On the heels of the first part of the holiday special, episode 10 of CBS’s Ghosts has Sam meet up with Carol. Carol was Pete’s wife who got sucked off to Heaven in season 5’s premiere episode.
Carol explains that around Christmas, all Carols in the afterlife are made into Christmas Carols. They can grant wishes and give out candy canes. Carol granted Sam’s wish to have never been able to see ghosts. Sam will be shown what her life will be like without her ability.
The first thing Sam is shown is her elevated status among her old friends. She’s day-drinking with Sasha and Libby. Without the ghosts around, Sam is a better conversationalist and was never seen doing anything peculiar by her old gal pals.
As her friends leave, this alternate Sam gets to enjoy some time to herself. Not tending to the ghosts has given her free time.
The Bed and Breakfast is also thriving. Sam and Jay were able to throw themselves into their business venture. Freddy, their original assistant, is even still working for them.
The ghosts on the other hand are also leading different afterlives. Trevor is more womanizing, having never realized he was a dad. Pete and Alberta aren’t a couple, nor are Thor and Flower.
However, Hetty and Isaac are getting married. Isaac never had the confidence to come out to everyone without Sam’s support.
All the ghosts benefited from Sam’s intervention. Alberta still doesn’t know who killed her in this reality. Thor has his night terrors and doesn’t know his son is a ghost just a few hundred feet away. Pete still doesn’t know his ghost power is to leave the property, or that his daughter gave birth to a son she named Pete.
Flower fell into a well in season 3 that Sam and Jay were intending to fill with cement. Without being able to see the ghosts, Flower was never rescued and is wandering around in the dark underground, like Patience was for years.
The basement ghosts are even worse off. Sam and Jay installed a new water heater so their pastime of listening for anomalies and gurgles is entirely gone.
Sam watches as this reality’s Isaac has cold feet but can’t muster the courage to end the facade with Hetty. Sam knows in her version of events, Hetty and Isaac are best friends and Hetty would understand and support him. Alas, her knowledge falls on deaf ears.
Sam is pulled away by hearing Jay shout. The couple are unhappy. Alberta and Thor comment on how regularly Sam and Jay are at each other's throats. Jay is still working in the city since he never wanted to move to Woodstone. He still lives at Woodstone but spends most of his time commuting.
Their initial fight in Sam’s universe is what caused the accident, giving Sam her abilities in the first place and sets the precedent for the B&B. In this universe, Sam never tripped and the accident never kept him there. The ghost also never gave him the idea to open his own restaurant.
Carol transports her and Sam forward in time to the wedding. Pete is officiating. From the speech he gives, it’s very clear he never found out about Carol’s cheating.
Nigel interrupts the wedding. Sam is hopeful Nigel will come forward about his feelings for Isaac. But Nigel only congratulates Isaac on the nuptials.
Sam is dumbfounded that in this world she is standing feet away and can’t do anything. Alternate Sam also looks super happy in spite of just having had a fight with Jay.
Carol reveals Sam is having an emotional affair with a guy she met online. Peering over her own shoulder, Sam sees her alternate self messaging Trevor’s dating profile.
Sam is sickened that her alternate self fell for Trevor’s games. Jay is heading out the door never having resolved their fight. Hetty and Isaac say “I do.”
Sam begs Carol to stop this madness. Carol informs Sam it’s too late. The tour is over and this is her life now.
Carol is sucked off back to Heaven and Sam merges with her alternate self.
Sam, now unable to see the ghosts, pleads for Carol to come back and undo the wish. She exclaims she wants Pete and Alberta to be together, she wants Isaac proud of the fact he’s gay, and for Sass not to hide that he’s still inexperienced with women.
Most of all she wants Jay back. It doesn’t matter if her life isn’t perfect. She would rather face an imperfect life with Jay by her side. She wishes she could see ghosts again and things would go back to the way they were.
Carol reappears, proud of Sam for her choice.
Sam awakes in the kitchen moments before being pulled on for the interview, surrounded by the ghosts. She explains to everyone the Christmas Carol wish she just endured. Jay walks in and she passionately kisses him.
As Sam expresses how she loves Jay, Flower regains control over Sam. At this point in time, Flower is still in possession of Sam’s body. Sam briefly regains control and explains that Thor’s gift to Flower was possessing Sam.
Jay states they need to go get Flower out before the interview happens. Sam realizes she’s gone back to before the interview. None of the chaos from Flower’s terrible interview happened yet.
Flower takes over the body again and is ushered in front of the cameras. Alberta steps up and begins humming. The audio engineer picks up her hums. Thor then drains the camera battery. Trevor even steps in and pushes the host’s coffee over. The production assistant delays the broadcast while they fix the issues.
This gives Sam enough time to get to the boundary and push Flower out and back in her seat for the interview. The interview goes off without a hitch.
Afterward, everyone watches the interview back. Jay and all the ghosts are proud of Sam. Sam even states she’s happy to have her life exactly the way it is.
Thor and Flower apologize for the possession. Though Flower mentions it was nice being able to do a psychedelic for the first time in years. Sam asks what she means.
Flower took the mistletoe Gabe gave her in the restaurant. Sam’s entire experience was seemingly the product of a hallucinogen.
Sam reaches into her pocket and finds the candy cane Carol gave her.
Later, Trevor and Sass are enjoying their scratch and sniff gifts when Patience joins them. She has decided she and Trevor can be together. She even brought some friends for him to meet from the underground who remain bathed in the shadows as the episode ends.
Ghosts is taking a break but will be back on-air on CBS February 26, 2026.