Review: Nancy Drew and the Secret of the Old Clock: Nancy Drew Mysteries #1

 

 A little girl is nearly run over by a moving van as Nancy Drew approaches along the same road.  The girl manages to cross the road and climbs up onto a short wall.  Safe for a moment, she then loses her balance and topples to the ground below.

Nancy pulls her own car over and rushes to the girls aid.  Assessing the girl and judging her to be unharmed, Nancy carries her home.

The girls aunts come running out.  As they make sure the girl is ok, they pour out their hearts to Nancy, saying they took her in when her parents died, and they wish to give her a good life, but fear as they grow older it may not be possible.  They had expected an inheritance from a relative that did not come through.  

Greedy relations who didn't need the money at all had cared for the relative, and a will was drawn up leaving them all of his wealth.

They mention other relatives and friends had been given the impression that they'd be taken care of as well.  They're sure that another will exists that would have taken care of everyone as promised.

After speaking with the friends and relatives involved, Nancy believes them, and that there must be another will.

Taking on the investigation, Nancy questions everyone she can think of, she eavesdrops shamelessly, and has several rough encounters with thieves who may possess a stolen clock that holds the key to everything.

In this first Nancy Drew mystery, Nancy and her family and friends do everything they can to right wrongs and solve the mystery of the missing will.

Nancy is clever, fearless and big hearted. I love how she tools around the countryside in her blue convertible.

Plotting and pacing are fast, and characters (who are not villains) are likeable.

Nancy Drew and the Myth of the Ensnared Hunter

 Nancy and her recently found dad Ryan go alone to search for the lair of The Man With The Hat.  Following a trail through the woods, they find the lair in an old building.  They get lots of pictures, and note there’s a bloody cloth in the creature’s cage.  The blood is relatively fresh. There’s also a very old doll that Nancy picks up to examine later.  A final item is a seemingly broken old key, which clearly is what was used to release the creature.

Just as Nancy deduces the creature hasn’t given up his old lair at all, but he’s been returning to it regularly, the lanterns go out. Nancy fumbles with her flashlight and when it comes on, the creature is in the cage with them, right in Nancy’s face. His face looks like it’s made from ash. 

There’s a chase as Ryan and Nancy try to get away. At a dead end, rather than harming them, the creature reaches for the doll Nancy took. Dropping it, they run once more, and eventually find a ladder leading to a strange room. From there, another door leads to the always mysterious Horseshoe Bay Historical Society and a shocked Bess and George.

According to footage from security cameras Ned had installed, Hannah, the missing keeper of the historical society, took a key and went through the hidden door. So she, not my girl and all around villainess, Temperance, let the Frozen Heart Murdering Creature out?  Did it kill her and hide her body?

In side stories tonight, Bess and George learn of a device called a Soul Splitter invented during the Civil War that may save George.

Ace finds Mr. Bobbsey thanks to his daughter’s return to town, clearing his name with police. His father offers to let Ace come home, but Ace says he’s not planning to return.

The search for a Soul Splitter should be good. 

Now that the Creature’s lair has been found, will they bring in the police to capture him? Nancy and Ryan thought he sniffed them then left them alone once the doll was returned. Is it because they both have Hudson blood and he’s also long lost family?

Two more episodes before mid-season break.

Nancy Drew and The Journey of the Dangerous Mind

 

 Let's start off by mentioning that the episode titles in this third season are just awful. The Journey of the Dangerous Mind?  Even after watching the episode, I can't guess whose mind they're referring to.

Luckily, the episode itself was good.

The Frozen Heart serial killer didn't take another victim this week.  There was a considerable amount of investigation tonight.  Nick and Ace tested freezing pig hearts in ice and liquid nitrogen (?) to see if that's what the killer is using.  They concluded neither was the right substance but Argon Gas could have been used as well.

Nancy, at her tiny desk at the police department, finds a neighbor complaint about someone miss-using his recycling bin for gas containers.

With Ryan in tow, she scoots off to the killer's actual house.  Leaving her new dad in the car as a "lookout," she stacks boxes and trash cans so she can break into the house via the deck door.  

You keep expecting the guy to be right behind her in the house.  Even for Nancy, doh, what was she thinking.  As it turns out, she rescues a heart from the fireplace, only to step on a pad that is connected to pipe bombs aimed right at her. It was all a trap.

