I’m So Glad Ghosts Season 4, Episode 18’s Sass Story Avoided A Pointless Plot

Warning: This article contains SPOILERS for Ghosts season 4, episode 18, “Smooching and Smushing.”

Although Ghosts season 4, episode 18 almost revealed a way for the ghosts to leave the mansion, I was secretly relieved when the sitcom didn’t bother with this plot twist. Since the ghosts of CBS’s Ghosts are the show’s true heroes, it is no surprise that they are constantly looking for a way to escape the boundaries of the Woodstone Mansion. Depending on when they died, ghosts like Thor, Alberta, Sass, Isaac, and Hetty have been trapped in the same location for decades or even centuries.

As evidenced by Sass and Hetty watching a branch for hours earlier in season 4, life as a spirit can be deeply dispiriting in the Woodstone Mansion. While Thor’s friendships with the other ghosts might keep him going, it makes sense that most of the ghosts resent Pete for his ability to “Roam” around the world at will. However, even though episode 18, “Smooching and Smushing,” set up a potential way for the ghosts to travel past the border of the mansion’s grounds, I was still surprisingly happy to see the sitcom abandon this plot in the episode’s ending.

Sass & Shiki’s Romance Was Too Weak For A Proper Plot In Ghosts Season 4

Sass Never Left The Woodstone Mansion In Ghosts Season 4 Episode 18

In “Smooching and Smushing,” Sass considers leaving the Woodstone mansion in a ghost trap to be reunited with his lifelong love interest, Shiki. The problem was that Sass and Shiki never shared much of a romance during their lifetime, with the terminally shy Sass never doing anything more than saying “Hello” to Shiki 13 times. When Shiki found out from Pete that Sass had once left a slaughtered deer on her doorstep anonymously, she reconsidered him as a romantic prospect and conceded that she would be willing to give him a chance.

In the meantime, Pete had introduced Sass to Taylor Ortega’s Joan, a witty screenwriter from the ‘40s who immediately took a shine to the native storyteller. Joan and Sass very nearly hooked up, but Jay’s frustrating Ghosts season 4 story saw him accidentally mention that Shiki was interested in Sass in front of the ghost. Sass decided that he needed to know if he had a future with Shiki, so he planned to use the ghost trap to escape the Woodstone Mansion’s boundary and travel to her.

The good-natured Joan was surprisingly supportive of Sass’s attempts to woo Shiki, but I was deeply relieved when Thor intervened and dragged Sass out of the box by using his electricity-manipulation powers. Shiki and Sass had no real chemistry and their love story was too thinly conceived to be anything more than a distraction, whereas Joan and Sass immediately struck a chord. Although using the ghost trap to get over the boundary line might be a good idea in a later episode, I’m glad “Smooching and Smushing” didn’t use this twist.

Ghosts Season 4 Episode 18’s Ghost Trap Plot Was Perfect Foreshadowing

Ghosts Season 4 Episode 18’s Ending Was Surprisingly Tense

Since Joan and Sass had much more chemistry than Sass and Shiki, the risk of “Smushing” was too great a cost for Sass to pay for a meeting with Shiki. The revelation that Sass could be “Smushed” if he tried to cross the boundary line dramatically increased the stakes of Sass’s Ghosts season 4 storyline, but this just underlined how pointless his efforts were. He wasn’t guaranteed to impress Shiki if he did make it across and, even if she was impressed, there was no guarantee that Sass would get along with her.

That said, the ghost trap does represent a potential path out of the property for other ghosts. As noted by Isaac, Sass successfully visiting Shiki could have proven that the ghosts can safely cross the boundary using this technology. However, this wasn’t the right time to test that theory. The ghost trap can come back again later when an under-utilized character like Sass doesn’t have to risk their very existence to test it out. Much like Alberta in Ghosts season 4, Sass has received precious little story focus in recent outings.

How Sass & Joan’s New Romance Affects The Rest Of Woodstone Mansion

Sass and Joan’s Story Brings A New Recurring Guest Star To The Series

As such, there was no good ending to Sass’s cross-boundary trip. If he was successful, this would have led to a lengthy trip to see Shiki when it was clear Sass really belonged with Joan. If he failed, he would have been “Smushed” and the audience would have lost out on one of the show’s most underused characters. The ghost trap elevated Sass’s story from an ordinary love triangle to a life-or-death plot, or more specifically, an undeath-or-smushing plot. However, this only served to highlight how little Shiki’s relationship with Sass mattered.

It would be interesting to see a ghost risk “Smushing” in order to leave, but Sass’s story was the wrong time to try this when he clearly had a promising thing going with Joan. Now, Joan can become Ghosts season 4’s new recurring guest star, fulfilling a role like Nigel Chessum’s supporting part in earlier seasons. This will be a welcome change for the show’s status quo as Ghosts season 4 nears its finale.

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Ghosts (US)

8/10

Release Date

October 7, 2021

Directors

Christine Gernon, Jaime Eliezer Karas, Katie Locke O’Brien, Nick Wong, Jude Weng, Pete Chatmon, Richie Keen, Alex Hardcastle, Kimmy Gatewood, Matthew A. Cherry, Cortney Carrillo

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  Rose McIver

  Samantha Arondekar

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  Utkarsh Ambudkar

  Jay Arondekar