Ghosted vs. Batman/man-bat/a flying monkey.
Ghosted is back! For just one week at least. Then it’s not returning again until March, for some reason. The struggle is real, folks.
The ninth episode of Ghosted — entitled “Snatcher” — reunites us with our favorite pair of paranormal investigators, Max and Leroy.
This time they are headed out to the woods to inspect a series of bodies. They’re believed to be left by something Annie calls the Gila Snatcher. She’s been tracking this monster for years and years, despite the fact that there have been no confirmed sitings of the beast.
Given that Annie knows so much about the folklore of the Gila Snatcher — which Leroy believes to actually be a flying monkey from “The Wizard of Oz” — and the fact that Max still totally has the hots for her, she’s invited along on this mission.
Leroy isn’t head-over-heels in love with this news. He likes Annie, sure, but he knows that Max invited her along just to try and get closer to her. While he’s not against their relationship, he’s quick to realize that this could put the mission and his own life in jeopardy if Max has his heads out in the clouds (I mean, is he wrong? Who hasn’t tried to impress a member of the opposite sex by acting all smart and tough?)
Nevertheless, they head out into the woods. Leroy quickly realizes he was right about the whole Max and Annie situation, and when Annie dips out for a quick second the two have a meaty argument about it. Turns out, Max is actually terrified of the woods (despite the fact that he seemed fine with it in the Haunted Hayride episode), and wants Leroy’s help. Leroy, who was an eagle scout, reluctantly agrees.
Leroy takes off to find Annie, when Max spots something in the woods. There’s a pair of hikers standing out there — until, suddenly they aren’t. The Gila Snatcher — which looks like a giant bat the size of a man — swooped in and took them.
Max runs out to try to save them, followed by Leroy and Annie. They don’t get there in time and find themselves alone in the woods. Alone and quickly lost, that is. None of them remember which way the car was, and all spend a good amount of time arguing over how they could have gotten turned around that quickly.
Meanwhile, back at the lab, there’s more relationship drama in the mix. Captain LaFrey has been acting a lot moodier as of late, and Barry quickly demises it’s because of her love life. This isn’t the first time we’ve seen LaFrey struggle in personal matters, despite the strong b*dass personality she has around the office, as this seems to be a thread the Ghosted writers keep pulling at.
This time she’s trying to get over a former ex-boyfriend. While she’s resistant towards Barry’s help at first, she eventually gives in and lets him guide her. They call up the ex so LaFrey can have closure, only for Barry to realize that this dude is actually a really nice guy and that LaFrey should maybe give him a second chance. LaFrey, however, doesn’t feel the same way and the conversation quickly ends.
If only Max or Annie had the same kind of courage in their relationship, because matters are only getting worse in the forest. In order to impress Annie, Max pretends he knows how to get back to the car since he loves the woods so much, and leads them further off in the wrong direction. They run into the Gila Snatcher once again — after having a myriad of arguments over the difference between a man-sized bat and Batman — before finding a cabin to take refuge in.
It’s in this cabin when Max finally comes clean and admits he pretended to know where he was going because he wanted to impress Annie. He tells her that he likes her, with Leroy awkwardly standing by and listening to the whole conversation.
There’s not a lot of time to dwell on this information though, as the Gila Snatcher returns. Finding a deceased body in the cabin, along with some camping tools scattered around, Max comes up with the idea to create a make-shift bomb and feed it to the monster.
They create the contraption, place it inside the body and give it to Annie — who runs outside wearing it on her back as bait. The plan works as the monster swoops in and takes the decoy, then exploding into a million billion pieces.
Back at the lab, there’s still a bunch of awkward tension between just about everyone. LaFrey is still out there looking for love, and Annie and Max are trying to communicate how they feel about each other (Max is still technically married, after all). It ends by Annie saying that if they both take some time to figure some stuff out, they maybe could get together some time. Maybe.
Aka it’s definitely going to happen by the end of the season.
Except we apparently have to wait a long time to see that resolution, as Ghosted won’t be returning until March 11. In the meantime, however, check out some of our other Ghosted recaps to make sure you’re up to date on the show by then.