Episode Recap: The Ghost in the Machine

When we last left our human heroes, they had just been trapped in Port Moore thanks to some ghostly demolition — the returned had destroyed the only bridge out of town. Meanwhile, a smuggling boat under the employ of a research company called Lambda is making a return visit to Port Moore to unload its cargo when it navigates through surreal seas: the dead whales are resurfacing — making a humpback comeback.

That boat was captained by a guy named Billy, the mayor’s brother. They don’t get along so well — probably because he’s a smuggler, and some other reasons. One of the mayor’s daughters was drawing pictures of a kid named Trevor missing for ten years, and the mayor thinks Billy told her about their dead little brother. No such thing — someone or something else must have.

Billy arrives at Lambda to some unfortunate news: the research corp. is not able to pay him at this time. Womp. So, Billy takes his goods elsewhere in search of a higher bidder (let’s see if he can beat zero bucks). Of course, just as he’s about to re-board his boat, the engine craps out. Looks like Port Moore’s got a plus one! Or should we make that a plus two? Because Trevor’s body just washed up on shore last night.

See, ten years ago Billy took Trevor, his rookie little brother without his sea legs, aboard one of his voyages. The boat met with rough seas, Trevor went over, and was never found. Until now. The mayor, however, isn’t convinced this is the entire, or true, story. Well, one thing we know for sure is that Trevor is definitely a ghost now, because he decides to haunt Billy in the cabin of his ship that night.

To banish Trevor from out his life, Billy decides to make a deal with Roman: if he can get the ghost to go, Billy will ferry Roman to safer climes. Only snag is is whatever ghost is haunting Billy — it's not his brother. It's taken the guise of Trevor to get under Billy's skin. It's succeeded. Not only that, but it killed Billy’s second in command while he was trying to fix the engine. Now Billy’s got two deaths on his conscience.

It’s that night that Billy, when hanging with his sister the mayor, her wife, and their kids, his nieces, that he comes clean about how Trevor died: He and the crew had been drinking a lot, and Billy coaxed Trevor into climbing up the crow’s nest when a monster wave shocked the boat and sent Trevor to his watery death.

The mayor, not yet ready to believe in the existence of the supernatural, takes deputy Larry along to visit the former owner of Billy’s boat — the Rose. Mr. Goler was swindled out of his precious possession by Billy and the mayor’s father, a ruffian. But when they find Goler, he’s otherwise engaged: hanging from the neck by a tree takes a lot of effort. It’s Goler’s ghost that’s been haunting the ship. Makes sense — as far as supernatural logic is concerned.

Then all hell breaks loose: Roman is able to tell the ghost of Goler to leave the ship, allowing Billy to get it started. He starts it all right, but leaves Roman on the docks, so that he can fend off evil in the town. Goler’s ghost then travels back to his trailer to haunt Norm and the mayor. Norm starts shooting wildly, so the mayor wrests his gun from him. Then the mayor sees Goler’s ghost, and starts shooting wildly, and accidentally gets Norm in the shoulder. It’s horrifying and hilarious.

Speaking of horrifying and hilarious, while making his way into open waters, Billy finds that his ship passes through an energy field that inexplicably flips his boat around so that it heads right back for Port Moore. These ghosts sure know how to play a cruel joke.