Maddie’s life was cut short, but that’s almost not the worst part of being dead. Since she was murdered at her high school, Maddie’s stuck spending every minute of the afterlife roaming Split River High’s halls. Talk about being trapped in hell! Paramount+’s School Spirits follows Maddie (Peyton List, Cobra Kai) as she attempts to solve her own murder while learning to exist (not live) with other ghosts doomed to high school purgatory.
Episode one, “My So-Called Death,” finds Maddie watching from the bleachers as the school’s assembled to discuss her disappearance. It’s obvious Maddie wasn’t the most popular student – self-involved cheerleaders can’t even remember her name – but at least her two BFFs and boyfriend are upset that she’s gone.
The cheerleaders bust out in an inappropriate routine, given the circumstances, which they end by dedicating to “Maggie.”
The assembly does, however, serve a purpose. The first clues are dropped that a substantial amount of blood was found in the boiler room and that Maddie’s phone is still on campus.
Charley (Nick Pugliese), a super helpful fellow ghost, is Maddie’s mentor and reminds her she can’t be seen or heard. He also suggests her body will be discovered soon and she’ll go from missing person to murder victim.
Maddie’s confused about what’s expected of her and thinks it’s possible she’s actually in a coma. She wills herself to wake up, but Charley quashes that dream. For all the trapped spirits, high school has gone from just feeling like an eternity to an actual eternity.
Charley convinces a reluctant Maddie to sit through a group therapy session. Among the ghosts she’ll be hanging out with for maybe eternity are Rhonda (Sarah Yarkin), a pretty lollipop-sucking teen who died in the ’60s and is into Kerouac and confrontation; Wally Clark (Milo Manheim), a class of ’84 jock who died during a football game; and Mr. Martin (Josh Zuckerman), the leader of the Split River High Afterlife Support Group.
Maddie confesses that all she can remember is that she was ditching study hall and now she’s dead. She freaks out when she learns she’s the first among them who can’t remember her death.
A flashback introduces her boyfriend, Xavier (Spencer Macpherson), as well as BFF Simon (Kristian Flores), who disagrees that there needs to be a remake of Carrie. He and Maddie are horror fans and have plans to go to the Night of the Living Dead screening that night. Simon forgot to print his ticket and Maddie gives him a hard time.
The flashback also reveals Maddie’s mom has a drinking problem and is getting treatment, so Maddie’s home alone. The third member of the BFF group, Nicole (Kiara Pichardo), joins the discussion and they decide to throw a rager. Simon’s jazzed all three are college material and will be leaving Split River after graduating.
Maddie spots Xavier heading to his truck and checks out of study hall early to find out what he’s up to. They talk briefly and she leaves him in his truck to get high, still unsure why he didn’t join her in study hall like he promised. Back inside the school, Maddie takes another look at Xavier in his truck and notices he’s on his phone – even though he claimed it was dead.
Very curious. Xavier is now Suspect #1.
And now back to dead Maddie watching Xavier in the parking lot again. She doesn’t think he’s handling her death well and Charley reminds her the living have no clue ghosts are walking among them, so there’s no way she can help Xavier.
She can’t go back, but Charley reveals it’s possible to eventually cross over to the great beyond…whatever that may be. Charley thinks that can only happen if the ghosts stick together, which brings them to the one ghost who prefers solitude. Maddie and Charley look at Dawn (RaeAnne Boon) sitting on top of the lockers as Charley explains they don’t know how she died, but it was the ‘70s so it might have been bad acid or a cult thing.
Maddie learns another ghost rule: she can touch items and even hold them, but the living won’t see what she’s doing. (This explains why/how she can open doors to enter rooms rather than walking through walls.) She rips a missing flyer with the word “dog” rudely scrawled over her face off of a locker, but in reality, it remains right where it was.
Charley says her situation could be worse. She could be stuck in eternity marching around school like the six marching band members who died in a bus accident.
Maddie watches as Simon loses it in front of Ms. Fields’ class. He’s pissed no one cares Maddie’s missing and that not a single person signed up for the search party. Xavier’s the main target of Simon’s anger and as they argue, Simon grabs Xavier’s backpack to keep him from leaving. Maddie’s missing phone flies out!
Xavier’s hauled into Principal Hartman’s office and Maddie eavesdrops. Maddie thinks Xavier must have been using her phone to find her, but Charley suggests she needs to take a time out. She’s getting far too worked up over this.
Charley invites her to his office…otherwise known as the boys showers…where he enjoys the view. He confesses he died because he forgot his EpiPen on the one day the French fries were fried in peanut oil. Apparently, they continued to bully him even after his death, making jokes about him being a gay kid in the ‘90s who was allergic to nuts.
Simon insists Xavier’s guilty, but Nicole doesn’t want to rush to judgment. Maybe Maddie gave Xavier her phone, and maybe Maddie’s just out of town. Simon stops her to point out that Claire (Rainbow Wedell) is acting weird and waving at Xavier through the office door.
