It's a Wonderful Christmas Carol: Parts One & two
Merry Ghostmas. Sam’s podcast interview with Todd gets attention for her book and she gets to conduct a live interview. However, Thorfinn has a special Christmas gift for Flower that could derail the entire interview. Plus, Sam gets a special visitor.
Warning: Spoilers below
Sam’s Interview
It’s Christmas time at the mansion and Sam and Jay are looking to avoid any more ghostly possessions. They have Mark plug in their Christmas display and he has to charge them the full fee. However, Sam’s recent return to podcasting has gotten more attention for her book. Now, her book is being put on a list of last minute gift ideas and she’s going to be interviewed live. This finally feels like her chance to succeed as a writer given her previous failures.
Bertrand Calmeau/CBS
While this is going on, Thorfinn has decided he wants to give Flower the gift of a possession. Thorfinn, Hetty, Pete and even Nancy have been able to possess Sam and/or Jay at some point, and Flower often wants to know more. Thorfinn figures out he can control the electricity on the Christmas display and plans to use that to allow Flower to possess Sam.
Flower Power
Thorfinn goes to ask Sam if he can let Flower possess her, but Sam is really busy and just tells Thorfinn to go through with it and surprise her. He does and Flower is now in control of Sam’s body. She starts eating and is constantly in a state of euphoria. Flower, as Sam, also goes walking around the grounds looking to score some cannabis. She gets some gummies from Jay’s stoner employee, Gabe, and Sam gets really high.
Bertrand Calmeau/CBS
When it’s time to try to free Flower from Sam’s body, Nancy keeps interrupting to let Flower keep control. She wants Flower to experience as much as she can before becoming a ghost again. Unfortunately, this means Flower is in control during the interview. Flower gets really hungry and just starts eating the gingerbread in the Christmas display. Eventually, Sam gets Flower out of her body but she feels like the ghosts have wrecked her life again. She says she wishes she never had the power to see ghosts and heads upstairs, setting up the second half of our episode.
It’s a Wonderful Life
Sam comes down the next morning to speak to the ghosts, but they seem to be ignoring her. She thinks they are giving her the silent treatment until another version of her walks in. Then Carol, the ghost who got sucked off when she gave her soul to Elias to save both Jay and Pete, shows up and tells Sam that she’s there to grant the wish. Carol is showing Sam what life would be like if she had never gained the power to see ghosts.
At first, it appears there are a lot of positives. Sam still has her friends from the city come visit her. The Bed and Breakfast is a roaring success, and their former employee, Freddy, still works there as it was the ghosts who drove him away. Jay also returns from the city where he’s a successful chef and everything appears to be great. However, there’s more here than meets the eye. None of the ghosts have moved forward in their afterlife. Isaac is pretending to be straight and is marrying Hetty. Thorfinn never went to therapy and is still the same brute who Flower originally couldn’t love. Pete doesn’t know he can leave the property and never learns about his daughter and grandson. Sass is still pretending he’s not a virgin. And Flower got trapped in a well that Sam and Jay filled with cement and now roams the dirt. But there’s a bigger surprise for Sam.
Bertrand Calmeau/CBS
After Freddy is gone, Sam and Jay have a big fight. Jay is headed back to the city and Sam doesn’t want him to go. Without the ghosts, Jay doesn’t fall in love with the place either, so he’s still in the mode he was in when they inherited the house. He doesn’t want to be so far from the city. Carol then reveals that Sam has an emotional affair with a man she met online, but it’s Trevor catfishing her like he did Bela in earlier seasons. Carol is ready to grant Sam’s wish.
Taking the wish back
Sam gets the ability to see ghosts again and rushes in to tell them how they need to grow. She calls out all the growth she had seen and asks for nothing to be changed. She wants the ghosts to grow and wants her friendships with them back. Carol gives her a wink and snaps her fingers and once again, Flower is in possession of Sam as she sits in the makeup chair getting ready for the interview. She tells Jay what’s going on and they need to find a way to end the possession.
Bertrand Calmeau/CBS
The ghosts jump in to help their living friend. Between Thorfinn, Trevor, and Alberta, the three of them are able to cause a delay in the interview. This allows Sam to cross the ghost barrier and dispel Flower from her body. Sam rushes back and crushes the interview before celebrating with her ghost friends about their successful de-possession. The question remains if Carol was really a guiding spirit sent for Sam or if it was a fever dream brought on by Gabe’s edibles. It’s left open-ended, however Carol did give Sam a candy cane while they were experiencing Sam’s life without knowledge of ghosts and that candy cane appears in Sam’s pocket.
Trevor and Patience
In the B plot of this special episode is the bonding of two characters not expected to have the same love for Christmas as the living characters or some of the other ghosts. Trevor is Jewish and celebrated Hanukkah rather than Christmas. Patience is a Puritan who finds much of the frivolity of modern Christmas celebrations to be un-Christlike. The pair bond over not loving Christmas and discuss the importance of butter churning. This leads to the pair making out. Afterward, Trevor is trying to find a way to let Patience down easy. However, Patience tells him that she’s decided they can’t move forward due to how different they are. Trevor pretends to be sad but understanding. Patience rethinks her decision and decides to give Trevor a shot and brings some of her friends from the dirt to meet him.
What’s Next?
The mid-season finale gives us the annual Christmas possession we’ve come to expect. However, this time, they managed to subvert expectations with how the possession takes place. Normally, it’s Jay not being handy, and ghosts just in the wrong place at the wrong time, that leads to the issue. This time, it’s a ghost power and an intentional possession. Plus, it shows off how well Rose McIver can perform impressions given how much she sounded like Flower during the possession scenes.
While the mixture of It’s a Wonderful Life and The Polar Express (see the candy cane) was a nice twist, it’s been done several times previously. It also ties loosely into A Christmas Carol with the ghost leading Sam. Extra points for the ghost being called Carol. I was skeptical of her return, but the show nailed it in a way that made her feel important without being overbearing. I like the Christmas special better than the Halloween special.
Check out Ghosts on CBS and Paramount Plus.
Article Written By: Jeremy Brown for Stelmach Brown Media 2025
Add comment
Comments