Rebecca Wisocky is one of those stars that just has the “it” factor. A captivating quality that keeps viewers hanging on her every word and glance. Over nearly three decades in show business, she’s stayed criminally under the radar, stealing scenes in films and TV shows while hiding in plain sight. Wisocky certainly showcased her acting prowess on “Devious Maids” (2013-2016) where she slayed as the main antagonist audiences loved to hate, but her role on CBS’ acclaimed comedy, “Ghosts,” is different and devilishly fun.
Wisocky plays Henrietta “Hetty” Woodstone, a costumed, Victorian-era ghost who once owned the manor that main characters Sam (Rose McIver) and Jay (Utkarsh Ambudkar) inherited and run as a bed and breakfast. Sam can see the ghosts due to a near-death experience showcased in the series’ pilot and comes to realize that she is descended from the prim and proper Hetty. The resulting juxtaposition of their personalities has become raucous fun, enabling Wisocky to demonstrate her top notch comedic abilities. But her stand-out moment this season was more dramatic as we found out how Hetty died on the property.
SEE Making of ‘Ghosts’ panel: Showrunners, actors, writer and director from the seminal ‘Holes Are Bad’ episode reveal how it all came to be
The exact way in which each character passed into the pseudo-purgatory of the manor has been explored piecemeal as the series progressed and Hetty’s reveal was incredibly poignant, with viewers and the other characters only being clued in by necessity. In a season-long arc, aloof ghost resident Flower (Sheila Carrasco) was assumed to have moved from the mansion’s middle-ground afterlife into the true great beyond, but was actually discovered to have fallen into a well on the property and gotten trapped there. In “Ghosts”-lore, the ghosts can only touch objects that were on their person when they died. By extension, they can also touch an object on another ghost’s person with the help of said ghost. Otherwise, they are unable to affect or be affected by anything.
So, upon finding Flower in her stuck predicament, the other ghosts were at a loss as to what to do since none of them have any objects of use in the situation. That is when Hetty steps up and reveals that hidden beneath her high-necked tunic is a coiled telephone cord – one that she had used to end her own life. Wisocky visually displays the character’s pain in needing to revisit the tragic memory to free her friend and reveal her fate to the rest of the haunting brood. She truly excels in exhibiting what Tyler Coates (The Hollywood Reporter) called an “extremely human look at a character whose mental health suffered during an era in which there was no one to turn to for help.”
SEE Brandon Scott Jones (‘Ghosts’) on the comedy’s superb cast collaboration: ‘It’s the thing that I love the most’
Tania Hussain (Collider) wrote that the storyline “brings out a strong, robust performance from Rebecca Wisocky that is the absolute best of the season and tugs hard at your heart.” It’s later revealed that Hetty was going to be charged with the crimes of her vanished husband and she chose to preserve her family’s legacy and money for her son. Though she does see the error in her past thinking, it comes full circle when Hetty opens up about this in order to save Flower, showcasing how deeply she cares for her friends. Echoing this sentiment, Gissane Sophia (Marvelous Geeks) and penned that Hetty sacrificing her privacy was “an exhibition that the profound loneliness she once felt is instead full of love now.” She continues, “For a woman who had no friends and thought she had nowhere to turn, Hetty Woodstone is now anything but alone and [moments like this] prove why this show is so special.”
Wisocky’s excellence in this “Holes Are Bad” episode demonstrates the brilliance of the show’s setup. The entire ensemble works together seamlessly, enabling standout moments like this to happen for each character while always capturing the heart of what “Ghosts” is. It produces career-best performances and I hope that Wisocky’s strength in this storyline is able to materialize into Emmy success. She is currently 25th in Gold Derby’s combined odds to land a Best Comedy Supporting Actress nomination.
