The Purloined Keys is the sixteenth episode of season 2 of The CW television series Nancy Drew, and the thirty-fourth episode of the series overall. It aired on May 19, 2021.
Synopsis[]
Official synopsis of The Purloined Keys from The CW:
WARNING - Ryan and the Drew Crew work together to find a way to bring down Everett. Meanwhile, Carson gives Nancy a word of warning. Tunji Kasim, Leah Lewis and Maddison Jaizani also star.
Plot summary[]
COLD OPEN: In a ballroom, guests and staff lay on the floor covered in blood and broken décor. Nancy walks over to them as she observes the death. At the center of it is Everett who slices her throat with a knife. Nancy lets out a scream and wakes up in bed screaming as she grips her throat. Carson rushes in to comfort her that it’s just a nightmare.
ACT ONE: Nancy picks at her breakfast in silence as Carson asks if she wants to talk about the nightmare. He asks if she’s changed her mind about telling Everett the truth, but that’s still the plan. She assures him that she’s just playing a role while Nancy Drew is tucked away inside her.
At The Claw, Everett, Bess, Ryan, George, and Valentina discuss how they plan to take down Everett with the help of the company's accountant, Howard. Howard texted Nick about a “black crown of tape” that shows Everett committing a murder. When the boys and Valentina leave, Bess talks to Ace about her dating profile picture so she can move on from Odette. Ace accidentally lets it slip that Aunt Mae gave George a dire warning.
Nancy notices a photograph of Everett and Josiah. When she enters the meeting area she is greeted by Everett, as Celia won’t be joining them. Nancy is prepared to leave but Everett wants to hire her for a job. He wants to give her another chance to demonstrate her loyalty. He wants her to find out who his accountant, Howard, has been leaking confidential documents to. She agrees to work with him.
At The Breaker, Amanda helps Ryan, George, and Val find Howard’s room, though he isn’t answering. Ryan bribes her to open the door but they find that the room is empty. The bathroom door is blocked. Ryan and Nick push through to find Howard’s corpse on the floor.
ACT ONE: Ryan finds pills on the bathroom counter while Amanda calls the police. Valentina wonders if someone killed Howard and faked the apparent suicide. Nancy calls Nick to ask if Howard Driscoll is his source, as Everett wants her to look into the situation. Nick is in disbelief that Nancy is working with Everett, but she explains that Howard shared a piece of information that was important. Nick lies that he hasn’t connected with Howard since their meeting. Celia joins Nancy outside and Nancy tells her about Everett asking for her help. Celia tells her to meet at a flower shop later.
At The Claw, Valentina wonders if she’s been stood up by Celia again. Bess asks her to take a look at her profile for a second. George overhears and tells her to be herself, but Bess believes she’s unswipeable. Ryan tells Ace that Howard visited an inmate at Seabury Prison according to his “guy”. He also gives Ace money to give to Amanda as a thank you for helping them. Ryan thinks the inmate can help them, though the inmate is Bertram Bobbsey - Gil and Amanda’s father.
At the Drew house, Carson warns Nancy that she’ll regret opening a package from Everett. Inside are Howard Driscoll’s ID and passports. He presses that Kate pulled him away from the Hudson’s when Nancy was born, which is why they went to Europe. He suggests that she go into witness protection. She finds an email from an inmate at Seabury Prison about missing payments. She refuses to stop while Nick and Ryan are left unprotected. She arrives at the prison where she finds Nick and Ryan who are worried about her leveraging too many loyalties. Ryan tells her that Howard Driscoll is dead and that it’s a convenient suicide. Nancy worries that Everett might come after Nick and Ryan next. She thinks Bertram, the Hudson family’s former groundskeeper, might have the answers they need. They refuse to work with Nancy and explain that Amanda is already inside talking to her father. Ryan tells her to step away from the situation, but she snaps that he doesn’t know her at all.
ACT TWO: Amanda and Ace meet with Bertram. She leverages a meeting with Gil for information about his previous visit. Meanwhile, Nancy tries to bargain with a guard as he owes her a favor but he insists he can’t do anything. She asks about Howard Driscoll and learns that he was upset over not being allowed to take a pen and pad inside. She thanks him and leaves. Inside, Ace and Amanda press Bertram for information about The Black Crown tape. Trying to get to its hiding spot would go against nature. Bertram reveals that every time Everett tried to destroy the tape it would reappear, so Everett hid it. He warns them not to look any further as she knows too much already.
