Ghost Whisperer – The Second Season

Ghost Whisperer changed a lot in its second season. Frankly, the level of changes took me by surprise, considering that the show was pretty successful as it was. These are the kind of wholesale changes you see when a borderline series is retooled for a second, and usually final, chance to connect with enough viewers. It was risky, and while I’m not too happy about a couple of these changes, I was for the most part impressed with the final result.

 
The show’s most basic premise remains intact. Melinda Gordon is a newlywed and owns the antique shop in a quaint New England town. From childhood she has had the “gift” of being able to see the ghosts of those restless departed souls unable to cross over into the great beyond. If this sounds familiar, it should. Remember little Haley Joel Osment from The Sixth Sense? Like his character, Cole, Melinda takes the responsibility of helping these spirits accomplish some unfinished earthly business so that they can move into the light. The series almost always ends with some tearjerker moments as a loved one is connected, through Melinda, with the departed friend or family member.

In the first season, Melinda was joined by her friend and business partner Andrea (Tyler). At the end of that freshman season, Andrea was killed and became a pawn in a good vs. evil struggle between Melinda and a mysterious “wide-brimmed hat man”. I was sorry to see the character literally depart the show, but I thought that cliffhanger was one of the more effective moments I’ve seen. The sacrifice of the character provided an ending I’ll admit I never saw coming. To replace Andrea, Camryn Manheim from The Practice joins the cast as Melinda’s new partner Delia. For about half the season, Delia is unaware of Melinda’s abilities, and frankly I was disappointed when she found out. I rather enjoyed the dynamic better with Delia in the dark, so to speak, while her son knew the truth. The better addition to the second season cast is Jay Mohr as Professor Payne, who develops a very interesting chemistry with Melinda. He was only intended as a short arc character, but the relationship was quite a dynamic one from the start. The producers quickly recognized the lucky circumstance and made it a permanent part of the show. The series also became darker as the “wide-brimmed hat man” provided Melinda with a nemesis, adding far greater peril and higher stakes to each episode. That works out fine, but the show has broken all the rules they set up in the beginning about what ghosts can and cannot do. While this might ratchet up the excitement, I think it takes away some of the show’s charm.

I need to warn you that the box contains the following disclaimer: “Some episodes might be edited from their original broadcast versions”. I tried to get an answer from the studio but was never given one. I did watch these shows when they originally aired and cannot find any blatant changes. I certainly don’t remember every moment, but it does not appear anything drastic has changed. Still, I’m concerned about a trend here, as I’ve now discovered the same disclaimer on each of the CBS sets I am currently viewing. I suspect that this may refer to music being substituted, and if I get an answer from CBS I’ll pass it along here.

There are some very fine moments to be found in this second year of Ghost Whisperer. The season opener Love Never Dies ties up the plane crash and Andrea storylines left over from the previous year. It’s truly a good wrap up and sets the pace for the coming year quite nicely. The Curse Of The Ninth was a great episode to watch as a musician. This was one of those weird timing things. The episode aired just days after I was talking to someone about that particular curse. It really is why most of us will not put 9 tracks on an album or CD. Here a dead musician wants to finish his unreleased 10^th track written for his girlfriend. Deja Boo is another superior episode. A ghost faces constant reincarnation and could end up becoming Melinda’s baby. It’s quite the thought provoking script. There are others, but these standout episodes only got better on the second viewing.

 
Video

Each episode of Ghost Whisperer is presented in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio. This looks pretty much identical to the HD broadcasts I watched during the season’s run. I compared a DVR version to the DVD release and found them to be pretty much the same. The bitrate is respectable, and although there is some compression artifact, I didn’t find it all that distracting. Much of the show is shot at night, so solid black levels are a must, and they deliver for the most part (marred only by that occasional artifact noise). Colors are pretty much natural but don’t always cut through well in the darkness. Melinda is often wearing colorful outfits that tend to reproduce well, and even at times brightly, particularly in those daylight scenes. There’s nothing here that should keep you from thoroughly enjoying the episodes.

Audio

The Dolby Digital 5.1 track works very nicely to set up those spooky moments we all really watch the show for. Excellent use of rears for spatial effects gives you a very wide and open environment that allows you to easily immerse yourself in the show. Music is used quite a bit, and the mix is always presented perfectly placed and clean. Dialog is also always where it needs to be and is never muddled or lost in other sounds.

 
Special Features

The episodes are spread out over a collection of 6 single-sided discs. The extras are also a little scattered, but I’ll tell you exactly where to find what.

On disc 1 there is a feature called: Ghost Whisperer’s Crystal Ball Mind Game. You pick a two-digit number which through a series of mathematical instructions leads you to a symbol. The ball “magically” shows you the symbol you came up with. I’m a math no nothing but even I know how this thing works. It’s been around for ages and there are even web sites out there that use the trick. Pass.

Disc 5 contains the following features:

A Conversation With The Living: This 23 minute piece includes pretty much the entire cast and crew of the series. They each explain the changes in direction the show has taken and drop some hints as to where the show might be going in its third year coming soon. I’m afraid like most of these features it succumbs to the “everyone is so nice” syndrome. I’m not really looking for folks to down their colleagues; still, this constant flattery really doesn’t come off as very sincere anymore.

Ghostly Visions: Kandace Westmore is the main makeup person for the show and is your guide to the ghost makeup used to drive the story forward each week. The ghosts undergo physical transformations to match their emotional evolution in each episode. The makeups were pushed to higher limits of gore this year. I must admit that watching the show I never really thought about the makeup stuff, which is the best compliment you can probably pay them. You also get to see one of the guest ghosts undergo the transformation one step at a time. Good stuff.

Grandview Cemetery: You can click on any of 6 tombstones and get a 2-4 minute feature on that guest ghost. This plays a lot like Easter egg stuff but is easier to find and navigate.

Disc 6 contains the last of the extras.

Melinda’s Closet: Joseph Porro, a costume designer, takes us for a tour of the distinctive clothes worn by Melinda in the show. Honestly, I’m not really into clothes, so this was not a particularly interesting or even entertaining piece for me, but it is a full 16 minutes and covers a lot of, what else, clothes.

The Other Side: CBS aired 8 short web episodes, or webisodes, of a Ghost Whisperer type story from the perspective of a ghost. Mark Haplau stars as Zack, a recently murdered ghost. Many of the shorts deal with his discovery of being dead and confronting his killer. You can view each webisode on its own or together as a 24 minute full story. There’s also a trailer for these internet nuggets as well as a 3 minute Behind The Scenes video diary from Haplau.

Jennifer Love-Hewitt Speed Painting Video: This is a music video of “Strange Education” by The Cinematics set to a new kind of animation. A computer painting of Love-Hewitt is being constructed in speeded up time lapse style. Yawn!

Final Thoughts

I confess that I rather like the show, even if it does tend to be emotionally over the top. The characters are always interesting, and it’s a quick 40 plus minutes. In the first year there was a lot of talk of basing Melinda on a “real” ghost whisperer, but I really don’t buy into any of that, and you need not to enjoy the series. When South Park does a parody on you, you know you’ve made it. I know that there are fans looking for a deeper meaning here, and I hope none of that is really the show’s intent. It’s simple uncomplicated entertainment. “Necessary? No. Amusing? Always.”