Nancy Drew Pilot - A Masterpiece in the Making
Nancy Drew is a CW 2019 Supernatural horror mystery drama series starring Kennedy McMann as Nancy Drew, Leah Lewis from The Half of It as Nancy's boss, George, Alex Saxon, and Madison Jaizani as Nancy's coworkers. The series is not an original concept. Actually, Nancy Drew is a popular fictional character appearing in several mystery book series, movies, video games, and a TV show as a teenage amateur sleuth. Nancy Drew was created as the female counterpart of the Hardy Boys. Nancy Drew reminds me of Sherlock Homes. A teenage girl version of Sherlock Homes, if you will.
Nancy Drew - 2007
Previously, there were two Nancy Drew movies made before this series. The first was an unmitigated disaster stopping any chance of a sequel until 2019, when Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase was released. Also, Nancy Drew, the tv show, was released interestingly enough. Emma Roberts played Nancy Drew in the movie. The movie had no redeeming quality. It was pure unadulterated garbage from start to finish. The only good thing about this trainwreck was Max Thieriot. This film proves why Emma Roberts never became a big name despite having a pretty face and being a Hollywood insider. The reason is a lack of talent and acting ability. Overall, the movie was complete trash.
Nancy Drew And The Hidden Staircase - 2019
Nancy Drew - 2019
Intro
The episode starts with a woman on the edge of a cliff while this urban saying is being narrated "Lucy Sable once was able to look upon the sea, but someone got her in the water. Now, that's where she will always be. Count to five, enjoy the view. Hope the killer doesn't get you."
From the first scene, we can get a sense of what we can anticipate from the show. This is a mystery thriller show, and here our first and overarching mystery is the death of Lucy Sable in mysterious circumstances. The sound design and the background give off a creepy vibe. This urban legend is narrated by the protagonist herself; Nancy Drew. McMann has a brilliant deep voice which adds to the mystery vibe of the show. She is not only drop-dead gorgeous, but also she has the perfect voice for this role. Her casting is perfect. The prior two movies chose the worst possible actor, while the show chose the best possible actor for the show. We are in the first scene, and we are already noticed a few good things about the show. Mind you that I despise Gingers, and McMann has red hair, but her absolutely beautiful face and that deep soothing voice make up for her hair. I will just let that slide. The interesting thing is that I didn't even notice her hair most of the time cause I was looking at her face the whole time. I think red hair is not what makes gingers so despicable, but their hideous face does. Most of the gingers I have encountered were ugly, and their hair only added to their ugliness. Maybe being ugly and having red hair go hand in hand, except in some cases, like in the case of Kennedy McMann. The only thing not so good about her is her name. It is a mouthful, and also, It's not very feminine. I mean, her name literally has the word Man in it. But her voice is out of the world. Her voice is almost as good as her face, unlike most pretty women. It seems as though she is a true outlier. More significantly, They couldn't have cast a more perfect actor if they wanted to.
Anyways, back to business. In the next scene, we see Nancy and her friends playing some teenager's game of dare in a cemetery. Where she gets spooked by her boyfriend, but this boyfriend is never mentioned or shown again, which includes one of the few criticisms of the show. There Nancy sees a ghost which gives us a hint of danger and mystery. She looks stunned, so they ask her if she has seen any ghosts, as one asks in these situations. She tells us that " She doesn't believe in ghosts. She believes in looking for the truth." Here we get a sense of her character that she is curious and inquisitive, much like the Nancy Drew of the comic books.
Then we see a flashback and her backstory. She tells the popular Nancy Drew story of the hidden staircase. She found the missing girl in her town named using her perspicacity. She tells us that she was hooked after that time. She used her perceptiveness to solve other mysteries. It not only became her hobby but also a major part of her life and identity. But, after the death of her mother, she stops sleuthing around. She described it as " I don't go searching in the dark anymore, not after the darkness found me." She also isolated herself and became very closed-off. Her grades went down in flames, and also she bailed on college. Basically, her life just went downhill after her mother's death. It goes without saying that she was extremely close to her mother.
Character Intro
Next up Supersonic Girl song, but before that, we are introduced to Ned Nickerson. What a terrible name. Anyways Ned is a boy toy of Drew to get over her mom. She tells us that she forgets everything when he is with her. I wonder why.
Next, she goes to The Claw, which is where she works, and the owner is George, who you might think is a man, but she is not. However, she is not very far from being a man. She has a deep manly voice, and she also talks in a masculine tone. She always is sour-faced. She also has got tattoos and is bossy. She is more manly than most men today. Maybe she is trying to justify the name her parents gave her. Apart from being a caricature of a bad man, she also comes from a long line of alcoholics and highly fertile teenage moms. She is a daughter of a single mom and has two more sisters to take care of. So basically, she is the man of the house as the eldest sister, and also cause her mom is a useless drunk. So her masculine features make a lot of sense in light of her family situation. As the saying goes, in absence of masculinity women become masculine.
Next, we are introduced to Ace, who we are told is the Zen dishwasher. He is the maverick archetype with a devil-may-care nonchalant attitude.
