We’ve arrived at Paramount+’s School Spirits third season finale and, yes, we get a few of the dangling storylines wrapped up. But by the end of the season finale, there will be more questions than at the start.
(The following is a recap of season three, episode eight, and there are spoilers.)
Maddie (Peyton List) walks through her door and into the woods, passing by other doors but not stopping. In reality, her body is walking in a tunnel and then she gets into a car that nearly hit her.
The ghosts are all depressed, with Charley (Nick Pugliese) taking Wally’s sudden disappearance the hardest. Mr. Martin (Josh Zuckerman) tries to lift everyone’s spirits as chairs are set up in the library for a town meeting. The school’s fate will be decided that evening.
Yuri (Miles Elliot) wonders how they’ll know if Wally found Simon, and Mr. Martin admits they may never learn that.
Xavier (Spencer Macpherson), Nicole (Kiara Pichardo), and Claire (Rainbow Wedell) work on coaching Principal Hartman (Alex Zahara) on what he’s supposed to ask Deborah. He rehearses his questions, demanding answers about her involvement with Jeff and K.C. Jensen. Hartman’s exhausted and keeps messing up, and they decide to take a break. But first they have to make sure Hartman knows how to tape record a confession.
Livia (Erika Swayze) calls Nicole, insisting she’s trying to help. It turns out she was driving the car that picked up Maddie. She can’t get Maddie to talk and she’s in a trance. Nicole sends Xavier off to the hospital to meet Livia.
Meanwhile, Maddie continues walking through the woods. Suddenly, Dawn (RaeAnne Boon) comes out of nowhere and tackles her. Dawn confirms all the doors in the scars lead to these woods, not to pearly gates and definitely not to heaven. Maddie begs Dawn to help her find Simon and learns Dawn hasn’t seen Wally or Simon, but she has seen Janet. Dawn explains this place isn’t like the school and doesn’t make much sense.
Wally (Milo Manheim) is walking on a foggy bridge that seems to be in the same woods. He screams for Simon, but no one answers so he keeps on walking.
Maddie’s in the hospital waiting room, still in a trance, and Xavier lies to Livia that it’s just exhaustion. He thanks her for helping Maddie and she insists it was the right thing to do. Maddie’s dad, Dave (Danny Mac), wonders if it’s happened before and thinks they better keep her moving so that no one hops into her body.
Principal Hartman confronts Dr. Deborah Hunter-Price (Jennifer Tilly) and she pushes her way past him without answering any questions.
Back in the woods, Dawn says they rarely see anyone and there are ghost roads in the woods that they usually stick to. Maddie spots a piece of cloth she’s sure belongs to Simon and continues following the path.
Simon (Kristian Ventura) is walking the paths, too, but gets spooked and trips. Janet (Jess Gabor) tries to remind him who she is, but he runs away in terror.
Claire decides they need to ambush Deborah at the meeting since Hartman couldn’t get any answers.
Wally keeps walking and hears something that sounds like a radio transmission. He sees a rearview mirror in a tree and picks it up, and suddenly he’s plunged into his memories and the DJ’s dedicating a song to him for winning a football game. It’s as if he’s experiencing it now—not remembering something that happened decades ago—as he steps out of his car and heads into school.
Dawn hears the sound and tells Maddie that someone’s stuck. Wally looks at himself in a mirror and sees Dawn warning him not to get lost in there. “You have to come out,” says Dawn. Maddie also appears and yells, “Wally, come back now!”
Wally steps out of the memory and into the woods, and Maddie runs to him. They can touch! They hug and kiss, making up for lost time. Once they separate, Maddie punches him, pissed that he stepped through his door. He explains he did it to find Simon. Maddie picks up the mirror that Wally dropped and Dawn slaps it out of her hand. Apparently, they need to stay away from mirrors and not cross the river.
Wally confesses he wasn’t going to take his door until it appeared there was no other way to find Simon.
Janet follows Simon, asking what he’s looking for and assuring him she can help. He asks if she knows who he is and Janet confirms she does and realizes he doesn’t know. He keeps walking and Janet follows him again.
Over at the school, the meeting begins, and Deborah demands that they vote right now on what’s happening with the school. She doesn’t want to hear any defense of the school, and Nicole and Claire speak up. Claire asks if it’s true Deborah has a special interest in what happens, and Deborah becomes quiet.
