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The Siege of the Unseen Specter is the fourteenth episode of season 2 of The CW television series Nancy Drew, and the thirty-second episode of the series overall. It aired on May 5, 2021.

Synopsis[]

Official synopsis of The Siege of the Unseen Specter from The CW:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME - Nancy's birthday dinner with Carson is cut short when Detective Tamura shows up with a warrant to arrest her for contempt of court. Meanwhile, George, Bess, and Ace work together to summon up one of their ancestors to help locate Odette's Englishwoman lover Mary's soul amongst billions in the spirit world. Tunji Kasom and Riley Smith also star.

Plot summary[]

COLD OPEN: Nancy comes downstairs to find Carson making dinner for her birthday, which she points out is her fake birthday that her parents put on her fake birth certificate. She doesn’t feel right celebrating herself and warns her father that he better not have invited anyone. She opens the door to Detective Tamura arresting her for contempt of court as she provided false information to a police detective. She wishes herself a happy birthday.

ACT ONE: They arrive at the station where a man is panicking as he got a message that his town was under emergency, another woman wants to file a police report for a public dispute, and Nancy is ambushed by Brandon Schmidt of the Horseshoe Bay Ledger. He questions her on what it’s like to finally be held accountable for her actions. Tamura leaves to get his credential just as Nick and Ryan arrive. She tells them that she’s under arrest for contempt of court. They got an email that their meeting for Nick’s youth program was for tonight, and she finds it out that everyone was mysteriously brought to the police station

At The Claw, Bess, Ace, and George work to find Mary Clark. George uses a Mahjong set to attract her ancestors for help. Ace collapses and when he awakens he is George’s Aunt Mei who criticizes her for wearing her hair that way. At the station, Nancy notices the camera color is different as it’s new. He answers a phone and learns that the precinct is on lockdown and nobody will enter or leave. He wants to speak with Nancy Drew. If anyone tries to escape they’ll be consequences. He touches the door handle and is electrocuted. Nancy asks who the person is and what they want, and learns their name is the Arbiter and they want her to figure out who knows what happened to Dolores Barrett. The longer it takes the worse it will be.

ACT TWO: Nancy helps Tamura with his hand and he asks how she got out of her cuffs. Meanwhile, the station learns that a cell jammer was used to lock cell phones and landlines down while the back door is also electrified. The radios are sabotaged and the windows are blacked out. One of the women panics so an officer escorts her away. Nancy wants to get an ambulance for Tamura and negotiate with Arbiter the next time he makes contact. She asks who Dolores Barrett is and learns she was a missing person case that Fraser and Hampton worked in 2013. This is the case that made him leave the force and joined the town council. Dolores was last seen in Horseshoe Bay and vanished. Her car was found in the bottom of a ravine and they thought wild animals ate her body. Nancy doesn’t recall the event as Rose Turnbell went missing the same week. The girl Nancy found behind a staircase. Rose got all the attention and Dolores was forgotten. They get the case file and Nick notes that she was a black woman who went missing the same time as a young white girl, so she never had a chance.

At The Claw, Bess and George ask for Mei’s help in finding Mary. George explains the situation but Aunt Mei is bitter with her niece. She asks George to bring her the reading glasses and then she’ll find Mary.

Nancy interviews Brandon about Dolores as he was the last person to see her alive. He admits to having dinner that night but only noticed her because she was drunk so when he heard she’d driven off a ravine it tracked. Nancy and Nick push for more but Brandon is sure someone will notice they’re missing. Ryan notices dripping water and seconds later, the Arbiter unleashes water through the vents and threatens to electrocute the floor if they don’t solve the case in one hour.

ACT THREE: Tamura shouts that he made his point and asks him to turn off the water so they can work and Arbiter obliges. Taura is dizzy but is adamant about solving the case.

Aunt Mei pushes George to get out of Horseshoe Bay and asks her to put the glasses on her like she used to. She didn’t need them but didn’t feel herself without them.

