Last season on Ghosts, we were treated to storylines involving the colonial ghost Patience and her disdain for modern day. We saw Sam indulge her performative side and Jay lean into his business venture with the new restaurant. Jay’s family and the Farnsbeys stayed at the B&B. In one of the most juicy events of the season, Alberta revealed her true feelings for Pete only for Pete to run away in front of everyone. Of course, this was not to reject Alberta but to break up with his girlfriend in Hawaii first because Pete’s the epitome of a stand-up guy. In a turn for the worse, Elias was revealed to have been pulling the strings among the livings as Jay’s new publicist with evil intentions.
Ghosts season 5, episode 1 immediately jumps into the conflict introduced at the end of last season, Jay’s accidental deal selling his soul to Elias Woodstone. Sam and Jay are desperately trying to find ways Jay can evade going down. The best idea they can muster is to fix the ghost trap and try and ensure that when Jay dies, he gets sucked into the ghost trap instead of Elias taking him.
Pete and Alberta are happily in a relationship. Their happiness seems inappropriate considering Jay is risking imminent doom. Out of an abundance of politeness, Pete decides they should keep their relationship private until the Jay situation is under control. This puts Alberta in the awkward spot of having to face light ridicule from the other ghosts, who believe Pete rejected her when he ran away.
In a turn of events, Elias tries to explain that Jay will live a great, albeit short, life and have a very famous restaurant. Though he gives Jay a 24-hour time limit as he intends to take Jay down immediately following a podcast appearance that was arranged for the following day.
During this timeline talk, Patience makes an appearance and tries to smite Elias. Which results in her looking incredibly foolish just shouting, “SMITE! SMITE!” Patience in her confusion explains a pure soul like hers should have righteous powers against the forces of evil. The ghosts then point out Patience doesn’t really do anything virtuous, she mostly tells everyone else how corrupted they are. Virtue signaling and being virtuous are two very different things. This revelation sends Patience on a quest of self-discovery.
Jay comes up with a plan to trick Elias as one ghost is sucked off
Converging the two storylines, Flower comes up with a plan to have Alberta seduce Elias to trick him back into his ghost form. It’s then that Sam uses the ghost trap, previously meant for Jay, to capture Elias and destroy him unless he releases Jay from the contract.
Unfortunately, it appears Carol trapped herself in the machine and fell asleep. Elias, thinking he has a good bargaining chip, as Carol is an innocent soul, knows he’ll be released. Although, Carol did cheat on Pete with his best friend. She also lied to Pete for years and had him unwittingly working for the mob. It’s discussed that in a utilitarian sense, eviscerating Elias and sacrificing Carol would have more net positives than negatives. In a move of responsibility and altruism, Jay releases Carol and Elias because he’d feel morally wrong sacrificing someone who has nothing to do with the deal he made.
While Elias is now understandably miffed, Patience walks in, asking if a trade is possible. She offers herself in Jay’s place to “walketh the walk” and prove her purity. Elias agrees and holds his hand out to shake on the exchange over a fiery portal. The heat alone makes Patience reconsider and instead stand on the sidelines. In a hero move, Pete steps up to take Jay’s place and go back with Elias. Elias had already tried before to collect Pete’s soul, so this is a great deal for the devil.
Carol, in a pure and selfless act, steps forward and takes Elias’ hand before Pete can finalize the agreement. This exchanges her soul instead. With her last words, she explains she is finally doing right by Pete. Elias is nonplussed by the sacrifice and starts to send Carol down. But as she’s descending an ethereal light appears, and instead she gets sucked off to Heaven. The virtue of sacrificing her eternal soul was too overwhelmingly positive that she was sent up. Our favorite hippie, Flower, points out the irony to Patience. If Patience had trusted her instinct and acted with bravery, she would have gotten sucked off instead of Carol.
With Jay safe, Pete and Alberta tell everyone about their kiss. Hettie points out that Pete kissed Alberta and then he immediately volunteered to spend eternity in hell. It seems as though we have two potential storylines building for the season. Patience may learn what it means to act with virtue, and the ghosts will see new ways in which Pete seemingly rejects Alberta.