Episode five of Paramount+’s School Spirits opens with Wally (Milo Manheim) trying to get the other ghosts pumped up for the Homecoming game. It’s 10 hours until game time, and Mr. Martin (Josh Zuckerman) encourages the ghosts to sign up for the prep committee.
Rhonda (Sarah Yarkin) is doing her best not to be a Debbie Downer, now that she’s decided to move on to a new plane of existence with Mr. Martin’s help. Charley (Nick Pugliese) would rather go track down Maddie but instead, he remains in the gym to help Wally pump up balloons.
Meanwhile, Claire’s crew has set up an impressive booth and are busy urging their fellow students to vote. Maddie (Peyton List) and Simon (Kristian Flores) have been tailing Claire for a week but still haven’t figured out her connection to Mr. Anderson. (Episode four ended with Simon and Maddie calling the last number dialed from Anderson’s phone and discovering it was Claire.)
Xavier (Spencer Macpherson) is helping Maddie’s mom, Sandra (Maria Dizzia), when she receives a call saying they found Maddie’s backpack at a deserted house. Sandra thinks this is a sign that Maddie’s alive and has been squatting there.
Back at school, Maddie and Charley go through Claire’s purse but don’t find anything suspicious. They eavesdrop as Claire’s crew discuss Mr. Anderson and joke about him not being able to chaperone the dance from prison. Claire’s strangely silent and distracted, and leaves the table to speak with Principal Hartman. (Her crew has no idea why she’s acting weird.)
She says her parents want to know what’s happening with Mr. Anderson and the money he stole. Claire asks probing questions and wonders if he’s said anything about the money he stole – or if he said anyone else was involved. Maddie and Charley listen in and Maddie’s sure Claire’s on a fishing expedition.
Claire insists she’s asking because she’s worried her parents, who gave Mr. Anderson money for the booster club, will be dragged into a scandal.
Rhonda fetches Maddie and Charley, reminding them they need help in the gym with Wally’s banner.
Nicole (Kiara Pichardo) catches up with Simon in the hallway and reveals Xavier said they found Maddie’s backpack. Simon’s skeptical and doesn’t trust Xavier as far as he can throw him. Speaking of the devil, Xavier walks up with the news Claire’s stepfather owns the whole block. Simon latches onto Claire’s connection, but Xavier says it doesn’t mean she’s involved in Maddie’s disappearance.
Nicole explains that Simon believes Claire has something to do with Maddie’s death, and Xavier reminds Simon that just last week he thought he killed Maddie. “Maybe I still do,” says Simon.
Xavier walks away in a huff and Nicole’s pissed that Simon’s pushing everyone away. Simon apologizes but now it’s Nicole’s turn to stalk away.
Maddie’s laying on the gym floor painting a sign when she asks why they don’t just steal the Homecoming committee’s decorations instead of making their own. Charley says it’s tradition the ghosts make their own and Rhonda adds, “Once a year we’re forced to relive Wally’s glory days.”
Maddie didn’t realize Wally died at the Homecoming game. Wally reveals his family still attends the game every year.
Maddie’s mom shows up in the gym and Maddie follows her to Ms. Fields’ classroom. Sandra informs Ms. Fields (Kalyn Miles) they found Maddie’s backpack, so she wants all of Maddie’s assignments that she’s missed. Sandra would hate for her to get behind and ruin her chances of getting into Northwestern.
Maddie can only listen in as her mother confesses she wants to be a better mom. Maddie’s shocked her mom isn’t drunk and seems to be holding things together while clinging to the hope she’s alive.
She watches her mom leave and then joins Simon in Mr. Anderson’s classroom. Simon was able to convince Mr. South, the custodian, to give him the room’s keys but only has 10 minutes to get what he needs and return them.
Simon shows Maddie a stack of Claire’s English papers that Mr. Anderson graded with all ‘A’s. All of the papers are exactly the same, no matter what the assignment was or what book she was given to write about. Why did she get straight ‘A’s after only reading one book?
Maddie thinks that’s a big deal but now she’s worried what will happen to her mom if she learns she’s dead and not just missing. If she and Simon continue to hunt for clues, it’s sure to lead to her body. That will destroy her mom.
Simon understands but he’s not sure they should let Claire get away with having a role in Maddie’s death. But Maddie remains convinced if they put the investigation on hold, that will allow her mom to have a life.
Meanwhile, Claire confronts Mr. Anderson as he’s leaving his house, demanding to know what he told the cops. He claims he confessed to stealing the money to pay off his dad’s debt. He also told them he was with his dad when Maddie went missing.
When Claire asks if he mentioned her, Mr. Anderson replies, “You know what? I don’t remember.”
The ghosts are all at the football stadium when Maddie arrives, and she takes a seat by herself on the field, resting against the goalpost. Wally joins her and asks about her mom, and Maddie said it was weird but fine seeing her.
Wally talks about seeing his parents each year at the game and recalls his mom pushed him to be the best player – and person – he could be. He describes his death and that he was at the five-yard line when he injured his neck. It didn’t hurt. However, it does sting that he didn’t die in the endzone. It would have been nice to give his mom one more W.
Night falls and Xavier explores the deserted house where Maddie’s backpack was found. It’s apparent someone’s been crashing there, and he startles whoever it is. The person leaps out a window as Xavier yells after him or her.
Back at school, the crowd’s welcomed to Wally Clark Memorial Stadium. The crowd cheers as the players take the field, and even Rhonda attempts to get into the spirit – hoping it’ll help her cross over.
Wally rips through the banner the ghosts created for him and then turns to salute Maddie in the stands.
Claire races up late as the game’s about to begin and joins the cheerleaders.
