Lower Decks

The following review contains spoilers for Ghost Whisperer through the current episode, “Ghost in the Machine,” originally broadcast October 17th, 2008.

“Ghost in the Machine” was an unusual episode of Ghost Whisperer. Due to the regular subject matter of the series, this really says something about the storyline of the episode. Unusual doesn’t always mean bad and in this case it actually means quite good.

As the episode opens, Eli is discussing ghosts with Melinda. Soon, however, Melinda has someone coming to fix her computer. That someone is none other than Ned, Delia’s son. Eli is introduced to Ned and the two bond over a common interest in Alt World 2. They have to explain the concept of a massive, interactive computer game/life simulation to Melinda. Ned creates an avatar (a computer representation) for Melinda, who notices one avatar dressed like a stereotypical nerd.

Ned explains that the avatar in question is named Phoenix. He seems to peer out at Melinda through the computer. The laptop screen goes blank and suddenly a man appears at the front of the shop. Melinda is the only one who can see him (Eli can hear him) and he doesn’t appear to be in control of his body. He whips around the shop, smashing things, before saying he needs to find someone and disappearing through the door. Ned insists he didn’t do anything while Eli asks if the voice he just heard came from an avatar (he sounds understandably skeptical). Melinda states unequivocally that yes, it was an avatar, and that somehow she pulled a ghost out of the computer.

So, the basis premise of the episode is explained. There is a ghost in (and out of) Alt World 2. Because the man Melinda saw in the shop was wearing clothing similar to those worn by Phoenix in the game, it seems the man died in front of the computer. But it is never explained exactly how a ghost could play a computer game. Melinda does tell Eli that she has seen ghosts interact with electronics in the past, but that’s it. Still, it is not that much of a jump to go from suspending belief with regard to the existence of ghosts to suspending belief with regard to the existence of ghosts who can control computers.

At first, Melinda assumes that Phoenix — or his real world counterpart — is stalking a teenage girl, who goes by the name Sedona in Alt World 2. Eli and Ned are sent to stack out the cafe/bookstore where the girl hangs out. Ned strikes up a conversation with her and Eli has his own conversation with Phoenix. This scene, in which Eli starts yelling at nobody in particular in the middle of a crowded room, was amusing. But it was also similar to a scene in the season premiere in which Melinda confronts a bunch of ghosts harassing Eli by calling out to them in the middle of a bar.

The girl’s real name is Alise and she doesn’t know anything about Phoenix’s real identity. In what turns out to be the highlight of the episode, Melinda touches the screen to her laptop and is suddenly transported into Alt World 2 as her avatar. Eli is disturbed by this turn of events while Melinda sees an opportunity to connect with Phoenix. Unfortunately, he seems more interested in fighting. His avatar tosses Melinda’s across a street into a building, yelling that she doesn’t belong. Melinda fights back with a savage kick that sends Phoenix into a lamppost. Eventually, Eli pulls her out of the game by calling her name.

Melinda feels no pain from the bruising she (and her avatar) received. Surprisingly, Phoenix then sends her an e-mail asking to meet. The e-mail address is from an ad agency. When Eli and Melinda visit the agency, they learn that the e-mail address was stolen by a man who is both a stalker and an underage pornographer and that the FBI has already been asking questions. Eli asks a police friend named Sam if she can get an address for the stalker from the gaming company. She does. When Melinda and Eli go to the house, they find Larry Jones, Alise’s father, slumped over his desk, dead.

Larry reveals that he created the Phoenix personae so he could talk with his daughter after their relationship fell apart following his divorce from her mother. When he died, he somehow ended up with the ability to control his avatar in Alt World 2. And he learned that Alise has been talking with the stalker. He can’t cross over until he knows she is safe. Melinda and Eli try to talk with Alise, who was called to her father’s house, but they don’t make much progress after her mother intervenes.

Alise agrees to meet with Phoenix, thinking he is a teenager like her. In reality, Phoenix is a thirty something who leers at her from his car. Larry can’t do a thing to stop her aside from conveying information to Melinda and Eli who in turn give it to Sam. And all Melinda, who tried to contact the stalker in Alt World 2, can do is wait and hope the stalker e-mails her.

As tension and drama rise, Melinda gets an e-mail from the stalker and Sam is able to track it to a motel in Grandview. But the stalker isn’t there, only a bunch of photographs of young girls and panties. Alise’s mother can’t get her on the phone. When Alise gets into the stalker’s car (thinking it is his older brother) Larry is at his wit’s end. Melinda tells him he does have the power to stop him. As Alise comes to the realization that she’s in a dangerous situation, Larry appears in the road and then jumps inside. Alise’s cell phone rings; it says it is from “Dad.” The car goes wild. Everything electronic starts blinking and the stalker loses control. Alise jumps out and kicks him in the face when he tries to stop her.

At that very moment, the police show up and take the stalker into custody. Alise starts crying with Larry the ghost standing right next to her. He says she’s okay (but of course she can’t hear him). Melinda tells Alise that it was her father who did all those things in the car. Larry has Melinda apologize to his daughter for not fighting harder for her in the past. She tells her that Phoenix was her father. Alise laughs and doesn’t believe her at first. But the two reconcile and Larry walks into the light.

The scenes within Alt World 2 were fantastic, especially the fight scene between Melinda and Phoenix. The revelation that the bad guy was actually the good guy, although it has been done before, still caught me by surprise. The last third of the episode, when Alise is in the car with the stalker, felt a little rushed, but not enough to throw off the pace of the entire episode. It is often difficult to gauge how much time has passed during an episode of any television show and Ghost whisperer is no exception.

Unfortunately, the character of Professor Eli James is still played mostly for laughs. I hope he isn’t only going to be used as comic relief. Professor Payne was also often the jokester of the series, but never to this extent. It was nice to see Delia and Ned have larger roles, although Delia still didn’t have all that much to do. Jim, meanwhile, had only one or two lines and there was no mention of pregnancy in the episode or the ominous warning Melinda was given in the season premiere (the one about death brushing off on those around her).

Obviously, not every episode is going to touch on these recurring storylines, but I would have expected at least the first three or four episodes to deal with them. In previous seasons, Ghost Whisperer has spent the bulk of its season on standalone episodes with only a handful of episodes fully revolving around overarching storylines. We shall see how things play out this season.