Suspicions surrounding Split River High’s cheer captain, Claire Zahler (Rainbow Wedell), mount in Paramount+’s new original series School Spirits. Episode 5, “The Twilight End Zone”, finds newly-deceased Maddie Nears (Peyton List) warring with her decision to pursue the investigation of Claire’s involvement with her death when she finds her mother, Sandra (Marla Dizzia), sober and hopeful for her return home. Unfortunately for the mother and daughter, there will be no homecoming.
Wally’s Big Game | Split River’s spirit support group is preparing for Wally Clark’s (Milo Manheim) big annual game. Each year, Homecoming week comes with a to-do list: paint Wally’s home-game banner, fill balloons with helium, and lift refreshments from the teacher’s lounge. While not every person shares the same kind of buzzing excitement for the occasion, this week’s football game is Wally’s favorite event of the year. For the last forty years since the football star’s death at the 5th yard line, Wally’s family has returned to the field to cheer on the Bandits during the homecoming game in honor of their athlete. For Wally, this means putting on his jersey and taking a seat in the bleachers next to his football fanatic of a mom.
New #1 Suspect | Claire is also preparing for homecoming festivities by ruthlessly campaigning for the queen’s crown at this year’s dance. Claws come out in a passive aggressive stare down with her opponent while across the cafeteria, Maddie and her friend and investigation partner, Simon Elroy (Kristian Flores), ponder Claire’s connection to her disappearance. Now that the two know Mr. Anderson (Patrick Gillmore) and Claire had been speaking on the phone the night they discovered Mr. A’s cash stash in his classroom, the cheerleader has become Simon’s number one suspect. Reluctant in Claire’s involvement, Maddie divulges details of her past their past friendship. When the girls were twelve years old, they were neighbors.
Both Maddie and Claire had chaotic home lives and sought refuge in each other. When Claire’s parents were at their worst, Maddie was unable to take her in because her own parent was unraveling. “I couldn’t help her,” Maddie tells Simon. Claire moved away with her father not too long after Maddie turned her away, and later upon Claire’s return she no longer acknowledged her existence.
The plot thickens when Maddie and her ghost buddy Charley (Nick Pugliese) snoop on a conversation between Claire and Principal Hartman (Alex Zahara) in which she fishes for information on Mr. Anderson’s arrest. Additionally, Simon gets ahold of three essays Claire submitted to the English teacher graded with straight A’s despite being the exact same paper for three separate novels. Maddie and Simon are left wondering what information Claire has on Mr. A, and if it has anything to do with Maddie’s disappearance.
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New Hope | Sandra finds a new source of hope for her daughter’s return when she receives a phone call from the Split River Sheriff’s Office. Authorities inform her that investigators found Maddie’s backpack in an abandoned home. Sandra also learns that someone has been squatting there, further fueling her belief that Maddie is alive.
With newfound optimism, Sandra makes her way to Split River High to gather her daughter’s schoolwork for her return home. Maddie catches sight of her mom on her way to her last stop at Ms. Field’s (Kalyn Miles) classroom. She cannot believe her eyes. Maddie’s mom appears to be sober and put together for the first time in years since her father passed. “I really want to be different for Maddie,” Sandra shares with Ms. Fields.
Maddie halts the investigation with Simon after seeing her mom. She considers how solving her murder might impact Sandra’s current state. Is it better for her mom’s well-being to never learn she is dead or the tragedy that led to her death?
Later, Sandra arrives at the homecoming game with totes full of missing flyers for Maddie. With a common cause at hand, Xavier Baxter (Spencer Macpherson) and Simon begin to make amends. The two boys, along with Nicole Herrera (Kiara Pichardo) and Ms. Fields, help Sandra pass out the flyers to the crowd swarming in for the football game.
A Stakeout | Meanwhile, Claire anxiously stakes out Mr. Anderson’s home for a second time in the hopes that she gets some answers from him about the investigation and her standing in his crime. She catches him leaving and stops him at the porch. Claire proceeds to do her own interrogation, asking the English teacher what he told the cops. Frustrated with Claire’s persistence, Mr. A replies that he told them the truth – that he stole the money, used the cash to pay off his dad’s debt, and that he was with his dad when Maddie disappeared. Claire seems satisfied with his answer and allows him to pass. Just before Mr. Anderson is out of earshot, Claire asks if he told police anything about her. He sarcastically replies that he can’t remember.
From her teacher’s home, Claire scrambles to make it to the football game back at Split River High School. Her anxiety heightens after she arrives and sees law enforcement officers patrolling the game.
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Mama Drama | Wally is presented with his own “mama drama” when Maddie challenges him to stop living for his mom and begin living for himself. From below the bleachers, Maddie watches as Wally makes his decision and removes his jersey in the middle of the homecoming game for the first time in forty years. In witnessing her ghostly friend come to terms with his life after death, Maddie realizes that she cannot stop trying to figure out what happened to her in order to protect her mom from knowing the truth. Her and her mom both need to know, for better or for worse. “I can’t protect my mom by giving up,” Maddy explains to Simon. “She has to know I’m not coming home, good or bad. You know, she has to move on. So do I.”
“Will You Go to the Dance with Me?” | A video recording of an argument between Claire and Mr. Anderson makes its way to Simon, Nicole and Xavier. The new compromising evidence leads the gang to devise a plan to get information out of their primary suspect, Claire. Through Simon, Maddie tells Xavier word for word what he should text Claire in order to win her back and ask her to the homecoming dance. Becoming the bridge between the two people who betrayed her trust pours salt onto an unhealed heart.
Claire will not be the only person going to the dance with a date, though. Wally finds Maddie before the night ends to ask her if he may accompany her for her first dance among the living and she accepts.
A Dead-end & New Lead | Simon believes he knows who sent the video of Claire and Mr. Anderson: the school janitor, Mr. South (Peter New). Together, Simon and Maddie pay Mr. South a visit at the school. To their disappointment, Simon’s hunch was wrong; But where one lead dead-ended, another opened when Maddie finds a hidden door to the school’s fallout shelter. Inside a room thick with decades worth of dust, the pair finds a tunnel that looks fit to carry a body off of campus unnoticed.
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