That said, the living characters of Ghosts also have ambitions and life goals of their own. While the BBC series Ghosts is based on focuses primarily on the central couple’s attempts to convert their inherited mansion into a profitable B+B, the US version of the series saw Jay open a restaurant on the site of the mansion in season 4. This resulted in a string of stories focused on Jay’s attempts to succeed in the culinary world, culminating in a big twist ending of season 4, episode 22, “The Devil Went Down to Woodstone.”
Jay Could Become Another Ghost In Ghosts Season 5
Jay’s Death Is Technically A Possibility In The CBS Sitcom
In the final scenes of “The Devil Went Down to Woodstone,” Sam discovers to her dismay that Jay had unknowingly sold his soul to Elias, Hetty’s former husband, who became a demon after he ended up in Hell. Jay didn’t manage to retrieve his soul from Elias before season 4 ended, leaving him in a tricky position heading into season 5. The darkest possible outcome for this plot is that Jay could become another one of the Woodstone Mansion’s eponymous ghosts in season 5, since Elias threatened to kill Ambudkar’s character. He even attempted to kill him with a falling chandelier.
Technically, Ghosts season 5 killing off Jay would make a lot of sense, since the sitcom has always struggled with Jay’s inability to see the ghosts. Furthermore, season 4 already foreshadowed Jay’s potential death twice, introducing a new Ghosts character who could replace Jay in Kyle and letting Jay briefly leave his body to meet the ghosts in season 4’s festive special. Kyle and Sam had chemistry and shared the ability to see and speak to ghosts, while Jay got on well with the rest of the spirits when he spoke to them.
Since Kyle’s actor starred in Superstore before his guest stint on Ghosts, it isn’t impossible to imagine him taking Jay’s place if Sam’s husband passed away. However, it is hard to see Jay working as a ghost in the series. This would fundamentally alter the dynamic between the show’s heroes, and, while Kyle could be a good new love interest for Sam if Jay dies, the series doesn’t need this major disruption. Thus, season 5 should not kill Jay off just because it is a possibility.
The Ghosts Could Trade A Spirit For Jay’s Soul In Ghosts Season 5
Elias Could Be Willing To Take Another Ghost Instead
Realistically, the ghost who takes Jay’s place would likely need to be one of the many ill ghosts in the basement, Ghosts season 4’s new guest star Patience, or a similarly minor supporting character like Nigel. None of the main cast should leave the series just yet, which explains why it has been so long since a major character was “Sucked off” into the afterlife in CBS’s Ghosts. Speaking of Patience, Mary Holland’s Puritan could be a particularly fitting replacement for Jay when Elias comes to collect.
Patience Could Volunteer To Take Jay’s Place In Hell
Mary Holland’s Puritan Claims She Wants To Fight The Devil
Patience spent season 4 lecturing the Woodstone Mansion’s inhabitants about her fight against the devil, so it would make perfect sense for the zealous Puritan to put her money where her mouth is in season 5. Patience was mostly just a thorn in the side of Sam and Jay throughout season 4, to the extent that the pair eventually regretted telling Isaac to help free her from the dirt beneath the mansion only a few weeks after she emerged. Devoutly religious and highly judgmental, Patience was all about fighting the Devil by bothering other people.
However, much like the Ghosts season 4 finale found a use for Patience when Sam pretended the ghost’s creepy supernatural powers were all part of an elaborate book launch, season 5 could challenge her to live up to her high-minded ideals. If Patience volunteered to take Jay’s place in Hell, she would redeem herself and prove she really did care about saving the souls of the house’s inhabitants after all. This would be a genuinely surprising sweet twist considering how annoying she was throughout season 4, and an unexpectedly redemptive moment for her.
Ghosts Season 5 Could See The Ghosts Defeat Elias In Court
This Plot Has Been Seen In Many Movies and Shows
Maybe the most obvious approach for Sam and Jay to take would be to challenge Elias in some form of supernatural court, prompting a classic “The Devil and Daniel Webster”-style story. Written in 1936, Stephen Vincent Benet’s short story follows a farmer who sells his soul to the devil, only for the titular lawyer to question the validity of his contract in an infernal court where he argues his client’s innocence. Since then, The Devil and Daniel Webster has been adapted into 1941’s All That Money Can Buy and 2007’s Shortcut to Happiness.
A sympathetic jury might decide that he was unfairly tricked by Elias, particularly considering he didn’t know who he was talking to.
Sam and Jay Could Find Elias A New Soul To Take Jay’s Place
A Woodstone Mansion Guest Could Replace Jay
Although it would be an atypically dark plot for the CBS sitcom, if the couple had a sufficiently immoral or evil guest at the Woodstone B+B, Sam and Jay could get another soul to stand in for Jay without telling them. It is hard to imagine the couple killing someone, but Chris the stripper died by accident on their property already, as did Pete’s wife Carol some years earlier. It is not unusual for people to pass on at the Woodstone B+B, meaning the couple might get away with this plan.
Since she speaks to the ghosts regularly, Sam should really have known about Elias’s plan by the time “The Devil Went Down to Woodstone” took place. As such, it is fair to say that the ghosts owe her one, and decades of time spent as spirits have loosened up their moral compasses a lot. Trevor was willing to try and kill Tara Reid while she attended his funeral service just so he could romance her in the afterlife, so the least he could do was try to get a new, deserving soul to take Jay’s place.
Hetty Could Convince Elias To Return Jay’s Soul
Hetty’s Husband Could Still Receive An Unlikely Redemption
It scarcely seems possible for Hetty’s late husband Elias to redeem himself at this stage. Elias is one of the most straightforwardly evil characters in the history of Ghosts, so much so that even his treatment of Hetty goes a long way to explaining her close-minded attitudes and bitter bigotry. However, it is never too late for even the worst characters to redeem themselves, so season 5 might find a way for Elias to undo his decades of misdeeds by freeing Jay from his contract. At first, it seemed like Patience could be Elias’s victim in season 4’s finale.
Much like Patience could prove her faith was genuine all along by volunteering to take Jay’s place in Hell, Elias could uncover unexpected depths if he reneged on his contract with Jay and gave Sam’s husband a chance to escape their Faustian bargain.
