The Glades Season 4 Premiere “Yankee Dan” 

Wow, I can’t believe it’s been almost a year since the shocking season 3 finale of The Glades with Jim (Matt Passmore) on bended knee with a marriage proposal to Callie (Kiele Sanchez).  It has definitely been way too long because before tonight’s premiere, I had almost forgotten what a fantastic series this is and why it has become one of my favorite shows on television.  The episode was very near perfect, with a compelling case, another jaw-dropping ending, and just enough comedy and shenanigans to make you laugh, even with a corpse in the middle of the room with an axe in his back.

First, the case.  Jim Longworth is a man of logic, and so, you can imagine how strange it was for him to learn that his prime suspect in a homicide may be a ghost.  Chelsey Baker is found dead with an axe in her back in the rumor-to-be-haunted Cooley Plantation, and fingers quickly point to the ghost of Martha Cooley, Chelsey’s great grandmother whose husband, “Yankee Dan” Cooley, was killed in the same fashion back in 1861.  Martha Cooley may or may not be haunting Cooley Plantation, but Jim quickly learns that several other people benefited more by Chelsey’s death – and, these people were very much alive.

Suspicion first shifts to Jackie, Chelsey’s sister.  With Chelsey made sole heir of Cooley Plantation and Jackie effectively cut out of their grandmother’s will, you definitely would think Jackie had a cause to be angry.  In fact, for months, Jackie had been trying to get the Cooley Plantation made a historical landmark by hiring a paranormal export, Ed Ross, and thus, proving that Martha’s spirit walks the halls of the house.  If that had happened, Chelsey’s power-of-attorney would be revoked, and she could no longer sell the plantation.  What’s more, we learn that Jackie was also having an affair with Chelsey’s husband, Ryan, which gave her a second reason for wanting her sister dead.

However, with the discovery of the love triangle, a second suspect comes into play, the husband Ryan Baker.  Ryan and Chelsey’s marriage was a complete wreck, and Chelsey had spent away all of Ryan’s fortune on useless things, all in a relentless pursuit of happiness that she would never find.  With Ryan tettering on the verge of bankruptcy, a logical move would be to kill off his unstable wife and have all of the money from the sale of the plantation to himself.

But, as we all know from past episodes of The Glades, the obvious rarely turns out to be the truth.  While both Jackie and Ryan certainly had motive to kill Chelsey, the killer turns out to be the weasel ghost hunter, Ed Ross.  Ross was so obsessed with Martha Cooley and the possibility of connecting with her spirit that he was willing to kill to try and make that happen.

Now, for what most of the readers have been waiting for – the scoop on the Jim and Callie relationship.  Before tonight’s episode, I had already decided that if Callie said “maybe” or “I’ll think about it” to Jim’s proposal, I was going to have a hissy fit.  And, it’s not necessarily because I want Jim and Callie to be a couple – instead, it’s because Callie being indecisive would only string the fans along for another season of Jim and Callie being together only halfway. Unfortunately, before the episode even got started, we learn that Callie’s tentative answer was “I need to think about it”, and so, I was already cussing before the opening credits.  It’s no secret that most TV shows fear the dreaded “moonlighting curse”.  So, instead of putting 2 main characters together, they just have them flirt for 5-10 seasons, and when they finally become a couple, they immediately break up.  So, you can imagine that I (as well as most of the viewers, I suspect!) was very happy with Callie’s “maybe” turning into a “yes” at the end of the episode.  Yes, The Glades has officially given the “moonlighting curse” the finger.  I think it was a very bold move by the writers of the show and one that I truly hope will work out well for the series.

All in all, I think season four got off to a very strong start with this episode.  The case was interesting every step of the way, the acting was superb, and of course, it ended with what most of the fans have been waiting and hoping for – Jim and Callie officially as a couple.  The only negative thing I could say about the episode is that a good deal of the supporting characters were absent.  Uriah Shelton was MIA for most of last season, and we finally got him back tonight reprising his role as Jeff Cargill, but it was only for a single scene.  And, our beloved techie, and fan favorite, Daniel Green (Jordan Wall), also had less airtime.  However, this is only the first episode, and hopefully, we will see more of these characters as the season progresses.

So, what did everyone else think?  Loved the ending or hated it?

The Glades airs on Monday nights at 9/8c on A&E.