The ghost lore in School Spirits really confuses me sometimes. I mean, I know it’s not that important, but I definitely think there might be some inconsistencies. Like, how are these ghosts able to listen to music and hear things through a telephone? But that’s not the point here at all. Episode 5 of season 2 takes its time to set the mood. Since it’s a show that releases one episode a week, it’s hard to keep track of what happened in the previous episode, so I had personally completely forgotten about the fact that Mr. Martin was not in school anymore and had stolen somebody’s body. We get to know who he swapped with all the way at the end of this episode. In this episode, we also get some introspection on Maddie’s part, through a really nice scene with Wally. It’s definitely something a lot of people who don’t get great grades, or who struggle to know what they want to do with their lives while being pressured, know about really well. With that said though, let’s go straight into the recap.
Spoiler Alert
What Happens At Dinner?
Janet realizes that if she doesn’t make it seem like things are normal-ish, she’ll be sent to a mental institute. In truth, Sandra simply suggests going to a therapist to figure out what’s wrong with Maddie, but Janet, being from the era that she is, obviously thought it meant being institutionalized. To distract Sandra, Janet suggests they invite her friends over for dinner. Back at school, Quinn is trying really hard to find her key, but she hasn’t yet. She feels like she’s being left out because it feels like the other kids have been in a group for a really long time. This is in fact true, but Quinn wants in. Rhonda and she talk it out a little, and Rhonda notices Mr. Martin’s watch near where Quinn is sitting at the bus stop. The group then realizes Mr. Martin is gone and has left behind only his watch. This inadvertently makes the watch his key?
At the same time, Maddie learns from Simon that her mother is treating Janet very well, and they look super comfy. He also tells her that they’ve all been invited for dinner. It is interesting how Maddie is super eager to get out of school this whole time but changes her mind really quickly later in the episode. Now, in order to figure out how to get Janet back to school, the whole gang teams up, i.e., Maddie’s live friends and her ghost ones. Quinn thinks she’s not invited to this and doesn’t show up, but I’m sure she’d have been of help if she’d joined. Anyway, most of the ideas are futile, but Claire suggests they lure Janet to the school without letting her know that they know that she’s taken over Maddie’s body and slowly introduce her to the idea that they know. They also think it’s a good idea to tell her that Mr. Martin isn’t in school anymore. Nicole feels bad that nobody listens to her idea of talking to people Janet knows to get to know her better. She messages Xavier through the app (on which they still don’t know that they’re chatting with each other), and he comforts her.
Yuri decides to step out of the pottery studio and join Charley and Wally in the library. Now, there’s clearly some chemistry between the two boys, but Charley is afraid to talk to Yuri about it. But this takes a back seat when Yuri realizes that Mr. Martin was experimenting with dopamine and serotonin, which would mean that if he could manipulate those, then he could open up access points. Now, I have no idea what this means, but it seems like Yuri has a theory of how Mr. Martin was trying to escape, but he also tells Charley and Wally how he died. Turns out he had anxiety, got locked up in the green room, had an asthma attack, and died.
Maddie takes Mr. Martin’s watch and uses it as the key. She learns of all of Janet’s plans for when she would have grown up and become a famous scientist. She’s then terrified when someone (presumably a version of Janet’s ghost) from behind her tells her, “I was wronged.” The whole thing really affects Maddie, and she realizes that Janet was meant for something much greater, and her life was cut too short.
Xavier’s advice helps Nicole take the extra step and go find Eugene. She learns that Mr. Martin had been fired a little before the fire, and he was furious with his students. She realizes that Mr. Martin could’ve started the fire himself on purpose. On the other hand, Quinn learns that Rhonda was friends with a girl named Marjorie, who went on to become a famous musician. She had a song that Rhonda realized was about her, but she never went past the first verse because it was about how she was in the wrong for her own murder. But Quinn listens to the whole thing and later shows Rhonda that it was about how Marjorie was in the wrong for letting Rhonda go and not being able to save her.
What Happens At The Dinner?
At dinner, Sandra’s delighted to have Maddie’s friends over, but she tells them to tiptoe around her and not bring up the last month. Things are awkward, but Claire and Simon bring up an astronomy class and Janet ends up bringing up a fact about a telescope which surprises Sandra. But when Claire suggests they go to the school to check out the telescope, Janet says she doesn’t plan on doing so anytime soon. They also learn that Maddie (well, Janet) plans on taking the rest of her schooling online. Finally, Nicole tells Janet that Eugene misses her, which comes as a shock to everybody. This pushes Janet to go into the kitchen. Sandra follows her, and Janet tells her that she’s tired, so it’d be best if they packed the pie for the gang. Sandra is on a mission to agree with everything Maddie says, so she goes along with it, but she does ask about Eugene, and Janet just brushes it off.
Back in school, Maddie tells Wally that she thinks Janet deserves her place in the world more than Maddie does because she had everything figured out, unlike Maddie, who was just taking up space. Wally explains how some people may be destined for greatness, but others are just as important because they affect the lives of those they touch. It’s quite a sweet moment, and the duo then shares a moment of love in the swimming pool.
When Sandra tells the gang to leave, Simon asks to say bye to Maddie. When he speaks to Janet, he tells her that Mr. Martin is gone and it’s safe to go back to school. He also mentions how Dawn’s crossed over, but Janet notices the phone in his pocket is on, takes it out, and puts it in a pot of boiling water. I’m not sure how she knows that Simon and Maddie can communicate, but she somehow knows that this piece of technology is what’s connecting them.
At the end of episode 5 of School Spirits season 2, Maddie and Wally find Mr. Anderson in school, and he can see them. Turns out Mr. Martin stole his body (that makes more sense than the principal of the school). Now, Maddie might not want to go back to the real world anymore, but she definitely wants to help Mr. Anderson go back. In the library, Charley asks Yuri to go to a dance with him, and Yuri essentially says he’d love to go on a date with Charley, proving to Charley that he was right about their feelings for each other. On the other hand, the gang outside Maddie’s sees Mr. Anderson come to see Sandra. They don’t know what’s going on, but he gives Sandra a book that he claims Maddie loved; it’s actually Janet’s favorite, “Fahrenheit 451.” Janet steps out to throw the book out, and somebody puts a bag over her head; this is definitely Mr. Martin.
