School Spirits – Season 1 Episode 5 “The Twilight End Zone” Recap & Review

The Twilight End Zone

Episode 5 of School Spirits starts with Claire waiting outside Mr Anderson’s house. She is anxious and wants to speak to him about what he said to the police.

At school, Wally is excited about the homecoming game and everyone is trying to be cheerful and helpful to him. Mr Martin is quick to assign everyone a job including decorations and refreshments. He notices Maddie is absent and Charley and Rhonda offer to go fetch her but Mr Martin decides they should both stay. He implies that Rhonda should focus on helping so she can crossover.

Meanwhile, the other students are ready to vote for their home queen and king. So far, Maddie and Simon have been tailing Claire for a week but have not found any evidence. Simon is curious about what led to the fallout between Maddie and Claire. Maddie explains that one night her mom was having a bad day and Claire stopped by because her parents were fighting.

Maddie was scared she would see how bad things were at her house so she refused to let her in. Claire’s parents soon divorced and for a year she went away to live with her dad. Her mom remarried and when she came back, Claire completely ignored Maddie. Simon thinks that Clair might still be holding a grudge against Maddie because of that night.

Elsewhere, the police call Maddie’s mom, Sandra, to inform her they’ve found Maddie’s bag in a deserted building. According to the police, someone has been squatting in the house. Sandra is certain that the squatter is Maddie and thanks Xavier as she quickly rushes to prepare for Maddie’s return.

At school, Maddie and Charley listen to Claire’s conversations and notice she is fishing for information about Mr Anderson from the principal. The principal has no information and Claire threatens that her parents will no longer support the school. Rhonda interrupts their eavesdropping rendezvous and asks them to pitch in on the homecoming preparations.

Still at school, Nicole informs Simon about the recovery of Maddie’s backpack. It turns out the building the cops found the bag belongs to Claire’s parents. Simon gets frustrated that  Nicole has been hanging out with Xavier and bringing him into their circle. Xavier tries to defend Claire and that pisses Simon off more. Nicole asks him to stop pushing her away as she is not ready to lose two friends. Simon quickly apologizes but Nicole leaves before acknowledging it.

As Maddie help with the preparations in the gym, she spots her mom. Her mom is at school because she believes Maddie is coming back and wants to make sure she is updated on the school curriculum. Maddie is surprised that her mom is sober

In the meantime, Simon convinces Mr South to give him the keys to Mr Anderson’s class. He discovers that Mr Anderson was giving Claire straight A’s when she never actually did the work.

Maddie joins him and finds it suspicious too but she is conflicted after seeing her mom sober. She tells Simon that maybe they shouldn’t continue to look into what happened to her so that her mom can have hope she is coming back. Simon is surprised by her decision but understands where Maddie is coming from.

After waiting for hours, Claire finally corners Mr Anderson and asks if he ratted her out to the cops. Mr Anderson replies that he doesn’t remember his statement and asks her to leave. He has an alibi for the night Maddie went missing and he is not a suspect in her disappearance.

Back at school, Charley tries to write a letter for Emilio but is having a hard time knowing what to say. Wally also checks in on Maddie and they connect on their shared ghost fate. Wally tells her about his mom and why he worked so hard to make her proud.  The only thing Wally regrets is that he died before getting his final win for his mom.

Later that night, Xavier checks out the abandoned building where the police found Maddie’s bag. He spots someone but he is unable to catch them before they flee. He then goes to Maddie’s house to help her mom and meets Simon. Simon came to the house to ask Sandra about the bag. Xavier tells him about the person he saw at the abandoned house.  Sandra asks them to help her give out missing posters of Maddie at the school game. She is hoping Maddie will see the posters and come back home.

At the homecoming game, Claire arrives late and keeps acting suspicious. Wally relives his best moments as he watches the game. Maddie has a talk with him and he confesses he doesn’t really enjoy playing. He did it to make his mom happy. Maddie shares her experience with her alcoholic mom and tells him that he is allowed to choose what he wants. He is dead and he can be free of his obligations to his mom.

During the game, Wally decides to take her advice. Maddie watches her mom give out posters and wonders if she is any different from Wally. Maddie also comes close to her mom but unfortunately, she is a ghost.

Mr Martin wonders why everyone seems distracted and asks Rhonda to keep an eye on Maddie.

Sandra also recruits Miss Fields and Nicole to hand over the posters at the game. We learn that Mr Anderson returned the money he owed to the school. As they distribute the posters, Simon, Nicole and Xavier get a video message of Clair threatening Mr Anderson about stealing her parent’s money. Simon questions who recorded the video and Nicole wonders why it was sent to the three of them.

Simon shows Maddie the video and deduces that Claire might have thought she recorded the video and that is why she was killed. Maddie realizes they need to find answers so her mom can move on.

In the meantime, Nicole interrogates Xavier and tries to gauge if he had anything to do with the video. She believes his story and warns him not to show his dad the video. Sandra interrupts them and asks to be taken home. Nicole offers to take her home and on the way, Sandra asks if Nicole thinks Maddie will forgive her and come back. Nicole quickly answers yes but she seems suspicious as she puts the boxes of posters in her car boot.

Xavier asks Simon about their next move and Maddie suggests they lure Claire. She asks Simon to make Xavier send an apology message to Claire and ask her to be his date at the homecoming party. Xavier is hesitant as he doesn’t think it will work but agrees to do it. Simon relays Maddie’s words and Xavier sends the message to Claire.

Simon recognizes that the message was what Maddie wanted to say to Xavier. Claire receives the message but ignores it.

As the night rolls by, Wally thanks Maddie for her help and asks her to be his homecoming date. Maddie accepts his invitation and he gets excited. Simon finds her and they go to Mr South to ask what video he was watching in the morning.

Mr South shows him the video of the bloody wall in the basement where it is believed Maddie died. Maddie goes back to the basement to see the writings for herself, where she discovers a door in the basement. They start to suspect that the killer used it to drag Maddie’s body out, as the episode comes to a close.

The Episode Review

Nicole is acting really suspicious and I wonder why. Actually, she has also been discovering key evidence in Maddie’s disappearance. She was the one who found the boot marks which the police assumed to be Maddie’s. They also assumed that Maddie jumped the school fence and ran into the woods. What does she know?

I admit Claire is suspicious but I don’t think she killed Maddie. She is guilty of getting fake grades but as for murder, I think she is too calculated for that.

I am surprised that the police continue to laze around though, they have barely done anything other than jump to conclusions. Hopefully they improve in the episodes ahead.