Ghosted returned on Oct. 8 with “Bee-Mo,” the second episode of the first season, as the show begins to ease the audience into its pacing, setting and laughs.
Halloween comes early this year, as the holiday-themed episode is full of tick ‘r treating, costumes and, of course, a bunch of infected zombie kids and talking cats that want to kill any human being they lay eyes on. You know, the normal Halloween affairs.
The episode begins with Max and Leroy, picking up their unlikely friendship where they left off — Max making a bunch of nerdy jokes and Leroy mostly just being along for the ride. To the tune of “The Power of Love” we learn that Max, super optimistic about life, only has to wait a few days before he can see his wife.
Leroy is in a good mood too — he gets to take his old partner’s kid, Jermaine (Ethan Drake Davis), trick ‘r treating tonight. And, through a couple awkward silences and open ended questions, Max ends up getting invited to come along as well.
Jermaine isn’t as excited about the whole idea as Leroy and especially Max are. He was hoping that Leroy would bring him to a girl at school’s party — a girl who Jermaine just so happens to have a crush on. The real kicker is that Jermaine is hoping Leroy will lie to his mom about the party for him. Leroy isn't comfortable doing so, which offends and angers Jermaine.
He doesn’t have time to stay mad for too long, however, as Max and Leroy soon get a call from the bureau underground saying they're needed for an assignment. It’s Halloween night, after all, and all their best agents are off taking care of far more serious hauntings and possessions.
It’s an awkward car ride on the over to the abandoned warehouse area they’re called to investigate— Jermaine is mad at Leroy for trying to act like his father and Leroy is mad at Max for wanting to take Jermaine to the party — but things only get worse when they arrive. Jermaine, who was told to stay in the car, finds a stray cat with orange glowing eyes. The cat bites him and passes on the strange glow to Jermaine.
It only takes a minute for the full effect to kick in. As the three return to the car, Jermaine — now possessed by whatever evil spirit was inside the cat — kicks out the rear door of Leroy’s car and takes off running. Leroy and Max try to catch him, but he’s too fast.
After another call back to the bureau, they figure out that possessed Jermaine is likely headed to the party he wanted to go to — and is going to try and infect all of the guests.
The house looks deserted when they arrive, so they invite themselves in to try and find any signs of Jermaine. And, before they even realize what’s happening, they’re greeted by an army of middle-school zombies who are trying to bite and infect them. They fend them off — Max knocks one over the head with a vase and tells the girl to “stay down you little psycho!” — and escape the house.
They need backup, badly. Barry is working on an antidote back on the lab, but they can’t let the infection leave the house or anyone could become exposed to it. Annie soon arrives with equipment — tranquilizer guns and body armor. Max and Leroy suit and get ready to head back in.
Enter a home invasion type scene where Max and Leroy walking around a darkened house with flashlights and firing off rounds into anything that moves. Throughout the entire terrifying experience they banter and argue about various things like what hand signals mean and how much ammo they have left.
That's when demon Jermaine attacks, jumping on Leroy’s back right as Max announces he’s out of darts. To make matters worse, it’s at that moment when Jermaine’s mom decides to call and check in — and Leroy accidentally answers on video chat. She doesn’t see anything — but it’s the perfect distraction for Max to find and pick up a stray dart. Jermaine tries to escape, running out the front door in the direction of the neighbor's house, but Leroy takes the dart from Max and quickly knocks Jermaine out before he can do any damage.
Even then, it’s not over yet. On the car ride home Max, starting to feel funny, worries that he was bitten in all the action and instructs Leroy to duct-tape him to the car-seat. Leroy is happy to oblige. The problem then arrises when it turns out that Leroy was actually the one bitten, not Max. Now trapped in the car with a possessed Leroy, Max is certain this is the end.
Luckily the car crashes and Annie comes to the rescue. They bring Leroy and the children back to the lab and give them Barry’s antidote — which, surprisingly works. Max and Leroy take Jermaine back home, and Leroy and Jermaine share a touching moment as Max lies down in the backseat with his headphones and pretends not to listen. The episode ends with Jermaine calling Leroy ‘Bee-Mo,” — his old nickname — which Max then begins to chant.
As a whole, Ghosted is still finding its footing and learning how to handle its exposition and subplots. Yet Scott and Robinson’s chemistry still make the show well worth watching. The best moments of the show stem from their interactions — like when they decide to have a pointless argument in the middle of a serious event. Ghosted may not currently be the best comedy on television, but it’s trying at least and improving week by week.
Check out the recap for the premiere episode of Ghosted here and tune in to Fox on Sunday nights at 8:30PM to watch the new episodes.