GHOSTS Post-Mortem: Rebecca Wisocky on ‘The Vault’ Twist That ‘Will Change Our Universe’

[Warning: This post contains spoilers for the Thursday, January 20 episode of GHOSTS, “The Vault.”]

It turns out a mysterious vault and a previously MIA husband was the least of the issues for the GHOSTS on the Thursday, January 20 episode, “The Vault.”

With Elias (Matt Walsh) causing trouble, an errant demand that he go to Hell—uttered by his estranged, but long-mistreated wife, Hetty (Rebecca Wisocky)—caused the ghost to, well, get sucked into the underworld.

“The concept of Hell will change our universe,” Wisocky teases. “Jay says it earlier in the episode with regard to the vault door: it’s always fun just when the mythology gets expanded. And, boy, does it ever it in multiple ways in this episode.”

Of course, Hetty had to try out her possible power and similarly suggested that Trevor (Asher Grodman) go to Hell. He did not get taken…but he also was not amused to be used as a guinea pig.

“That’s representative of Hetty’s mercurial sense of not understanding the stakes of her [possible] power,” Wisocky notes. “So for her to be able to turn and say, in almost casual, silly way, ‘Well, maybe Trevor you can go to Hell.’ I was happy that they allowed me to play that in that way. And his response to it, where he just jumps, like a cartoon cat straight up in the air, was just so very delightful to watch for me.”

In the immediate future, the ghosts opt against talking about the new potential end to their afterlife. “There might be a little while where we just agree to not speak about it,” Wisocky allows. “I mean, it is so mind-boggling. It’s so funny that none of us had even considered the possibility [as performers]. And when we all read the script and saw literally the gates of Hell open up, we were just aghast. We couldn’t believe that we hadn’t thought of it yet.”

But before Elias was banished to Hell, Hetty got to tell her husband off, and explain how watching Sam (Rose McIver) and Jay (Utkarsh Ambudkar) had shifted her view of marriage.

“You get to see her be really surprised and amazed and shocked in the moment at just how much she actually has changed,” Wisocky says. “I don’t think that she was aware that she’s been suddenly taking these, as Alberta has called it, baby steps into the modern era of female empowerment.”

As big as the moment was, Wisocky was clear Hetty can only move so far so fast. “I think she’s gonna still arrive there kicking and screaming,” she notes. “One of the lovely things about the characters in the show that allows you to feel for them is their hypocrisy. Anyone wouldn’t, all of a sudden, wake up tomorrow a modern woman capable of incredibly evolved thoughts. She’d still be confused. And that’s one of the things that so much more enjoyable and so human is to watch these characters try and keep getting it a little bit wrong. But they keep trying. And they are capable of change, at the very least. And in ‘The Vault,’ they can all feel and see the harsh evidence that change is good.”

“I was pretty insistent that we hold on to some of her hypocrisy and the dichotomy between being evolved and yet still being entrenched in these gender roles,’ she continues. “She wasn’t just oppressed by her husband—she believed certain things that you or I certainly wouldn’t believe now. And so that kind of change doesn’t happen overnight.”

For better or worse, the episode also allowed Hetty to get a bit more closure with Elias…even if time didn’t quite change him as much.

“Just seeing him, feeling him there in the not-quite-flesh is shocking and palpable to her,” Wisocky says. “He had a real, real dark power over Hetty. And I think Hetty was actually in love with him. And I think one of the tragic things is he probably loved every man, woman, and child in town except for her. It takes her by surprise. And anytime we can create that situation where you think you know someone so well, and then you’re completely surprised by the effect that they have on you, that’s good stuff there.”

Luckily, Wisocky had a much better experience with Walsh. “Matt Walsh is great,” she gushes. “He’s so funny. He’s so skilled. He’s such a lovely person to be around. But he deals with his character in a really restrained, humble way. There’s just a real subtlety in the evil of this character, which I think makes it very effective. And also particularly maddening to Hetty, that she seems to have no effect on him. He seems to be without emotion. And I think that was really fun to play against.”

GHOSTS, Thursdays, 9/8c, CBS

RELATED:

• GHOSTS: Rebecca Wisocky Previews Hetty’s Reunion With Her Long MIA Husband
• GHOSTS: Utkarsh Ambudkar Previews Sam’s Reunion with Her Mom
• GHOSTS EPs Joe Wiseman and Joe Port on Their Strategy for Revealing the Ghost Rules
• GHOSTS: Utkarsh Ambudkar Previews Hetty Possessing Jay
• GHOSTS: Danielle Pinnock on Alberta’s Death and That Bonkers Tattoo
• GHOSTS: Danielle Pinnock Previews Alberta’s Encounter with a Superfan
• GHOSTS Post-Mortem: Richie Moriarty Breaks Down the ‘Pete’s Wife’ Reveals
• GHOSTS’ Richie Moriarty on Meeting a Mini-Pete on Halloween, Plus Pete’s Upcoming Family ‘Reunion’
• CBS Orders Full Season of GHOSTS
• GHOSTS: What You Need to Know About the Series Premiere

Follow @GiveMeMyRemote and @marisaroffman on Twitter for the latest TV news. Connect with other TV fans on GIVE ME MY REMOTE’s official Facebook page.

And be the first to see our exclusive videos by subscribing to our YouTube channel.

As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases made through links/ads placed on the site.