Lastly, we are introduced to Bess, a rich girl who is taking a gap year from the life in the city and is crashing with her rich aunt in a mansion. She is extremely pretty. Your typical rich girl with makeup and expensive stuff. Also, it goes without saying that she is not exactly an expert in the hospitality game. She is clumsy, bumbling, and uptight. Obviously, there is a natural conflict between George, a demanding boss, and Bess, the inept worker.
Now, we are introduced to Ryan Hudson, some rich bigshot from the city summering in Horseshoe Bay which is the town the story is set in. His wife Tiffany is outside The Claw, which is the diner they work in. Tiffany describes the town as the town from the jaws but without the sharks, which is a pretty accurate description if you ask me. Also, if I have to describe Tifanny, I would say she looks more trans woman than an actual woman. She also says that at least the shark would have made things more interesting. Things get more interesting afterward, but not the way she would have liked. When the power goes off, Nancy checks up on Tiffany. She finds her dead on the ground, and here the intro sequence ends and the investigation sequence begins.
The Murder
The police arrive, and the camera zooms in on our major players. Then, we get their initial statements and whereabouts when the murder occurred. Fast Skip transition was used to show their short police interview at the scene, which is an odd transition choice. Cause it is used to give off a wacky vibe, but here the situation is tense.
So they are escorted to the police station, where the in-charge officer says FYI, really? Here the show really shows for which age demographic it is made for. At the police station, her father arrives, who is a lawyer but is not welcomed with open arms by Nancy. We understand after their conversation that he could not give her full attention before her mother's death. But now he wants to make things right. But Nancy doesn't share his enthusiasm. She rebuffs him and leaves the station. He is clearly a dutiful beta father.
When she is going home, she feels supernatural presence. But she ignores it and goes home, where she finds a video on her phone of a ghost-like creature killing Tiffany Hudson. She shows it to her friends, who speculate it might be dead Lucy. Ace tells the story of Lucy Sable but is interrupted by Nancy, who says it's most likely Ryan Hudson who killed her wife. She speculates it might be due to insurance money or postnup or any other cause due to which spouses kill each other. She goes to Ryan's house to find out more but is interrupted by the security company, but Ned saves her despite having a criminal record. Which some would consider it brave, but I would consider it a betacuck behavior, which is underscored when Nancy gets angry at him despite his efforts and also doesn't even thank him. Cucks will never be appreciated, nor should they be.
Investigation
She finds a clue from Ryan's house, which leads her to a medium where she is visited by Dead Lucy through the medium. Lucy instructs her to "find the dress."
Upon arriving home, she is confronted by her father with the beanie she accidentally left at Ryan's house. It was irrational of her to wear the beanie, which is another writing error. She actually walked in on her dad kissing her mom's friend. So much for female friendship. She walks out angry with his father and hooks up with Ned, and says she is finally ready to open up. Actually, Ned has caught feeling for her after hooking up multiple times, but she didn't, which tells you how big of a whore she is. I mean, if a man catches feeling before a woman does in a sexual relationship, then clearly there is something wrong with that woman. Ned was pressuring her to open up and take things to the next level, but she was reluctant till now. Ned didn't take a hint and kept pushing and pursuing her. He eventually succeeds, but his success is short-lived, obviously.
Ending
When she comes home, her father doesn't ask any questions, which proves how big of a cuck he is. He only asks her to don't hang around Nick. She deduces that her father was his lawyer. When she looks through his files to be sure, she finds out Nick was convicted of manslaughter based on the testimony of Tiffany Hudson. Now she realizes that Nick might have killed Tiffany for revenge. She is devastated and decides to investigate the murder.
Exactly at the same time, Ariana Grande's 7 Rings plays in the background and it is super connected to the scene. Let me explain how.
Lyric - Yeah, breakfast at Tiffany's and bottles of bubbles
Explanation - Tiffany was the murder victim, and she does at a place where people go for breakfastLyric - Girls with tattoos who like getting in trouble
Explanation - George, who has tattoos, is revealed to have had an affair as a teen with Ryan Hudson, a married man. Hence the getting in trouble. Lyric - Lashes and diamonds, ATM machinesBuy myself all of my favorite things (yeah)
Explanation - Bess likes lashes and diamonds and is revealed to have stolen her favorite thing, a diamond ring
The synchronization between the song and the scene is literal perfection. The funny thing is it is not a song of Nancy Drew. It's a popular song of Ariana Grande, but it matches so well. The music throughout the episode and later throughout the season is brilliant. The background score helps make the eerie and scary environment. The other two songs are also terrific. Overall, In the music department, the episode is unmatched.
In the last scene, the power again goes off, and Nancy is nudged toward the attic, where she finds the Lucy poem engraved on the wall. She also "finds the dress." The dress turns out to be Lucy's bloody dress. She is shocked to find out Lucy's dress is in her parent's house. It is also shown that while she is looking at the dress, the ghost of Lucy is behind her. It is the perfect ending cause the hint of the supernatural is finally resolved, and it is shown that the ghosts actually exist in Horse Shoe Bay, which adds to the intrigue. The brilliant thing that the writers did was that they peppered clues of ghost throughout the episode, and the setup finally paid off in the end. The writers call this storytelling technique "Setup and Payoff."
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