Summary
- Maddie's suspension in School Spirits season 1 leads her to a purgatory where deceased students are trapped until they find a way to cross over.
- The investigation into Janet's disappearance uncovers a connection between her death and Mr. Martin, raising questions about his intentions as a counselor.
- Dawn's successful transcendence and Rhonda's slow progress towards healing hint at the potential for other spirits to find closure and move on in season 2.
Warning: SPOILERS for School Spirits season 1.
Maddie Nears' suspended state in School Spirits season 1 introduces her to a limbic realm where she meets a handful of students who have died under varying circumstances. As becomes the case for Maddie, anyone who has died on school grounds is confined to an indefinite purgatory until "crossing over" to the other side; although, the method to do so is unknown and only few have succeeded. After Maddie's assumed death, a small group of late alumni guide her through the elaborate ins and outs of high school purgatory, while helping her to investigate and the events leading up to the day of her disappearance.
While the whodunit-style teen drama hyper-focuses on the circumstances surrounding Maddie's death, it also opens the door for inquires about the rules of the afterlife and those who already inhabit it. And not just for onlooking fans either, as the more Maddie's ghost friends dig into the inner workings of their purgatory, the more questions they have pertaining to their deaths and moving on from limbo. School Spirits season 1 seems to hint that moving on from purgatory hinges on how one lived and died, and now that School Spirits season 2 is officially green-lighted, everyone's death circumstance could be a clue to something much larger in the series' future.
7 Janet
Not Shown in School Spirits Season 1
School Spirits poses a mysterious subplot following the suspicious departure of the spirit Janet from Mr. Martin's afterlife group - in fact, when Maddie arrives in purgatory and learns that several spirits meet for counseling under Mr. Martin's supervision, one of the first things she observes is Janet's empty seat. The plot of Janet's whereabouts thickens through to School Spirit's finale, where group Wally and Charley find information on Janet's death that ties her directly to Mr. Martin. In episode 8, it's revealed that Janet not only died in a classroom fire beside her then-teacher, Mr. Martin, but that her parents believed he was responsible for the catastrophe.
6 Mr. Martin
Played by Josh Zuckerman
Mr. Martin's intention as a counselor is ultimately questioned upon the realization that he is linked to whatever happened to Janet in School Spirits; Martin didn't just die at the scene of the chem-lab fire but kept extensive notes and mementos of several late students, including Janet, stashed there in his afterlife. Whether out of guilt or more sinister intentions, Martin knew about Janet's circumstances and kept them a secret. Martin's true purpose may unfurl in season 2, but until then, audiences are left guessing whether he started the fire they both died in, what that means for his past and present students, and if he's honorable or truly wicked.
5 Dawn
Played by RaeAnne Boon
Audiences are afforded an example of what it'd be like for a spirit to cross over when Dawn successfully transcends after confronting the day of her death. Because the spirit group has little luck retrieving Maddie's memories, Dawn suggests an anti-seance as a last resort; but, in her demonstration of how the anti-seance would work, she accidentally dredges up her own traumatic memories. Dawn realizes she died hiding from mean classmates she believed were her friends, for in the closet she took cover in was a water spill that triggered her death by electrocution the moment she went to turn off the lights to keep the clique from noticing her.
4 Rhonda
Played by Sarah Yarkin
When Maddie starts attending Split River High's Afterlife Group, she's met with open arms from everyone besides Rhonda, a vitriolic spirit who's been stuck in purgatory since the 70s. Rhonda's skeptical nature is no fault of her own though, as she had been murdered by her guidance counselor, Mr. Manfredo, who she felt she trusted more than her own parents. Despite the massive betrayal of her past, Rhonda seems to open up slowly to Maddie throughout the series' first season, which could mark the start of Rhonda finally addressing her trauma to cross over from purgatory come School Spirits season 2.
3 Wally
Played by Milo Manheim
Among the of the group is Wally, Maddie's most ionate advocate; naturally, Wally's loyal and bubbly temperament is the direct result of how he was perceived during the time he was alive and attending Split River High as one of the school's popular football players. Unfortunately for Wally, however, during his year's big homecoming game, he was tackled on the field, and the force of it killed him instantly. Wally eventually realizes his death came in vain, as he was playing the game for others instead of for himself, but sadly, his epitome just isn't enough to trigger his transcendence from purgatory.
2 Charley
Played by Nick Pugliese
In an attempt to empathize with Maddie's feelings about having unfinished business in the living world, Charley, her most trusted confidant in the group, eventually discloses the way in which he died. When he was alive, Charley had started a relationship with a foreign exchange student named Emilio, but hid the romance because he was not yet out to his classmates or his family.
Because Emilio was unaware of the secret, he accidentally revealed the status of their relationship to Charley's parents, and in a fit of rage, Charley had written a scathing letter to his partner to say he never wanted to see him again. After the letter was sent off (which he'd later regret), Charley drowned his sorrows with french fries he didn't know were made with peanut oil, which killed him as a result of his peanut allergy.
1 Maddie
Played by Peyton List
For much of School Spirits season 1, viewers are led to believe that Maddie may have succumbed to death at the hands of someone she knew. A bloody crime scene in the boiler room of Split River High and tensions between Maddie and her mother, boyfriend, and friends had many assuming that she had been murdered. Yet, by the School Spirits season finale, all theories are put to rest, as a flashback in the series' last episode reveals that Maddie had been afflicted by a classic case of bodysnatching.
Following a fight with her mother, Maddie had ventured into the school's basement to cool off, and it was there where she witnessed the apparitions of Mr. Martin and Janet arguing - the topic of which remains unknown. When Janet noticed Maddie, she capitalized off of the opportunity to run straight Maddie's body, and that pushed Maddie's spirit out and into the purgatory realm. The season 1 Janet twist means that Maddie is not quite dead but not quite alive either, which suggests that much of School Spirits season 2 will follow Maddie as she attempts to find a way back into her body and the living world.
