TV Episode Review: Nancy Drew - The Mystery of Pirate's Cove

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Complex, twisty mystery

Cons: Characters pretty weak

The Bottom Line: 

Wimpy characters

But a great mystery that

Makes up for that flaw

Nancy Drew Debuts with a Great Mystery.  If Only the Characters were as Good.

For the first season of The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries, each character solved seven mysteries, half of the fourteen episodes that aired.  And, while originally, they alternated weeks, the DVD release of season one focuses on the Hardys for one disc and Nancy Drew for the second.  That why, after having watched 7 episodes of the show already, I'm just now watching "The Mystery of Pirate's Cove," Nancy's first case.  As a mystery, it is great.  But the characterizations left much to be desired.

Nancy Drew (Pamela Sue Martin) and her friends George Fayne (Jean Rasey) and Ned Nickerson (George O'Hanlon, Jr.) are out for a cruise on the bay when they spot tons of dead fish and a light in the old lighthouse.  The place is supposed to be haunted, but Nancy has never seen any evidence of that before.  Investigating further, Nancy finds it locked up tight.

The next day, she learns that her father, Carson Drew (William Schallert), has finally found someone to buy the property.  Professor Jack Wall (guest star Monte Markham) investigates the paranormal, so the claim that it is haunted is the big draw for him.  But something still isn't sitting right with Nancy.  Is the lighthouse haunted?

While the plot had a certain Scooby Doo element (I wouldn't have been surprised to hear the villain say at the end, "I would have gotten away with it if it weren't for you meddling kids."), I found it very well done.  I was surprised by most of the deductions Nancy suddenly announced, yet they were logical and never felt forced.  I did feel that they used a deus ex machina at the end to get Nancy out of danger, but again it tied up the loose ends, so I'm not going to complain too loudly there either.

My real complaint is the characterization.  Having seen the way they cut supporting characters and changed them around in the Hardy Boys episodes, I was expecting that here.  But I don't get the changes they made.  Nancy fared the best, being a bit more down to earth than in the books, although the screams she lets out a couple of times were completely out of character.  Then there's poor George.  Ascent from the TV show, or at least this episode, is loyal sidekick Bess.  So what did they do?  They gave George all of Bess's attributes.  Instead of being a tomboy, she's a bit of a wimp who loves to shop.  Why not just make that Bess and leave George out?  Then there's poor Ned.  Instead of being Nancy's boyfriend, he's a guy who works for Carson Drew and has a secret crush on Nancy.  Yet they've made him so weak and unappealing I can't see why anyone would ever fall for him.

Yeah, so it's the book geek in me having problems with the characters.  But these changes really don't make any sense to me.  Unlike the Hardy Boys episodes where I could see why they made the changes they did, this remains the only unsolved mystery of the episode.  Hopefully, these characters will grow on me as the season progresses.

I'm not going to blame the acting.  Oh, there's some 70's cheese to the performances (and the show in general), but I found all the performances believable.  My issues with the characters come straight from the writers.

I was actually surprised at how well done the mystery in "The Mystery of Pirate's Cove" is.  They've set the bar high for the rest of the Nancy Drew episodes from season one.