Nancy Drew - The Danger of the Hopeful Sigil - Review

Not for the first time, I watch teenagers on film do something stupid and think how grateful I am that I am no longer a teenager.

This week’s supernatural story was basically two stories centered on a single object. (Well, an object and its twin.) They still managed to get a lot of other story elements in as well.

Let’s start with Bess’ efforts to keep the Historical Society open.

How was Hannah keeping the funding coming in?

Was it easier for Hannah because she was more adept at playing the political game?

Or was it easier because she saw her job as protecting the public by keeping the supernatural hidden so well that the politicians really believed she was just a keeper of town history?

Whatever Hannah was doing, Bess is not doing.

Bess’ efforts started out with a simple tour and ended with unsuccessfully trying to convince a potential donor (and non-believer) that the supernatural is real.

I was really surprised by that, because while Bess can be oblivious, I thought she was smarter than that. She’s wasn’t paying attention to Aaron’s body language at all. So far this season, she’s letting down Hannah. * * * One of the things I enjoy about Carson’s relationship with Jean is that it is so adult.

Jean could have thrown an “I can’t compete with a dead woman” tantrum and walked away.

Instead she had a frank conversation with Carson about dealing with his grief and he listened.

It was also a nice setup for his conversation with Nancy after her physical reaction to the ritual.

Am I the only one who noticed that Nick and George have hired actual employees? * * * After last week’s realization that there is something in Horseshoe Bay’s water, Nick pulls the short straw and has to convince the town council to authorize the testing. When that guy hops up to declare that Nick was right, I honestly thought he was going to blame aliens.

I loved that instead he, rightly, blamed practitioners of the occult. Nice connection to what Birdie’ has been going through.

Nick masterfully regained control of the meeting and got himself a seat at the town council’s meeting.

He made such a plausible argument that, if he had taken the request to the people of Horseshoe Bay, I bet they would have put pressure on the town council.

Whatever mysterious power was behind Judge Abbott’s warning that “…everything will fall apart” managed to kill any possibility of testing the water.

I am growing more curious about what’s happening behind the scenes in Horseshoe Bay.

I wonder what Councilwoman Fortfield remembered.

* * * Here’s my question…when Birdie started talking to her grandmother about being raised by ghosts, why did she not caution her granddaughter about telling people about it?

Her grandmother could at least have cautioned Birdie about how most people would react?

At the very least, Birdie wouldn’t have been surprised by her classmates’ reactions, or the stance the adults around her would have taken when Aaron put them on the spot.

So, of course, being teenagers, Jessie and Bess grabbed a random magical object and a random spell book so they could prove to their bully, Avrey, that the supernatural is real.

I’m sure I was just as much of a genius when I was 14 or 15. Glad I don’t remember many of my genius ideas at that age.

The one lesson Hannah tried to impart was to lock these things up because they’re dangerous. And Bess just leaves the doll sitting on a table.

Hmm, having said that, perhaps the child endangerment accusation against Bess isn’t far fetched.

Bess should know better.

Luckily Birdie immediately called Nancy when things went to hell in a hand-basket.

The supernatural doll, a Plagonnos that Jessie and Birdie “borrowed”, was the key to Nancy and Ace’s ritual to free themselves of Temperance’s curse.

So, of course, saving Birdie, Jessie and Avery destroyed the dark Plagonnos.

Nancy conveniently remembered that Plagonnia is the plural of Plagonnos. All they had to do was find another one.

That was all a little too easy for my taste. Nancy and Ace went on a quick road trip and immediately found the “love” Plagonnos.

They found it and were able to perform the ritual that would break Temperance’s curse.

I’m betting Temperance could have defeat several master chess players. Talk about thinking more than one step ahead.

She knew Nancy would fight the curse and sabotaged (the first) ritual most likely to actually break her curse.

I’m guessing Temperance managed to sabotage more than one potential ritual.

Although, when they started the flashbacks of the Ace/Nancy relationship since the series started, I was betting the ritual would work by making them forget their feelings for each other.

I’m happy with the direction they took, because we got a couple of awesome scenes out of it.

I am trying to figure out what the purpose of this episode was.

Was this episode ultimately about putting the Nancy/Ace love story to rest for the rest of the season, or was this episode just a bump along the road to breaking the curse and them becoming a full fledged couple?

I’m voting for putting the whole remove the curse removal story to rest.

Although, since this is the final season, they’ll have to successfully break the curse, most likely, in one of the season’s final episodes.

My opinion of this episode improved as I began to think about the contrast elements like Birdie and Jessie dealing with the consequences of telling the truth about the supernatural and Nick’s expert tap-dance around the supernatural when he spoke to the town council. As well as the unexpected power of Carson facing the loss of his wife and possibly the loss of his daughter.

Ranking: 7

Despite one quest seeming a little too easy, I liked the thematic threads running through the episode. Still a lot of setup for the arc story. I’ve got my fingers crossed it’s worth it.