I’m Not Calling You A Ghost: Ravenswood “Believe” Review

Thanks to last night’s episode, “Believe,” we learned that Ravenswood is no game. In this weird ghost town, the stakes are high and that the scariest things are that which can’t be seen.

Raymond is having a funeral for Miranda, but neither her foster family or her old friends show up. Instead, it’s a collection of randoms and the fated five who turn up to give her a proper burial. While there Olivia almost has her eye taken out by a snake in a bathroom vent (what?) and Rochelle experiences uncomfortable and inappropriate police questioning about her husband’s death.

Remy has finally put a theory together about her mother, Miranda’s death and a possible town curse. She and Caleb reach out to each other and organize a meeting where Olivia and Luke can get filled in. Remy has made a connection; every time a soldier who should have died in combat but didn’t comes back to Ravenswood, five teens die in accidents. When Remy and Caleb lay out the theory for the twins, we see that neither is buying it. Instead they leave to go home and take care of something they learned while at the funeral: another woman was in their father’s life.

They question their mother, Rochelle, and despite her evasiveness they get an answer. It’s not what any of us were expecting. Yes, their father did have another woman in his life right before he died. Her name was Abby and she was his high school sweetheart. The twist? She has been dead for at least 20 years. What’s even creepier? We learn from Olivia that Abby was one of five teens that died in the school laboratory fire.

Remy, meanwhile, is trying to help her mom get over some survivor’s guilt. Terry couldn’t make it Miranda’s funeral and she’s still not wrapped her head around how she’s still alive. On top of it, she feels partly guilty for Miranda’s death. Later Remy catches her father watching a video with some interesting footage. Remy questions him, and he admits it was mailed as part of her mother’s discharge package. He doesn’t want Terry to see it though.

Despite an unsuccessful first meeting with the Matheson siblings, all four meet again after Olivia has one too many ghost encounters. While there Caleb confesses that he sees Miranda. Olivia takes it upon herself to try and reach out. Not such a good idea. They get answers from Abby, but almost get crushed by a chandelier after a not so nice entity repeatedly tells Miranda to get out. After the crash down, the other four finally get to see Miranda as a ghost for the first time.

“Believe” spent a lot of time exploring the mystery behind the curse. To make room for that one might assume the show would tone down the scare at least temporarily. The episode, however, made it pretty clear this show has no intentions of toning anything down. Like, ever. This episode’s good leap worthy moments involved a snake coming for Olivia’s eye, a ghost by fire popping up at the window of the high school lab, and Caleb creeping into an empty hallway without any back up.

One repeatedly scary moment stood out above the rest though. It was every time Miranda came face to face in the hallway with a pushy voice breeze. Not only was it anxiety inducing, but raised some important questions. Is Miranda alone in her ghost plane, why can’t she communicate with the other ghosts (if she isn’t alone), why might they not want her there, and why are they all trapped in the house? There’s something odd, besides Raymond, about this old creaky manner and hopefully we find out what it is soon.

There aren’t many laughs in Ravenswood, but quite a (unintentionally?) funny moment came while Olivia was searching through her father’s yearbook. Did you catch it? Big hair on one of his classmates was a big mistake. Other than the bad yearbook pictures run in, Olivia had a fare share of weird experiences this week. With her father’s passing, the ghost has moved on to her. But why Olivia and not Luke? Do she and Abby have some kind of connection?

Luke is the most skeptical of the bunch, but during the seance he becomes the most visibly scared. They all have reason to be, especially after Miranda’s second encounter with the ghost breeze. That may be a funny way to put it, but that’s exactly what it is – a very loud, angry and violent breeze that has a problem with not just her, but the living members of the fated five. We aren’t sure whether the voice Miranda is battling is Abby or if it’s perhaps the wet ghost girl that caused her death. It could be someone else entirely, which would be quite exciting.

While the other ghosts presences are interesting, Miranda’s was almost an issue. When she came back as a ghost she couldn’t really talk to anyone outside of Caleb. Had this continued for much longer than an episode there would have been a foreseeable issue. It was certainly a smart move to bring her to light for the other main characters, even if it’s unclear why or how that worked.

Finally, there are strange adults in this town for sure, but until now Simon just seemed like a protective dad. He’s quite defensive about a few things though. Sound like anyone else we know? (Hint: we are talking about Raymond.) We are only three episodes in, but we have to start learning more about the adults motivations. They are clearly an important part of unraveling the mystery.

Though it didn’t deal out too many answers, “Believe” played to its strong hand – scare and glare – making it a pretty fun episode. Share your thoughts on the episode in the comments below.

Catch Ravenswood on Tuesdays at 8:00 – 9:00 PM ET/PT on ABC Family.