Nancy Drew: All 4 seasons ranked from worst to best

3. Nancy Drew season 3

The show’s third season landing in second to last place was a no brainer. Despite it still being a solid season of television, the storytelling often sacrificed characterization for plot progression. Nancy Drew season 3 focused on Temperance, an ancestor of Nancy’s who swears she’s not up to no good, she’s just simply settling back into Horseshoe Bay after centuries of being exiled thanks to a spell that kept her from crossing into town.

A big central question that was posited was whether Temperance could be trusted and, for the most part, the season kept trying to bait the audience into believing that it’s possible that she really was just trying to be helpful even if she skipped over boundaries to do it. The problem, of course, was that there wasn’t anything morally grey about Temperance. She didn’t straddle the line of good and evil which was obvious from the beginning, so watching characters like Bess and especially Nancy go back and forth on Temperance’s character read like weak plot points that dragged on.

The interpersonal relationships in this season, however, were good even with the break up of a main romance. Bess got to assert herself and express how her friends discounting her or dismissing her contributions made her feel, she also developed a penchant for magic. And, though she did lose the ghost Odette, she gained a partner in Addy. George grew to see that her support system has allowed her enough security to expand her horizons from The Claw to a career in law even if that does mean she doesn’t have Nick by her side as her boyfriend or fiancé. The two broke up when George realized she didn’t know if she was settling once Odette was no longer sharing her body.

Nick finally broached the topic of his own trauma which he had been suppressing and he has fully embraced stepping into his healing. Ace went through the most out of everyone having dealt with a bad break up with Amanda Bobbsey which stemmed from his near imprisonment thanks to his dealings with her father. He was kicked out of his home for disclosing to his mom that he has a long lost brother that his dad didn’t initially know about, he was living on Nick’s couch before he got a job at the morgue, and he turned out to be the last person to be carrying a piece of Charity’s soul which made him a target of Temperance’s.

Ace managed to survive the ordeal of being on the powerful witch’s hit list, but she wasn’t vanquished without leaving a parting gift. She cursed him and Nancy as punishment for choosing to save the town of Horseshoe Bay instead of letting her open the hellmouth beneath it. Said curse activates as soon as the two act upon their love for one another, hence why Nancy harshly pushed him away at the tail end of the season to save his life. Ace ended the season not knowing about the curse.

Nace are a big ship in the Nancy Drew fandom so this tragic love plot they’ve been thrust into was a huge draw for season 4. The execution of it left a lot to be desired considering the two spent the majority of the third season apart with different love interests, but it nonetheless put them on the path to a romance once they can lift this curse.

Highlights of season 3:

• Carson and Ryan’s growing bond as Nancy’s dads and her reliance on the two of them. Their family unit always brings the laughs and smiles.
• Nick’s youth center for the children and teens of Horseshoe Bay. It’s an inclusive space where they can feel safe to be themselves and hang out.
• The inclusion of magic into the plot. It doesn’t seem to have a rule system, but it’s a new supernatural element that added another dimension to the story.
• Agent Park. Whether you were a fan of his brief romance with Nancy or not, he was a welcome and subversive addition to Nancy Drew. Typically, the investigative crew’s relationship with law enforcement is fraught, but they actually worked in partnership with Park over the season which allowed for some interesting team ups and plot progressions.
• Lastly, Nancy opened her investigation agency in the season 3 finale which has opened the door to a plethora of possibilities. It’s also nice to see the sleuth leaping into her calling in an official capacity.