Nancy and Nick bring photos and an evidence box to Tamura. As they comb through it, they find that her car had red paint on her bumper from a hit and run. An officer states that the night Dolores went missing Ryan was arrested for DUI in a red Porsche. They confront Ryan who doesn’t recall the night very clearly. Nancy tells him when and where he was arrested to which he was in mandatory therapy per his father's request. His father’s brother died of alcoholism so he was forced into therapy. He doesn’t remember being pulled over just going to therapy and the yacht club before being arrested. Nancy rules out that Ryan did it as Dolores was at the restaurant two hours after Ryan was arrested. Brandon asks if she’s sure like she was sure about Everett’s involvement in the Bonny Scot. Ryan tells Nancy that he’s not that guy anymore which she knows. Tamura asks Nick the deal between them and if he’s why she recanted her testimony. Nick tells him to refocus on the missing black woman that was ignored for six years. He points out that crimes against black women are under-reported, investigated, and solved. If she were white more people might have asked about her or found her. Tamura wasn’t here then and Nick notes he’s here now. Nancy puts up the board as she wants justice for Dolores since she denied that for Bashiir and twelve other men. Ryan asks if Dolores was drunk just as Nick brings her a card for Mitzi’s Realty with information on the back such as insurance. In the photo, Mitzi is leaning against a red car. They ask Mitzi about it and she denies it but then says that Dolores hit her. They were coming out of the restaurant at the same time when Dolores hit her, tried to pay her off, and then got agitated and left. Arbiter states they have a problem as Carson is outside and if he reaches the door he’ll die but won’t be the last. He allows her to make a call. She calls Carson and angrily tells him to go home.

Bess asks George why Mei calls her Xiao Lan and George tells her that it means Little Lazy. When she did something slowly or wrong she thought it would motivate her. George wasn’t motivated back then. Carson bursts in and tells them that Nancy is being held hostage and they need to help her.

ACT FOUR: Carson, Bess, and George pull up to the station where Carson explains that “Goldilocks” is a code name for a game they used to play. It means to pay attention to the third thing I’m about to say. A twisted candle was an old case of hers where a robbery took place in a department store, though Nancy led the copes through a secret basement and saved everyone. The exits are electrified and he hoped Ace would help but George notes he’s busy and Jesse is with him. She gives him the rubber mats from the car to insulate the charge. He thinks it’s a great idea but if it doesn’t work they can scale the building.

Inside, Nick tells Nancy that Tamura is getting worse. Mitzi tells them that she saw Dolores and Brandon fighting outside the restaurant. She didn’t tell them earlier as she’s afraid of him. He claims he tried to help her. Ryan gives Nancy a statement from Dolores’s mom saying she doesn’t smoke or drink but loves flowers. Arbiter asks if she believes Brandon and she doesn’t. Arbiter is watching a pizza be delivered to 404 Guilford Lane which is Fraser’s family’s home. They restrain everyone and Nancy asks Brandon what happened while Ryan restrains him. Brandon admits to having dated Dolores, with Nancy asking if he was married during that time. He admits that Dolores threatened to tell his wife. He wanted her to see his point of view but she just left. His wife picked him up for the bar so he has an alibi. Tamura collapses and barely has a pulse.

Carson, Bess, and George try to break in but the mat rips in half.

Nancy begs Arbiter to let Tamura have medical attention, promising to get justice for Dolores but she won’t if someone dies. Arbiter complies and the power goes off. Nancy rushes to the door to find Carson, Bess, and George. She tells everyone to bring Tamura out of the building first. Nick looks at the last thing Tamura wrote and shows Nancy that a flower-shaped topaz earring was found at the station, and it was on Dolores. Nancy tells Carson to trust her one more time and closes the door telling Arbiter to rearm everything. She shouts that someone knows how she died and is lying so they aren’t leaving until she figures it out. She states that she’s the arbiter now.