Before Nicole can speak, Maddie’s mom, Sandra (Maria Dizzia), calls asking where Maddie is because she’s worried. Nicole starts to lie but Sandra informs her she knows the truth. Nicole reveals Maddie’s at the hospital with her dad.
Claire addresses the attendees and claims none of this is about a new school. It’s about greed and corruption. Nicole joins her and holds up statements and canceled checks, showing Deborah taking money in exchange for knocking down the school.
All eyes turn to Deborah’s seat, but she’s no longer in it.
Charley has a moment alone with Yuri and assures him he’ll be there for him if he wants to freak out. Charley wants them to promise each other that if they disappear into oblivion and can’t communicate, they’ll still hold hands. But then Charley starts sniffing and they realize someone spilled gas that they took from the fallout shelter.
They follow the splashes up the stairs as they try and figure out why someone stole gas. Deborah pushes past them and snarls, “Watch where you’re going.” Charley and Yuri realize she can see them!
Deborah slowly turns around and she’s holding Van Heidt’s ring.
Xavier and Dave are keeping watch over Maddie when Sandra rushes in. She demands to know what’s happening, and Xavier isn’t sure what to say. Sandra reveals she knows about the school, Dave, and all the ghosts. Xavier says they think she’s safe, and Sandra realizes there must be a ghost there too. Xavier glances at Dave, and Sandra takes a deep breath, smiles, and says her husband’s name.
Xavier confirms Maddie’s trapped inside one of her visions right now. He wonders if maybe she took the door she kept seeing in the visions. “Find her. Go find our girl,” says Sandra, and Dave has Xavier tell her he’s going to bring Maddie back.
Charley and Yuri fill the other ghosts in on Deborah as they watch the security cameras. The ring confirms that Van Heidt’s in Deborah’s body. They watch as she lights a fire in the cafeteria, which is right below the library.
The ghosts race to the library and find the doors have been chained shut. Van Heidt wants to kill anyone who can stop the school from being destroyed. The school will burn up, and all the ghosts will be trapped there forever and forgotten.
Mr. Martin realizes they can warn them by going through the pool in the scar to get to the library. It’s possible they can warn everyone in the few seconds they can be seen by the living.
Mr. Martin asks Charley and Yuri to try and stop the fire. If they can’t, then maybe they can slow Van Heidt down.
Wally, Maddie, and Dawn hear Janet yelling at Simon to get out of the river. Janet quickly explains that Simon doesn’t know how he is. Maddie tries to get him to look at her as Simon’s mom appears on the other side of the river. Maddie keeps trying and Simon asks if she knows who he is. He takes a few steps and Maddie rushes into the river and retrieves him. She tells him he’s Simon Elroy and she’s Maddie Nears. She has him look into a puddle with her and they’re transported into a memory of them watching TV.
Janet fills Wally in on what’s happening and that reflections are like scars, transporting them into a memory. But instead of nightmares, these are happy memories. Unfortunately, it’s easy to get trapped there. Only people you’ve lost or left behind can reach you.
Over at the hospital, Sandra pleads with Maddie to come back. Maddie hears Sandra’s pleas in her memory, and Maddie realizes the memory isn’t real. She wants them to leave as Simon’s eyes glaze over.
Maddie sees Wally in a mirror telling her to come back, and she grabs Simon’s hand, insisting they leave. She and Simon jump through the mirror and back into the woods. Maddie grabs Simon’s head and tells him again to remember that he’s Simon Elroy, and that he lost himself trying to save everyone.
“You belong back in your life, back in our life, and I would rather die than let you get lost here,” pleads Maddie. “Come home to your family, Simon. Come home to me.”
Simon’s eyes clear and he regains his memories!
Dave holds his key (a family photo), steps into his scar, and walks through his door.
Yuri and Charley throw water on the fire, but it doesn’t help since it’s not real water. Yuri suddenly realizes that they might be able to use the reset rule and bring the water into a scar.
Mr. Martin, Quinn (Ci Hang Ma), and Rhonda (Sarah Yarkin) make it into the church, but the pool’s gone. The hole in the floor now just leads to the basement. Mr. Martin asks Ralph for help and Ralph fills the hole with water. Mr. Martin suddenly realizes Ralph’s been in charge of where the water leads all along. Ralph sent him to the bus stop and Mr. Martin believes he did that to punish him for leaving him alone in the field. He apologizes but Quinn and Rhonda piece together what Ralph is actually trying to tell them. Ralph takes Mr. Martin’s hand as Rhonda explains that Ralph knew something bad was going to happen and sent Mr. Martin there so the students who died wouldn’t be alone.
