Paramount+’s School Spirits episode two picks up with Maddie (Peyton List) shocked that Simon (Kristian Flores) can see her. Charley (Nick Pugliese) is equally surprised and says, “Holy f**k,” after witnessing the exchange. (Simon can’t see Charley, just Maddie.)
Being able to talk to the living has never happened before in the history of Split River High School. All three have a million questions, and Maddie immediately clears up the mystery of her phone. Simon doesn’t understand why Xavier was texting Claire, and Maddie explains they were secretly hooking up.
Nicole (Kiara Pichardo) barges in and can’t see Maddie. Simon doesn’t admit he’s talking to a ghost, and Maddie prompts Simon to go with Nicole to search for her body because they all need answers.
As Simon’s leaving the classroom, he turns back but can no longer see Maddie. Maddie’s confused, but Charley isn’t any help since this is brand-new territory. Charley thinks it might have been just a one-time thing.
Maddie runs outside to join the search party, hits the property line, and is sent sprawling back into the boiler room.
Charley suggests she keeps the fact she can talk to Simon to herself for now. The other ghosts might try and make her into a messenger service.
Over at the Baxter house, Xavier’s dad thinks his son should stay home from school. Xavier (Spencer Macpherson) believes that will make him look guilty. Sheriff Baxter confirms the DNA results are in and it’s definitely Maddie’s blood in the boiler room.
Meanwhile, the ghost support group meets and we learn another Split River High School ghost rule. The dead can eat food and drink.
Maddie interrupts their argument about food and asks if anyone’s talked to a living person. Charley tries to change the subject, and Mr. Martin (Josh Zuckerman) believes Maddie needs to start trying to let go. He thinks she should write her obituary, but Maddie thinks death is a good excuse not to do homework.
A janitor suggests to Simon that they should look under desks rather than in dark, scary places outside.
Xavier ghosts Claire.
Mr. Martin finds Maddie alone and looking out toward the water tower. He still insists she should try writing her obituary, and Maddie confesses she’s not looking for closure. She wants to continue investigating her death, and she’s worried about how her mom is taking her disappearance. It will probably break her.
The following morning, Maddie wakes up with Rhonda (Sarah Yarkin) in the teachers’ break room as the teachers arrive for school. Rhonda loves this time of day since there’s lots of gossip and juicy stories. Maddie learns from the teachers that her DNA matches the boiler room blood stains. The teachers seem to genuinely miss Maddie, but Rhonda suggests they’ll be over it in a week. Maddie’s adamant that she won’t be turned into a footnote.
“Simon wouldn’t let them,” says Maddie, rushing out of the room.
Xavier follows his dad’s orders and stays home. He also continues to ghost Claire.
Over in the cafeteria, Nicole (Kiara Pichardo) momentarily surprises Simon by talking about Maddie popping up out of nowhere. However, it turns out she’s just talking about in photos – not in ghost form. Nicole’s hanging onto the idea that Maddie’s still alive. In fact, she’s going to buy her a ticket for HorrorCon that weekend. Maddie would never miss a chance to listen to the director of The Babadook. (Maddie has excellent taste in horror.)
Maddie rushes into the cafeteria and Simon’s still the only person who can see her. He hurries away from Nicole at the table and to everyone in the cafeteria, it appears as if he’s talking to himself. Maddie has him take out his phone so it doesn’t look weird.
Maddie admits it’s possible Xavier killed her, and Simon’s happy she’s finally come around to his way of thinking. She still doesn’t remember much from that day, and Simon fills in one gap in her memory. Her mom never found her when she came to school to see her on the day of her murder.
Maddie has a flashback to lying on the boiler room floor with her own blood dripping off the boiler onto her face. In the flashback, she stands up and looks at the blood and then has a vision of walking through the hallway, trying to talk to people, but no one responds.
Simon narrows the time frame down to between her leaving study hall (when she saw Xavier in his truck) and 8th period. Simon’s sure it was Xavier, and maybe Claire helped him – or maybe he killed Maddie to prove to Claire he loved her. Simon recalls Xavier skipped classes and wasn’t in 8th period.
