👻 The Haunting Reality of a Sitcom in Its Prime
Let’s be real: we all love the residents of Woodstone Manor. Since Sam (Rose McIver) took that fateful tumble down the stairs in Season 1, Ghosts has been the ultimate comfort watch. It’s warm, it’s witty, and it’s arguably the best thing on CBS right now. But as we tuck into Season 5, a nagging feeling is starting to creep in—kind of like a basement ghost you just can’t shake. The show feels… safe. Maybe too safe.
The recent midseason finale, “It’s a Wonderful Christmas Carol,” was meant to be a holiday spectacular. Instead, it felt like the showrunners flipped a switch and let the “Sitcom Autopilot” take the wheel. When a series hits its fifth year, it often faces a choice: innovate or iterate. Right now, Ghosts seems perfectly happy doing the latter, leaning on familiar tropes and cozy rhythms while avoiding the big, messy risks that made the early seasons so electric.
🌀 The “Possession” Well is Running Dry
If you feel like you’ve seen Sam get possessed during a holiday special before, it’s because you have. It’s becoming the show’s go-to “break glass in case of emergency” plot device.
The Repetition of the Possession Trope
In the midseason finale, Thor (Devan Chandler Long) manipulates electricity to let Flower (Sheila Carrasco) take over Sam’s body. The goal? To let Flower satisfy her decades-long munchies. It’s a funny premise, sure, and Rose McIver is a literal chameleon who nails Flower’s “floaty” physicality every single time. But haven’t we been here?
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Season 2: Sam was possessed by Thor.
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Season 4: Various hijinks ensued.
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Season 5: Now it’s Flower’s turn.
While it gives the actors a chance to show off their mimicry skills, it feels like a creative shortcut. It’s a reliable laugh-getter, but it lacks the narrative weight it once had. When the possession happened during Sam’s high-stakes TV interview with Larry Wilmore, the “chaos” felt scripted rather than spontaneous.
The Ethical Blind Spot
One of the weirdest things about these possession plots is how the ghosts—whom we are supposed to love—continuously violate Sam’s autonomy. They hijack her body, ruin her career opportunities, and then we’re expected to forgive them because “they’re just silly ghosts.” In Season 5, this lack of boundary-respecting growth is starting to make the Woodstone spirits feel less like a family and more like a collection of stagnant toddlers.
📽️ Riffing on Classics Instead of Creating New Ones
The second half of the midseason finale took us on a trip through an alternate reality, heavily inspired by It’s a Wonderful Life and A Christmas Carol. While the “what if” scenario is a staple of long-running sitcoms, its execution here felt purely formulaic.
The “It’s a Wonderful Life” Cliché
After Sam wishes she could never see ghosts again, the recently “sucked off” Carol (Caroline Aaron) returns as an angelic guide to show her a miserable world where she never had her accident.
In this version:
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The Ghosts are stagnant: Without Sam, they’ve made zero progress.
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Sam and Jay’s marriage is strained: The mansion is a successful B&B, but they lack the “adventure” the ghosts bring.
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Isaac and Hetty are in a sham marriage: A total regression of their characters.
It’s a touching sentiment—that Sam has enriched their afterlives and they’ve enriched hers—but it’s a lesson we’ve already learned. By the time we find out the whole thing was a drug-induced hallucination from Flower’s “kitchen snacks,” the emotional stakes evaporate. It wasn’t a profound cosmic realization; it was just a bad trip.
📉 The “Small Stakes” Problem of Season 5
Early on, Ghosts teased massive shifts. Remember the cliffhanger where Jay was supposed to lose his soul? Or the mystery of who got “sucked off”? Season 5 has a habit of introducing these huge, game-changing ideas and then resolving them in the first five minutes of the next episode.
H3: The Disappearing Consequences
When Jay’s soul deal was resolved almost instantly in the premiere, “Soul Custody,” it signaled a shift in the writers’ room. They seem terrified of lasting change.
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Patience the Puritan: She was introduced as a terrifying, boundary-pushing threat, but she’s quickly being assimilated into the house’s “oddball” dynamic.
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The “Others”: The midseason finale teased new ghosts in the dirt, but if history is any indication, they will likely be a one-episode problem resolved with a quick apology and a hug.
H4: Is Comfort TV Killing the Tension?
There’s nothing wrong with comfort TV. We need shows that feel like a warm blanket. But even a blanket needs some texture. By resetting the status quo at the end of every half-hour, Ghosts is losing the “edge” that kept us guessing in the early days.
💡 The Bright Spots: Why We Haven’t Given Up Yet
Even on autopilot, Ghosts is still better than 90% of what’s on network television. There are still flashes of brilliance that prove the show’s heart is still beating.
Trevor and Patience: The Unexpected Romance
The “finance bro” bonding with the “Puritan” over butter churns is the kind of specific, weird humor that only this show can pull off. Their kiss in the dirt was legitimately surprising and represents one of the few pieces of actual character progression this season. It’s a “bursty” moment in an otherwise predictable arc.
Rose McIver’s Performance Prowess
Whether she’s playing Sam, Flower-as-Sam, or a hallucinating Sam, McIver is the show’s MVP. Her ability to carry the emotional weight of a scene while performing slapstick physical comedy is a masterclass. If the show is running on autopilot, she is at least the world-class pilot keeping the plane level.
🚀 How ‘Ghosts’ Can Reclaim Its Spirit in 2026
When the show returns in February, it needs more than just another “guest of the week” ghost. It needs a creative jolt.
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Make the stakes stick: Let a mistake have consequences that last more than one episode.
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Explore the “Others” deeply: Don’t turn the new ghosts into comic relief immediately. Let them challenge the Woodstone status quo.
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Focus on Jay: Utkarsh Ambudkar is brilliant at playing the “only human who can’t see them” role. Let him have more agency in the supernatural plots.
Conclusion
Ghosts Season 5 is currently a victim of its own success. It has found a “winning formula” and is sticking to it with a stubbornness that would make Hetty proud. While “It’s a Wonderful Christmas Carol” provided the cozy holiday vibes we’ve come to expect, its reliance on recycled possession plots and cliché dream sequences proves the show is firmly on autopilot. It’s still a joy to watch, but we’re starting to miss the days when Woodstone Manor felt a little more dangerous and a lot more unpredictable. Here’s hoping that when the “Others” emerge from the dirt in 2026, they bring some much-needed life back to the afterlife.
❓ 5 Unique FAQs After The Conclusion
Q1: Was Sam’s alternate reality experience real or a dream?
A1: In the midseason finale, it is revealed to be a hallucination caused by the “drugs” Flower consumed while possessing Sam. However, the return of Carol suggests there might have been some “angelic” intervention involved beyond just the edibles.
Q2: Who are “The Others” teased at the end of the finale?
A2: While their identities haven’t been fully revealed, showrunners have teased they are ghosts Patience met while trapped in the dirt. They are expected to be a major plot point when the show returns in February 2026.
Q3: Why does the show keep using the “possession” storyline?
A3: From a creative standpoint, it allows Rose McIver to showcase her range by imitating the other cast members. From a plot standpoint, it’s an easy way to create high-stakes chaos for Sam and Jay’s business.
Q4: Is Ghosts renewed for Season 6?
A4: Yes! CBS has already guaranteed that Ghosts will return for the 2025-2026 TV cycle, cementing its status as a cornerstone of the network’s comedy lineup.
Q5: When does Ghosts Season 5 return from its winter break?
A5: The show is scheduled to return on Thursday, February 26, 2026, following the conclusion of the Winter Olympics.