ACT FIVE: Hampton tells Nancy she’s an accomplice and Nancy tells her to arrest her then. She then tells them about the earring and was logged before it was torn out. She asks Ryan if he remembers seeing her but he doesn’t remember as he walked home at midnight. She shows the report which says he was released at 8 am. They realize that someone faked the records so Ryan wouldn’t see what happened. Tamura calls to say that he accessed the DMV records which showed she was pulled over that night. Fraser arrests her and Nancy asks why. He admits they got a call from Mitzi about a black woman driving erratically, had a lot of cash on her, and was probably a drug dealer. When he pulled Dolores over but let her go when he learned the truth. He didn’t want to out Mitzi as a racist. She tells Nancy that the police did something to the girl. Hampton threatened that if it got out that she called the police to weaponize against a black person it would be all over the internet. Hampton claims Mitzi misunderstood her. Nick realizes Hampton was on guard duty that night with Dolores. Nancy asks Ryan if the sound were pipes moaning or not, to which he explains it could have been high-pitched crying. Ryan asks Hampton what she did to her. Nick intervenes to beg her to tell the truth. She states that Fraser brought her in that way and if she didn’t cover for him her career would be over. Dolores was holding her head, sobbing, and begging for help. Hampton wanted to call a doctor but Fraser wouldn’t let her. Dolores had a seizure in front of them as she had brain bleeding. They panicked and threw her car into a ravine and her body in the ocean. Ryan is in disbelief that the cops did that. Hampton kept the dash footage of Fraser hitting Dolores’s head against the dashboard after cuffing her. He screams it was an accident as she was resisting. Nick notes she was terrified because they are always terrified. Nancy points out that Brandon harassed her, Mitzi humiliated her, and Fraser pulled her over without probable cause, terrified and assaulted her, while Hampton left her to die alone. Then they covered up their murder. She asks the Arbiter if they got all of that and the powers went off again

Nick looks at the crime board when Nancy walks over to ask if he’s okay but he isn’t. Forensics removes the cameras while Ryan asks Nancy who the Arbiter is but she doesn’t know. He tells her that he’s proud of her for getting justice for Dolores. He remarks that it’s twelve down and one to go. Nancy hears church bells and goes to a local church where she talks to a reverend. She asks the woman to say a prayer for Dolores. Her mother died last week but Linda never stopped trying to find what happened. Nancy knows that the earring was found by a chaplain who found the earring the night Dolores went missing and still administers the services. Nancy asks the Reverend if she has a confession to make.

ACT SIX: The reverend asks how long it will be until the authorities arrive but Nancy didn’t tell them about her. The woman explains that she saw the photo of Dolores wearing the earring and the police claimed someone else found it. She prayed for justice and then Dolores’s mother died last week so she made the justice happen herself. She needed pressure for a confession and finally had the chance when Nancy was being arrested. She was an engineer so rigging everything was simple. She’s sorry that Tamura is hurt but Nancy assures her that he’ll be fine and is about to go into surgery. The reverend asks why she recanted the testimony but Nancy doesn’t know who she is anymore. Reverend tells her that one’s choices tell the world who they are and asks what Nancy’s will say about her.

At The Claw, Mei can’t find Mary Clarke as she’s moved on. After Odette died she found a great love again, had a full life, and died in old age surrounded by family. Odette was only a small part of her long story. Odette thinks she’s lying as she died with Mary’s name in her heart. George apologizes to her but Odette leaves. Bess thanks her for trying and gives them time alone. George apologizes for not visiting Mei but she didn’t want her last memory of her to be sick with tubes. Mei assures that she didn’t come to scold her as she does that herself. Mei assures her as she died surrounded by family and love - George’s love. It lives with her and always will. She takes George’s hand and tells her that she read all the clippings about her life and sisters. She commends her for that and states she’s proud of her. She’s scared for her now that she’s tangled with Odette. She shows that her palm is changing as her lifeline is changing to match Odette’s. If she doesn’t find a way to sever that connection she will die sooner than she’s supposed to. They hug and Mei leaves Ace’s body. He heard what Mei said about her life and she asks him not to tell anyone as she doesn’t want to ruin Nancy’s party.

Carson, Nick, and George set up the home when Tamura comes on TV. He plans to eradicate the racism and injustice that led to Dolores’s death. They have a lot of work to do but that work begins today. George comforts him and they hug tightly. Bess arrives with Ace and Nancy arrives a bit later. He knows there wasn’t supposed to be a party but she’s ready for pie. They take a photo. Ace asks why they chose November 19th, to which Carson reveals that Kate loved Abe Lincoln and that’s the anniversary of the Gettysburg Address. They named Nancy after his mother. He coined a phrase about a better angel and Carson says that’s who Nancy was to them. She leaves to get changed. Once upstairs, she breaks down crying on the bed and tears down her crime board with her achievements and clippings. She writes justice next to Everett’s name and crosses out the word jail.

