Nancy Drew Recap – The Return of the Killer’s Hook (404)

That was one heated episode of Nancy Drew. 

Turns out, breaking a supernatural death curse isn’t as easy as one might think, and meddling in the supernatural unchaperoned just makes this worse than it already was. 

On Nancy Drew Season 4 Episode 3, Nancy and Ace were full-steam ahead in their quest to break Temperance’s curse and finally be together. 

As they exhausted yet another option, they realized that there was a chance with the Plagonnia doll, which housed a demon inside of it that would harbor enough power to pull out the curse once and for all. It was part of a very intricate multi-step process, and well, I’m not getting into the nitty gritty of it because, unlike Bess, I don’t work at the Historical Society and this isn’t second nature to me. The good news is that she seems to be well-versed in the occult and supernatural, so she’s like a walking encyclopedia of curses, remedies, potions, and beyond. 

All Nancy and Ace had to do was make a paste that would serve as an Nantigen — a Nancy antigen — once painted on Ace, and then, they’d be able to have their 7-minutes in heaven while the curse was broken. 

Easy peasy, right? Far from it. 

The first bump in the road came when George’s sister, Jesse, and her girlfriend, Bird, wanted to prove to their bully, Avery, that the supernatural is real. When Avery made fun of them in front of everyone and called them freaks, they decided to open the box housing the demonic doll—and keeping the demonic energy from seeping out—and raise it from the dead. 

While they definitely proved their point to Avery, they also ended up possessing him by a very diabolical spirit, which, in turn, became Nancy’s problem. It wasn’t an ideal situation, especially while trying to break a death curse, but it also helped Bess realize the importance of the education the Historical Society provides. She pretended that the supernatural world was all “superstition” so she could get money from Aaron, Avery’s dad and the biggest donor, to help keep the society afloat, but in turn, created a whole mess that could’ve ended very badly for those who were acting negligent with these dark and powerful artifacts. They were all mere moments from death.

Nancy Drew is one of the only shows that makes it a point to be open and informative about the supernatural with normal people, and it’s refreshing. Bess didn’t care if it made people uncomfortable at the end, she was adamant about teaching those who were interested in learning more, even if it ended up offending Aaron and turning him away. What I know for certain is that Bess will find a way to secure funding.

 Anyway, Nancy and the Drew Crew had to find a way to break Avery’s possession, and the situation grew even more dire when Jesse and Bird became possessed. They had mere moments to perform the exorcism or the demonic spirit would literally kill its host. 

Thankfully, they got there just in the nick of time, but in the process, they ruined the doll that was supposed to assist with breaking the death curse. 

Nancy and Ace proved that they were fully committed to doing anything to be together, agreeing to risk it all to attempt to break the curse using the Plagonnia doll, so when they seemingly hit a dead end, Nancy pivoted by finding another solution. She realized that the word Plagonnia is plural and there’s a second, light object twin doll that they could fetch and use in their ritual. 

One small break-in later—if you could even call it that as Ace quite literally walked in through the backdoor— and they were on their way to complete the ritual and possibly regain their future together. 

And the scene of them attempting to break the curse, which was, incidentally, their first officially kiss, was magical and beautiful.

The one thing I will say is that the writers are doing right by this couple. I know there has to be some drama to propel the storyline and keep the drama alive, but that montage of all their little moments of love was incredible. And it made it so much more painful when the curse was sabotaged by Temperance, even far beyond the grave. We should’ve known that she’d be ions ahead of them and go as far as to curse their attempts at finding a way to be together. 

This is the curse of all curses. 

While Ace didn’t die as the curse prophesized, he did get quite a scare when Nancy collapsed to the ground and stopped breathing. The fact that she ended up in the hospital where it was touch and go there for awhile to stabilize her heart rate is very clearly a warning sign from Temperance of what’s to come if they do attempt to break the curse again. 

Nancy doesn’t take well to defeat, so this only fueled her fire, but this time it was Ace who saw the effects of the curse and realized that he cannot risk it—he can’t risk losing her or not having her in his life. 

They were no longer on the same page as Ace decided that they should hit pause for awhile and simply relish in the fact that they can still be in each other’s lives as friends. It’s not ideal, nor is it what either of them want, especially after feeling how electric they are together, but there’s no denying that it could be very costly if they keep trying to work around it. 

Maybe a solution will present itself in the future, but for now, I think Ace made the right choice because he acted with both his head and his heart. 

But man, seeing them yearn for each other but keep their distance was soul crushing. There’s nothing worse than being kept from your loved one, espeically if they are alive and within arms reach. 

And that’s something I don’t think Carson took into account when he tried to talk some sense into Nancy. He made a good point when he informed her that sometimes, things aren’t meant to be. He knows his fair share about loss having watched his wife die right in front of him—can you believe it’s only been a year since that happend? Carson felt helpless as there was nothing he could’ve done to save her, however, there’s the key difference in Nancy’s situation is that she has to see Ace every single day. 

If they chose to no longer fight for each other, she’ll have to see him move on and be happy with someone else. And that’s the real torment of the curse. 

I’m not saying Nancy needs to give up fully, but I do think they need to regroup and think of a solid plan before acting on it again. 

And there’s plenty happening at Horsehoe Bay to keep her mind occupied as we can’t forget about the tainted water just waiting to wreak havoc on the town. Nick tried his best to get them to shut off the water supply so that he could test it, but his plans were nixed.

The horror show has only just begun—and pretty soon, the whole town is going to feel the effects. 

There were some other crucial developments throughout the episode, including Nick calling George out for being too dependent on him even after their break up (he’s right—she needs to figure out what she wants) and Carson realizing that he’s still grieving the death of his wife and signing up for a Widowers’ Support Group. 

All in all, this was one of the stronger episodes of Nancy Drew this season, and they are proving that they are determined to go out on a memorable note. 

What did you think, Cravers?