Ghosts Season 2 Episode 2 Review: Alberta’s Podcast

This Ghosts review contains spoilers.

Ghosts Season 2 Episode 2

This week’s Ghosts starts with time traveling to the 1920s. The audience finally sees Alberta (Danielle Pinnock) on a jazz club stage. Alberta is standing with a group of several other singers. The manager says the lead singer Clara Brown is out sick and Alberta feigns shyness to seize center stage. We then see Alberta wowing the crowd with her solo. Who’s Clara? What happens after the show ends?

Back in the present timeline, Pete (Ritchie Moriarty), Trevor (Asher Grodman), and Sas (Román Zaragoza) are thinking about the plot twists in a true crime podcast they’re listening to. Did the husband kill the wife? Alberta quickly figures out that podcasts are modern-day radio. Pete then says it would be an excellent idea for Sam (Rose McIver) to have her own podcast about Alberta’s mysterious death. Sam’s editor loves the idea but there’s a huge catch: he wants creepy Todd Pearlman (Rodrigo Fernandez-Stoll) who runs Alberta’s museum on the podcast as the expert balancing Sam’s reporting. Sam won’t get any money or virtual airtime if Todd isn’t involved. 

Todd predictably brings back the stalker vibes. He has a Photoshop picture of what his kids with Alberta would look like, which is Twilight Zone levels of weird. Alberta’s reactions to Todd coming back is the best recurring joke in the episode. Pete’s turn from enthusiastic crush to wanting to kill Todd is also quite entertaining. Of course, Todd brings to Woodstone the relics he had from the museum. Jay finds Alberta’s diary tucked inside a table with a false bottom. Alberta begs Sam to get the diary back from Todd before her big secret is exposed.

Elsewhere in Woodstone Mansion, the old washing machine makes a lot of noise. Hetty (Rebecca Wisocky) is annoyed by the sound but Flower (Sheila Carrasco) has figured out an unadvertised benefit to the livings who need to wash their clothes. Flower tells Hetty to sit on the washing machine because the vibrations feel good. Hetty feels really relaxed and Flower tells her it’s because she’s experiencing the female orgasm for the first time. Hetty’s upbringing kicks in and she believes it’s sinful. Flower teaches her that what she’s feeling is natural and that what Hetty calls “sin” was made up by men to control women. Flower even shows Hetty other ways to achieve the good feelings once the old washing machine is replaced.

Trevor, Sas, and Issac (Brandon Scott Jones) are of course hovering over Todd as he reads the diary. They want the gossip but naturally justify it by trying to be there for a friend. Alberta ends up telling Sam, Pete, and Jay in her own words why Clara didn’t show up the night she got her big break. She admits that she broke her own moral code of not being a snitch by ratting out Clara’s illegal activities to the cops. Thor’s (Devan Chandler Long) response to this admission of hypocrisy is to sing Alberta’s hit song about low-down rats is ridiculous perfection. 

Todd has a moment as he realizes the woman he idolizes isn’t perfect. Alberta then explains to Sam, Pete, and Sas that she ratted out Clara because she couldn’t see any other way to get past the fatphobic club owners in auditions. Sam tells her that this new info will actually make her more relatable to fans. The podcast listeners also would understand that facing several different forms of systemic discrimination at the same time means making tough choices to get ahead. Alberta finally agrees to the podcast telling her story.

Although many fans will point to the first flashback scene being the best scene in the episode, this scene Alberta explains why she ratted out Clara has a slight advantage. It explains the concept of intersectionality without ever using this word. While the ghosts learn life lessons in every episode, this is the kind of lesson the entire audience can benefit from learning. Alberta’s story also highlights the downsides to being a “strong Black woman” which is never allowing people to see your vulnerability. If everyone listened and learned from one another the way Sam and the ghosts did, the world would be a better place. There’s also Pete’s fanboying to take the edge off the situation. 

Sas and Issac reveal that they actually saw Clara in Woodstone Manson before Alberta died. They remember Clara had a big hat on. Could Clara have killed Alberta as revenge for the lost opportunity? Are there other suspects? We’ll have to wait and see next week on Ghosts. 

Ghosts airs Thursday nights at 8:30 p.m. ET on CBS.