Nancy Drew season 4, episode 7 has the crew playing the board game from hell, but before we get too far, we want to address the WGA/SAG strike, too.

First off, I feel like it’s important to acknowledge the WGA/SAG strike. It’s so important to stand with the creators striking to get paid a fair, living wage, especially since we are such big fans of their work. I am really saddened that the cast of Nancy Drew will probably have to watch their final season end without being able to celebrate it with all the fans as fully as they otherwise would, but when the stakes are this high, unfortunately, sacrifices are a must. This is a passionate and devoted fandom, and I hope that we can support the actors and writers this show has employed by sharing their message with anyone who doesn’t understand.

Okay, let’s get into some Nancy Drew season 4, episode 7 now, shall we?

This episode was supremely fun, even with all the delicate matters being addressed. There are four major events going on, so read on for more on the game, the court case, the relationship, and the curse.

Starting with the game

This whole pseudo-bottle episode was a great amount of fun. I mean, it technically isn’t a bottle episode at all, but I loved the isolated aspect of the Drew Crew being held up in Icarus Hall playing a totally haunted, malevolent board game. The game itself is pretty simple, the players have to destroy the shades that come to attack by solving the riddle and getting their hands on whatever the answer points to. If you don’t, you die (ish) and have to wait until the game is resolved and the Grims come to collect the dead’s souls.

The sound effects added to make it sound like a late ’80s video game clicked that fun up several notches. We got to watch the Crew spend some quality time together, problem solving the possessed board game step by step. It’s not that common to see the entire group all together these days, so I thoroughly enjoy it when the writers find a way to keep the Drew Crew together for a longer spell.

And the way Nancy Drew season 4, episode 7 ends gave an unlikely character the opportunity to become the hero. Someone we don’t always get to see save the day all by himself. Oh, and since the whole thing was about finding a way to talk to Ron, Brie’s dead father’s spirit, to find the black door, it’s a damn good thing that we got some worthwhile info at the end of all of this, too. The black door’s location has been narrowed down from, well, anywhere to Town Hall. A decidedly smaller area to search.

Nick finds a worthy partner

Okay, so Jade is a total badass. It has been a couple episodes since we saw them, but this episode gave us a great big dose of Nickade (totally hoping this is their couple name), and included Nick telling them about the supernatural. While Jade didn’t have much choice but to believe him, what with the super creepy, black-robed creature attacking him at the time, it was entirely heartening to learn that they are more than willing to get their hands dirty to defend Nick’s life.

I wasn’t a huge fan of him telling Jade to leave so he could focus; I would have rather him treat them like a valued ally than a hinderance to his cause, but I understood what the writers were going for. This gave Nick a chance to worry for a bit about whether or not Jade was entirely freaked by what they saw.

Bess vs. Horseshoe Bay

The case moves onward. Clearly this is going to play a large role in the end of the season, as we’re baby-stepping to a conclusion here. In Nancy Drew season 4, episode 7, Bess had a meeting with the police chief to plead her case for the trespassing charges to be dropped. It didn’t go well, especially since Bess was being strangled by the board game’s magicked ropes at the time, but Ryan was able to help the cause along.

Ryan Hudson continues to play a peripheral but important role in season 4. He harnesses his newfound skills to manipulate the chief into letting Bess move back into the historical society while the case moves on. So, at least the Drew Crew will have access to the supernatural menagerie of objects and materials they may need if things go badly.

Checking in with our cursed lovers

Lastly, but most certainly never least, we need to check in on Nancy and Ace. Their curse has continued to be a pain in the ass, mostly because these two do not know how to go back to the floundering awkwardness of before. They both want the other to be happy, but, as we saw last week when Ace witnessed Nancy slow-dancing with Tristan, it is unbelievably painful to witness.

All I gotta say is, for all this drama and all this romantic torture, we BETTER see Nancy and Ace together before the last episode. None of this they break the curse in the finale and get together. I need at least a couple of episodes with happiness. OR ELSE. We have been through entirely too much with them to just watch them sail off into the sunset. And I’m not even entertaining any other possibilities. They will end this series together and happy, dangit. I’m willing it into being at this point. And we have six episodes left, so it’s time to get to curse-breaking.

Check out all our other great Nancy Drew-related coverage here, and if you’re just a massive Kennedy McMann fan (like us), you won’t want to miss this great article about her next new project.

You can find all the official Nancy Drew Season 4 info, as well as catch the latest episode, on the CW’s website.