Paramount+’s School Spirits episode seven begins with Simon (Kristian Flores) wondering why Nicole (Kiara Pichardo) ghosted him all weekend and forgot to pick him up for school. She claims she’s been busy working on her portfolio and, of course, she doesn’t mention being out in the woods all alone with a shovel after the homecoming dance.
Simon’s also a little distracted and is wearing mismatched socks for his interview with Northwestern. He’s hoping the Northwestern alum will understand that he’s been thinking about his best friend being murdered. Simon admits he doesn’t think it makes any sense that the janitor killed her. (He knows Maddie didn’t have a sack of cash which is supposedly the motive for her murder.)
Simon glances through Nicole’s college portfolio and is shocked to see how many photos of Maddie are included. He had no idea Nicole took that many pictures of Maddie and thinks it’s a little weird. However, he shakes it off and advises Nicole to relax and breathe. (She’s also worried about a college interview.)
Meanwhile, ghost therapy is in session and Mr. Martin (Josh Zuckerman) is happy it’s time for the living students to hold a mock trial. Each of the ghosts will be shadowing them during their preparation. Unfortunately for Mr. Martin, Charley (Nick Pugliese) is much more excited about questioning Maddie (Peyton List) about the janitor. She claims she never did anything to make him mad, and Mr. Martin attempts to steer the conversation back to the mock trial.
Wally (Milo Manheim) backs up Charley, reminding Mr. Martin last year’s trial was a bore. No one wants to do a mock trial this year.
Maddie also doesn’t want anything to do with the trial and instead is fixated on protecting Mr. South the janitor. She needs to get her memories back, but Mr. Martin isn’t sure how that will help since she can’t share what she knows with the living. Maddie and Charley exchange looks, and Wally reveals he found a psych book in the library with info on how to retrieve memories. He assures Maddie they’ll all help her get through this and figure it out.
Alone, Nicole removes Maddie’s photos from her portfolio and burns them.
Maddie’s mom, Sandra (Maria Dizzia), wakes after a night of binging and wanders into Maddie’s room. A window’s open, which is strange, and she closes it and looks around the room.
Wally heats up a burrito as Charley and Rhonda (Sarah Yarkin) watch, waiting to see if it stirs any memories in Maddie. (A burrito was her last meal.) Just sniffing it isn’t working and Wally suggests she take a bite but Maddie hates cilantro and refuses. Wally removes the cilantro as Maddie explains Simon always ordered her burritos without it. That makes Wally a little jealous, but he quickly gets back to the business of retrieving her memories.
Maddie takes a bite and tries to think back to her last lunch. It’s not working, and Rhonda suggests she think about the last song she remembers hearing at school instead.
Back with the living, it’s lunchtime and Simon, Claire (Rainbow Wedell), and Xavier (Spencer Macpherson) huddle at a table discussing the case against Mr. South. Xavier looked through his dad’s paperwork and all they seem to have on Mr. South is the crowbar – that’s it. Xavier’s certain Mr. South was in the boys bathroom during the eighth period, so he has an alibi. Xavier knows he was there because he was also in the bathroom trying to unlock Maddie’s phone.
Unfortunately, Xavier thinks it doesn’t matter because once his dad finds someone to kick around, he sticks with it. Claire believes they just need to figure out who took the video of her and Mr. Anderson – that’s the key to solving Maddie’s murder. Claire jokingly suggests they break into the sheriff’s station to find out what else they have, and Simon and Xavier latch onto that.
Nicole’s joined them and is shocked Claire’s joined the Scooby gang.
And speaking of strange gangs, Maddie and the trio of memory joggers try singing the last song Maddie heard on Simon’s earbuds. It doesn’t jog her memory and Charley wants to try hypnosis. They didn’t realize Dawn (RaeAnne Boon) joined them and she chimes in saying hypnosis is a bad idea. It’s too risky. Another spirit could invade Maddie’s body while she’s under hypnosis. Instead, they should do an anti-séance and conjure the right memories.
Maddie thinks that’s an excellent idea.
Simon’s interview with the Northwestern alum is going well until she mentions that getting away from this school and this town is probably a good idea, given that his best friend just died. That causes Simon to freeze up and Maddie, who just joined him but can’t be seen since no one died in this room, tries to prompt him to give answers that will help his chances of going to Northwestern.
Simon is self-sabotaging and Maddie’s upset he can’t hear her.
Next, Simon finds Xavier and Claire in the parking lot and is stunned that Claire’s just taken a bat to a window on her car. Claire came up with a plan to call the police, tell them she’s being stalked, and that it can’t be Mr. South since he’s in jail.
At the station, Claire talks to Xavier’s dad, Sheriff Baxter (Ian Tracey), while Xavier and Simon look through the evidence.
Sheriff Baxter’s pulled away to speak with Maddie’s mom who believes someone broke into her house.
Simon and Xavier find Maddie’s backpack in the lockup but not the crowbar. Simon looks through a box of evidence and sees Maddie’s boot print that Xavier and Nicole found in the woods. Xavier confirms Nicole spotted it first and led him to it. That’s an important detail since Simon is positive it’s not Maddie’s boot print after all.
Back at school, Nicole kicks another student off a computer she wants to use. She asks a teacher if once a file’s deleted off that computer it’s permanently gone, and he explains everything’s automatically backed up every few minutes. That’s obviously not what Nicole wants to hear.
Simon, Claire, and Xavier make it back to school and Maddie’s furious Simon tanked his college interview. After sending Claire and Xavier in without him, he fills Maddie in on what he discovered about the evidence. He’s certain the boot print wasn’t hers since it had a Doc Martens stamp and her boots are knock-offs. So, the boot print was planted by someone who didn’t know that.
