The Children's Parade

"The Children's Parade" is an episode of Ghost Whisperer. It is the 107th episode overall and the 22nd in season 5. It originally aired on May 21, 2010 on CBS in United States. It is the fifth season finale and also the last original new episode to air due the show's cancellation on May 18, 2010.^[1]The last episode that aired on CBS was a rerun of "Living Nightmare" the week after this episode aired.^[2]

Plot

The hospital where Jim works is shown to be haunted by ghosts. Then the scene cuts to Melinda and Jim sleeping. Melinda wakes up and hears Aiden talking to somebody. They go into his room and see that he is merely playing. Then he goes to bed, telling them that he feels better when now he knows that ghosts do not exist. Melinda and Jim talk about if this is right or not--and meanwhile the Shadows get into the house.

In the morning when Aiden goes to school, he complains about losing his soldier toy. Then Jim mentions to Melinda about a problem with the plumbing and Melinda gets angry for it being her job to call a plumber which causes confusion between both Jim and Aiden. The next scene shows Melinda in Delia's office. Delia asks her how is everything at the store, and Melinda answers that she hates Same As It Never Was and never wants to go there again. Then she suddenly smiles and says everything is alright.

In the hospital Jim and Melinda talk about the haunting there, then Melinda sees a boy who is trying to buy a drink from a machine but had forgotten his money. Melinda buys him a drink, and as she gives it to him, she realizes that he is actually a ghost. Then she talks to Eli about how she could tell the difference and feel them before. Then Melinda goes out and the plumber comes to her house.

Melinda sees Carl the Watcher when she is with Aiden, but for his sake, she does not answer him. Then Carl goes to the dentist, where Eli is, and Eli explains why Melinda refuses to talk to him. Then Carl realizes that he was under the control of the Shadows, and that what they made him say to Melinda was really dangerous. Then, in the hospital, Melinda sees ghosts marching around with the boy who had asked Melinda for a drink ahead of them. The next scene shows Eli under control of the Shadows, in which state he sends Melinda a message saying that she should not believe Carl because the Shadows are controlling him too. When Melinda gets the message, Carl appears beside her and starts explaining the problem to her. But she believes that he is now being controlled, and that the Shadows are trying to make her commit a mistake of some sort. Then her conviction that everyone is telling her what to do with her, and Aiden's, lives angers her, and she yells at him.

In the hospital, Melinda mistakes a living person for a ghost. After that. Melinda sees the ghost boy in the hospital, and he says that if Melinda brings his parents to him, then he will cross over. Melinda goes to the gas station where the boy had told her his father was. But once there, she realizes that he is not Pete's father. The scene cuts to Jim telling Melinda that Pete had died in the hospital, to which the Grandview Youth Home had sent him when he was 13, and that he is an orphan. Jim mentions to Melinda that the plumber is not ready yet. Then the Shadows come into their room.

The next day Melinda goes at the Orphan Home, where she learns that Pete had been adopted by many families, and that then he had become sick. His birth mother had given him up the day he was born. Then Melinda discovers that there was a polio ward years ago and Jim tells her where in the hospital they may be. She finds them, and Pete explains to her that he had made them believe they were alive, that the others were dead, and that they are more important. He teaches them to be brave because the Shadows will be unable to get to them that way.

Then Carl goes into Eli's house and bids him look up the Book of Changes for something new. In so searching, Eli finds a sign that reads: "And the darkness will come and swallow them all. Unless the family of Light (which he thinks is Melinda and her family) turns night into day." The scene cuts to Melinda talking to Jim about the plumber still working, and Jim says that he has not even seen the plumber, but Melinda thinks he had called him. Then she realizes that the plumber is a ghost. When he confesses to this, he takes out Aiden's soldier out of the tub, which was the reason for the plumbing problem. Then at night Aiden is shown talking to Cassidy; then Carl arrives. They talk about the Shinies being children and how the Shinies would win in case of a war breaking out between them and the Shadows.

