Did we remember to declare that we liked the series “School Spirits”? While we continue to have thoughts about how each character is cast in a suspicious light, only for them to be seen on Maddie’s side later, the episodes have been worth their salt. We also believe that “School Spirits” is better watched over a few days than in one sitting altogether. This is how Episode 7 plays out.
Spoilers Ahead
The Ghosts’ Efforts To Help Maddie
After Roger South is arrested on suspicion of killing Maddie, she is getting more desperate to find her killer, as she does not want an innocent man punished. Rhonda suggests that the brain erases traumatic memories to protect us, and Wally recommends trying to use some triggers, like smell, taste, and sound, to try and make Maddie remember what happened on the day of her death. He makes a burrito for Maddie, but instead of helping her remember anything, it ends with Wally getting jealous of Simon, much to Rhonda and Charlie’s enjoyment. Rhonda says that they should try music, but even that doesn’t work for Maddie. This is when Dawn, another ghost, tells them that they should try an “anti-seance.” She says that memories are like spirits, and an anti-seance will help conjure them. Seeing no other way, Maddie agrees to the idea. However, things don’t go exactly as planned during the anti-seance.
Dawn organizes the seance, and she says that they should all talk about their last day to jog Maddie’s memory. Dawn starts with herself and ends up telling them that she had overheard her friends talking badly about her, and when she tried to hide from them in an attempt to turn off the bulb, she was electrocuted, and that is how she had died. This story effectively ends the anti-seance, but it gives Maddie a sense of clarity regarding other things. She realizes that friends are more affected by our words than we would like to think. This makes her see Simon’s doubts about Nicole in a new light. Additionally, she apologizes to Dawn, telling her that they should not have treated her the way they did. This apology brings Dawn to tears, the happy kind, and she is able to cross over to the afterlife peacefully. When the other ghosts see the white light, they realize that Dawn has left, and they mention how it did not happen when Janet left. This is probably the first time the ghosts have seen someone actually cross over successfully.
Simon, Xavier, And Claire’s Investigation
Simon finds it odd that Nicole has been avoiding him for a week. He is also surprised that she has a collage full of Maddie’s pictures. But Nicole brushes it off before burning the pictures without anyone knowing. Meanwhile, Xavier tells Simon that his alibi for Maddie’s murder was Roger South, who had been humming songs in the bathroom for the entirety of the last period, at the same time that Xavier was also there trying to unlock Maddie’s phone. The sheriff is targeting Roger South because he wants to show some progress in the investigation. They make a plan to break into the sheriff’s office to go through the evidence. Caire smashes the window of her car to give herself an excuse to visit the police station by saying that someone is stalking her. The plan is successful, and the three of them go to the police station. While Claire is telling the officer about it, he is briefly distracted by a message that Sandra Nears has reported someone breaking into her house while she was unconscious.
In the meantime, Simon and Xavier are going through the evidence. Simon notices the boot print the police had found in the jungle, which they had assumed was Maddie’s. Upon realizing that Nicole was the only one to have discovered the boot print, he understands that something is wrong because the print could not have belonged to Maddie. When they get back to school, Maddie is waiting for Simon at the bus stop. Maddie had walked in on Simon bombing his university interview earlier that day, and she wanted to know why he had done that. Simon doesn’t reply right away but tells her about Nicole lying. Maddie doesn’t agree with Simon because she doesn’t see why Nicole would do that. Simon tells her that she might be holding a grudge against them since they were mean to her a few months ago, but Maddie rubbishes it.
While the two are still disagreeing on this, Xavier and Claire go through the janitor’s closet to find Roger’s schedule and find that he did not have duty during the time frame of Maddie’s death, meaning that he couldn’t have known about the cash. As Claire says, it was just the cheerleaders and the AV crew in school at the time. With this news, Simon goes to Maddie once again and tells her that Nicole must have taken the video of Claire and Anderson and then stolen his number from Maddie’s phone. Since Maddie was the only one with his number, Anderson thought that it was her blackmailing him. By this time, Maddie has gone through the anti-seance, and she accepts that they may have hurt Nicole more than they realized and that she might still be holding a grudge.
Things get a little emotional, and Simon tells her that he bombed the interview because he saw no point in going to the university without Maddie. He loved her and wanted to be with her. Maddie reminds him that he would anyway have to leave school in June, and he would probably be leaving earlier than her. Either way, they decide to confront Nicole.
‘School Spirits’ Episode 7 Ending Explained: Did Maddie’s Mother Kill Her?
Nicole is in the computer lab, trying to erase all evidence of her ever having sent the video to Anderson when Simon and Maddie enter the room. Simon asks her right away why she did that to her friend, and Nicole breaks down and tells them that she needed the money to be able to go to school in Chicago so that she could be close to her friends. She had not been able to get into the colleges of her choice, and her family couldn’t afford the tuition otherwise. She had not told her friends that to avoid them thinking even less of her. Nicole did not know that Maddie was the only one with Anderson’s number. She had blamed herself for Maddie’s disappearance, thinking that her blackmail might have been the cause of it. Simon apologizes to her and tells her to return the money so that Roger South is not unduly punished.
In “School Spirits” Episode 6, we saw Nicole digging up something. She was digging up a hole to hide the money. But when she tries looking for it with Simon, the money is missing. Nicole had come there from Sandra’s house, so she might have followed her. Maddie, who is looking at her friends from behind the school fence, spots a masked person stalking Nicole and Simon. They spot the person, too, and follow him/ her. As for Maddie, she is having flashbacks of her last day. At the end of Episode 7 of “School Spirits,” Maddie remembers her mother coming to meet her at school. She also remembers a fight with her mother over something that looked suspiciously like the murder weapon in the background. It starts dawning on Maddie that her mother might just have been the one to murder her. Earlier in the episode, we saw that Sandra was putting away an envelope as if “out of sight, out of mind.” It remains to be seen whether Sandra was really the one to kill her daughter or if some of her actions led to it.
Meanwhile, Mr. Martin is furious with Rhonda for helping Maddie, as he feels that it is just enhancing her disconnect from her new world. Charlie overhears their conversation, and like us, he seems to find something wrong with it, though it is not addressed. As for Xavier, his father corners him in a convenience store after finding that he tampered with the evidence, but Claire defends him. The finale episode of “School Spirits” will tell us how all these pieces fall into place together.
Final Thoughts
For some reason, we want the sheriff to come under some scrutiny. There is something inherently shady about that man, and he might have a hand in Maddie’s disappearance more than he is letting on. As for the ghosts, there is something wrong with Mr. Martin. The way he was angry with Rhonda felt a little bit too much as if he had a personal stake in her journey to the afterlife. These are the answers we are looking for in the Season 1 finale of “School Spirits.”
