The ‘Ghosts’ Season 3 Finale Had a Twist No One Expected, Living or Dead

The third season of Ghosts has been a time of change for the spirits and livings of Woodstone Manor, so it’s only natural for it to end with one of the biggest changes any person can ever make, alive or dead: holy matrimony. (Although, just how “holy” are ghosts themselves, really?)

(Warning: Spoilers ahead.)

“Isaac’s Wedding” technically lives up to its title, even though Isaac (Brandon Scott Jones) ultimately doesn’t end up going through with the actual matrimony part. That Isaac even makes it to the altar—to eventually say "I don’t"—is still a big step for the character, especially considering how deeply closeted the 18th-century ghost was when the series began. It would have been so easy for Isaac to have said "I do" to Nigel (John Hartman), especially as the two Woodstone ghosts who were seemingly destined for each other: star-crossed gay soldiers from the Revolutionary War, able to be together forever in the afterlife. After decades upon decades of denying who he really was, Ghosts makes clear that Isaac ultimately still has a lot of time to discover what he wants. It’s not like he’ll be getting sucked off anytime soon.

(A reminder and PSA: Spirits that move on to the afterlife in the world of Ghosts are, in fact, “sucked off.”)

While “Isaac Wedding’s” goes on without a hitch—to Hetty’s (Rebecca Wisocky) disappointment as wedding planner and Alberta’s (Danielle Pinnock) excitement that she still gets to sing “At Last” better than Etta James—the episode still serves as a major turning point for the Woodstone ghosts.

The previous few Ghosts episodes set the stage for everything that goes down here. After all, Isaac’s cold feet started with his bachelor party, after experiencing the majesty of a lap dance from a living Australian stripper (and dinosaur aficionado) named Chris (Deniz Akdeniz). Chris returns here as the wedding DJ, perfectly ready to play a set for an empty room, no questions asked—just like he asked no questions when he was hired to dance for an empty chair—after Isaac is already dreaming about him.

A close call with death almost gives Isaac his dream man right then and there, just before his wedding. But Chris’ presence is mostly symbolic; as even Trevor (Asher Grodman), the surprising voice of reason in this episode, points out, Chris is on another plane of existence. He might seem perfect for Isaac, especially when he reveals he’s a history buff who’s also not a fan of Alexander Hamilton, but he’s not a reality for him.

A Big Cliffhanger Changes ‘Ghosts’ Without Killing Its Charms

As his fellow ghosts prepare for the wedding, Pete (Richie Moriarty) is all the way in St. Lucia, thanks to his newly discovered ghost power, the ability to freely travel away from the property in which he died. (In life, he was a travel agent who never traveled. ) From there, he meets the ghost of his dreams (and a spitting image of Loni Anderson, which really clinches it for him), Donna, who was killed by the force of a falling 1980s cellphone. For once, Pete gets the girl.

In a way, it’s felt like this season has really kicked Pete while he’s been down, adding his cheating wife Carol (Caroline Aaron) to the land of the unliving (and to the hilariously upsetting body count at Woodstone)—especially as the show has leaned into Carol being a truly terrible, selfish person. But then the finale reveals the catch with Pete’s ghost power: He has to return to Woodstone after a certain amount of time, otherwise he will completely disappear. He compares the situation to the photo of Marty’s family in Back to the Future, and he’s not wrong.

Pete gets his groove back during his time with Donna, but when given the choice between living out what little time he could have left in tropical bliss with her or returning home to safety, there really is no choice. The thing is, when Pete does choose Woodstone, it’s no longer because of a fear of the unknown or stepping outside his comfort zone: It’s because he loves all of his Woodstone friends, and if he’s going to have any last moments on Earth, he wants it to be with them.

Love is also in the air for Thor (Devan Chandler Long) and Flower (Sheila Carrasco), essentially ending their throuple with Nancy (Betsy Sodaro)—which technically only existed because Flower wanted to get back at Thor for lying—just as quickly as it began. No one questioned Thor’s affection for Flower (and vice versa), but in the wake of Isaac’s failed wedding, they officially profess their love. It’s kind of stomped on by Carol’s announcement that she and her latest ghost fling Baxter are getting married (The “Whaaaaaaat? Who’s Baxter?” “He’s very peripheral. It doesn’t matter.” exchange from Jay and Sam are the lines of the episode), but that’s just par for the course for Carol. Again, terrible and selfish.

Unfortunately, if anyone is underserved by this finale, it has to be the livings, Sam (Rose McIver) and Jay (Utkarsh Ambudkar). While it’s been fun to track how Ghosts decided to work around McIver’s real-life pregnancy this season—Sam really loves standing behind the reception desk—it’s clear that the combination of that and 2023's WGA and SAG strikes factored into how things went down this season. The latter is also part of the reason why this season only spanned 10 episodes, as opposed to the fuller orders the previous seasons had gotten. Even though this season was somewhat frontloaded with stories for Sam and Jay, there was a shift that put the non-ghost arcs on the backburner. So the major Woodstone Bed & Breakfast plot became less of a focus as things moved on, though there will surely be more traction come next season.

The question, however, is what will happen to Isaac next season, as the episode doesn’t exactly end with him on a newly single walkabout. Throughout the episode, Flower talks about the one friend she made when she was stuck in the well—who lives in the dirt and has an aptitude for churning butter, as well as “an insatiable thirst for revenge”—and naturally, Thor and company assume it’s just one more Flower tangent that doesn’t really make any sense. (To be fair, a lot of Flower’s tangents actually do make sense. Eventually. With context. In this case, Thor did have context and still ignored her.)

Flower’s friend is revealed to be Patience, a ghost that Isaac, Sasappis (Román Zaragoza), and Thor all met back in 1895 when they themselves fell into a hole. Together, they returned topside by walking together through the dirt, hand in hand, until Isaac sneezed and let her hand go, leaving her there. So of course Patience would want revenge on what is supposed to be the happiest day of Isaac’s ghost life. She gets the basement ghosts on her side, as they are once again excluded from things upstairs—not invited to the wedding, with Nancy also ditched by the members of her throuple … and then dumped.

While last season ended with a ghost sucked off, this season ends with one mystically dragged off. And the basement ghosts aren’t telling anyone, as it might make them look bad—well, worse than what they already look. Personally speaking, not physically.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

Get the Daily Beast's biggest scoops and scandals delivered right to your inbox. Sign up now.

Stay informed and gain unlimited access to the Daily Beast's unmatched reporting. Subscribe now.