At The Claw, Amanda empties a box full of keys that her father held onto from each of his jobs. Ryan recognizes the key to his high school Porsche. Nancy calls Ryan to ask about Howard’s notebook, but he doesn’t know what she’s talking about. She warns that she will be angry if she learns they took a notebook from a murder scene, to which Ryan assures her they didn’t anything. Nick steals the phone and hangs up as he can’t risk anything getting back to Everett. Nancy wonders where Howard’s car is. Elsewhere, Valentina answers a call from Ryan. He asks her to check the hotel for a notebook.
Nancy arrives at The Breaker and unlocks Howard’s car with his phone. She searches the car and finds a notepad in the glove compartment. Valentina confronts her as she’s leaving the car. Nancy warns Valentina that she started this mess and might have already got someone killed. Valentina tries to grab the notebook, so Nancy throws it into the car and locks it with the phone.
ACT THREE: Nancy looks at photos that she took of the notebook and finds the Hudson Hunting Lodge. Bess calls to ask about her shift that afternoon, and Nancy reveals that she found the location of what Nick and Ryan want really badly. Bess outs The Black Crown tape and asks where she found the location, but Nancy rushes Bess off the phone. Bess worries that Nancy used her for information while George is annoyed that Nancy skipped another shift. Bess asks if George wants to talk about Aunt Mei but she doesn’t. Bess wants to delete her profile but George tells her to read the latest draft, which is a beautiful draft that Odette and George wrote together. George promises to come to Bess if she’s ready to talk.
Meanwhile, Nancy meets Celia and asks about The Black Crown Tape. Celia thinks he knows about Nancy since something isn’t right. She ominously says she’s kept other secrets and worries she’s jeopardized Nancy’s safety which makes her a poor Grandmother. Nancy assures Celia that she is playing her part. Celia is stressed about the flowers so Nancy volunteers to talk to Lily.
Elsewhere, Nick and the group meet to talk about Bobbsey, the tape, and the payments to former employees that kept them quiet about what they might have seen. Ryan sees a key with a greenhouse on it. They debunk that the secrets might be in the family mausoleum.
At the Drew House, Nancy prepares for her party when Everett calls her. She tells him that Howard died and about the entry before his death, though she can’t figure out the numbers yet. He tells her to focus on who Howard gave the numbers to and hangs up. She realizes that Everett knows what the numbers mean and just wants the contact’s name. She picks up the dress that Tom gave her for the party. She comes downstairs to Carson who remarks on the dress. He wants her to be safe but she presses that she’s trying to keep everyone alive including herself. She’s sick of people doubting her when she knows what she’s doing. He assures her that he does trust her but he’s worried. He takes a photograph of her before she leaves. She realizes that Nick and Ryan are about to walk into a trap.
ACT FOUR: Ryan, Nick, and Valentina arrive at the mausoleum and both men reject calls from Nancy. Ryan unlocks the crypt and they use their phone’s flashlights to navigate. They start with Virginia Hudson’s crypt, though Val worries about curses. Elora Hudson was cremated but there’s no dust that confuses Nick. Nancy rushes in telling them to stop but they don’t. A camera inside the tomb captures Ryan and Val’s faces. Outside, Nancy goes off on them for not answering her calls after she spent all day trying to make sure this didn’t happen. Now, Everett knows that Val and Ryan were looking into the tape. Nick argues that the tape was important, but Nancy counters that of course, Everett moved the tape the second he thought Howard was leaking information. Now, Ryan and Val are next on his hit list. Ryan knows that Everett will hurt both of them. Nancy tells them to leave town and not make contact with anyone. Nancy thinks Celia can convince Everett not to hurt Val and Ryan.
Nancy arrives at the party to talk with Celia who is acting strangely. Nancy notices she isn’t dressed and follows her to the basement. She finds blood on the floor from a dripping body, looking up to see Celia’s body hanging from the ceiling. She whirls around and Celia begins to scream.
ACT FIVE: Celia is horrified by the discovery of her murder. Nancy realizes she’s been dead for 12 hours and that she couldn’t stop talking about Everett. She spirals that Everett is ahead of her and killed his wife for lying. She thought she could protect everyone but she can’t. Celia comforts her and apologizes for everything. She can’t stay but Nancy begs her to stay. With Celia gone, Nancy approaches the corpse.
At The Claw, Ace gives burner phones to Valentina while the Drew Crew prepares a box for Val to take. Ryan gives her money to help her hide as he won't be coming with her. He plans to stay and fight this but when it’s safe he’ll come for her. He refuses to lose another woman he cares about. They kiss.
