In Review: Nancy Drew (S3 – EP4) The Demon of Piper Beach

Synopsis: In The Demon of Piper Beach life-threatening sleepwalking suddenly spikes in town, the Drew Crew races to protect everyone from the supernatural threat. Nancy begins to question whether the case of the Frozen Heart murders has been solved.

The Story

Having seemingly captured the Frozen Heart killer in last week’s show. Nancy who has finished giving her statement to the police is having nightmares. As the story unfolds we learn that the entire town of Horseshoe Bay is having the same dream. But what is the mysterious figure that roams these nightmares? Having recognized the danger of allowing this sandman to continue. Nancy and her team begin to investigate and learn that the Sandman has returned because the town failed to observe one of its annual rituals. When Nancy’s plan to solve the problem fails. It falls on Bess to use her newly acquired knowledge of the supernatural to put an end to the sandman.

Meanwhile, Nancy’s fears about the Frozen Heart murders are confirmed when she learns that there is another killer.

The Acting

Maddison Jaizani gets more to do this week as her character of Bess stands her ground and gets to show the crew as well as the audience that Bess is not as shallow as she appears. The defining scene for her is when the Drew crew laughs at her when she brings up her plan to use newly acquired knowledge. This makes way for a rather fun scene where she rescues them all from the sandman in a very 1960s style hippie bus.

We also get some nice scenes from Erica Cerra as D.A. Jean Rosario who has a bit of a thing going with Nancy’s father Carson. But I liked her scene with Nancy at the start and end of the episode. 

Overall

A fun-fueled episode with lots of character development. Particularly for Bess. The use of the Sandman legend was nicely executed although certain aspects of it reminded me of the original Nightmare on Elm Street movie, but not in a bad way. I quite liked the visual representation of The Sandman and also liked the final scene where it shatters into glass when Bess executes her spell.

Overall The Demon of Piper Beach makes clever use of one of our most primal of classic ghost stories, which many a parent has used on their children to encourage them to sleep.

For more Nancy Drew check out Nicholas Yane’s fun article about the Aglaeca.