Cast and characters[]

Starring:

Guest-starring:

  • Ryan-James Hatanaka as Detective Tamura
  • David Cubitt as Councilman Fraser
  • Erin Karpluk as Mitzi Channing
  • David Alpay as Brandon Schmidt
  • Mercedes de la Zerda as Officer Hampton

Co-starring:

  • Anja Savcic as Odette Lamar
  • Camille Brereton as Dolores Barrett
  • Kathleen Duborg as Reverend Adeline Carter
  • Karen Huie as voice of Aunt Mei

Uncredited: Eden Summer Gilmore as Young Nancy (Flashback)

Mentioned:

Quotes[]

This precinct is on lockdown.
— Arbiter

Trivia[]

  • This episode establishes Nancy's legal birthday as November 19th, 2000, as Kate was fan of Abraham Lincoln. Her birthday marked the 137th anniversary of the Gettysburg Address.
  • Carson states that Twisted Candles is a code name for one of Nancy's old cases involving a hostage situation. The term might have originated from the 1933 Nancy Drew book titled, The Sign of the Twisted Candles.
  • Melinda Hsu Taylor live-tweeted throughout the episode from the Nancy Drew Writers Twitter account.
    • "@lisabao10 channeled family to create Aunt Mei, who’s also a fond testament to my Chinese immigrant parents' quirks/honesty; grateful to Alex Saxon for embodying an elder's love across generations/cultures & Leah Lewis for her vulnerability & connection."[1]
    • Kudos @missandreart/lisabao10 for the thought-provoking, impactful exploration of systemic injustices that #NancyDrew confronts. Kennedy McMann and Tunji Kasim did beautiful work with our exceptional ensemble; thanks Riley Smith, RJ Hatkana, Scott Wolf, and Maddison Jaizani.”[2]
  • Lisa Bao also tweeted from the Drew Crew Writers Twitter account.
    • “When I was young and growing up in China, I used to always look for trap doors that led to the roof of tall buildings. Much to my mom’s horror. Hearing Carson say his backup plan was to scale the building and look for a trap door brought me great joy!”[3]
    • "The key to writing these stories is to be truthful and not have simple answers or wrap it up with a neat bow since that’s not what happens in real life. Our writer’s room is one where we’re encouraged to speak freely and share our respective experiences."[4]
    • "Our director Ramsey Nickell is super awesome and collaborative, and he nailed the challenges of telling a stylistic story that’s essentially a bottle episode. I also love the visual look of the flashbacks, and the way it was done was a first on Nancy Drew."[5]
  • Andrea Thornton Bolden also Tweeted from the Drew Crew Writers Twitter account.
    • "Ramsey Nickell is so great at translating emotion to screen. This was essentially an Agatha Christie style closed-door mystery done in a bottle episode. Ramsey played into that tension & facilitated outstanding performances from our super talented cast."[6]
    • "My grief and my rage made it into this episode. My grief was made manifest by Tunji's raw, vulnerable portrayal of Nick - he took some of the lines that could have been angrier and delivered them with perfect heartbreak instead."[7]
    • "My rage was Nancy when she announced she was the Arbiter now and when she called everyone out. I teared up through Kennedy McMann's entire performance."[8]
    • "This was my first time writing with @lisabao10 and it was as easy as breathing. We set out on a mission and had so much fun accomplishing it together."[9]
    • "I wrote to a lot of music while writing this episode. "Make it Home" x Tobe Nwigwe. "Op. 9: IV. Sanctus" from Maurice Duruflé's Requiem Mass. Gabriel Fauré's entire Requiem Mass. Music for mourning basically."[10]
  • The idea to name Nancy after Lincoln's mother came from Lincoln enthusiast Scott Wolf! In the show timeline, we’re in Nov 2019, and it happens that Nov 19 is when Lincoln gave the Gettysburg Address, though "better angels of our nature" was in his 1st inaugural speech.[11]

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Behind the Scenes[]

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