The Trail of the Missing Witness is the twelfth episode of season 2 of The CW television series Nancy Drew, and the thirtieth episode of the series overall. It aired on April 14, 2021.
Synopsis[]
Official synopsis of The Trail of the Missing Witness from The CW:
WHO ARE YOU? - Nancy and Celia Hudson go head to head. Meanwhile, Nick hires a new line cook at The Claw. Scott Wolf, Leah Lewis, Maddison Jaizani, Alex Saxon and Riley Smith also star.
Plot summary[]
COLD OPEN. Grant explains that they’re half-brothers and he tried every day to tell Ace, as his plan upon getting a job last week was to make sure Ace wasn’t a psycho and become best friends. He interviews with Nick and is hired on the spot. He met Ace and Bess. Grant tried to talk to him but Ace went on break, and he watched Ace with his group of friends. Three days ago he cleaned the stove when Ace warned he was removing the flavor layer. Grant opted not to tell him anything. He texted Ace a meeting and got the box with the photograph of his mother and Ace’s father, tore it in half, and met at the drop location. He answered a call and demanded to talk with her, leaving the box behind. Ace picked up the box and found the photograph. Grant admitted that it didn’t feel right since other than DNA they didn’t have much in common. Ace asks if he knows about his mom’s WITSEC but Grant doesn’t know much. HE asked if Thom knows about him, but Ace hasn’t told him. Grant admits his mom is in trouble and he got a call from someone who found them in WITSEC. Daniel West and Grant’s mom used to work together. He has someone in the detail working for him that will kill his mom. She stole something from the company she worked for and now he wants it back. She buried it in Red Gate but he can’t find it. Daniel will be here in 24 hours and needs Ace since he’s friends with Nancy Drew.
ACT ONE: Nancy spots a reflection in the window of the video Grant gave, identifying Daniel. She knows Red Gate was a farm that shut down after she busted a nature cult there in the tenth grade. It was renamed and has a fallout shelter where Grant’s mom might have buried the valuable thing. They need serious equipment that Ace can provide. Carson arrives as Ace and Grant leave. She asks him about the local woman who was put into WITSEC and he remembers it vaguely and agrees to talk with his other attorneys about it. In the loft, George greets Nick with a kiss and sees him going over Tiffany’s files. Tiffany had someone in the Hudson inner circle that linked Everett to murders for hire, someone called “the Saint” and Nick contacted them again. At The Claw, Bess finds a love letter from Odette and writes a response. Meanwhile, Ace and Grant go through stuff in his garage when Rebecca comes out with cookies. Thom enters and Rebecca and Ace sign a translation for him before he leaves.
ACT TWO: Celia and Nancy meet at The Claw to discuss Everett. Bashiir moved back to the Caribbean about unforeseen visa issues and deported him. Celia wants her to retract the statement about Everett’s in the Bonny Scot. She warns that Everett will keep Nancy alive if she does this and others to prove her loyalty. Grant and talk in the car. Ace tells him about Thom’s accident. At The Claw, Jessie is disgusted by the thought of cooking the clams raw but George is determined to win the Chowder Bowl even though their mother lost their family recipe years ago. Jessie refuses to partake and leaves. Bess flirts with George thinking she’s Odette but pretends a customer is calling to leave. Nick arrives at the food festival when Ryan comes in with friends. Ryan introduces Nick to the men, Sid and Howard. They take a photo together. Meanwhile, Carson helps DA Jean Rosario with her case boxes and she’s grateful for Nancy being the lynchpin in her case against the Hudson’s. He asks her for info on the State of Maine V. Holt Group and she knows about it, agreeing to help. Nancy, Ace, and Grant go to the tunnels while the boys try to figure out if they have anything else in common. They find a box wedged in the tunnel walls that has an old gaming device inside. The tunnels are unsteady and the beams collapse.