Texting Agent Park (played it turns out, by John Harlan Kim from The Librarians, without his British accent!) he comes to the rescue.

So, the Mind stuff.  Temperance offers to help Nancy remember more about her sighting of the killer.  She blows some dust in Nancy's face, making her recall the day of George and Nick's proposal.  She sees the killer more clearly, including his license plates, but doesn't get a good look at his face.

Afterwards, while answering a question from Bess, Nancy seems to have enhanced memory and she can tell Bess right where something is at Temperance's place. Is this enhanced memory to be an ongoing thing?

Bess is trying to protect Ace ,and decides to use a spell from her own ancestor's spell book to protect him.  It all backfires, and Ace meets with accident after accident.

When she goes to Temperance's lair to recover an artifact, of course Temperance is there, and next thing you know, Bess is learning a simple spell from Temperance so she can be more "empowered".

Bess, as we know, is impressionable, and feels helpless, so she's ripe for being ill used by Temperance. 

Lots of good scary moments, charming bits with Ryan and Carson working out who is really Nancy's best dad.  Nick works hard to win over George's sisters who are afraid of losing her.

I love that next week the crew travels to Detective Con, to see a podcaster who says she knows the identity of the Frozen Heart killer and that she'll reveal it at the con.  What a good idea!

I almost forgot, while Bess was performing her spell something sparkly flew through the air and appeared to be eaten by THE CAT! He's at least sort of alive, with eyes that glow and a totally mechanical cat look to him. But he's ok...

Nancy Drew and the Warning of the Frozen Heart

 

It's a new season with sleuth Nancy Drew and her friends.  The frozen heart refers to a victim who has had their heart removed...after freezing it? They showed the gaping spot in his chest pretty closely.

The obvious perpetrator is Temperance Hudson, a long dead relative come back to wreak havoc in Horseshoe Bay.

They did mention that Temperance had previously tried to unleash some awful thing from beneath the town, which sounds very Buffy the Vampire Slayer inspired.

There's also a new FBI man in town to assist in solving these crimes.  While he said he admires Nancy's past crime solving (he looked her up), he doesn't want her anywhere near this case.  As if that's ever worked.

It appears he is this season's Nancy romance as well.  We'll see.

I'm wondering if this season will be more gory than in the past given the day and time slot.  There was also a cat grievously harmed, which I didn't appreciate at all.

There are always great discussions on the Nancy Drew Reddit:

https://www.reddit.com/r/NancyDrewCW/

 

A Wiki:

https://nancydrew.fandom.com/wiki/Nancy_Drew_(2019_TV_series)

DOA on TV October 5, 2021

 

Returning to TV for a third season this week is one of my favorite shows, Nancy Drew (CW).  Formerly on Wednesday nights, the show has been moved to Fridays this season.  This seems like a bad thing but at least it's back!

Last season was an excellent mix of mysteries and the supernatural.  Kennedy McMann as Nancy has been solid all along. Last season Tunji Kasim's Nick was just spectacular, I thought, his acting just shone.

I'm also excited about season two of Locke and Key on Netflix.  The first season introduced Keyhouse and the Locke family who moves into it when a family member dies.

I liked all of the characters but the mom seemed really "off".  Luckily that was explained, but she certainly isn't a strong character to be dealing with whatever season two holds.

Season two premiers October 22 with ten episodes.  It has been renewed for a third season.

Recently watched:

Netflix  The Chair has Sandra Oh as the new head of a college English Department.  As excited as she is getting this historic job, she meets with disaster after disaster as the school reels from limited enrollment.  It's very funny, a bit crude.  I had not seen Sandra Oh before in anything and really liked her.

Netflix Midnight Mass  I watched it because I liked the Haunting of Hill House, also by Mike Flanagan.

I thought it was excellent as a character study. The acting was superb, particularly Samantha Sloyan as Beverly Keane, an absolute madwoman intent on her own power.  Otherwise, it was a rambling treatise on philosophy, religion, addiction and personal responsibility.  The horror trappings were very thin.  You could easily forget you were watching what was supposed to be a scary show, then they'd toss in some small nugget.