So far this season, George is sharing her body with Odette LaMar’s ghost, Nancy’s true Hudson heritage could spell danger, Ace has finally met his long-lost half brother…and that’s just the beginning of what’s been going on with the Drew Crew. Spoilers ahead!

Well sleuths, we’ve reached the mid-way point of season 2 of Nancy Drew. With the last four episodes—”The Quest for the Spider Sapphire”, “The Bargain of the Blood Shroud”, “The Spell of the Burning Bride”, and “The Scourge of the Forgotten Rune”—this sophomore production has really hit its stride in not only weekly mystery plots, but in more meaningful themes. What has this half of the season meant for the citizens of Horseshoe Bay, and what can we expect from the next set of episodes?

There’s a lot to unpack here, so let’s break it up by the most prominent issues that both the Drew Crew and the supporting characters are dealing with.

Family

This iteration of the Nancy Drew story is so much more than just supernatural mysteries in a modern setting: at its core, the show is about relationships. The friendship of the Drew Crew is an important facet, but even more intriguing is the recent emphasis on family. This certainly began in season one, with the puzzle surrounding Nancy’s parentage as well as George’s relationship with her mother—but in season two, we get a deeper dive into the familial connections of our heroes.

The most obvious example of this theme is Nancy’s newly complicated dynamic with the man who raised her (Carson) vs. her biological father (Ryan). While the three seem to be getting along for now, Nancy is dealing with a strange new reality. Can she live in both her fathers’ worlds? More importantly, does she even want anything to do with the Hudson Empire? Similarly, Ace finds himself having to rethink everything he knows about his father’s past and his parent’s relationship when he finally makes contact with a half-brother who was raised in witness protection. Meanwhile, Bess’s newly formed attachment to her Marvin side of the family tree is severed, leaving her alone once again.

But family, of course, is much more than blood. While biological relationships are a large part of this season’s drive, the Drew Crew is closer than ever—they’ve moved past being coworkers thrown into creepy situations together and it would be great to see each of them continue to look to one another for love and support. They have become a found family.

Identity

We discussed the theme of identity back in episode one, but a lot has evolved since then. We’re not just watching Nancy learn to accept a new sense of self, but witnessing George deal with something otherworldly—that is, the fact that she’s sharing her body with Odette’s spirit.

Our personality and uniqueness and self-perception is more than just our consciousness and thoughts—it’s corporeal, too. Identity is partly tied to the physical body, and when your personal space is suddenly host to someone else and your own mind takes a back seat, well… that’s a conundrum, isn’t it? George and Odette are sharing the same meat suit, to borrow a Supernatural idiom, and thanks to the limits of the magic shroud that brought George back to life there doesn’t seem to be a way around it. George and Nick decided to let Odette stay, because what else can they do? George and Odette have a schedule, and each get time to have full control of the body. So far, this hasn’t been super troublesome. Unless, you know, you count the whole “they got arrested because Odette got super drunk and oh yeah, she totally likes Bess” scenario. Insert awkward turtle gif.

How will George’s identity cope and/or transform under the stresses of this development? Can she truly remain herself, even as Odette lives her own life? We can wonder the same thing about Odette—the French spirit, who was also the Aglaeca, has lost her own body and therefore part of her own character. There’s a slim chance that she may become completely comfortable in George’s skin and find the fulfillment she needs. But is this a sustainable solution to their problem of two souls, once body? How will this all affect Nick, and Bess, and the new found family vibe of the Drew Crew?

Secrets, secrets, and more secrets

Secrets are around every corner this season, as there should be given the nature of the show. And as we know thanks to storytelling archetypes, influxes of confidential information lead to increased problems for our characters. Ryan is attempting to keep Nancy a secret from his family to hide her from his father’s wrath, but he was outed to his mother by a reporter. Bess kept her “husband” and his plot a secret from her aunt, and in doing so lost her trust. Ace’s father kept his brother a secret, and now Ace is keeping his new knowledge hidden from his parents. George tried to keep Odette a secret from her friends, and when that failed she still insists on keeping her family in the dark. And of course, there’s always Tamura and his shady self. What does he have up his sleeve?

What should we expect next?

There are just seven episodes left to wrap up the issues of the season. I’ll be surprised if we don’t see things come to a head with Odette, since the Aglaeca was such a major storyline that overarched both seasons one and two. Plus the duality of the George/Odette issue can only be managed for so long before it starts to go wrong…or before someone starts getting jealous of someone else.

The other big storyline is the Hudson family. While I doubt this will be completely resolved (they’re more of a constant antagonist) we may see some resolution in terms of Ryan’s relationship with his parents and whether or not the family will go after Nancy to keep her from inheriting the estate. Nick and Ryan may also make some headway in taking down his father, but that will likely bleed over into season three as it’s no small feat to dismantle an empire.

There are some other loose ends that may get wrapped up, such as Nancy applying to college and her likely-doomed-to-fail relationship with Gil. But just like the Hudsons sticking around, there are a few other issues that aren’t likely to be written out by the end of the season—namely the spirits and magicks and curses that Nancy let loose from the Historical Society Archives. The Drew Crew hasn’t really had time to deal with reining in the issues except as they arise one by one, and I doubt they’ll be able to fix it all before the season wraps. What else was lurking in the depths of the archives that we just haven’t seen yet, and what havoc might they wreak? We’ll just have to watch and find out.

Until the next episode, sleuths.