They need to find some actual evidence.
Claire shows up uninvited at Xavier’s home, and he explains he can’t even look at his phone. It’ll look bad if anyone knows that she’s visiting him, and he confesses he’s scared of them finding Maddie’s body.
“Hey, we’re going to be fine,” says Claire. Xavier doesn’t respond. (Xavier + Claire = the killers? It’s looking that way.)
Simon searches Xavier’s locker and drawers at school and doesn’t find anything.
Sheriff Baxter arrives home with the news Maddie’s phone’s empty, so maybe it’s not actually her phone. Xavier’s dad wonders if his son’s keeping secrets and knows something about why this phone has nothing on it. He’s working hard to protect his son and needs him to tell the complete truth before things escalate.
Charley and Maddie watch the janitor clean her blood off the boiler. Maddie’s confused why Simon can only see or hear her in certain locations around school.
Later that day, Maddie rushes into Ms. Fields’ classroom and tells Simon the cops are in Principal Hartman’s office and have figured out it wasn’t really her phone. Simon requests a restroom break and meets Maddie in the old auto shop where Xavier used to hang out. Simon glances around and describes the auto shop as a perfect place to dump a body.
Maddie and Simon look for clues while discussing Maddie’s attraction to Xavier. Maddie has a flashback of making out with Xavier in an old car and being freaked out by a rat. Even though she asked him not to, Xavier dropped a large brick on the rat and killed it – while laughing.
Simon finds pieces of the back of what’s most likely Maddie’s real phone on the floor. They take a break from the old auto shop to get coffee, and Maddie thinks Simon should call the store and get her phone’s serial number.
Mr. Anderson (Patrick Gilmore) joins them and assures Simon that he won’t give up hope that Maddie’s still alive. He also reveals Maddie’s final essay blew him away. Maddie thinks Simon should give him the phone parts because he’s the only person they can trust.
Simon’s reluctant but finally agrees and shows Mr. Anderson the parts.
Rhonda, Wally (Milo Manheim), and Charley hang out by the school’s pool during swim practice. Maddie joins them and stares as Claire helps coach. They debate whether Claire killed Maddie on her own or did it with Xavier.
Maddie’s barely listening to their conversation and is fixated on Claire. Suddenly a swimmer’s in trouble and Claire dives in without hesitating to save her. It looks like the ghost crew will expand by one for a second, but Claire performs CPR and revives the girl.
Officers show up at school with search dogs to sniff around the football field. Simon watches it go down from Mr. Anderson’s class and thinks it’s just for show. They won’t find anything.
An officer and a dog arrive in the classroom and the dog reacts to something on Mr. Anderson’s desk. Anderson claims it’s Maddie’s essay that the dog smells and says nothing about any phone parts.
Xavier visits Maddie’s mom, Sandra, and confesses that he hurt Maddie by lying to her. But he denies having anything to do with her disappearance. He asks if Sandra has Maddie’s phone and informs her the police have a phone, but it’s not Maddie’s.
Simon tells Maddie he thinks Xavier’s father is covering up for Xavier and Claire. He also believes the dogs did a very superficial search, and the boiler room was cleaned up way too quickly. After seeing Claire save that girl, Maddie no longer believes she has it in her to kill someone.
Charley continues to hide that Maddie can speak to the living, even though Mr. Martin appears to be catching on.
Maddie and Simon check out the old auto shop late at night, searching for more clues. Maddie seems to have changed her mind about Xavier’s involvement, and Simon warns her she needs to see people for who they really are.
They find another piece of the phone on the ground and as Simon bends over to retrieve it, Mr. Anderson sneaks up behind him. Mr. Anderson thinks Simon should let the people in charge figure out what happened to Maddie.
Mr. Anderson is now vying for the top spot on the suspect list.
- School Spirits Series Preview: Who’s In It, What’s It About, and When Does It Air
- School Spirits Season 1 Episode 1 “My So-Called Death” 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
