The tree zone was actually the friend zone on Ghosts Season 2 Episode 4.
What started as a terrible PR move for Woodstone Manor ended up being an emotional and culturally important episode for Sass.
Upon finding out that the plan by the neighbors was to cut down the tree on the old property that has been around for centuries, Jay, Sam, and the ghosts rallied to save it.
Everyone had some significant and special memories under the tree, including Hetty, who was pro-saving it before remembering that she was married under that tree and urging them to cut it down.
When Jay and Sam weren’t successful in persuading June and Ally to preserve it, Sass informed Sam that it was an important part of the Lenape culture, even pointing out the 13 markings that represented the 13 dialects of the Lenape language.
When that still didn’t work, Sam decided to pull a Hamilton (sorry, Isaac) and wrote an op-ed to inspire people in the area to demand a change. Soon enough, her article was trending and people were protesting around the tree, including Flower, who was reminded of the old days when she took acid and protested to save the snow leopards (you’re welcome). Her life truly was extraordinary.
Unfortunately, Sam quickly went from being a hero to a Karen when Bob, who was Lenape, came and informed her that at no point in the history of the culture were there 13 dialects. Sam stood her ground, with a little too much confidence for a non-Lenape woman, until Sass came clean that he made the whole thing up. And then, she looked brazenly ignorant about a group of people that were not her own.
Sam was embarrassed, the protest moved to the Woodstone Manor, and people were canceling their reservations left and right. It’s what some might call a PR crisis. And it’s a little disappointing that Sam just wrote the article without doing any additional research or trying to cite living sources. I get that she thought she had it on good authority, but the ghosts are really only good for sparking the ideas, there’s still some heavy lifting that needs to happen on her part to uphold some journalistic integrity.
When she confronted Sass and asked him why he lied, he had a good explanation—they were historical and made by a Lenape, him, to commemorate all the encounters he had with Shiki. And while everyone assumed that meant sex or even kissing, Sass explained that it was the times that Shiki said “hi” to him. Yes, “hi.” Jay and Trevor’s confusion over the fact that Sass went to such great lengths to take note of the fact that someone greeted him was hilarious. They even questioned if saying hello was more sexual back in the day. Oh, Sass, he has such a pure heart. And a huge crush! Too bad he can’t see Shiki since she’s stuck in the afterlife at Sam’s workplace.
After the tree was cut down, Sass was pretty upset as he realized the tree was his last connection to the Lenape people. He watched them get pushed out of the area, and now, everything that was there when he was alive was officially gone. Times were changing.
Sam saw how affected Sass was, so she reached out to Bob to help them with a land acknowledgment. They got seeds from the cut-down tree to plant in the area and honor Sass and the Lenape people. You could tell Sass was truly touched by it and grateful to Sam for realizing how important it was to him to have a piece of his culture around.
And then Trevor made sure to insert some humor by calling the area the friend zone with Pete underscoring that the “friend zone” is the best place to be. The name stuck, as it should have—it was a brilliant name.
While a huge focus of the episode was Sass and the tree, there was also a side plot involving Thor and his determination to get Flower to like him. Some might say that he is also in the friend zone, and Trevor wanted to help him get to the other side. Admittedly, Trevor’s little trick about memorizing nail polish colors so that he could spark a convo at the bar was pretty clever—he had game back in the day—but when he suggested that Thor becomes passionate about the things that Flower cares about, Thor ended up becoming a tree hugger… which is pretty fitting if you think about it.
There’s nothing subtle about Thor—he goes to extremes for what he believes in, so he became obsessed with punishing everyone for destroying the environment. He unplugged the TV because it was wasting electricity, and he even yelled at Hetty for the industrial revolution, and she hilariously acknowledged just how much people in her era loved coal.
These characters are so well developed, some of them don’t even really need to have full lines and it’s still downright comical.
Flower noticed that Thor was being a bit intense with his activism, so she tried to explain that he needs to inspire people rather than tearing them down, which actually worked when he helped Sam create the friend zone.
His activism was short-lived, however, as Sam pointed out that global warming didn’t really affect the ghosts but it was a huge deal for humans. Thor realized that the faster the “livings” die out, the quicker a new era would begin, and he suddenly became the biggest proponent of climate change.
There were some downright hilarious jokes that continue to propel Ghosts as TV’s funniest comedy: Trevor acknowledging that he often says smart things but people can’t get past the fact that he’s not wearing pants, Alberta crushing on Ted the tree guy who was pushing for the removal, Flower informing Thor that the “nail color” she was wearing was actually blood from trying to fend off the bear, Hetty assuming Trevor and Thor were deviants for using the “lap computer” and then later watching videos of stable boys, and the list goes on and on.
The only thing that’s starting to get stale is Jay not being able to see the ghosts. He’s a complete outcast. While Sam might look crazy talking to thin air, Jay actually is talking to nothing because he can’t interact with them. It would be nice to see something happen that changes it so he becomes part of the group.
What did you think of the episode? Let us know, Cravers!