Jim calls Melinda, whom he tells that he had conducted research and found out that Pete's mother had died giving birth, and that her death was the reason he was an orphan. She had also told the doctors that if anything happened, then she wanted the child to live even if this caused her death. Melinda listens quietly, then simply hangs up on him without reaction because Delia is knocking on the door in the store, which Melinda had locked. Melinda comes to the door with an empty look and says, "Melinda's not here." With that, she closes the blinds. Later in the night, Carl comes into Aiden's room and tells him to save Melinda and to start a war between the Shinies and the Shadows. Meanwhile Delia, Ned, and Eli come into the house, telling Jim that something is wrong with Melinda. Aiden comes down and tells Jim, Delia, Ned, and Eli that they have to take him to where Melinda is before something bad happens to her. They go to the store and Aiden knocks on the door. Melinda shows up saying that she is not his mother. Aiden answers that he knows that and that he wants her back. Melinda says, "We're busy." She then goes back into the dark. Aiden starts calling Cassidy and asks her to call all the Shinies to destroy the Shadows. Cassidy takes Aiden's hand and continues the line of Shinies which goes through the whole town turning night into day. The Shinies then, as one, all make their way into the Same As It Never Was antique store and destroy the Shadows, restoring Melinda to her real self. Everyone comes in and Melinda asks where Aiden is. She hugs him and tells him that he is her hero. The scene cuts to the hospital, where Pete and the other ghost children talk to Melinda and Aiden. Melinda explains to him why he was in the Youth Home. Aiden convinces him to go into the Light. All the children go into the Light with a Shiny beside every single one of them.

Later Jim and Melinda talk to Aiden. Jim tells him that he should not deny his gift, and Melinda tells Aiden that it is called a gift for a reason and that it is neither something they should hide from each other nor something from which they should run away. As Jim and Melinda leave, Melinda turns to Aiden and tells him that she really meant it when she said he was her hero. He smiles and answers, "Just like you are, Mom. Every day." As the series concludes, we see Melinda smile back at Aiden.

Acting

Main cast

• Jennifer Love Hewitt as Melinda Gordon
• David Conrad as Jim Clancy
• Camryn Manheim as Delia Banks
• Christoph Sanders as Ned Banks
• Jamie Kennedy as Eli James
• Connor Gibbs as Aiden Lucas

Guest Starring

• Nick Hodaly as Fred the Janitor^[3]
• Billy Unger as Pete^[3]
• George Wendt as George the Plumber^[3]
• Asante Jones as Stuart^[3]
• Jack Donner as Man in Hospital Gown^[3]
• Peter Holden as Darren^[3]
• Tammy Townsend as Jacqueline^[3]
• Zayne Emory as Pig Mask Kid^[3]
• Rebecca McFarland as Joan^[3]

Recurring

• Joey King as Cassidy^[3]

Production notes

• The episode was filmed near the time the 100th episode aired in March, 2010.
• On May 18, 2010 CBS announced that Ghost Whisperer would not return for a sixth season.^[1]
• Before the cancellation was announced the promo that aired on May 14, 2010 stated that this was the season finale. After cancellation, the promo remained this way, because of the then still possible renewal from ABC.
• John Gray, the original creator of the show, directed and wrote this episode, his second directing in the season and third writing credit as Jennifer Love Hewitt directed on his script of the 100th episode.

Reception

Isabelle Carreau commented the episode as a surprise because of the "happy ending and no cliffhangers", although there still were unfinished storylines, for example President Bedford. She also commented on how quick the Shadows were destroyed without fulfilling the promise of an action packed episode and an epic battle, although the promising line "Melinda's not here".^[4]

Ratings and viewership

• The episode averaged 6.85 million viewers, rating of 1.6/7 and a share of 9.^[5]

Notes

• After the cancellation on May 18, 2010 it was rumored that ABC would renew Ghost Whisperer for a sixth season because it produces the show along with CBS.^[6]
• The episode features the song "There for you" from The Undeserving.^[7]
• Melinda wears black the entire time she is being influenced by the Shadows.^[8]
• Zap2it declared Ghost Whisperer is the second "most missed axed show" after a poll determined 17.1 percent of voters would miss it.^[9]

References