Warning: Spoilers below!
Sally is able to once again outsmart Donna and make it back to her friends. We quickly realize Sally and Donna are connected through magic and she uses a spell to literally pull Josh out of his wolf. But, she's unable to finish it because every time she practices magic, she temporarily travels in time! I really liked this new aspect of the show because it allows us to see different facets of our characters. For example, Sally is horrified when she travels back to the 20's and gets a glimpse at Aidan's previous murderous lifestyle.
Since the spell is incomplete, Josh comes back different. He struggles to adjust to living as a human again and becomes aware that the wolf is still there, just beneath his skin.
Kenny shows up again and we learn he's still a deformed looking hybrid, but he's able to compel everyone, including vampires, into thinking he looks normal. I found myself unsure of his character for the majority of this season because like Aidan, we're trying to figure out if he's a good guy or another power hungry type like Bishop.
The weakest plot point for me is the Ramona story. Many times when Sally travels throughout time, she sees a little girl being murdered in the 70's and spends part of the season trying to figure out how to help her.
Josh and Nora meet new werewolves and end up throwing a party for a couple whose pure bread baby they helped deliver. This werewolf baby shower leads to another hilarious moment when Aidan and Kenny crash and start dancing. Of course, we can't escape the awkward vampire/werewolf tension and an inevitable fight breaks out.
I watched a few episodes of the UK version of this show but couldn't finish it because the main werewolf character was so unlikable. When he cheats on his girlfriend, I was out. I was disappointed they brought a similar plot point to the U.S. show, but it's at least slightly more understandable. Josh does cheat on Nora, but in wolf form when they change in the woods with the new pack. I hated he didn't tell her right away because I thought he was better than that. But it does contribute to him learning more about his new wolf. He is now able to transform at will and Nora becomes afraid of him. It was so sad when she leaves.
Aidan is reunited with Suzanna, his wife he thought was dead and it turns out, Bishop turned her. At first, we don't understand her actions. She whips herself, drinks only to survive, never for pleasure, and is killing other vampires. Then, we're shown flashbacks depicting her first kill being Isaac, her and Aidan's only son. When she finally tells Aidan the truth, she gives him the opportunity to kill her, but he can't do it. The pain in this scene is deeply felt and as they finally mourn their son together, some healing occurs.
I love the fact they used Sally's real life brother to play Robbie because they could be twins. Unfortunately, he mysteriously dies at the house and we get another great moment when someone learns the truth about the supernatural. He is now a ghost and Sally insists on getting Donna to help bring him back to life. We get flashbacks and learn Donna was hung in the 17th century. Other witches use a ghost's life forces to bring Donna back to life and when Sally learns this, she wants to use this method for her brother. Donna offers to sacrifice herself for Robbie, but he has accepted his fate and disappears. At this point, we have come to like Donna as a character because of how much she has helped Sally and we better understand her backstory.
Episode 8, Rewind, Rewind, is my favorite of the entire show. Sally is time traveling again and she's in the house with Danny and her past self. But this isn't just any night. When she unwraps herself from a blanket and reveals her signature outfit from the first two seasons, she realizes this is the night of her death. She's yelling at herself to get away from Danny and I get goosebumps every time I see this scene. Even though she's unable to use her magic, she can still possess. She jumps into her own body and tells Danny off before he can kill her. What follows is everything you want to happen to her character. I would say it would be worth it to just watch this one episode, but it's intensity is only felt when you've seen what our characters have been through to make it to this point.
In this episode they bring back many familiar faces from season one. Sally's personality is so confident and feisty because she knows what is to come. She prevents Aidan from killing Rebecca and convinces him and Josh to move in with her in the house. The scene of them moving everything in is so nostalgic because everything is the same, except this time she's alive. Surprisingly in this reality, Sally and Aidan fall in love! I remember thinking how great and strange this aspect was because they are great together, but up until this point their relationship has been platonic, even when she was a zombie. Looking back, there were some moments that hinted at their chemistry, but until now, it was never fulfilled. They certainly fulfill it in this episode.
Of course things can't stay perfect forever. Josh is struggling and Sally realizes she interfered with his and Aidan's relationship when Aidan is ready to give up on him. I remember being so sad about this because I loved Sally and Aidan together. Sally also puts a rift between Josh and Nora when she gets scratched, preventing Nora from being turned.
