Flower (Sheila Carrasco) and Thor (Devan Chandler Long) first became official back in Season 2. While stuck in a ghost trap (long story), they end up professing their love for each other. The two have always seemed like a bit of an odd coupling to me: Flower is a hippie from the 1960s who is all about peace and love, and Thor is a Viking who didn’t mind taking part in a bit of pillaging and bloodshed when he was alive. But somehow opposites attract in this case, and the pair have been able to maintain a steady partnership over the past few seasons.
However, that doesn’t mean that the pair haven’t seen their fair share of complications. In Season 3, Flower disappears, and the Woodstone gang believes she has been ‘sucked off.’ They’re all bereft at the loss of their kooky Flower, but no one is more despondent than Thor. They eventually discover that Flower has actually been trapped in a well the whole time and is very much still with them. After the ghosts devise a way to help her escape, the couple is happily reunited. Later in the season, at Flower’s suggestion, the two become a throuple with the cholera ghost, Nancy (Betsy Sodaro). In the Season 3 finale, Thor and Flower decide the throuple arrangement isn’t really for them after all, and they leave Nancy to go back to her basement friends. Besides all of the issues that have arisen in their relationship, Thor and Flower also just generally have a hard time communicating with each other. Flower (in her drugged haze) doesn’t remember what’s happening from one moment to the next, which makes being in a long-term relationship pretty challenging. And Thor is still learning how to express himself without flying off the handle (which is turning out to be an ongoing struggle). Basically, these two spirits have their work cut out for them.
Even though we got a lot of Thor/Flower scenes in Season 3, I feel like the lovebirds haven’t been featured nearly enough in this current season. Most Season 4 storylines have centered around Jay opening his restaurant. While this has provided plenty of hijinks and opportunities for humor, I’m definitely missing the romance plots. As of right now, Hetty and Trevor have cooled off, and Sam and Jay are more focused on the restaurant and running the bed and breakfast than they are on each other. Even in last week’s episode, which focuses on Flower’s belief that the world will end in 2025, her connection with Thor is largely ignored. In a Collider interview with Carrasco, the actor hinted that “the honeymoon phase is over” for the pair, but as a viewer, there hasn’t really been a way for me to see that play out onscreen between the two.
Thor and Flower haven’t even really interacted with each other all that much this season, so I’m left wondering where they are in their relationship. If the honeymoon is truly over, are they feeling stagnant? They’ve known each other at least since the twentieth century, so has the spark somewhat dimmed between them? Without any storylines centered around the pair, I’m left questioning the state of the partnership. Even though Ghosts is a sitcom, it still feels important to me that the ghosts and their relationships get explored more as the seasons progress. The series has really been allowed to shine when it featured storylines that dig deeper into the characters (such as Hetty’s reveal that she died by suicide versus a cocaine overdose). Without diving into where Thor and Flower are these days, it seems as though this is one area where the show is plateauing. Without the characters growing and developing, Ghosts will likely become a sitcom that feels mired down in repetitive jokes and tired storylines. We need some of the complexities that go along with being in a romantic relationship to help breathe fresh life into the series.
