Plot
Leonard Bates watches movers finish unloading his belongings into a new house on Long Island. He admits he is moving in alone. In the tool shed he finds a wishing well, tosses in a coin, and wishes for a wife. A bride rises from the well, her skin turning translucent, and declares that Bates is hers before chasing after him.
In Manhattan, Garrett Miller and Kylie Griffin race past the firehouse while Roland Jackson times them. Garrett wins with a time of 1:55. Eduardo Rivera arrives late and out of breath, pushing his bicycle on foot. Bates speeds through the streets in his red convertible, hunted by the Ghost Bride, who first appears in his rear-view mirror and then travels through storefront windows and other reflective surfaces. He reaches the firehouse and pounds on the door.
The team brings him up to the rec room to consult Egon Spengler, who recognizes the attack as a conjunctive ritual and asks whether Bates made a wish at a well. Bates explains that he is turning 40, sold his apartment on the Upper West Side, quit his accounting job, and wanted someone to share his life with. Egon decides the team will investigate the well the next morning and has everyone spend the night at the firehouse.
The overnight stay gives the episode some of its sharpest character moments. Roland emerges from the bathroom in pajamas to general ridicule. A pillow fight breaks out, and the group shares their own ambitions: Roland wants a large family, Garrett muses about having a son he could teach his tricks to, and Kylie says she wants to travel the world with a handsome and intelligent man.
That night the Ghost Bride finds the firehouse and moves between mirrors, a TV screen, a window, and a silver plate, draining Bates of energy when she kisses him. Roland identifies her as a Class 5. Kylie devises a plan, using corny tax-themed flirting to draw Bates in and lure the ghost out of the silver plate. The Ghost Bride flies out of the reflection and seizes Kylie, but Eduardo tackles the ghost off her. The team confines and traps her.
Back at his Long Island house, Bates is attacked again by a second Ghost Bride. Egon theorizes the first was only a copy. The Ghostbusters smash every reflective surface in the house, but the ghost survives in the broken shards. Consulting his database on the area's psychokinetic turbulence, Egon concludes the real threat is a Class 4 Psychoreactive Specter called the Wishgiver, and orders the well destroyed. Garrett and Bates head to the tool shed while the others trap the second Ghost Bride. The full team converges on the well and blasts it until it explodes, ending the haunting.
The episode closes some time later with the team eating takeout chicken at the firehouse. Kylie announces Bates has left for three weeks in Europe. Eduardo finds a wishbone and is about to make a wish with Slimer when the rest of the team glares at him. He reconsiders and offers coleslaw instead.
Ghosts
Ghost Bride: The Wishgiver's manifestation, conjured by Bates' wish. She appears as a translucent undead bride and can travel instantly through any reflective surface, including mirrors, windows, television screens, and chrome objects. She drains her target's life force through a kiss. Egon classifies her as a Class 5. Trapping the first Ghost Bride does not end the haunting, as the Wishgiver can produce copies tied to its own existence.
Wishgiver: The episode's primary antagonist. Egon's database identifies it as a Class 4 Psychoreactive Specter anchored to the wishing well. It appears as an ugly, tree-like entity at the bottom of the well and cannot stray from it. The Wishgiver lures victims by granting a twisted version of their heart's desire, then uses the conjured ghost to drain the wisher of their life force. The collection of coins in the well suggests a long history of previous victims before Bates arrived. The Wishgiver is dispersed when the Ghostbusters destroy the well.
Cast
Leonard Bates is the episode's central client. The Wishgiver and Ghost Bride are the antagonists. The Ghostbusters appearing are Egon Spengler, Eduardo Rivera, Roland Jackson, Garrett Miller, and Kylie Griffin, along with Slimer.
The regular voice cast is credited as Tara Charendoff, Maurice LaMarche, Jason Marsden, Alfonso Ribeiro, Rino Romano, and Billy West. Valery Pappas and Mark Taylor are credited as guest voices.
Equipment
The team uses the Proton Pack, particle thrower, proton canister, P.K.E. Meter, proton pistol, trap, Ecto-1, and radio. The Ghost Bride is sent to the Containment Unit.
Locations
The episode moves between Manhattan and Long Island. The World Trade Center is visible in New York establishing shots. Locations include the firehouse, Bates' two-story house and its tool shed on Long Island, and Beatty Mirror and Glass, a Manhattan storefront through which the Ghost Bride passes during the initial chase.
Trivia
The "For Sale" sign Bates removes from his lawn references Adelaide Productions, the Sony Pictures Television animation division that produced Extreme Ghostbusters. The Bates house itself was sold through a fictional real estate company called Adelaide Realty, a further nod to the production company.
Egon recalls a similar kissing ritual that he nearly fell victim to in the Real Ghostbusters episode "Til Death Do Us Part," which shares a similar title and premise.
Eduardo refers to Bates as a "yuppie," a term for upwardly mobile young professionals that entered common use in the early 1980s. Bates mentions he moved out of the Upper West Side, the same neighborhood Janosz Poha is from in Ghostbusters II.
The episode is preceded by "Eyes of a Dragon" and followed by "Glutton for Punishment."
References
Spook Central, "Extreme Ghostbusters Episode Guide" (production #137 and episode listing).
