TV Recap: “Secrets of Sulphur Springs” – Episode 5: “Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Time”

With the arrival of the big summer dance, the momentum of Disney Channel’s Secrets of Sulphur Springs slows down a little bit this week with the fifth episode, “Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Time.” Now streaming on the Disney Now app and airing on the cable network tonight (January 29th) at 8/7c, the newest episode slows down the pacing a little bit as the plot thickens.

The episode begins in the present at The Tremont where Ben is multitasking, watching the news while boarding up the secret room. The report says a storm is coming tonight and then the news switches to the 30th anniversary of the disappearance of Savannah, making him take notice. He gets visibly upset and turns the TV off, not knowing that Zoey is watching him.

Griffin and Harper meet up after school and the wind seems to be blowing, but the storm hasn’t arrived yet. They’re both grounded, but Griffin won’t have trouble going into the past since the portal is connected to The Tremont. Harper says she will try to get there, but if she doesn’t make it he should go alone and try to stop Savannah from going to the dance. With Jess and Sarah having made a pact to keep their kids apart, they both arrive at the same time to pick them up and break up their conversation.

At home, Jess pays Topher to keep an eye on Harper while she leads an open mic night at the cafe. When Harper hears her mom leave, she increases the offer, paying Topher even more money and giving him her streaming account password to cover for her as she sneaks away. We see Griffin go through the hatch and when he gets to the past, Harper is already there waiting for him.

The two discuss their plans to split up, with Harper finding Jess and keeping a watch on her while Griffin finds Savannah and tries to stop her from going to the dance in the first place. Griffin reveals that he brought along his tablet, fully charged and with a downloaded video from the news about Savannah’s disappearance, which he plans to use to scare her into hiding.

Harper finds Jess in her bunk applying makeup before the dance from her Caboodle (a 1990’s makeup organizer). She brought along her mother’s favorite shade of lipstick from the future and warms up to Jess by letting her try it. In return, Jess invites Harper to the dance and before they had out, she holds up a small bag and tells her she could use “A partner in crime.” Harper is now focused on finding out what’s in the bag.

Griffin finds Savannah in a treehouse and shows her the tablet, which suddenly has no power. It seems that the zap he and Harper feel every time they go to the past drains its power. They are soon joined by Bennet, who is ready for the dance and convinces Savannah to go with him. Griffin asks to join, bragging about how he’s a good dancer to cover for the fact that he was just saying the dance would be lame. As the three kids walk through the woods to The Tremont for the dance, it seems like someone is lurking in the woods watching them. They don’t seem to notice.

While Griffin and Harper are in the past, a few things happen in the present. Jess comes home early and Topher thinks he’s about to get in trouble, but Harper stuffed her bed and set up a recording of snoring so when Jess checks her room, she doesn’t question anything. At The Tremont, Griffin plugged a recording of him practicing guitar into an amp so his parents think he’s home, too. Meanwhile, Zoey and Wyatt try to catch Savannah’s ghost on camera, trying to lure her with a photo of 1990’s heartthrob John Stamos (from his Full House days, which is now streaming on Hulu) and a plate of cheese.

Back in the past, Jess is shocked when Savannah not only shows up to the dance, but puts no effort into her appearance. Unlike the other girls, Savannah isn’t wearing a dress or makeup. Harper asks Jess if she’s going to ask Bennet to dance and she says she’s waiting for just the right moment. When they get a moment together, Harper and Griffin catch each other up on what happened when they were apart. Griffin then embarasses himself when Savannah and Bennet request a song for him to show off his dance skills, which he doesn’t actually have.

Harper brings the small bag to the DJ, which ends up containing a cassette tape with a song she wanted to dance to with Bennet. As the song starts to play and she walks towards her crush, Savannah swoops in and says she loves the song and asks Bennet to dance, stealing her moment. Jess storms off upset and as Harper tells Griffin what she saw, Jess returns and accuses Harper of having sabotaged her, believing that Harper encouraged Savannah to ask Bennet to dance to upset her. If Savannah’s disappearance did have something to do with Jess, it seems that her attention is now directed at Harper instead.

However, it seems that the watcher in the woods is a real, third party. We see a shadow figure staring through the window at Savannah. That’s the last shot of this episode.

 

In the preview for next week’s episode, we see Zoey and Wyatt using the photo of John Stamos at a seance, still trying to lure the ghost of Savannah. Harper and Griffin also get in trouble with camp counselors and are being held in an office, forced to wait for their parents to come pick them up despite their parents being kids at the camp. Lastly, we see Jess tell Savannah that “Everything would be better if you were gone.”

The next episode is titled “Time Warped,” a twist on the name of a popular song called “Time Warp” from The Rocky Horror Picture Show. You can catch it Friday, February 5th, on Disney Channel. Here is the official episode description:

“Griffin and Harper observe as young Ben and Savannah sit around the post-dance campfire when, suddenly, Savannah is spooked by a counselor dressed as the legendary Moss Man.”

This episode left me with a few unanswered questions. Does the storm that was teased on the news come into play? Was the shadowy figure we saw just the counselor dressed as the ‘Moss Man” in the episode description, or is it the real person responsible for Savannah’s disappearance? Have Griffin and Harper changed the past by being at the dance? We’ll have to wait until next week to find out.

BONUS: Check out our interview with Landon Gordon, who plays Wyatt on the show.

Alex Reif
Alex joined the Laughing Place team in 2014 and has been a lifelong Disney fan. His main beats for LP are Disney-branded movies, TV shows, books, music and toys. He recently became a member of the Television Critics Association (TCA).