Ghosts is going strong in Season 2 as the spookiest sitcom on network television, and embraced the Halloween spirit as only a show about a haunted house can. Of course, Jay still can’t see the ghosts despite his injury at the end of Season 1, and relies on Sam to know what’s happening with the spirits living in their home. Although he originally had his doubts, he has adjusted to Sam talking to people he can’t see... but still clearly wishes that he had the same power. So, will Ghosts ever give him the ability? Co-showrunner Joe Wiseman weighed in on the “challenge.”
Joe Wiseman spoke with CinemaBlend ahead of the big Halloween episode, which turned out to be problematic for Hetty when the ghost of her husband’s mistress was summoned to the house. She took some baby steps by the end of the episode, while the other ghosts were busy trying to lead Jay to where Sam was stuck, without being able to appear or speak to him. Jay was ultimately able to save her by following some clues left by the ghosts in a pretty hilarious sequence. When asked if the show is funnier with Jay not able to see or hear the ghosts, the co-showrunner said:
I think so, and it's definitely a challenge. The [Halloween] episode sort of heightens it. There is a literal life and death situation that the ghosts need to get Jay some information in order to save Sam's life, but how do they communicate with him? It’s in a weird way kind of sweet that they're able to convey to him this message because he is familiar with the ghosts, because he loves hearing about the ghosts, and Sam tells him about the ghosts.
He may not be able to interact with the ghosts (or even look in the right direction when he’s trying to speak to them), but he knows all about them thanks to Sam, and they know him well enough to drop the right clues to guide him to his wife’s rescue. Joe Wiseman continued, addressing the relationship between Jay and the ghosts:
He knows that when Thor does that thing, that's Thor and he must be telling him to do something. He comes up with the idea to tell Trevor to do the mirror, and then when that goes awry, he knows that when Isaac walks through him, there was something else that he's missing, that he didn't get the complete message. So if Jay didn't care about the ghosts, or didn't listen when Sam talks about them, he wouldn't have been able to discern any of that information, and he wouldn't have been able to save her. So I do like that.
Jay not being able to see the ghosts really only might have been problematic if he still didn’t believe Sam when she insisted that they were real. Now, he just accepts the weirdness, rolls with it, and occasionally proves that he would thrive if he also had the power to see them. Would it be fun if he got his wish someday? Probably, but Joe Wiseman explained the perks of the spirits remaining unseen to him:
I do think it is nicer with Jay [not seeing them]. I love that he is sort of jealous of Sam's power. He really wishes that he could see the ghosts himself, and I think it's sweet that she's always filling him in. They're not even jokes, but some of my favorite moments in this [Halloween] episode was where she's literally just narrating what's going on. It's just sort of funny like, oh yeah, of course she would have to keep telling him about this weird invisible show that's going on in their house that he has no idea. He just trusts that it's there. So yeah, I liked this episode for Jay a lot.
While it might be hilarious if Jay temporarily had the ability to see the ghosts for some reason, the co-showrunner made some great points about the humor and heart that comes from him just trusting that all of the hijinks that Sam narrates are actually happening, and goes with it. Personally, I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of him looking in entirely the wrong direction during a ghostly encounter, and it’s always fun when Pete wants to bond with him. If the eternally-pantsless Trevor would be happy if Sam came back as a ghost to spend eternity in the house after dying, I think Pete would be happy if Jay did the same!
See what’s next for Sam, Jay, and their ghostly housemates with new episodes of Ghosts on Thursdays at 8:30 p.m. ET on CBS, and revisit past episodes streaming with a Paramount+ subscription. The sitcom will celebrate another holiday in the not-too-distant future with a Christmas event, which should be right up Rose McIver’s alley. When the Ghosts leading lady wasn’t playing a zombie on The CW before the CBS sitcom, she could be found enjoying some Christmas romance with Netflix movies, one of which was so popular that the streamer had to call some viewers out!
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