ACT THREE: Ace helps them secure the beams with things from his backpack and they succeed in securing it. They form a small space for Nancy and Grant to crawl through. Grant insists that she go first with his mom’s device so she does. When it’s Grant’s turn, he clams up but with encouragement from Ace he pushes through his fear. The second he passes through the beams collapsed. At the food festival, Nick isn’t making progress with The Saint and meets Keenan, his counselor, who is with his daughter. Keenan thinks Nick should tell his story to other troubled youths as he’s now a community leader. Nancy, Ace, and Grant arrive at the Drew Home where Carson tells her he was loaned material for the case Nancy wanted. They play the tape on the VCR where Grant’s mother tells her story and how she was connected to paying Daniel West to commit crimes. She had a list of names for witnesses but the one person she didn’t name was killed. The device isn’t a toy as it’s also for hackers and has a list of witnesses on the device. It presents a riddle “it’s what gives us faith to make mountain falls”, and they only have one chance to put it in. Ace and Grant agree to ask Thom about the riddle.
ACT FOUR: At the festival, Nancy texts Celia that she won’t do it. She and Grant talk about Thom and his relationship with Grant’s mother. He worries about what it will do to Thom’s family and Ace, but she urges him to consider what he wants. Meanwhile, George and Jessie work a booth for the chowder. She reveals that Odette comes out at night and she helps Jessie with her French homework. Ted likes her a lot and Odette has been helping her track a comet, but Charlie thinks it’s just George messing with them. Nick still isn’t having luck with The Saint. Ace tracked down Thom to give him the photo of Helen. He asked about the riddle and learned it’s from a Lauryn Hill lyric from the song they listened to on their last night together, 8/31/98. He left and called Nancy with the answer and it unlocked the witness list. If they hand the list over all the witnesses will die. He hung up and turned around to meet Daniel West.
ACT FIVE: Nancy answers the phone and Daniel warns that if they don’t bring him the list he’ll kill Ace. She won’t risk Ace’s life by getting Thom involved and calls Celia for help. Bess passes out chowder while George finds the letter to Odette and confronts Bess about the letter. She apologizes and assures that she would never let her feelings cross that line but there’s a hole where Lisbeth and the Marvin’s used to be. Odette filled that void but George tells her it has to end now. The winner of the Chowder Bowl is announced as The Bayside Claw. George and Bess hug when Odette comes out. Meanwhile, Nancy and Grant arrive at the mill where Ace is tied to the side of the railing. She tries to bargain with Daniel but he isn’t interested as he only wants the names. That’s his way to The Road Back and remarks that they have no idea who they’re up against, as the Holt Group is part of something larger which is why she went stateside. The Road Back wants the list of people and then they’ll owe him, and he’ll get his life back. Ace tells Nancy not to give the list over as he doesn’t want the deaths on his hands. Nancy can’t risk losing Ace and gives the list over. Nancy and Grant free Ace while Daniel escapes in his car. She hugs Ace tightly and assures him that Celia will get the list back without hurting Daniel. He’s surprised he believed Celia, to which Nancy responded that she couldn’t lose him.
ACT SIX: Ace and Grant talk at The Claw where Grant has a text from the Marshals that the guy Daniel West had working for the service had been arrested so he and Helen are being reassigned. Grant is glad to have a little brother now. Nancy arrives with the device from Celia though she owes Celia a favor now. She asks Ace about The Road Back and Ace relays that it’s a real-life Illuminati who has people everywhere including multiple governments. You’re in it for life which is why Nancy plans to put the device in the Horseshoe Bay archive boxes with Grant. At the food festival, Jessie gives George their Grandma’s recipe that she got back from Big Tony who stole it when he was fired from The Claw. He worked at The Beak and used the recipe to win. Jessie is impressed that her sister figured it out on her own. Plus, The Beak had to use canned clams after someone freed all their clams. She leaves when Nick arrives as he didn’t find The Saint. Nick goes to see Mr. Driscoll and notes the college ring that recruited him for a football scholarship that Tiffany knew about. Driscoll didn’t trust him earlier since Ryan told them Nick was a friend of his. Nick gives Ryan files that prove a Hudson is tied to murders for hire, the only problem is that all the bank statements, wire transfers, and contract agreements are in Ryan’s name. Everett had set Ryan up to take the fall for him by having Ryan sign things over the years as a teenager. The papers are for bombs, hits, and more, all that Everett set Ryan up to take the fall for. Meanwhile, Ace introduces Thom and Grant in the parking lot of The Claw. Grant learned a bit of sign language to communicate with Thom and introduced himself. Ace translates Thom’s language for Grant and Thom hugs him tightly. Ace translates for both of them before Grant has to leave. He tells Ace before he goes that Star Trek is better, and Ace remarks that he’s his brother and they hug. Grant gets into the Marshal car and leaves. Finally, Nancy visits DA Rosario to tell her that she wanted to amend her statement to say she was confused, emotional, and was wrong about Everett Hudson being involved in the Bonny Scot accident.
