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Ghost Hunters International 1.18: "Restless Spirits of Sweden" |
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Thursday, 29 January 2009 |
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By John Keegan
Visit Critical Myth for an archive of John's TV Review archives, with more than 1100 entries.
| The only notable item for this episode is the inclusion of Joe Chin on both investigations. Whether or not this is a temporary situation or a permanent one remains to be seen, but Joe's participation left me with the same underwhelmed feeling that it always did on "Ghost Hunters".
I just don't see what he brings to the table. Robb says he's a great investigator, but despite his many appearances in the franchise, I have yet to see him contribute much of anything to an investigation. He certainly doesn't bring in new ideas, interpretations, or perspectives. If anything, he replicates exactly what he saw TAPS members do, for better or worse. To be clear: it's not that I have anything against the man. I just don't find him particularly interesting or, more importantly, entertaining.
Case #1: House of Priests, Sweden
Much like the previous episode, the lion's share of the "evidence" comes out of the first case. This is mostly an array of personal experiences, however, so the "evidence" is rather flimsy for the audience. As intellectually intriguing as it might be to hear Angela getting excited because her bed is vibrating, it wasn't exactly proof positive (even with Dustin confirming it).
Of course, with all the build-up given by the client about the Yellow Room, I'm not shocked that there were so many personal experiences there. With Barry upping the ante with his rather clever style of provoking (despite no actual factual data that a child was buried in the yard, I note), the team was probably over-sensitive to every little noise imaginable. I'm sure the remote nature of the location didn't help at all!
For that reason alone, I'm not shocked by the "evidence" they collected. The EVP was very hard to hear, and as buried as the sound was in the background noise, it's effectively meaningless pattern recognition. The picture was even less impressive. Setting aside the decision not to take control pictures with a "normal" camera anymore (a poor move on Barry's part), a shadow in the shape of a cross means nothing. Looking closely at the pictures, the framing changes slightly from picture to picture, as does the flash effect. Like the EVP, it's pattern recognition (and ironic, after the previous episode's discussion of that topic).
Similarly, their final conclusion is actually surprising, given their usual reaction to cases with lots of apparent personal experiences. Not that it looked to be much solace for the client; she looked terrified by what they were showing her. I wonder how long she'll last in that place now!
Case #2: Fortress of Varberg, Sweden
This investigation featured a nice large location with an interesting history, but there wasn't much to find. When the editors resort to tossing red herrings like a possible EVP at the audience, you know nothing came out of it. At least Robb managed to let the client down more easily than usual. Maybe other members of the team mentioned that mocking the client can be poorly received.
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