Simon rides up to Maddie’s house and finds Xavier loading something into his truck. Simon explains he’s there to ask Sandra about Maddie’s backpack, and Xavier confesses he went to the deserted house. Xavier claims he wants answers too and saw someone run away as soon as he saw him. It could have been Claire, but it also could have been practically anyone. Sandra joins them and reveals the containers Xavier’s loading in his truck contain flyers she wants to pass out at the game. Maybe Maddie will see one and know it’s time to come home.
Simon tosses his bike into the back of the truck and joins them.
At the stadium, Maddie just sits and stares at Claire. Mr. Martin and Rhonda are sitting together, and Mr. Martin’s confused about Claire and confused about why Charley’s been writing in a notebook all day. Rhonda doesn’t reveal that Claire can talk to her living friend or that Charley’s writing a note for Claire to give to Mr. Figueroa.
Wally runs into the stands to high-five Mr. Martin, Rhonda, and Charley. He pauses by Claire to point out his mom and explain she always leaves the seat next to her empty. He also reveals his dad stopped coming 15 years ago so it’s not his. Wally believes the empty seat is for him. He leaves Claire and takes the seat next to his mom.
Claire’s acting really strange and not cheering. Instead, she’s sitting by herself at the end of the bench. Suddenly, she gets up and heads toward the stands. She finds a trashcan and vomits.
Sandra and Ms. Fields pass out flyers, and Sandra doesn’t blame Mr. Anderson for stealing money since teachers don’t earn much. She also recalls he was always kind to Maddie.
Sandra heads off to hand out more flyers and Nicole takes her spot next to Ms. Fields. Nicole wonders why the cops can’t make Mr. Anderson talk, and Ms. Fields think they need to just let the police handle it.
Wally and Maddie head to the refreshment stand and she reveals that hotdogs stress her out. Hotdogs were about the only thing she knew how to make when her mom was drunk and left her to fend for herself.
Maddie believes it’s impressive Wally’s mom still celebrates something he loved. Wally confesses it was his mom’s idea that he played football and he doesn’t actually love the sport. He’s good at it but he played it for her. Wally never told her that because it would have broken her heart.
Maddie reminds him he doesn’t need to play it anymore; he can do what he wants. Wally isn’t sure he would even know how to do that.
They spot Xavier passing out flyers and it’s only when Maddie looks at one that she realizes it features her mom’s favorite photo of her. She then sees her mom with an armload of flyers, busy handing them out.
“What does it say about me if I’d rather never know what happened to me if it means my mom will stay sober?” asks Maddie. Wally wonders what it says about him that he returns to the field he died on to watch the game that killed him because it might make his mom proud.
Suddenly, Xavier, Nicole, and Simon’s phones receive a video of Claire and Mr. Anderson arguing over stolen money and secrets. Claire tells him his secret will be safe if she continues to get As. They don’t know who sent it, who recorded it, or why it was sent just to them.
Wally returns to the seat by his mom in the stands and has a flashback to the night he died. He was seated on the bench resting his knee, per the coach’s orders, when his mom showed up behind him and told him to get in the game. He reminded her he needed to rest but she told him he could do that when he was dead.
Wally agreed with his coach that he should rest a bit and go in later, but his mom insisted he would miss out on a scholarship if he sat on the bench.
The conversation was hard on Wally and it’s obvious he didn’t want to play. He only asked his coach to put him back in because his mom said he needed to make her proud.
The flashback ends and Maddie watches as Wally, seated next to his mom, takes off his football jersey. He takes a deep breath as he folds his jersey.
When Maddie glances away, her mom is standing a foot from her, searching the stands for any sign of her daughter. Sandra looks right through her daughter as she scans the crowd, and finally turns and walks away, dejected.
Simon runs up and shows Maddie the video. He believes that if Claire knows about the video and thinks Maddie took it, that would be her motive for murder!
Maddie has an epiphany and realizes her mom needs to know she’s not coming home. Both she and her mom need to move on.
Nicole and Xavier believe Claire stole Maddie’s phone and swapped it for a blank one.
Sandra asks Xavier to take her home. She’s done for the night and confesses it’s just too much. Nicole volunteers to take her because Xavier needs to meet Simon in the parking lot right now.
Maddie tells Simon to tell Xavier to apologize to Claire and ask her to the Homecoming dance. Maddie dictates the message for Simon to instruct Xavier to text Claire. It breaks Maddie’s heart to have to send Xavier to the dance with Claire, and when she tells him to type “I miss you, I want to be with you” – it’s obvious that Maddie is talking about how she feels about Xavier.
Wally catches up with Maddie and thanks her, revealing he feels free now after taking her advice. He confesses he’s never been able to talk to someone like he is able to talk to her. Wally asks her to the dance – and throws in as friends, even though that’s not how he feels. She accepts and Wally’s thrilled.
Simon believes Mr. South sent him the video since earlier, when he asked for Mr. Anderson’s keys, he hid a video he was watching. Mr. South explains the video was of things students have written on the boiler after Maddie’s disappearance. (It’s become a mini-tourist attraction.)
In the parking lot, Sandra asks Nicole if she thinks Maddie will forgive her and come home. Nicole thinks it’s possible to be forgiven, and Sandra asks for a hug. Nicole loads up the storage bin in the trunk by herself, but first, she looks around to make sure no one’s watching her. Oh, very suspicious!
Maddie’s looking around at the graffiti on the boiler when she spots a door. Mr. South tells Simon it leads to a fallout shelter.
Simon and Maddie look around the shelter and Simon realizes that since they can talk there, someone must have died in this shelter. They spot another door and realize they may have discovered how Claire dragged Maddie’s body out of the boiler room.
- 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 3 “Dead and Confused” Recap
- Season 1 Episode 4 “Ghoul Intentions” 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
