Sumith Prasad
The seventh episode of Paramount+’s teen series ‘School Spirits’ follows Simon, Xavier, and Claire’s efforts to find out whether Roger South is really Maddie’s killer. Xavier reveals to Simon that he heard the janitor the day Maddie was killed while he was trying to open her phone, which makes it clear that he isn’t the killer. South tries to convince Maddie’s mother Sandra that he doesn’t have anything to do with Maddie’s disappearance but fails.
A determined Simon, Xavier, and Claire go through the evidence the authorities collected regarding Maddie’s disappearance, which leads the former to Nicole. Since Nicole has been acting suspiciously for a while, the viewers must be eager to discover whether she had anything to do with her best friend’s death. Well, let us share our thoughts regarding the same! SPOILERS AHEAD.
Unveiling Maddie’s True Killer
Ever since Maddie’s disappearance, Nicole has been acting suspiciously. She doesn’t open up about her concerns to Simon, which makes it clear that she is harboring certain secrets. Even though she looks after Sandra after the latter’s daughter’s disappearance and helps the mother find her daughter, Nicole doesn’t stop acting suspiciously. When Simon asks Nicole about the metadata of Claire and Anderson’s video to find his best friend’s killer, she only tries to change the topic of discussion. In the seventh episode of the series, Nicole’s secrets get unraveled when Simon, Xavier, and Claire set out to prove that Mr. South didn’t kill Maddie.
Simon, Xavier, and Claire get into the sheriff’s office and go through the pieces of evidence concerning Maddie’s case. Simon asks Xavier about the boot print which was discovered by Nicole. Since Maddie died in the boiler room of the school, Simon knows that his best friend didn’t go to the woods, which raises concerns regarding Nicole’s claim that the print belongs to Maddie. Simon and Maddie remember how poorly they treated Nicole for a few months until the young girl’s death. When Simon goes to Nicole to confront her about her lie, he catches her deleting videos of Claire and Anderson, indicating that she is the one behind the footage.
However, Nicole didn’t kill Maddie. It is true that Nicole is the one behind Claire and Anderson’s video but that’s all she did. When Maddie and Simon started planning to pursue their higher studies in Chicago, Nicole wanted to join her two friends. Unfortunately, she didn’t receive a scholarship to make her move to the city. Since there wasn’t anyone to help her financially, Nicole took the video of Claire and Anderson, stole the teacher’s number from Maddie’s phone, and blackmailed him for money. Nicole wanted to use the same money to accompany her two best friends to Chicago. Other than the same, she hasn’t done any crime.
Nicole fears whether the video she took paved the way for Maddie’s disappearance or death, which makes her immersed in guilt. Now that Nicole is cleared of suspicion, Maddie’s killer can be her mother Sandra. The seventh episode of the series ends with the late girl wondering whether her mother killed her for money. Since Sandra has Nicole’s money with her, the former being Maddie’s killer isn’t an impossibility. When the same possibility surfaces in her thoughts, Maddie even remembers glimpses of a confrontation with her mother. On the day Maddie was killed, Sandra showed up at Split River High upon cutting her trip short. The mother and daughter might have had a heated fight in the boiler room concerning the former’s addiction.
Sandra might have killed Maddie impulsively and under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Having said that, Sandra isn’t the only remaining suspect. The anonymous person who appears in places related to Maddie’s case can also be the killer. Since the same person encounters Nicole and Simon in the woods while Sandra is at her house, we can conclude that the masked individual isn’t Maddie’s mother. If Sandra isn’t the killer, she must have followed Nicole to the woods upon noticing her strange behavior. Since Sandra gets the money from Nicole’s hiding spot, she must be wondering whether the latter has anything to do with what happened to her daughter.
Read More: What Happened to Maddie’s Body in School Spirits? Where is it?
