Mr. Anderson’s stalking behavior places him on the suspect list as Paramount+’s School Spirits episode three begins. He refuses to tell Simon (Kristian Flores) why he was lurking in the auto shop, and Simon’s spidey sense is tingling like crazy.
Maddie (Peyton List), on the other hand, refuses to consider Mr. Anderson a suspect. He bent over backward to help her out when she was alive and seemed to genuinely care about her, not just as a teacher but as a human being.
Angry mom Sandra heads to Sheriff Baxter’s house and demands to know why he’s called off the searches and only has one deputy assigned to Maddie’s case. She believes it’s because he’s worried about his upcoming election.
Xavier (Spencer Macpherson) heads off to school while at Split River High, Simon and Maddie debate Mr. Anderson’s status on the suspect list. Mr. Anderson has booted Xavier from Simon’s #1 spot, but Maddie insists he isn’t capable of her murder.
Simon’s gotten better at pretending to be on the phone, but he still finds himself apologizing to whoever’s in earshot when he says something weird out loud. Maddie reveals she’s locating new spots for them to talk by lingering in an area and checking to see if Simon notices her. The bus stop is the newest addition to the “Simon can see dead people” locations list.
Maddie promises she won’t check him out in the bathroom.
A flashback reveals a little more about Maddie and Mr. Anderson’s relationship. He’s a good listener and understands more than most teachers about what she’s going through with her mom. He also had an alcoholic parent and empathizes with her situation.
Back to current events and Xavier’s not welcomed back to school with open arms.
Simon asks Nicole (Kiara Pichardo) if she thinks it’s weird Mr. Anderson gave Maddie his number, and she’s not nearly as suspicious as he is. Nicole mentions that it looks like Mr. Anderson sleeps in his car, and Simon drags her along to distract Mr. Anderson while he searches the teacher’s desk for his keys.
Maddie attends a therapy session and since she’s a little down, Mr. Martin suggests a field day. “Everybody needs exercise, and as you’ll come to learn, we ghosts occasionally need to exorcise a few demons too,” he says to assorted cheers and groans.
Maddie doesn’t do sports and Wally (Milo Manheim) brings up American Gladiators. No one has a clue what he’s talking about, and he chooses not to be insulted by their lack of knowledge.
Simon looks around Mr. Anderson’s filthy car and finds the phone piece in his glove compartment. He didn’t take it to the police, and Simon tells Maddie that Mr. Anderson may be trying to tamper with evidence. He’s hiding something for sure.
A flashback shows Mr. Anderson helping Maddie in the middle of the night after a car crash. Simon had no idea Mr. Anderson rescued her and is upset that she still has secrets. They get into an argument and Maddie storms off, declaring she’ll solve her murder on her own.
Wally spots her and convinces Maddie to jump behind the wheel of a golf cart and race around school. They can run over anything they want, and it doesn’t matter since the living won’t see the damage.
Wally has her drive to the athletic fields and helps her crash into barrels full of water stacked up like a pyramid. The rest of the ghosts are also wreaking havoc on the equipment, and Wally reveals field day is actually “destroy the field” day. The ghosts get all their aggression out on the equipment. Even Mr. Martin gets in on the demolition.
After going full-on Tanya Harding on school equipment, Maddie tells Charley (Nick Pugliese) she’s upset over fighting with Simon about Mr. Anderson. Charley suggests that she speak with Rhonda since an adult she trusted is the one who killed her.
Maddie does as suggested and Rhonda (Sarah Yarkin) reluctantly opens up about her death. She describes Mr. Manfredo as the nicest man she had met…until she was accepted to Berkeley. Something inside him snapped and they argued about her leaving town. He murdered her and ultimately died in prison.
Elsewhere, Nicole freaks out when Maddie likes one of her photos. She immediately texts Simon and tells him she thinks she knows where Maddie is.
Nicole races over to an old, deserted factory full of graffiti. She calls out for Maddie but, of course, there isn’t any response. She looks out the window to the view in the photo Maddie liked and remembers when she and Maddie first found this cool hangout place. They both added their own graffiti to the building, and Maddie couldn’t stop praising Nicole’s artistic skills. Maddie was sure Nicole’s going to become a great artist.
Nicole is stunned when Xavier shows up and claims not to have any idea what she’s talking about when she brings up Maddie liking a photo. She thinks Xavier lured her to this secluded place to kill her – like he killed Maddie!
Xavier finally admits he followed her because he thought she found a clue. That still doesn’t explain who liked the photo using Maddie’s account. Xavier suggests it might have been Maddie’s mom using Maddie’s laptop.
Nicole and Xavier have a heart-to-heart conversation, and Nicole’s convinced they need to prove Maddie’s still alive to get everyone to stop talking crap. They agree to team up to search.
Simon confronts Mr. Anderson about the piece of Maddie’s phone, and Mr. Anderson confesses he doesn’t trust the people in charge. He’s not taking the piece to the police until he knows who he can trust.
Rhonda’s description of her death gives Maddie an idea. She looks through Rhonda’s yearbook and discovers Ms. Fields’s room – where she can talk to Simon – is where Rhonda died. So that means she can speak to Simon any place there’s been a death at the school.
Simon realizes that when the custodian told him the school has scars, he must have been referring to the multiple deaths on campus.
Maddie apologizes for how she acted earlier and admits he may be right about Mr. Anderson. She may have had a blind spot about him since he was her favorite teacher. Maddie thinks they should look around his classroom for any potential clues now that they’re a team again.
While searching, Simon asks why she didn’t call him about the car accident. She begs him to let it go and he agrees, but then she tells him the truth anyway. She didn’t crash the car; her mom did. Mr. Anderson helped her cover it up. Simon understands why she didn’t say anything.
They hear Mr. Anderson approach and Simon hides. Actually, so does Maddie, even though she doesn’t need to. Simon realizes that and as Mr. Anderson’s pacing while talking on the phone, Maddie leaves her hiding place so she can hear the conversation.
Meanwhile, Nicole, Xavier, and Maddie’s mom head out into the dark, scary woods to search for Maddie, armed with bear mace and flashlights. Nicole finds Maddie’s ticket to Night of the Living Dead, which has a big shoeprint on it. Sandra confirms it matches Maddie’s boots.
Mr. Anderson’s engaged in a heated conversation with someone. “You know what I shouldn’t have done? I shouldn’t have given Maddie the f**king money!” snarls a clearly frustrated Mr. Anderson.
Maddie has no idea what he’s talking about and claims she never asked him for cash. Simon points out Mr. Anderson thinks she did and maybe that’s why he killed her. Maddie spots something that looks off. It turns out Mr. Anderson has a secret compartment in the wall and inside is, as Maddie describes it, “a sh*tload of cash.”
- 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 2 “The Fault in Our Scars” 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