Elsewhere, Everett watches the tape and tells the guards to take care of Val. He gets into a limo where Nancy waits for him.
Carson looks at the photo of Nancy and sees that she’s covered in marks - scratches.
Nancy tells Everett that he shouldn’t be worried about Howard or the source. She moves next to him and warns that he should be worried about her - his granddaughter, and tasers him. She covers his face with a bag and tells Gil to drive.
Cast and characters[]
Starring:
Guest-starring:
- Andrew Airlie as Everett Hudson
- Aadila Dosani as Amanda Bobbsey
- Teryl Rothery as Celia Hudson
- Rukiya Bernard as Valentina Samuels
- Stephen Lobo as Bertram Bobbsey
Co-starring:
- Byron Noble as Howard Driscoll
- Darren E. Scott as Ray Mead
Mentioned:
- Aunt Mei
- Odette Lamar
- Josiah Hudson (photograph)
- Katherine Drew
- Jessie Fan
- Tom Swift (note to Nancy)
- Gil Bobbsey
Quotes[]
Trivia[]
- Tom Swift is indirectly mentioned in this episode. His name is also seen on the card for Nancy's dress.
- The word "taser" is an acronym for Thomas A. Swift Electronic Rifle, as the inventor, Jack Cover, was a fan of the Tom Swift novels. The writers purposefully had Nancy use a taser for this purpose.[1]
- This episode was live-tweeted by Katherine DiSavino and Jesse Stern via the Nancy Drew Writers room.
- Katherine: "Kennedy McMann is wearing this stunning designer dress. We initially wanted Nancy to be stabbed in the stomach, but had to pivot because we couldn't get blood on the dress!”[2] "Jeff Byrd, our director, came up with the VERY SCARY throat-slash, bloody hands solve, and I love it more than the original version.”[3]
- Katherine: “Ray, the guard at Seabury Prison, is named for my father-in-law who is a HUGE #NancyDrew fan (and a #drewson stan).”[4]
- Jesse: My only request for season 2 of #NancyDrew was that I get to write an episode with @kveradisavino because I knew she’d do all the hard stuff and I could spend most of my time making puns out of Ryan’s name.”[5]
- Katherine: “The Celia reveal is still as shocking to me today as it was when Jesse Stern first pitched it. Teryl Rothery is absolutely chilling, and then utterly heartbreaking as she processes everything. Watching Teryl and Kennedy Mcmann took my breath away.”[6]
- Jesse: “I like the simplicity of Everett asking Nancy to do something and Nancy immediately assuming it’s either a test or a trap. That was fun to write.”[7]
- Katherine: “There's a specific moment that I just LOVE that Jesse Stern wrote. When Bess says, ‘You're a slightly judgy outside observer, would you take a look at this profile?’ Maddison Jaizani's delivery is impeccable and it makes me laugh so hard, every time.”[8]
- Katherine: “Noga Landau described Bess as a character whose "sense of wonder is still intact," and it really struck a chord with me. I wanted to pay tribute to Noga in this episode! Hence, “looking for someone whose sense of wonder will match my own.”[9]
- Tazing Everett in the back of the limo was Kennedy McMann's favorite part of the episode.[10]
- Kennedy McMann teased the episode by saying that her "jaw was on the floor" when she first read the script.[11]
- When Nancy's talking to the prison guard about how he owns her for saving his niece's life on the Ski Slope. That's a reference to The Mystery at the Ski Jump is twenty-ninth Nancy Drew book it was retitled Mystery at the Ski Jump for the revision in 1968.
Gallery[]
Images[]
Video[]
Behind the Scenes[]
[]
External links[]
The Purloined Keys on The Internet Movie Database
References[]
- ↑ https://twitter.com/DrewCrewWriters/status/1395243386076991489
- ↑ https://twitter.com/DrewCrewWriters/status/1395182736609095687
- ↑ https://twitter.com/DrewCrewWriters/status/1395182736617492481
- ↑ https://twitter.com/DrewCrewWriters/status/1395188524484227072
- ↑ https://twitter.com/DrewCrewWriters/status/1395190789366419457
- ↑ https://twitter.com/DrewCrewWriters/status/1395195570780876803
- ↑ https://twitter.com/DrewCrewWriters/status/1395198087690428416
- ↑ https://twitter.com/DrewCrewWriters/status/1395231558043267077
- ↑ https://twitter.com/DrewCrewWriters/status/1395236591149359106
- ↑ https://twitter.com/kennedymcmann/status/1395402037228052480
- ↑ https://twitter.com/kennedymcmann/status/1395053607129550848