We actually kind of want to get the rules to that license plate game now.
Returning after the holiday break, the new episode of Ghosted — titled “Haunted Hayride” — kicks off with Max and Leroy once again riding in a car together, on their way to work.
Max beings playing the classic license plate game — you know the one, where you have to find all the letters in the alphabet on people’s licenses plates. While Leroy doesn’t want to play at first, it doesn’t take long before it gets competitive. And, before they know it, they’ve come up with an entire notebook of rules and regulations for how to play their newly defined version, having accidentally passed the office ten minutes ago.
Eventually, the make it to the bureau, where Barry insists he has to guide them “30 feet down the hall.”
That’s where Lafrey is waiting, ready to give them their next mission brief. Five days ago, a young teenage girl took a video that ended up going viral at a popular haunted hayride. In the video, the girl is picked up and thrown back by some invisible force. The two of them are being sent to investigate what was it that threw them — even though Leroy thinks it’s nothing more than a publicity stunt.
Side note but at this point, we’re not exactly sure why Leroy wouldn’t believe in the paranormal. I mean, he’s seen ghosts, zombies, aliens, succubi and more, first hand now, even been possessed a handful of times, and yet somehow thinks none of it is real.
Anyways, the two are still going forward with the mission, even despite their constant bickering. Lafrey has started to notice this, however, which is why she confronts them about it. “There are going to be a lot of outside forces trying to tear you two apart,” she says, “and if you do not communicate effectively, your casework will suffer and people could get hurt.”
They agree to get along better and hit the road. Yet, Lafrey isn’t done meddling with their affairs quite yet, as it’s then that she chooses to call Max and tell him that she’s considering putting him in charge. Max, grateful yet surprised, agrees that makes total sense but doesn’t tell Leroy at this time.
Before heading to the hayride, Max and Leroy first go to the house of the girl in the video — who is now possessed by the spirit who attacked her. They can’t get her to say anything at first, that is, until she chants some inaudible phrase and then begins frantically screaming.
Officially freaked out, the investigation continues after a quick stop back at the bureau to pick up some new equipment. They’re now going undercover at the hayride as employees — Max dressing up as a teenage werewolf and Leroy wrapping himself in a mummy costume.
The two don’t exactly fit in at first — Leroy is less than enthusiastic about scaring the customers and Max gets so into it that he ends up getting punched in the face. That’s when they see someone gets yanked out of a cart and go running over to try and catch the ghost.
Turns out that, in this instance, Leroy was right and it really was a publicity stunt. A new theory arises, however, when Annie and Barry discover an old file related back to the Hayride. A British family — helmed by an old man named Byron King — once settled where the hayride now is. And, after accidentally reading the marked words “Perculsus Elevor,” Byron King has been re-awoken.
Max and Leroy are once again arguing about what they believe in, turning it into a discussion of leadership in the office as Leroy reveals Lafrey also told him that he was in charge, when Max is dragged away by the invisible force. Leroy chases after him, but can’t keep up.
The force lets Max go, and the two meet up at an old grave site. That’s when they spot Byron King, stepping out from the fog, and headed towards them with an axe. Leroy tries to shoot it with no luck, when Max gets the idea find King’s corpse and re-bury it. Leroy isn’t on board at first and wants to bail, but Max hits him with an “I don’t care who’s in charge, I’m not even asking you to believe me, I’m just asking you to help me out.”
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That’s enough for Leroy, and the two find and re-bury the corpse right as Byron King is about to come in and chop their heads off.
Luckily, this also un-possess the teenage girl from earlier. However, that’s when they see what she’s like in the real life — an annoying, bratty teenage vlogger — and the episode ends by asking whether leaving her possessed maybe would have been a better call.
We also get resolution to the Lafrey power struggle storyline, as she purposefully told them they could both be in charge in order to open up better communication between the two.
Watch Ghosted on Sunday Nights on Fox at 8:30 EST, and check out some of our other Ghosted recaps too!