‘Ghosts’ holiday special: Rose McIver breaks down that wild double possession and ‘eating guacamole with bare hands’
A two-part episode, a desperate Sam trying to fit in with Jay’s family, and a double possession. It’s just another day at the Woodstone B&B. See Ghosts star Rose McIver join Gold Derby for a special recap of tonight’s holiday episode titled “A Very Arondekar Christmas,” above.
In this installment of the hit CBS comedy series, a leaky water heater mishap threatens to ruin holiday plans as Sam (McIver) and Jay (Utkarsh Ambudkar) prepare to host Jay’s hard-to-please dad (Bernard White) and difficult to impress mom (Sakina Jaffrey). Things are further complicated when Sam is possessed by Nancy (Betsy Sodaro) and Jay by Pete (Richie Moriarty).
“We were given the gift of this episode,” McIver says. “When you have Christmas, you have this overlap of people with different personalities and desires. It’s so intense. On top of that, Sam and Jay are also possessed by Nancy and Pete. Everything that could possibly come at you at Christmas has come at you. I had so much fun.”
When Sam is possessed by Nancy, an obnoxious cholera victim who haunts the basement, McIver is able to channel a new personality. “It’s the most liberating character,” the actress says. “Especially having played Sam, who is so concerned with other peoples’ wants and needs. It’s genuinely liberating and fun to just play somebody who is so present and not phased by anybody else’s take on her. It was pretty great eating guacamole with bare hands and not being concerned with impressing the in-laws to such a degree that it ends up coming back full circle and Champa actually likes her.”
“Like any parent, Champa wants the best for her kid,” McIver explains. “Jay is a very beloved child and she has high standards of who he should be with and what they should be like. On the flip side, Sam probably doesn’t do herself any favors. She does try too hard. She comes on very strong. It all is born out of Sam’s desire to belong. We unpack this season that her relationship with her own dad is pretty strained and her mom died when she was a teenager. It’s understandable to me that she’s desperate to connect. As we all know in life, that often has the opposite effect and makes people want to step back from you and set a boundary. Being possessed by Nancy and being able to let those concerns go and just be who she is eventually entices Champa.”
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Complicating matters, Pete also possesses Jay. After attempting to perform an exorcism, Jay’s spirit ends up being purged because Pete’s is too innocent. This allows Jay to finally interact with the spirits that only Sam has communicated with until now. “One of my favorite things about it is that exorcism is something they find on YouTube and it works,” McIver jokes. “It means that Jay is able to now connect with the ghosts. It actually gives him one-up on Sam in that he’s able to physically connect with the ghosts. After four years of her holding the reigns in the relationship with her roommates, I think it’s really nice that he’s able to have something that she doesn’t. He hugs them. He slaps Thor on the shoulder. That’s a pivotal shift in their relationship. It must be so validating for Jay that he’s believed this thing for so long that other people would be like, ‘Are you insane? Your wife is clearly mad.’ He’s stuck by her and believed it. To actually be able to experience, in the flesh, what it’s like to know them is so cool. It’s a real billboard episode for us.”
In a more heartfelt moment, Pete’s possession of Jay allows the deceased scoutmaster to physically hug his own daughter at Christmas. “It was an incredibly technical piece to shoot,” McIver recounts. “When we read it on the page we could feel how special that was, but you’ve got to remember we’re shooting with VFX and versions with Jay stepping back and Pete revealing himself. You get caught up in the technicality of it when it’s happening. To be able to go back and watch it at the end, and feel that heartbeat, is so beautiful. I became a parent this year and the idea of watching my daughter from afar without being able to hold her in my arms — the yearning that brings out in you is wild. To be able to see that resolved in Pete is beautiful. It’s so well written.”
Speaking of the holiday spirit, McIver’s bells even jingle for The Christmas Prince movie franchise on Netflix. The critically panned films are beloved by fans despite horrible reviews, which have called them “the worst holiday movies ever.” One critic likened watching the films to “stepping in dog sh– twice on purpose.” The actress laughs at being dragged by critics, and has even shared some of her favorite negative reviews on Instagram.
“My whole career has been largely built by fans,” she says. “The projects that I’ve worked on have been fan-supported shows. I did Power Rangers, I did Hercules and Xena, and iZombie, and Ghosts. Christmas Prince is something that people love. People can talk about it however they want, but there are reasons that people have watched it on repeat for the last few years. That makes me so happy. It’s ridiculous. We lean into the ridicule. I’m proud to be part of something that doesn’t take itself so seriously and is just really concerned with bringing Christmas cheer.”
Fans can catch up on Season 4 of Ghosts on Paramount+ over the holidays. The series will return with new episodes on CBS beginning Jan. 30.