Recap / Ghosts US Season 2 Episode 7 Dumb Deaths

Original air date: 11/10/2022

Paula, a producer behind the documentary TV series Dumb Deaths, wants to make a short film about Flower's death, although Flower is reluctant to having her image used in an unflattering light to raise money for the B&B. A chat between Sam and Paula leads the latter to prepare for a short film about Pete's death instead, but Pete does not want to be remembered as a failed scout leader. Sam and Jay reach out to Jennifer, a now-grown adult former member of Pete's troop, so she can provide a positive eye witness case for him.

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Tropes:

• The '60s: 1969, where Flower and Ira encounter a hungry bear which mauls the former to death.
• The '80s: 1985, where Pete argues with his wife over eating the last of the doughnut holes, shortly before his demise.
• Blue-and-Orange Morality: The ghosts had very little reaction while watching Flower getting mauled to death by a bear, but found watching Pete take an arrow in the neck to be deeply disturbing.
• Brick Joke: In the pilot, Pete mentioned that the last fight he ever had with his wife was over her finishing all the donut holes. In this episode it's revealed that his preoccupation with that fight got him killed.
• Deliberate Values Dissonance: Trevor advises Isaac to avoid mentioning the Revolutionary War in front of Nigel and instead switch the conversation to something not controversial. Unfortunately, the examples he gives — The Cosby Show and Woody Allen movies — are now controversial due to their creators' sexual misconduct coming to light.
• Heroic BSoD: Pete gets depressed after realizing that getting killed with an arrow was his fault, feeling that he was a lousy scout leader. When Jennifer gives instructions to treat Jay's arrow wound, Pete realizes that he taught her that, and it rekindles his faith.
• I Need to Go Iron My Dog: Isaac and Nigel are arguing the causes of the Revolution when Thorfinn walks by the room. When they call him in to discuss it, Thorfinn says he doesn't want to weigh in on the subject. When they press it, he claims that someone is calling him, and departs quickly.
• Lost Food Grievance: Turns out the day he died, Pete was upset that his wife took the last doughnut hole and was so distracted by this that he forgot to give safety lessons before handing the arrows to the scouts.
• Money, Dear Boy: In-Universe. Sam and Jay aren't wild about the idea of Dumb Deaths filming on their property, especially since the episode would be casting one of their ghost friends in a bad light, but the pay is very good. Flower gives her blessing to have an episode about her so she can help the livings out, and Pete tries to soldier through it when it turns out the episode is about him for the same reason.
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Pete convinces Flower to let Dumb Deaths do the story of her death to help Sam and Jay. Then the producers decide to do Pete's death instead.
• Pain to the Ass: Jay gets hit in the butt with an arrow thrown by a crew person who went through Flower and got high. Sam uses this to get the TV show to switch back to doing Flower's story by threatening to sue the production company.
• Point-and-Laugh Show: Dumb Deaths is dedicated to making fun of people who died, well, dumb deaths. Deconstructed, as while some of the ghosts did indeed make unwise decisions that got them killed, the show is ultimately just mocking the death of a real human being who probably didn't deserve what happened to them, and might still have family who loved them and wouldn't appreciate seeing their deaths joked about. Pete and Flower both feel like the show is just kicking them when they're already down, and only agree to let Sam have the show tape there because they know Sam and Jay need the money. Flower ends up finding the episode about her Actually Pretty Funny, partially thanks to Sam playing her.
• The Prima Donna: The actor sent to play Pete in Dumb Deaths takes his craft very seriously. In trying to get into Pete's mindset, he decides to play him as an alcoholic, and is even willing to pee himself on camera.
• Recycled Script: When it's revealed that Pete handed out the arrows before giving the safety lecture, he realizes that he was partly responsible for his own death and becomes convinced that he was a bad scout leader. Later, when one of the girls from his troop takes charge of giving Jay first aid from the arrow Jay caught in the butt from a stoned production assistant (Thanks, Flower!), he realizes that he was a good leader and it was just a bad accident. A similar epiphany happens to Pat, the scout leader of the UK version.
• Space Whale Aesop: In-Universe, in the Dumb Deaths piece about Flower's death. After "Flower" is mauled to death by a bear, "Ira" looks up to the sky and screams "There's no such thing as free love. There's always a price!"
• The Stoner: Flower wanders off from a music festival after getting high and finds herself face to face with a grizzly bear. A few seconds after she passes away, she is sooo high, Flower doesn't even notice her own bloody corpse:
  Flower: Oh, man, I'd hate to be her.
• Stunt Casting: The English actor playing Pete on Dumb Deaths is Mathew Baynton, who also portrays Thomas Thorne, one of the ghosts on the Ghosts (UK), the British original.
• Too Dumb to Live:
  • Wandering off and hugging a not-so-friendly bear while stoned is not the best idea Flower had. Even the other ghosts who were already there saw that one coming a mile away:
    Alberta: She is not long for this world.
  • The show Dumb Deaths is dedicated to people who died due to stupid decisions. It at first wants to do a segment on Flower, but then switches to Pete, who handed out bows and arrows to girls before giving them safety instructions. Even Jennifer, who was there when Pete died and sticks up for him against the producer, admits he clearly Didn't Think This Through.
• Took the Bad Film Seriously: In-Universe. The actor playing Pete/Ira has one line on a trashy docuseries, but he's determined to get into the minds of his subjects and give an Oscar-worthy performance.
• Wham Episode: The main reason why Pete met his death by a bow and arrow? He was distracted because his wife ate the last of the doughnut holes earlier that day.
• Writers Suck: Hetty wants to sabotage the TV shoot at the mansion by taking out the most important thing needed to make a TV show (meaning the camera). When Sasappis asks if she means the writer, Hetty thinks he's joking.