During the Jan. 20 episode of Ghosts, Hetty (Rebecca Wisocky) was reunited with her robber baron husband, Elias (Matt Walsh), who had been trapped in a vault for over 100 years. Though the 19th-century ghost was warmly welcomed by most of the spirits at Woodstone Manor along with living residents, Sam (Rose McIver) and Jay (Utkarsh Ambudkar), Elias proved he had no intention of getting along with his new roommates.
In fact, after learning that he had the power to get humans aroused, Elias was determined to derail a wedding taking place at the estate. Why? So he could run cash-strapped Sam and Jay out of his former home.
Hetty, who had come to love Sam, Jay and the other ghosts, stood up to her spouse, stating, “Yes, I complain about being here. And yes, I do want to be sucked off more than anything, but these people have taught me how to be a better Hetty. And I say there’s hope for you too, Elias.”
However, Elias did not feel similarly. “I don’t need to be a better person,” he said. “There’s no good or evil, that’s just a story we tell ourselves. And I know better, so, Hetty, get this through your tiny, inferior female brain: I will never change.”
Hetty’s response? “Well then, you can go to Hell.”
And he did just that, as the floor opened up and flames sucked the bigoted businessman down into the ground. This was shocking for everyone, including us at home, as we’ve only ever seen ghosts ascend to the heavens.
And we aren’t the only ones impressed by this story line, as Wisocky exclusively revealed to E! News that the cast was blown away by Elias’ fiery end.
“I love the way Jay says, ‘I love it when the mythology gets expanded,'” she shared. “Which is so on the nose, but it’s so true. I think it’s something that will hopefully take the fans by surprise—it certainly blew our minds when we found out about it.”
But how will this affect the ghosts moving forward? It’s unclear, according to Wisocky.
“In one way you might assume that ghosts will become obsessed with this new idea,” she explained. “And on the other hand, to their credit or fault, they might just march onward the way they’ve been doing every day for the last, some of them, thousands of years.”
To which Wisocky added, “And that’s human nature, because there’s not a whole heck of a lot they can do about it.”
And though Hetty’s words didn’t actually send Elias to Hell, Wisocky still considers this episode a win for her character. “Hetty has taken some baby steps toward female empowerment,” she said, “due largely to the effects of the other female ghosts—and Sam, especially. But she’s not necessarily aware of just how much she’s changed until she’s face-to-face with her oppressor.”
For more adventures at Woodstone Manor, catch Ghosts when it airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. on CBS.
