This show reminds me of Veronica Mars in several ways besides the most obvious--that the titular character is a teenage girl.
One of the big similarities, for me, between the two shows, is that there is an overarching mystery that hangs over the entire season. For the most part, I believe that Veronica Mars did a better job with the overarching storyline, than Nancy Drew has done thus far. This episode is one of the exceptions, and I would say makes it a gripping hour of detecting and mystery.
What Veronica Mars did well, I believe, in their first full season, was to have self-contained mysteries as the heart of each episode, with a dribbling of clues regarding the season long overarching mystery.
This gave the episodes some structure. It allowed the show to focus on character, and the growth and change in character. The solving of individual cases was satisfying in itself much of the time. And the small dribbling of clues on the overarching storyline tantalized us to ponder, (guess) who the killer of Lilly Kane was.
For the most part, Nancy Drew has avoided self-contained episodes until this episode. "The Hidden Staircase" revolves around the kidnapping of George's much younger step sister. The emotional quotient in this episode is considerable, and well acted.
While the resolution of this episode may prove relevant to the ultimate resolution to who killed Tiffany Hudson, and years earlier killed Lucy Sable, the truth is that it has no real relevance at the moment.
I am on the fence about whether this show is worth my time (I'm still not convinced that the supernatural and mystery are a good fit).
If the show had more episodes structured like this, I, personally would find it a lot more worthy of my time and attention. For the most part I like the main characters. Nancy, Bess, Nick and Ace are all interestingly quirky.
Georgia Fan is becoming more three dimensional, which is appreciated. And the rapprochement between Nancy and her father was nicely handled in this episode.
One of the big similarities, for me, between the two shows, is that there is an overarching mystery that hangs over the entire season. For the most part, I believe that Veronica Mars did a better job with the overarching storyline, than Nancy Drew has done thus far. This episode is one of the exceptions, and I would say makes it a gripping hour of detecting and mystery.
What Veronica Mars did well, I believe, in their first full season, was to have self-contained mysteries as the heart of each episode, with a dribbling of clues regarding the season long overarching mystery.
This gave the episodes some structure. It allowed the show to focus on character, and the growth and change in character. The solving of individual cases was satisfying in itself much of the time. And the small dribbling of clues on the overarching storyline tantalized us to ponder, (guess) who the killer of Lilly Kane was.
For the most part, Nancy Drew has avoided self-contained episodes until this episode. "The Hidden Staircase" revolves around the kidnapping of George's much younger step sister. The emotional quotient in this episode is considerable, and well acted.
While the resolution of this episode may prove relevant to the ultimate resolution to who killed Tiffany Hudson, and years earlier killed Lucy Sable, the truth is that it has no real relevance at the moment.
I am on the fence about whether this show is worth my time (I'm still not convinced that the supernatural and mystery are a good fit).
If the show had more episodes structured like this, I, personally would find it a lot more worthy of my time and attention. For the most part I like the main characters. Nancy, Bess, Nick and Ace are all interestingly quirky.
Georgia Fan is becoming more three dimensional, which is appreciated. And the rapprochement between Nancy and her father was nicely handled in this episode.
