'Ghost Whisperer': The cat is outta the bag

There's a new ghostbusting guy in town, and he's got all the gadgets and whiz-bang cameras a non-Ghost Whisperer could want. Is he the real deal, or just in it for the money? And our soul-crossed Sam finally finds out what Melinda's really all about, and not in the way she was hoping for.

Sam and Melinda run into a wanna-be ghost hunter outside the house of one of her friends. Linus the ghostbuster is called in to solve some spooky activity. On Melinda's suggestion, Eli heads in to find out if he's the real deal, or a charlatan. That evening, Linus does indeed pick up evidence of a ghost on this computers, but Eli of course hears the ghost screaming. Linus is the real thing - he just isn't able to hear or see spirits, so he uses all the technology he can to find ghosts. After some sleuthing, Eli and Linus both come to the conclusion that the ghost is probably of the last owner of the house, Mrs. Bellsbury, who passed away recently, or was murdered for her life's savings. Dum dum dum.

While Melinda wanted to deal with Linus the ghostbuster, she decides to let Eli take the lead so she could deal with Sam. After the brief encounter with Linus, he scoffs at the idea of ghosts, and she realizes that she's not going to be able to just blurt out her big secret. It's going to need some finessing. But Sam knows something is up, and starts asking around about Melinda to Delia and Eli. 

Because she can't leave it alone, Melinda heads to the haunted house, and along with Eli and Linus, they chase the ghost into the basement. Turns out the ghost isn't Mrs. Bellsbury, but a man, who leads them to the skeletal remains of poor Mrs. Bellsbury, with her savings, behind a false wall. Linus believes he's solved the mystery, but Melinda knows that the ghost is still around, and strangely enough, the ghost seems to be more tied to Linus than to the house.

Linus confesses to Eli that he believes he has a guardian angel that helps him out, and after Melinda talks to Linus' ex-girlfriend Carrie, who bankrolled the whiz-bang cameras, she realizes that it's Carrie's dead father who is helping Linus' out in order to make him a success. That way, Carrie and Linus can get back together and all can be well. Guardian angel indeed.

But back to Sam. Eli tells Sam that Melinda is a profiler for the FBI, and that's why she's always interested in these missing person cases. But when Sam confronts Linus about being a fake, Melinda defends Linus, and tells Sam that ghosts are real, and that she can see them. Not exactly the finessed situation she was hoping for.

In the end, Eli and Melinda both help Carrie's dad cross over, and Melinda is left in tears realizing that her gift may be the one thing that stands between her and Sam. But the next morning, Sam apologizes, and says that he's just going to need some time to get used to the ghost whispering.

But while it might look all happy and rosy now, the kicker is a bit threatening to their happy ending. You didn't think it was going to be that easy, did you? Now that Delia is a believer, we need someone else to work through their doubts. Looks like it's going to be Sam, which may just carry us to the end of the season. I predict some big finale with the watcher women.

Thoughts:

• While it wasn't dead people in the lake spooky, this had it's spooky moments. And I like the spooky. And it was interesting to see a twist on the "ghost hunter" take. What if the ghosts follow the hunters around?

• This was the first episode that Jamie Kennedy didn't somehow annoy me. Maybe it was the night vision googles.

• Carrie's dad was played by Michael O'Neill, who played the Secret Service guy Ron Butterfield on The West Wing for years. And Carrie was played by Jenna Leigh Green who was Libby on Sabrina the Teenage Witch. Oh yeah. I went there.

 What about you? Do you think Sam and Melinda are ever going to really work? And what about Linus? Think he'll be back?