Cast and characters[]
Starring:
Guest-starring:
- Teryl Rothery as Celia Hudson
- Anthony Natale as Thom
- Steve Bacic as Daniel West
- Erica Cerra as District Attorney
- Shannon Kook as Grant
- Nicole Oliver as Rebecca
- Geraldine Chiu as Jesse Fan
Co-starring:
- Chris Shields as Keenan
- Marco Soriano as Sid Brice
- Byron Noble as Howard Driscoll
- Trevor Lerner as Fred
- Silvana Estifanos as Keenan's daughter
- Taylor Hui as Suzie / Helen Davis
Additional:
- Big Tony, used to work at The Claw
Quotes[]
Trivia[]
- Writer Jen Vesuto live-tweeted the episode and discussed writing the episode.
- “Nancy going back on her testimony was such a heartbreaking scene to write. It goes against every instinct that she has, but she was left with no choice when it came to saving Ace's life. Kennedy McMann plays Nancy's complexities flawlessly.”[1]
- "The scene where Thom meets Grant after learning he is his son was one of the first scenes we pitched. The performances that @SHANNONKOOK, @Anthonyla & jalexsaxon gave were more than we could've asked for and it gives me chills every time I watch it."[2]
- "When Melinda Hsu Taylor introduced the idea of a food festival, we loved the idea of George wanting to recreate Grandma's winning chowder. Geraldine & Leah Lewis have such great sisterly chemistry & I especially love their last scene together after the win."[3]
- "Maddison Jaizani was visiting our virtual writers' room the day we pitched the Odette/Bess love letter storyline. We were thrilled to see her reaction to the idea and she and Leah Lewis did such an incredible job in the scene."[4]
- "Grant and Ace's journey together as brothers shows how different their lives were before they met. Alex Saxon and @SHANNONKOOK played those nuances so well and we could've easily written a whole episode with just the two of them being brothers."[5]
- “Die hard Nancy Drew book fans will recognize the name Red Gate Farm from "The Secret of Red Gate Farm" where Nancy does in fact uncover a nature cult. We love dropping those breadcrumbs for our Drewds!”[6]
- "Nancy is going through so much being caught between her identities. Her scene with Celia shows that she's still looking for that maternal figure in her life, even if it's Grandma Hudson. Kennedy McMann and @terylrothery play off each other so well."[7]
Gallery[]
Images[]
Video[]
Behind the Scenes[]
[]
External links[]
The Trail of the Missing Witness on The Internet Movie Database
References[]
- ↑ https://twitter.com/DrewCrewWriters/status/1382559055613337602
- ↑ https://twitter.com/DrewCrewWriters/status/1382558552301072386
- ↑ https://twitter.com/DrewCrewWriters/status/1382557797171273733
- ↑ https://twitter.com/DrewCrewWriters/status/1382555280752271363
- ↑ https://twitter.com/DrewCrewWriters/status/1382551002465718272
- ↑ https://twitter.com/DrewCrewWriters/status/1382545717667917827
- ↑ https://twitter.com/DrewCrewWriters/status/1382547982587817993