Rhonda realizes Ralph can warn the living. Mr. Martin cries as he apologizes for leaving Ralph to get snatched by Van Heidt 90 years ago. The pastor appears and Ralph goes to his side. They realize Ralph was never alone; he had the pastor for company.
The church roof begins falling down as Quinn, Rhonda, and Mr. Martin head to the exit Ralph created to the library. The pastor is hit by a falling beam and Ralph refuses to leave him. Mr. Martin also stays, saying he’s staying with his friend.
Suddenly, the room lights up and a door appears. A bright white light fills the church.
Quinn and Rhonda fall into the library, landing on the stage. Quinn yells that Deborah set the school on fire and they’re in danger. No one moves. Rhonda adds, “Get the f**k out of here now!”
Claire and Nicole stare at Rhonda and Quinn, knowing they’re ghosts. Hartman calls for the fire department as the meeting attendees bang on the doors to get out.
Simon’s back to himself and with Wally, Maddie, Janet, and Dawn as Janet explains they’ve tried to leave this place by going back through their doors—but they never found them. Simon looks across the river and sees the pastor is with the children who were killed in the church. That confirms the pastor crossed over.
Maddie hears her name and sees her dad! They hold each other tight and then Dave says he’s there to take them home. The group follows him to a door, and he tells them to hurry through, but only Simon and Maddie are allowed to enter before it slams shut.
Simon and Maddie fall through the air, and Simon reaches out to grab Maddie’s hand but she’s too far away.
Maddie returns to her body and takes a gulp of air. She sobs as she holds her mom and thanks her for helping her find her way back. She asks about Simon, but Xavier and Sandra haven’t seen him.
Sandra tells Maddie to do what she needs to do but be careful. Nicole calls Xavier and tells him about the fire, while Charley and Yuri fight the fire by bringing the water through the scar. Charley wonders if they’re fighting it because it’s also burning in the ghost world. Yuri says, “I really love you,” and Charley responds, “God, you have terrible timing. I love you too.”
Xavier and Maddie rush to the school and encounter Van Heidt in Deborah’s body in the hallway. They refuse to let him pass by. Van Heidt reminds them he’s been going into bodies for a century, and no one has been able to stop him. He insists he’ll keep doing it and Xavier calls him a coward. Van Heidt wants the school to burn to the ground and bury all his worst memories. He warns them that if they stop the destruction, he’ll kill everyone they love.
Simon sneaks up behind Deborah/Van Heidt and hits her in the head with a fire extinguisher. Maddie’s thrilled to have her bestie back live and in the flesh. Xavier races off to get help.
The camera lingers in the hallway and seems to show Van Heidt standing in the smoke. No one notices the apparition.
The fire department rescues everyone trapped in the library and manages to put out the fire. Deborah’s taken away, alive but injured.
Xavier finds his dad outside and they hug. It’s obvious his dad’s proud of him.
The gang’s finally reunited and they wonder what Van Heidt did with the real Deb. After Maddie walks away, Xavier says Van Heidt threatened her. Also, he knows who they are. Claire isn’t worried since they know who he is, too.
Maddie heads to the bus stop and tells Yuri, Quinn, Charley, and Rhonda that she knows where the doors lead. She had to leave Wally, her dad, Janet, and Dawn there. School will be closed for a while so she’s not sure when she’ll see them again but wanted to make sure they’re safe.
The ghosts are exhausted, but Yuri really wants a smoke. Charley suggests he take the shortcut by stepping out of the school boundary. (That would send him directly to his scar.) Yuri takes a step over the boundary and doesn’t disappear! He takes a few more steps and can leave the school property.
Charley wonders if they burned down the boundary.
Three days later Maddie and Simon debate a horror film, but Maddie pauses when she sees a guy that looks like Wally. Simon agrees there feels like a lot is still undone, but a movie will help them take their minds off of it. The movie: Night of the Living Dead.
Season three ends with Sandra cleaning a knife as Maddie finally gets home after the movie. Maddie heads to bed and Sandra closes the curtains, adjusting Van Heidt’s ring and seeing his reflection in the window!
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