SPOILER ALERT! This post contains details from Thursday’s episode of Ghosts.
Thursday’s episode of Ghosts is titled, “Holes Are Bad.” Who knew that the meaning of that would be so literal?
While Sam (Rose McIver) and Jay (Utkarsh Ambudkar) are away trying to enjoy a relaxing vacation, it is revealed that Flower (Sheila Carrasco), whom everyone believed was sucked off at the beginning of the season, has actually been stuck in a well on the property this entire time. And much to their dismay, a contractor is about to fill up that well with cement, meaning Flower actually will be gone forever if something isn’t done quickly to save her.
Of course, since the only ones privy to the problem are the ghosts, there’s little intervention they can take. They even try FaceTiming Sam for help, but it turns out ghosts don’t show up on video calls.
After some hand wringing over what to do, it’s Hetty (Rebecca Wisocky) who steps in to save the day. And in doing so, she must reveal her true manner of death. In 1895, as the police were going to arrest her for her husband’s crimes, she killed herself with a telephone cord. It’s that same cord that, 150 years later, she uses to lift Flower out of the well.
“It’s jam packed. You put together so many plot points of what was happening in 1895,” Wisocky told Deadline of the episode.
The actress spoke with Deadline about the episode, putting together the pieces of Hetty’s backstory, and what to expect from the rest of Season 3 in the interview below.
DEADLINE: This is such a big piece of Rebecca’s backstory. How did you feel about finally having this piece of the puzzle?
REBECCA WISOCKY: She’s had a really great season. There’s two flashbacks for her, which was the first that she’s had, and we learn a whole lot more. I think the flashback that we showed earlier in the season when she was 25 years old and felt forced and compelled and trapped into making a decision to choose privilege and money and what she thought was safety over love and truth…I mean, I believe that that is the origin story of her misery. It certainly set a lot of other things in motion that you then see in this episode, in 1895. I think she believes that there’s been generations of misery and trauma in her family that I think she believes that she probably created. She gets it wrong a whole lot, but she finally, I think, put some pieces together 150 years later, in this episode, and realizes why killing herself was, she says, a great misjudgment. And I believe it, obviously it was.
DEADLINE: The reveal that Hetty had killed herself was somewhat surprising, but it was handled with such care. How did you feel about the way it was presented?
WISOCKY: The showrunners, Joe Port and Joe Wiseman, very generously involved me in conversations about this storyline and how it was going to unfold. I’m so grateful that they did. Everyone involved knew how important it was to be accurate and sensitive and not sensationalize it as a plot point. I think it’s very earned. I mean, there’s so many seeds that were planted over the course of our three seasons that make this both shocking and also make complete sense. She’s had this cord wrapped around her — not only is she corseted in this beautiful but uncomfortable gown, but she’s had this cord wrapped around her neck this entire time. It’s funny, in retrospect. So many of the little behavioral things that I chose to do as an actor in the beginning of season 1, even like always fiddling with my neckpiece a little bit, always kind of nervously grabbing on to my fellow ghosts next to me…Hetty doesn’t like to be alone. She has a terror of isolation. All those things planted seeds that made this make a lot of sense. And again, also be shocking and heartbreaking. I love that she’s only able to speak about this and really process it when her friend is in a similar, metaphorical situation. The title of the episode is, ‘Holes are Bad.’ When she realizes that flower is possibly going to be isolated and abandoned forever, she has to act, and that just makes real sense to me that the writing is gloriously funny, and then it’s smart enough to go to these places because they’re justified and because you’ve come to love all of these characters and realize how dependent they are on one another.
DEADLINE: How often are you let into these details about your character early in the process?
WISOCKY: With this episode, and this plot point, they involved me early in discussions about how, what would be the motivator for this. And it was important to me that we not live in a land of shame about it. Our show has such a wide audience, and we’re so grateful for the love and support that they’ve given us. So many people have said that they’re able to have conversations with family sitting watching the show that they might not have had. I hope very much that this episode will reach someone who is out there and despairing and remind them that they’re not alone and that speaking about their feelings, no matter how dark they may seem, is the way out of isolation. We all took that very, very seriously.
But then there are other plot points where…I didn’t find out that my son was Alberta’s murderer until like, a day before we shot it. So they keep us guessing. And at that time, I thought, ‘Well, come on, how does that even make sense with all these other things that I’ve done and behaviors I’ve exhibited?’ I enjoyed those kinds of dramaturgical challenges, and I found out, ‘Oh, no, this can make complete sense that this woman would have kept a secret and her first series of interactions with Alberta would have been influenced by this sense of guilt.’
DEADLINE: As you mentioned, there is always some comedic relief in any episode of this show. I really loved the reveal that you can’t see the ghosts over FaceTime.
WISOCKY: When Thor says, ‘Why don’t you try updating the iOS operating system?’ We really got a kick out of that. The hhosts are so silly, and they’re their best when they’re behaving completely out of character sometimes.
Written scene where [Hetty] tells the story of what happened on the night she died to Isaac and Sam, there’s still a moment of humor in there when she realizes that she didn’t know even know that the telephone dialed out. I love that bit of irony. I think it’s so wonderful that the manner in which she killed herself was actually her only possible chance of saving herself.
DEADLINE: This episode also reveals that Flower was never sucked off! How is it to have that out in the open now?
WISOCKY: Well, I mean, first of all, let’s take a moment to say, Sheila Carrasco is back and all is right in the world. We love her so much. I love her. I love the Flower and Hetty relationship. I love that hopefully they get to be roommates now, finally. Hetty won’t love it, but she’ll secretly love it a lot. It’s been 150 years since Hetty killed herself. So she puts these pieces together. She misses the most important lesson, which is of all the things that she thought that she could give her son of value, she didn’t realize that the thing he needed most was just her presence, was her existence. I love that we’re sending that message. But to your question, the thing that actually moves her and is the most emotional thing to her is when beautiful Flower traipses into the room and says, ‘Hey, guess what? I robbed the bank once.’ And that’s just so sweet. I find that so wonderful. All these eight main ghosts are really deeply entwined and tied to one another.
DEADLINE: Is there anything else you can tease about the remainder of Season 3?
WISOCKY: I think it’s a great season. I think the writers really outdid themselves and there’s so many juicy reveals. There is a reveal of a new ghost power that we’re all incredibly jealous of. If you thought that Sasappis’ power was cool — which, we all want a piece of that, we loved that so much — this next one coming up next week is unbelievable. It’s a great showcase for a wonderful actor on our show. I don’t think I can spoil much more than that.
Then by the end of the season, we’ve been driving towards Isaac and Nigel’s wedding. Hetty’s the wedding planner and has been very opinionated in bossing Sam around it getting that together. So something unexpected will happen there. And we’ll, as is now tradition, end with a cliffhanger.
