"Prisoners of Love" is all about world building. Though we got a brief glimpse of the Ghost Zone in "Splitting Images", the whole showstopper happens here and by golly, it's impressive. The animators and imagination of the creators are to be commended for their tremendous hard work on depicting a surreal, nightmarish piece of work. True, as a woman in my 20s, I don’t find it pants-wetting, but timid children or sensitive people may assume otherwise. What it perfectly captures is atmosphere. As cliché as the Poltergeist kid or the grave-popping skeletons are, they do a great job pushing the idea that the Ghost Zone is clearly not Earth. All the horror Danny and friends witness in movies are too real over here. Instead of calm blue skies, the Ghost Zone is peppered with dark green and swirls. There are barely any lands for them to walk on and every single floating door is a gateway to some sick ghoul’s personal obsession. While the Ghost Zone continuously features monstrosities over monstrosities over the course of the show, it never reaches the magnificent first impression it gives us here.
Walker himself is another great addition to the spooky Ghost Zone. If his home is a world of mystery and uncertainly, he is the light that keeps it from getting too far out of hand. Ironically, that makes him a scarier foe. From his first appearance as a towering figure, you get the idea that he’s the boss, the man, the po-po. The Ghost Zone is an ambiguous territory with several ghosts and beasts playing by their own rules. I think it’s safe to say Walker is that one guy taking in the responsibility to handle the impossible madness one cuff at a time, even if he has to play the bad cop—he’s Danny’s antagonist, but he is not a villain by any means. After Pariah Dark’s reign ended, Walker is the closest the zone has to a royal figure as well as a high authority that prevents shit from hitting the fan. With his strict upbringing, who better than him?
It’s such a shame the rest of the episode just isn’t as good. Throughout the twenty-two minutes, it’s been nothing but plotholes and lazy convenience to explain away or advance the plot, and a stupid subplot that borders a laugh track. The biggest incident is why the captured ghosts are thrown in jail in the first place. "The Ultimate Enemy" and "Torrent of Terror" eventually explains the Obeservants are in charge of overseeing nasty ghosts terrorizing Earth. While it’s safe to say the writers' didn’t think that far at the time, Skulker and the others’ actions on Danny’s world seem to be the most logical explanation on why they’re in Walker’s hand. The only problem is we don't get to know why they’re arrested. Other major ones include Danny cleaning up the basement lab with his ecto rays and humans' ability to phase through the Ghost Zone for no apparent reason other than plot wanting it to. The episode poses an easy way out without explanation, making any of what they do or say harder to shallow. On the plus side, this is the first episode where we see Skulker's leadership. He gets to brandish this more in latter episodes.
Maddie and Jack’s subplot is lackluster at best and offensive at worst. Any genre savvy child will know the two weren’t going to divorce. Jack and Danny misunderstands and misinterprets Maddie’s words with the former chasing after his wife as he battles immature toilet jokes and stuffy in-laws while the latter gets his head in a bigger mess then he could deal with it. The repulsive redneck stereotyping tragically plays it straight with barely a funny jab that could have made it slightly better, if not still as stupid. Overall, the B plot’s script feels like it got lost in a pile of classic sitcom storytelling. Some of their scenes should have been severely cut down in order to explain some of the important plot points (like, um, why the ghosts were arrested) as well (I really didn't need to see that extended bathroom humor or the party at the end). It’s good of them to focus on the secondary human cast, but it’s unneeded.
In the long run, the episode itself is still solid with good pacing. The main plot entertains because it connects with the continuity and story development that only extends further, but the numerous flaws really, really kills it.
6.5/10
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Article written revised in: Apr. 22, 2010
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