The Man
Who Never Reached Home
Writer:
Kathryn M. Drennan
Director:
Dale Schott
Main
Cast:
- Lorenzo
Music as Peter Venkman
- Frank
Welker as Raymond Stantz
- Maurice
LaMarche as Egon Spengler
- Arsenio
Hall as Winston Zeddemore
- Laura
Summer as Janine Melnitz
- Frank
Welker as Slimer
(Rating
5 of 5)
Summary: The
episode begins in 1887 at an inn where a man named Simon Quegg, is irrationally
angry at the inn’s owners. Quegg is an
important man whom the owners seem quite concerned as to having upset him. Quegg tells them that he will shut their inn
down. The scared owners beg him not to
ride out trying to remind him that there is a bad storm and it is not safe, and
he can stay at their little inn. Quegg
refuses; after all he is going to try to have the place shut down. He yells out, "I'll see home before the
night is out or by all that is unholy may I never see home again." Little does he realize as he said that the
horse’s eyes changed to the color red as he rode off. After he left a phantom rider appears and
gives chase.
 |
| Poor inn owners worried that Quegg will ruin them. |
In the
modern 1987, the Ghostbusters on their way back from a job stop at a local
diner. Slimer is with them and they
decide to leave him in the car but Ray tells Slimer he will order him a
meal. As Ray comes back with Slimer’s
food Simon Quegg rolls up and asks him directions to Providence. When Ray informs him it’s nearly eighty
miles. Quegg refuses to believe him and
goes into a near panic. He says he can’t
stay that something is gaining on him.
As he departs the phantom rider appears chasing after Quegg.
 |
| Riding for over a hundred years. |
Ray
runs into the dinner with Slimer telling the others what he saw. The manager of the diner, who had started
chasing Slimer around with a frying pan, stopped and stated that the man he saw was Simon
Quegg. The manger went on to explain
that all the locals were aware of him and that he was the ghost of man who got
lost in a storm a century ago. The
ghost, the manager continued, is always seen during a storm; he stops, asks
directions, refuses to believe what anyone tells him, and rides off. When Ray asked about the other one the
manager panics and says the only people who see the Rider are cursed with misfortune
and with that he kicks the Ghostbusters out of his establishment.
 |
| Ray meets Quegg. |
Ray
wants to find Quegg, but he makes it clear that he doesn’t want to bust him he
wants to help him. Egon is intrigued and
convinces both Peter and Winston to agree.
They use the PKE meter to track him to a bridge. When they arrive Quegg remembers Ray, Ray
asks Quegg if he can come down, but Egon says that Quegg is a separate ghost from
the horse and buggy, and of the two the horse and buggy is more powerful. Ray decides to adjust his particle thrower to
target only the more powerful spirit but when does this he ends up switching
places with Quegg. Ray, now the occupant
of the horse and buggy is pulled away and the rider is chasing him.
 |
| The Rider |
The
remaining Ghostbusters force Quegg to return with them to the firehouse. They try to brainstorm a way to get Ray
back. The horse and buggy will only
return during a storm so if they are to get there comrade back they have to
recreate it. The Ghostbusters produce a
device that will get the clouds in the air to create a storm but they will have
to bring the device to the clouds themselves using Ecto-2. They head out and because Egon created the
device he decided it would be himself he would risk to activate it, however he
does take Slimer with him.
 |
| Oh, no we lost Ray. |
Returning
to the bridge in New England, Egon flies the Ecto-2 in the air. They end crashing the Ecto-2 into the water
but accomplish their mission. As Egon
predicted because they have Simon Quegg with them the horse and buggy return
with Ray in it. The other Ghostbusters
all try to blast the buggy but that only results in a lightning bolt coming
down and shorting out all their packs.
 |
| Slimer being helpful |
When
then dark rider arrives Ray convinces Quegg to confront it. Quegg gets back on the buggy with Ray to
confront the rider. As they get closer
they see the rider has Quegg’s face! He
was running from himself the whole time. Quegg pushes Ray off saying this is something he has to do on his own. Two Simon Queggs collide and disappear.
 |
| Now we're serious. |
The
weather clears and it is now bright and sunny, Simon Quegg returns to thank the
Ghostbusters for freeing him. He is
grateful that can now go home.
 |
| The reveal. |
My Take: This was
a great episode it was inspire by a New England legend which originated as a
story called Peter Rugg—the Missing Man, written by a William Austin. There are several differences in Kathryn M.
Drennan’s character and the one created by Austin. For example Simon Quegg rides alone where
Peter Rugg’s ten year old daughter shares his curse. Another difference is Simon Quegg is from a
more recent time of 1887, exactly one hundred years before this episode’s
time. Peter Rugg was said to be born in
1730 and went missing in 1770. William
Austin himself died in the 1840s, four decades before Drennan’s character got
started.
One of
the reasons I rank this episode so high is the characterization. Ghostbusters tales are always character driven
stories; most of its humor and charm from character interaction moments. It’s great when they come across situations
and they react as you expect they would.
In this episode Ray wants to help out of compassion and Egon out of
curiosity. Peter brings up the whole
money angle; once again the Ghostbusters are doing something without pay.
Speaking
of which, this was also as pointed out in the title of this review, the Ghostbusters acting
less like themselves and more like the Ghost Whisperer. Usually they bust ghosts not try to solve
their problems. Yet, I don’t mind the
change because it prevents every episode from being about the same thing. Also there is some debate that what the
Ghostbusters do is actually good and I think episodes like this proves it is.
Now for my stray observations:
·
I like when Peter defended Slimer from Quegg,
Peter always claims to hate him but don’t mess with the spud in front of him.
·
Speaking of Slimer I love the fact that Slimer
forgets about his ghost abilities. Man chases him with a pan and Slimer tries to avoid it for fear of getting hurt
while he can always turn intangible and it won’t even be able to touch
him. Another great scene was when the
Ecto-2 was spinning and Slimer was holding on for dear life, forgetting
that he can fly and is not dependent on Ecto-2 to stay in the air.
·
Poor Ecto-2 they crashed it again. Hopefully we
won’t have to wait thirty some odd episodes before we see it again.
·
I think if I was Quegg I would have charged the dark
rider long before a century was up.
Nevertheless this was great
episode and I highly encourage anyone to watch it.
[1]
Listed original air dates for entire syndicated season may not be correct.
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