School Spirits – Season 1 Episode 1 “My So-Called Death” Recap & Review

My So-Called Death

Episode 1 of School Spirits starts with Maddie watching as the Principal addresses the school about the fact that she is missing. The Principal is hopeful that Maddie will be found safe and other students try to recall who Maddie was. One of the cheerleaders tells her friend that the police found blood smeared in the janitor’s closet and another argues that it was the boiler room. The police believe Maddie’s phone is still at school.

On the other side seats Simon and Nicole who were Maddie’s best friends. The principal ends his speech by asking anyone with relevant information to come forward and invites the cheerleader team to the stage.

Maddie is joined by a fellow ghost, Charley, who informs her that she is a ghost and no one can hear her. Charley tries to cheer her up by telling her it is only a matter of time before they find her body. Maddie has been dead for the past three days and she is trying to make sense of everything. She hates that she is spending her afterlife in high school. I don’t blame her, imagine being stuck in high school for eternity! Charley has been there since the 90’s so he is the best person to help her transition.

As they wander the hallways, Maddie tries to talk to Nicole but she is unable to hear her. Charley invites her to an afterlife support group led by Mr Martin. She meets other ghosts among them, Wally and Rhonda. Rhonda asks her how she died and everyone is surprised that Maddie doesn’t remember her murder. Maddie remembers spending time with her boyfriend, Xavier before heading to class with Simon.

In class, she remembers seeing Xavier skipping class and heading to his car to do drugs. She asks Xavier to reconsider using drugs before kissing him and heading back to class. Her phone dies on her way back.

After the Afterlife support group meeting, Maddie stalks Xavier and is shattered to see he is not doing well. She is hoping there is a chance she can go back but Charley tells her there is no going back just forward to the great beyond. He gives her the ghost tour and shows her other ghosts that died at school. Maddie tries to grab her missing poster and Charley explains that she can’t change anything from the living world. He advised her to stick with the support group and says it will her her transition to the beyond.

Charley leaves Maddie to stalk Xavier who is attending a class. The teacher is trying to be considerate of Maddie being missing but Simon is angry that people are being phoney. He thinks they are laughing about Maddie missing and questions why no one has volunteered to be part of Maddie’s search party. He is especially angry at Xavier who he believes knows something about Maddie going MIA. They get into an altercation and Simon grabs Xavier’s bag which rips and reveals Maddie’s phone. Everyone wonders why he has the phone when the cops have been looking for it.

Maddie is curious too and assumes that he had her phone because he is trying to figure out what happened. Charley questions why he didn’t give it to the police if he truly wanted answers. Maddie gets hyped trying to defend Xavier so he takes her to his “office” the boys’ shower room. He distracts Maddie by explaining he died from his nuts allergy. While in the shower rooms, Maddie remembers a time when she and Xavier hid there to avoid being caught by a teacher after the school closed.

On the other hand, Simon is hell-bent on proving Xavier did something to Maddie but Nicole asks him to be positive. Nicole thinks there is a chance that Maddie is safe and will soon be back.  They are shocked to see Claire trying to reach out to Xavier as he waits outside the Principal’s office.

Meanwhile, Maddie runs into Wally who offers to help her find out what happened. Maddie declines his offer but asks if he crossed over to the afterlife with everything he had on him, especially as Maddie is trying to figure out what happened to her phone and backpack. She is also missing a necklace.

In a flashback, we learn Xavier stole Maddie’s phone when she was distracted after seeing her mom arrive at school.

After her conversation with Wally, Maddie rushes to follow Xavier, whom she finds in another confrontation with Nicole and Simon. Simon is angry that Xavier has been keeping Maddie’s phone for three days, he tries to take a shot at Xavier and gets punched. The teachers separate them and Maddie is shaken to see Xavier that angry.

She goes to the gym where some of the ghosts are holding a meeting and asks Wally to help her got a confession out of someone. She is under the impression that all he has to do is channel his ghost energy and scare Xavier till he cracks. Charley and Wally inform her that it doesn’t work that way and Rhonda asks her to stop. Mr Richard asks her to talk about what she is feeling as it will help her move forward but Maddie leaves in a rage.

She tries to leave the school premises but keeps ending up in the boiler room. After a few more trials, one of the ghosts explains that she can’t leave the school. She still goes on to try some more but ends up in the boiler room where her blood is still smeared on the wall. She tries to remember what happened to her in that room but her memory fails her.

She despondently gives up and goes back to the meeting where she learns Rhonda was murdered by her school guidance teacher. She asks how they handled the situation and Mr Richard advises her to stop holding on to the past. As they talk, the rest of the school enters the gym and prepare to hold her vigil. Maddie is surprised to see her mom who is so overcome with emotion that she is unable to give a speech.

Outside the gym, Xavier talks to his dad who also happens to be the sheriff. He wants to know how Xavier ended up with Maddie’s phone. Xavier explains that he was cheating on Maddie with Claire. He accidentally sent Maddie a message meant for Claire and stole her phone to delete the message. Xavier insists that he didn’t know what happened to Maddie. Unfortunately, Maddie overhears Xavier’s conversation with his dad and is saddened to hear that Xavier was cheating on her.

Maddie walks along the hallway and overhears Simon talking to a teacher and crying about how much he misses her. He is sure that Maddie was hurt because she would never fail to come back. He has seen Maddie go through so much and he is sure she didn’t run away.

In the meantime, the sheriff puts Xavier in a police car and assures him that he will take care of it. The other students assume he is guilty and the episode ends with Simon somehow able to see Maddie in her ghost state.

The Episode Review

It is hard to pinpoint the guilty parties but at the moment Xavier looks the most guilty. It was heartbreaking to see how much Simon misses Maddie bur what made the scene sadder was the fact that Maddie was there but unable to comfort him. Now that he can see her, we can only hope it will bring him some comfort and they can work together to solve the mystery of Maddie’s murder.

So far so good; School Spirits gets off to an enticing start.