Wally tries to help Maddie figure out what’s going on and interrupts as she listens in on Nicole and Xavier’s argument. Maddie wonders if Wally was missing anything when he showed up as a ghost and he wasn’t. She reveals her backpack was with her when she died, but she doesn’t have it now.
Another flashback to Maddie’s last day shows Xavier making up an excuse to skip the Night of the Living Dead screening after receiving a text. Simon gets her attention and they watch her mom have trouble parking in the school lot. While they’re distracted, Xavier snatches her phone from her backpack.
Maddie grabs her backpack, unaware Xavier took her phone.
Ghost Maddie realizes she’s also missing her necklace.
Maddie watches Simon and Nicole confront Xavier about her phone. Simon attacks Xavier, but it’s Xavier who lands a punch to the face. After Xavier’s pulled off him, Simon’s even more convinced Xavier is the killer. (He’s looking incredibly sketchy at this point.)
Maddie demands her ghost support group help her get answers by terrorizing the living. Unfortunately, in School Spirits’ version of the afterlife, ghosts aren’t capable of that. There’s no way to interact with the living.
Maddie refuses to take no for an answer. She wasn’t ready to die and is going to search the town for answers if that’s what it takes.
And up pops another rule… If you die in the high school, you can’t leave school grounds. Attempting to sends you back to the spot of your death. Maddie repeatedly tries to leave and each time she winds up back in the boiler room. Dawn laughs and then warns her it’s fun the first few times but on the fifth attempt, it’ll start to hurt.
Maddie doesn’t listen and tries again with the same result. She finally pauses and looks around the boiler room, examining the roped-off crime scene and a spray of her blood on the boiler. She looks closer and finds more of her blood on different parts of the machine.
While staring at the crime scene, she has a flashback of herself looking panicked and yelling stop.
She eventually gives up and returns to the support group in the gym as Rhonda’s talking about being murdered by her guidance counselor. Rhonda’s able to make jokes about it now, and Mr. Martin suggests holding onto the past can only hold a person back.
The discussion’s interrupted as students arrive in the gym for another assembly about Maddie. Even Maddie’s mom, Sandra (Maria Dizzia), is in attendance as Principal Hartman explains they’re trying to spread awareness about Maddie’s disappearance. Sandra admits Maddie would be embarrassed that she’s there but then she’s too overcome with emotion to finish her speech.
Hartman instructs the students they can each take one candle (and only one). They’ll head outside for a vigil while keeping their eyes open in case any clues to Maddie’s whereabouts have been missed.
Xavier tries to join the group but is stopped by his dad, Sheriff Baxter, and led out of the gym. He questions Xavier and Xavier confesses he had Maddie’s phone because he was protecting her. He didn’t want Maddie to learn he’s been hooking up with Claire the cheerleader, and he was trying to get rid of a text he accidentally sent to Maddie that was meant for Claire.
“I didn’t know she wasn’t coming back, dad,” says Xavier, tears in his eyes.
Maddie hears the entire conversation. Xavier’s no longer Suspect #1 in her book.
Simon stops in a classroom to speak with Ms. Fields before going to the vigil. He apologizes for acting up in class earlier in the day, and confirms he believes something bad happened to Maddie. He’s known her forever and doesn’t think she’s a person who runs.
“She has seen things. She has faced things that no one should ever have to. She doesn’t get scared. She doesn’t run,” says Simon. If she did, Simon would know.
He confesses he has no idea how he’ll survive high school without Maddie.
Students pause on their way to the vigil to take photos of Xavier in the back of his dad’s squad car.
Candles are lit as everyone stands outside thinking about Maddie. Or not.
Ms. Fields comforts Simon as he cries and then leaves him alone in the classroom to collect himself. Maddie watches her friend, who’s so obviously in pain, and as he looks out the window at the students gathered for the vigil, Maddie stands just a foot away also looking outside.
Charley watches from the doorway as Maddie turns to Simon and thanks him. Simon slowly turns his head toward her and says, “Maddie?!” She’s shocked and replies, “Simon?”
So, Maddie’s only been dead a few days and is already breaking all the Split River High School ghost rules!
Final Thoughts:
Episode one did a terrific job of introducing the key players, and Peyton List is incredibly good at moving along all the storylines and bouncing between her living friends via flashbacks and her new ghost compadres.
Season one focuses on the search for not just Maddie’s killer but also her physical body. Multiple suspects spring up early on, and the first three episodes do a decent job of tossing in some red herrings. But it’s really the interactions between Maddie and Simon, and Maddie and Charley, that make School Spirits so entertaining.
- School Spirits Series Preview: Who’s In It, What’s It About, and When Does It Air
- Season 1 Episode 2 “The Fault in Our Scars” Recap
- Season 1 Episode 3 “Dead and Confused” Recap
- Season 1 Episode 4 “Ghoul Intentions” Recap
- Season 1 Episode 5 “The Twilight End Zone” Recap
- Season 1 Episode 6 “Grave the Last Dance” Recap
- Season 1 Episode 7 “Seance Anything” Recap
- School Spirits Season 1 Episode 8 “Maddie’s Body” Recap
