Sharon faces the true fears of an artist while Scratch himself is afraid to relive some memories he might have left behind in this week’s The Ghost and Molly McGee.
Faint of Art
As we recall from last season, Sharon went to art school to become a professional artist. A dream that didn’t necessarily come true for her, as we know she spends most of her time worrying about the family or working as a Gig Pig, filling in wherever needed to make ends meet. A particularly heartfelt episode last season also showed us that tension in the family between Sharon and Grandma Nin stemmed from this, but was later resolved. That made the premise of having an expensive blank canvas that Nin gave her to paint upon a nice, sweet, callback.
Today, Sharon intends to paint a masterpiece and she can’t have any distractions – a goal that Molly is happy to take upon herself. Though, once Sharon is alone in her new basement art studio, we learn the very real terror that comes to artists when staring at a blank piece of media. She begins to start doubting herself, and the added pressure of the rest of the family referring to whatever she’s about to produce as “her masterpiece” certainly isn’t helping.
Meanwhile, Scratch is convinced that he will be Sharon’s muse, and a far better inspiration than a simple bowl of fruit. Molly persists with trying to keep Scratch out of the room, but it’s all for not as he uses his ghostly powers to continuously get through the door or walls. Sharon, overwhelmed by the blankness of the canvas and the intimidation she puts upon herself, also tries coming up with more ideas to stay busy and not focus on her art, attempting to find things to clean, or other household chores to do.
However, the rest of the family has ensured that there is nothing for Sharon to do, and begins to guard the door, turning the whole artistic endeavor into a makeshift prison.
And now, a musical number about a lack of chores and making a masterpiece ensues, channeling some 80s vibes in one of the catchiest tunes of the series so far.
Now, it’s Sharon and her talking canvas once again arguing about color choices and a final, successful, escape attempt, Molly and Scratch catch her leaving and figure out that maybe she doesn’t want to paint. Mom doesn’t want to be left alone with the canvas and comes clean – she hasn’t painted anything. After a pep talk, Molly accepts this, but Scratch continues to offer himself as inspiration, accidentally sitting in Sharon’s paints, getting them all over his rear end which inadvertently gets pressed up against the expensive canvas. Now, Sharon actually is inspired and finally begins to paint. Too bad we never get to see it (at least, not yet.) Maybe Scratch was the muse after all.
A Soda to Remember
Whilst talking about favorite smells and the memories they inspire, Molly and Libby realize Scratch never talks about his life as a human, and things that happened that he remembers fondly. Scratch avoids the topic and says that he doesn’t remember anything about his life before he was a ghost. All he can remember is something about Surly Suds Strawberry Soda.
From there, Molly quickly looks up the company on the internet, finds out too much about their history which I’m sure will become trivia fodder for a future The Ghost and Molly McGee convention panel, and discovers that the company, and their soda, no longer exist. Luckily, Daryl has resources at his fingertips and gets his hands on a bottle of the soda so they can have Scratch drink it in the hopes of jogging his memory.
However, they have the soda at their school, where Principal O’Connor has a new health initiative banning soda from consumption on campus. The soda is quickly confiscated and replaced with turnip juice, and placed in the principal’s safe. Easy enough, right? Scratch can just fly in and grab it. No he can’t, not according to him anyway. Safes are made with ghost-proof metal…according to Scratch.
That means it’s time for a heist! Daryl and Molly concoct a full scheme to be able to break into the safe including a full walkie-talkie setup that nobody but Daryl seems to know how to operate, at least not the codewords. Everything is going swimmingly until we discover that someone has eaten tacos belonging to the principal. Odd, considering earlier we saw Scratch enjoying some tacos. With that discovery, O’Conner is on his way back to the office but Libby is able to distract him and the other teachers in the Teacher’s Lounge. Luckily, Molly uses this opportunity to attempt to get into the safe, but to no avail. Scratch flies in and opens it from the inside only to find out it's empty. But I thought Scratch couldn’t open safes? At the lounge a perfectly timed incident with spicy food and a microwave cut all communication and O’Conner is able to leave and head back to the office once again. Molly is able to hide in time, and discover that that is not the safe they are looking for. O’Conner comes back in and we see the safe is hidden in his desk drawer, and it contains the soda they are looking for. Luckily, another distraction allows Scratch to get in and get the soda and leave.
The team gets away with it, but it is obvious that Scratch did everything he could to prevent them from getting the soda. But why? Finally he admits that he doesn’t want to remember his life before he became a ghost. We don’t know why, but he doesn’t. However, he has a change of heart when he realizes that his friends did this because they love and went through all that trouble and he reluctantly sips the beverage. However, nothing is stirred. The kids walk away and Scratch enjoys another sip. It’s this time that he flashes back and we see the first glimpse we’ve seen of Scratch’s human life, as he and a childhood friend share a beverage for one last time before she moved away.
And then the familiar logo that ends the episode all too soon, as this is a plot line I can get behind.
This episode of The Ghost and Molly McGee is now available on Disney Channel and the DisneyNOW app. You can catch up with earlier episodes of the series on Disney+.