Review: Victor and Valentino “Ghosted”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Victor is being a troll again, but also wants to participate in a game of Tlatchtli, a Mesopotamian ballgame. When that fails, he ends up making friends with a ghost girl, but then gets the chance to be part of the team and feels he has to push her away in order to join. But they make up when it turns out he was just asked to be the waterboy.

OUR TAKE

In our second to last episode of this whole shebang, we have a tale that actually captures just about everything I enjoy about this series. Characters learning a wholesome lesson, thoughtful integration of the show’s source culture in ways not otherwise seen before, cute stories with interesting character designs, and even a little bit of serialization with using the wrestler mask. Even if the lesson itself is kinda on the nose with the idea that you shouldn’t abandon your friends for potential gains, it’s still a solid lesson that is very much worth teaching right now. Plus, I feel like this might be the first character Victor has actually bonded with genuinely besides Valentino, which is certainly saying something. And it’s probably the first time I’ve seen him honestly feel the need to change his ways in order to hold onto a friend. I’m not sure it will stick seeing how this show is still really episodic and I’m not sure that Cristina is sticking around, but I feel like it would be to the show’s benefit if she did. For one, the brothers could use more allies amongst the supernatural, plus look at her! SHE’S JUST SO DARN CUTE!

Plus it does seem like the main addition to Season 2 is that Victor and Valentino have these wrestling masks that allow them to see the dead moving amongst them (even if it is only through the mouth of the mask? Or maybe that’s just because they’re kids, I don’t know). They haven’t really had much of a reason to use these things to find much in the long run, though maybe they’re saving that for later when the show has to get into some long terms storyline utilizing characters and plots established earlier? I feel like part way through the second season is a good time to start reward viewers for sticking with the show from the beginning. They’ve definitely done that in part with episodes that reference or touch on previous ones, in fact tomorrow’s episode is also one of those, though I feel like it’s time to step that up as we get closer to the end of this season. At least I ASSUME we’re closer to the end of the season, as last season was 39 episodes and tomorrow will see us at 29 for this one. Either way, the show continues to be solid, but could definitely be doing more, is the point I’m trying to make.