[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Ghosts Season 4 Episode 15, “The Bachelorette Party.”]
Ghosts turns its spotlight over onto jazz spirit Alberta (Danielle Pinnock) for its latest episode as she welcomes back her great-grandniece Alicia (Ashley D. Kelley) for “The Bachelorette Party.”
The newly-engaged Alicia decides to hold her special bachelorette weekend at Woodstone, but as Alberta eavesdrops on her conversation with living proprietor Sam (Rose McIver), the singer is horrified to discover her descendant is engaged to a musician. Initially, Alberta claims her concern comes from experience, recalling an occasion when she parted ways with a musician boyfriend and never heard from him again. It turns out that it wasn’t the man who abandoned her, but rather she abandoned him; she worries Alicia’s fiancé will behave in a similar fashion to herself.
Alberta’s concerns aren’t entirely unwarranted when she overhears one of Alicia’s bridesmaids having a questionable conversation with the groom-to-be. After getting Sasappis (Román Zaragoza) to send a warning message to Alicia via her dreams, Alberta discovers the bridesmaid and groom are siblings and are only talking about secretly watching a TV show they like without Alicia.
Bertrand Calmeau / CBS
Forced to fix the situation, Alberta uses her singing to send Alicia a sign that her fiancé is a worthy husband. Together the relatives, both alive and dead, share in a beautiful duet. Oh, and the episode also teases the arrival of a new spirit when the returning stripper, Chris (Deniz Akdeniz), accidentally crash-lands into Mahesh’s roof as part of a bachelorette party surprise gone wrong. In the episode’s final moments, it is teased Chris didn’t survive the fall as Pinnock shares, “He’s going to be all up in Woodstone mansion acting a fool. Get ready!”
Fresh off her NAACP Image Award win, Pinnock opens up about the special episode, including that revealing flashback to Alberta’s past, her outlook moving forward, thoughts on a show titled Night Sugar, and so much more, below.
It’s revealed that Alberta comes from Tulsa, Oklahoma, which she leaves in 1919 to make it in the music world. Should we read into the historical context of that location during that period of time, which was two years before the Tulsa Race Massacre?
Danielle Pinnock: Well, what I will say is that it was such an honor being able to do that flashback, and I have to give a huge shout-out to not only our showrunners but also our head writer on that episode, Akilah Green. This was the first time that we’ve had a Black writer and a Black director, Pete Chatmon, as well as a Black actor leading the A storyline. It was very historical for Ghosts. We shot the week after Thanksgiving, and I remember [the showrunners] texted me and they were like, “Hey, just to let you know there’s a big flashback coming, and also you’re going to be singing, and also you’re going to be filming in minus nine-degree weather.”
Bertrand Calmeau / CBS
But I was so up for the challenge and any opportunity to change costumes and pay homage to these beautiful Black women who would’ve lived during the 1920s. Alberta is such a treat for me. And I have to say, not only was the [flashback] negative nine degrees, we literally had these little coats on the camera it was so cold. We shot at the very end of a 14-hour day. And so Justin [Hurtt-Dunkley], who plays Alberta’s fiancé… we never had met before, and we had to build that chemistry very quickly.
But it was incredible seeing all the background actors in the wardrobe and seeing the automobiles that they had during that time. It was one of those moments on the show that was like cinema magic. It really was beautiful, and we were just focused because a few years after that moment in Tulsa were the riots, which was a complete massacre of an entire Black community. And so the opposite of that is [in this] scene where it’s when that community was thriving, seeing the beauty of it and seeing just the promise of it as well. And even though it is a very small short flashback, it is so impactful to the history of what it means to be a Black person from Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Was it nice getting out of Alberta’s red velvet to try on something new costume-wise?
It was, even having a new wig… I loved the little young tendrils she had peering out of that beautiful hat. Any opportunity to just switch it up is always a gift, I feel, not only just for me but for all of the ghosts because we live in that costume dream. That’s literally our uniform. And so any opportunity is just such a breath of fresh air. And I have to say that our wardrobe department did an exceptional job. It was completely crafted for my body and it looked so beautiful. I looked like somebody’s grandmother. You know what I mean?
Bertrand Calmeau / CBS
Alicia returned, reuniting you with Ashley D. Kelley. What was it like getting to sing together again?
I know my cast was probably so annoyed with me because it felt like I was at a family reunion. We were just loud and having a good Black time. We had so much fun. It was Ashley Kelley, it was Justin, it was also Ashley Blaine Featherson-Jenkins from Dear White People… We had so much fun. To be in that room of Black excellence and incredible Black artists was surreal. And to have Pete Chatmon and Akilah Green, it felt really special.
I want to make my people proud with this episode. And so I hope I was able to do that. Ashley Kelley is such a joy to work with and we did not have much time with that music. I think we had 48 hours, and we created our own harmonies and melodies. And any chance I could find her, we were just rehearsing. It felt like summer camp. We had a ball.
Alberta initially thinks Alicia’s fiancé is cheating, but discovers the bridesmaid is actually his sister, and their secret conversation was taken out of context. How did you react to the episode’s twist reading the script?
I was screaming the entire time. What’s so funny about this episode is we think about ancestors guiding and protecting us and trying to keep us on the right path, but really in reality, they’re just out here causing shenanigans and making things a little bit more complicated. And so I think that was the real comedy behind this. Alberta is doing her best to lead her great-grandniece in the right direction. She was making a complete mess out of it, but it does pay off in the end when you finally can hear Alberta humming.
Would you watch a show called Night Sugar?
I love Love Is Blind, I’m absolutely watching Night Sugar without question. I need to know what the sugar is about. Is it brown sugar? What are we doing here? Is it Stevia? I need to know. I need to know.
Has Alberta been changed by this experience with Alicia? Can she start to show more trust moving forward?
Yes, absolutely. With this episode, what popped in for me is that sometimes the guilt of our ancestors is what becomes our generational curses. And I think for Alberta, the fact that Sam can interact with them and put these ghosts on the right path, I love that Alberta was able to fix it quite quickly so that this wouldn’t have ended up becoming a fear developed into Alicia’s character and maybe a fear of commitment as Alberta has had throughout her entire life. And so very quickly, we were able to cut that generational curse and turn it into a generational blessing.
Ghosts, Season 4, Thursdays, 8:30/7:30c, CBS