Maddie doesn’t care and wants to know why he doesn’t want to go to Northwestern. He confesses everything he wanted to do at Northwestern he wanted to do with her. “Now, what’s the point?” asks Simon.
Maddie tells him he needs to keep on living.
Simon finally poses the question on viewers’ minds. Did Nicole have something to do with Maddie’s death? She’s been acting so strange.
A flashback shows Nicole was like a third wheel in the group and that she copied everything Maddie did. When they called her out for it, she told them to screw themselves.
Back to current events and Maddie’s sure Nicole’s over that since it happened a while ago. But Simon thinks it’s possible she was holding on to her anger and attacked Maddie. They shouldn’t just assume she’s innocent.
Elsewhere, Sandra’s stocking up on alcohol when she spots Mr. South outside the store. She tries to hurry past him, but he approaches her and claims he never harmed her daughter.
Later, Rhonda, Maddie, Charley, and Wally join Dawn for the anti-séance. Dawn’s lit dozens of candles but doesn’t have sage to burn. Instead, she burns an old piece of broccoli which apparently smells disgusting.
They sit in a circle and join hands as Maddie thinks back to her last day. Dawn tries to get everyone in the right mindset by thinking back to her own death day. It’s a tragic story in which she overheard her two best friends making fun of her and then accidentally electrocuted herself while trying not to be discovered listening in.
Dawn cries and says it should have been her friends who died – not her.
Maddie decides they need to end the anti-séance early.
Xavier and Claire locate a schedule that shows what after-school activities were going on when the video was shot. That could help them narrow down who was on campus. Simon arrives and Claire explains only the cheerleaders and the AV crew were scheduled to be on campus. The AV crew was filming the practice and doing a few interviews.
Claire suggests Simon talk to Nicole because she was definitely there.
A short while later, Simon fills Maddie in on what he learned from Claire. He’s almost certain Nicole shot the blackmail video and sent it to Anderson after stealing his number off Maddie’s phone. Given what she just learned about Dawn’s death, Maddie now believes it’s possible she and Simon hurt Nicole more than they thought.
Maddie’s sad there’s no one she can trust and Simon reminds her he’s right there for her. “I love you, Maddie, and that why I don’t give a flying f**k about Northwestern,” says Simon. He doesn’t want her to reply and confesses he’s not sure at this point why he’s still helping solve her murder since it means she’ll probably cross over once they discover her killer.
Maddie reminds him he’s graduating in June and might leave the school before she does. Simon pulls himself together after his emotional confession and suggests they find Nicole.
That evening Sheriff Baxter catches up with his son at a market and reveals someone spotted him and another boy sneaking out of the precinct’s backdoor. Xavier insists he was with Claire – not another boy – and Sheriff Baxter warns him not to get in trouble again. He thinks Xavier was tampering with evidence and threatens that if he doesn’t shape up, he’s going to let everyone know he’s a loser. Claire’s been listening in and has heard enough. She steps in and supports Xavier, suggesting Sheriff Baxter might not want it known he’s a bully who enjoys intimidating people.
Even though it’s late at night Nicole’s still at the school’s computer trying to get rid of all the copies of the video she shot. Simon and Maddie watch her for a second, and then Simon tells her not to bother deleting anything else. He knows she sent Anderson the video and was blackmailing him. Plus, he’s sure she created the boot print in the woods.
He demands to know why she was blackmailing Anderson, what she needed the money for, and how she got out of the boiler room alive when Maddie didn’t. Nicole confesses she wanted the money so she could move to Chicago to be near him and Maddie.
Nicole also confesses that both colleges she applied to in Chicago informed her she wouldn’t be able to get a scholarship. Her parents also wouldn’t have paid for her to move to Chicago just to hang out with her friends.
So, yes, she stole Anderson’s number from Maddie, but she never would have hurt Maddie. Nicole wanted to remain with her friends and wouldn’t have done anything that would rip them apart. She wasn’t aware Maddie was the only student with Anderson’s number.
Nicole never told them about the colleges because she didn’t want them to think she’s pathetic.
Simon asks about the money. If she turns it in, it could prove Mr. South is innocent.
A quick switch in scenery to Maddie’s house shows Sandra has an envelope full of money. Sandra hides it under items in Maddie’s drawer.
Nicole and Simon head out to dig up the money.
Dawn apologizes to Maddie for not helping her remember what happened. Maddie tells her she never should have been made to feel like a joke and that she’s a good person and a good friend. As Maddie walks away, Dawn smiles and a hallway light flickers.
Wally, Rhonda, and Charley search the school for Maddie and realize Dawn isn’t in her normal spot. The lights begin flickering again. They lights become super bright and there’s a white flash. They all experience goosebumps and are certain Dawn just crossed over. They realize this didn’t happen when Janet left.
Nicole digs up the spot where she left the money but someone’s taken it. She recalls going from the homecoming dance to Sandra’s house, and then out here to bury the money. The only person who could have followed her was Maddie’s mom!
Maddie’s watching Simon and Nicole from inside the school grounds. Maddie has a series of brief visions from the day of her death and realizes she did confront her mom at school.
Nicole and Simon hear someone in the woods, and Simon races off to see who it is. Maddie screams at him to stop but of course he can’t hear her.
Charley, Wally, and Rhonda join Maddie at the school’s fence. Maddie reveals she thinks her mother killed her!
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- School Spirits Season 1 Episode 3 “Dead and Confused” Recap
- School Spirits Season 1 Episode 4 “Ghoul Intentions” Recap
- School Spirits Season 1 Episode 5 “The Twilight End Zone” Recap
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- School Spirits Season 1 Episode 8 “Maddie’s Body” Recap
