'Nancy Drew' Season 1 Episode 3 foreshadows Ryan Hudson's involvement in Dead Lucy's murder

Riley Smith's Ryan Hudson is an intriguing character on 'Nancy Drew'. He was inside the diner when his wife Tiffany Hudson died mysteriously outside the Claw and yet the police don't suspect him at all.
PUBLISHED OCT 24, 2019

Spoilers ahead for episode 3 'The Curse of the Dark Storm' of 'Nancy Drew' 

Riley Smith's Ryan Hudson is an intriguing character on 'Nancy Drew'. He was inside the diner when his wife Tiffany Hudson (Sinead Curry) died mysteriously outside the Claw. But the police never looked at him as a suspect owing to him coming from a rich, influential family that used to own pretty much most of the town. Instead, the police consider George (Leah Lewis), Nick (Tunji Kasim) and Bess (Maddison Jaizani) as the prime suspects. Nancy (Kennedy McMann) even points out that the spouse should be looked into first in such cases, but the cops don't pay her heed. 

In the latest episode 'The Curse of the Dark Storm', there was some pretty heavy foreshadowing about his involvement in not Tiffany's murder but Dead Lucy's. Fans had already been theorizing that Ryan could have had some role in Lucy's death. And was the reason why Carson Drew (Scott Wolf) first denied taking over his case. But this episode takes us one step closer to knowing the truth. 

When Ryan visits the Drew house, he tells Carson that he is in dire need of money to clear out the debts and that he needs Tiffany's death to be of "natural causes" for it is only then that he will receive her money and pay off his debts. Although he refuses to tell Carson who he owes money. 

A scene shows the shadow of two hands reaching out towards Ryan from behind him - possibly the ghost of Dead Lucy. He also begins hearing banging in the house, but when he follows them, it leads him to nowhere. Shortly afterward, he sees a vision of the ghost of Dead Lucy directly above Carson - a scene that totally spooked us out too! 



 

Nervous and anxious, Ryan and Carson leave the house to go to the Lilac Inn, a local bed-and-breakfast that Tiffany was restoring. He still won't tell Carson who he owes, but tells him that Tiffany was mentally unsound and that she was on medications for anxiety and paints a general unstable picture of her.

Ryan's urgency with getting his hands on Tiffany's money, his refusal to reveal who he owes money to, and his general demeanor - all point to him having some connection to Dead Lucy. Carson had earlier said that he promised his wife that he would never work for a Hudson, which means that he had indeed worked for them at some point and it didn't fare well for him. Could it have been Dead Lucy's case? 

We have to wait for answers. Plus it must mean something since only Ryan has seen the ghost of Dead Lucy so far, with the exception of Nancy (who we know is directed by Lucy to clues and evidence). Even Carson misses actually seeing her in this episode.

'Nancy Drew' airs Wednesdays at 9 pm ET/PT on The CW. 

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