonus of some excellent Jewish representation, which means so much to me!)

I thoroughly enjoyed the scenes between Sasappis and Thorfinn and their misadventures with reality TV. I love how the two oldest ghosts on the property are written as dealing with the same daily issues of the modern day as everyone else. They’re embarrassed about watching terrible TV and become addicted to it, until their binge watching comes to a head when Thorfinn watches most of the show without Sass. Of course, Sass is devastated, and storms off while Thor defends himself. However, by the end of the episode, Thor realizes that it is important to be sincere with his friends, especially with Sasappis, who he’s known for 500 years by now; Thor apologizes, and all is forgiven. These sweet scenes remind both the characters and the audience that being a family is immensely important to the theme of the show. I love so much how the writers make sure to note that despite their often idiotic behavior, these characters have had sometimes hundreds of years to reflect on themselves, and seeing true wisdom (and sometimes pain) only makes the show that much better.

As I’ve pointed out before, this series is distinct in its focus on moral correctness and ending each episode on a “lesson-of-the-day”. The lesson for Pete here is forgiveness. In this episode, Pete’s widow, Carol, and her new husband arrive at Woodstone Manor and admit that they were having an affair before Pete died. Carol admits this to Jay and Sam because she feels guilty and wants closure, and later says a few words about Pete in a small memorial service. During the service, Sam reminds Pete (who is openly furious with Carol) that one of his scout mottos was to always be forgiving towards others, prompting Pete to forgive Carol.

I personally did not see any purpose to this conclusion and I wholly disagree with the lesson it seems to be teaching. Pete has only known about his wife’s infidelity for at most twenty minutes before he is emotionally strong-armed into forgiving her. (It is important to note that this is done by Sam, the only living person who can see and hear him, and who therefore holds leverage over him.)

Ultimately, Carol and Pete are the only two people who benefit from this display, and it has no effect on either of them. Carol feels relief for simply having admitted to the affair, and she can’t see or hear Pete, so his forgiveness has no effect on her whatsoever. It wasn’t beneficial for Pete, either, because his shift from anger towards forced forgiveness doesn’t result in him moving on. Additionally, whether Pete forgave Carol or not had no effect at all on Sam, so I can’t imagine why she pushed so hard for him to do so, except maybe for the selfish reason of not wanting to have to hear him complain about it in the future.

Pete forgiving Carol is played as the best course of action, and him being angry at her is portrayed as an immature stepping stone to forgiveness. People often forget that anger is healthy, though– it is a natural emotion that everyone feels, and stifling it in favor of radical forgiveness isn’t a magic fix. And why should Pete forgive Carol? He’s the victim in this situation, and he’s made to look like the villain just because he had an understandably strong reaction to the news of his wife’s infidelity. Carol cheated on him and got away with it without any repercussions because Pete died tragically. The fact that she feels bad about it after more than thirty years is not Pete’s problem to fix, it’s Carol’s. It’s not a good look for Carol, and it’s not a good look for Sam, either.

I also found that this episode suffered from once again relying too heavily on canon from its predecessor–– which, in this case, is unfortunately irreversible. The character of Pete, while played brilliantly by Richie Moriarty, is such a complete carbon copy of Pat from the BBC series that he comes across as uncanny valley. The name, costume, death and death scene, background, personality, and even the name of his wife are all nearly or exactly the same as the BBC series. The character comes across as almost plastic because of this, and I believe that focusing too heavily on this character makes this painfully clear (emphasis on the painfully). Hopefully in the future we can see this being rectified.