Even though she believed she was changing the past for the better, things seem to fall back to the old timeline. Sally is devastated to learn Danny murdered Bridget. Aidan still kills Bishop, this time by giving him blood tainted with the virus from season 3. And sadly, Sally gets mixed up in a fight between Josh, Ray, Aidan, and another vampire, and she dies by getting her head bashed in again. I have to say, her makeup and outfit in this afterlife are killer. The conversation between Josh and Aidan after Sally's death breaks my heart. The pain inflicted is hard to watch.
Even after she dies, Sally is still stuck in the past for a few years. Josh and Nora do not end up together and Nora is a divorced addict. Sally is trying to find a way to get back to the correct timeline and when she possesses Josh, she leaves behind memories of the group all together. I love the scene where he talks to Nora and they're both sad things didn't work out between them. He sees one of Sally's memories of Nora at their wedding. This motivates him to help her fix things to how they were meant to be.
She's finally able to enlist Donna for help, who warns her she may bounce ahead of where she's supposed to be before going back to the correct time. She temporarily goes too far and sees Aidan kill Josh just before getting home. We are left with dread for what is to come.
In episode 10, Aidan must defend Kenny from Suzanna and ultimately has to kill her, hoping she can finally find peace. Nora and Sally have a girl talk that starts with Sally knocking pills out of Nora's hands to save her from her addiction. It turns out, it was only ibuprofen and they laugh at the suggestion that pills would ever be one of her vices. Sally tells her about the alternate reality romance with Aidan and it becomes clear she needs to tell him what happened. How does she decide to do this? By possessing a werewolf during a fight to save Josh of course. This scene is reminiscent of the movie Ghost, when Patrick Swayze possesses Whoopi Goldberg so he and Demi Moore can have a moment. Similarly, we are shown Aidan kissing the werewolf and then we get to see Sally take his place. As awkward as this is, it works and Aidan's feelings for Sally are awakened.
Josh had to be rescued from the werewolves because they forced him to turn willing humans into his new type of wolf. This whole season he's been struggling to fight against this part of himself. Sally is able to help him overcome this fear by facing his wolf and accepting him into his life. This allows his relationship with Nora to be on the mend because now he is in control.
Another great moment occurs when Sally tells Nora she's always admired her for getting out of her abusive relationship since she wasn't able to get out of her own. Sally is able to rid Nora of her burn scars with a spell, showing at least one time her magic didn't yield horrible consequences.
As this season comes to a close, we realize the roommates can no longer stay in the house. This is when the Ramona sub plot comes to a head. Ramona is the little girl Sally saw get murdered in the past. We find out she has been living in a hidden room upstairs the whole time, which is why this part seemed a little weak for me. She doesn't want anyone to leave and we learn she is the one who killed Robbie. It gets weirder because she's actually not even a ghost. From what I understand she's the evil of the house and thrives on death.
In an attempt to force everyone to stay with her, Ramona manipulates everyone's minds. Her goal is to get them to kill themselves so they'll have to live there with her forever as ghosts. Everyone but Aidan snaps out of it and Sally's vision of him killing Josh almost comes true. In the end, she's not able to snap him out of it and sacrifices herself for him. Her last spell turns Aidan human, and then she's gone. After all the times similar things have happened, it becomes clear she's gone for good this time.
It made perfect sense they would choose to make Aidan human in the end because if he has to die, this way he would have an afterlife. There is some great humor when he eats human food and it actually tastes good for the first time in over two hundred years. However, his body is aging fast and he only has a few weeks to live. He's conflicted and even tries to get turned again, but Josh stops him just in time reminding him of Sally's sacrifice. Her absence causes him intense pain.
He spends his remaining time with Josh and the two have some great bonding moments. When they discover Ramona hasn't stopped killing, they make a plan to stop her. Aidan tricks Josh and ends up going to the house alone to burn it down. He defeats Ramona and we see him dying in the same spot Sally died. The house being burned is symbolic of the end of this period in their lives. It has been such a uniting refuge for all of them and now it's over.
I was thrilled to see Aidan's ghost when Josh and Nora come in to see the remains of the house. They're able to say goodbye and he gets his door. He walks into the light, is immediately greeted by Sally, and at this point I'm sobbing. They finally get to be together after all that. In the final moments of the show, we see a dream Josh and Nora are having about the four of them in the house like old times. They wake up calling for their two children who they've named Sally and Aidan. I'm still crying as the show comes to a bittersweet close.
After seeing all four seasons, I might have to say this is my all time favorite show. It was funny, emotional, suspenseful, romantic, horrifying; everything I want. I love the characters, the effects and visuals were on point, and it had something to say about what it means to really love someone.
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