Sumith Prasad
Paramount+’s teen series ‘School Spirits’ revolves around Maddie Nears, who mysteriously dies in Split River High School’s boiler room, only to wake up as a spirit. The other spirits, most prominently Mr. Everett Martin, residing at the place help her adapt to the world of the dead within the school. Martin helps the spirits to deal with their emotions as the head of a support group. In the first season finale, Wally and Charley come across startling information concerning the former chemistry teacher’s death. Naturally, the viewers must be eager to know more about the same. Well, here’s what we can share regarding Martin’s death! SPOILERS AHEAD.
Mr. Martin’s Death Unveiled: Fire Tragedy and Lies
Although Mr. Martin helps other spirits to deal with the truth about their deaths, he doesn’t really talk about how he died until Wally and Charley raise their voice for crossing over to the “Beyond” like Dawn. Martin tells the support group members that it is hard to relive one’s death to cross over as Dawn did. He then reveals that he died due to a fire started by one of his students at the chemistry lab. He adds that he managed to rescue every student who was at the lab but the at the cost of his own life. According to the chemistry teacher, he traumatized his students by failing to save himself since they had to deal with their beloved teacher’s death.
However, Wally and Charley eventually discover that Martin has been lying to them concerning his death. While trying to find the reports concerning his death, Wally comes across reports about the burnt-down chemistry lab. He reads to Charley that Martin died with one of his students, who is none other than Janet Hamilton. The truth about Janet’s death and her connection with Martin lead the two spirits to dig deep into the accident, only to come across a report about Janet’s parents accusing Martin of starting the fire at the lab himself, which killed their daughter. Since the chemistry teacher has been lying about his death and post-death existence, Janet’s parents’ accusation is more believable than the former’s account.
Although the first season finale of the show offers several revelations, it doesn’t detail why Martin killed himself and Janet by starting the fire at the chemistry lab. Martin might have had unrequited feelings for Janet, which led him to distress. He must have thought that it would be better to end his life with Janet rather than see her lead a life without him. If that’s the case, it is understandable why he would lie to other spirits since the group wouldn’t accept him as their de facto leader if they knew that he is a murderer. Considering that Maddie found Janet locked up in the fallout shelter along with Martin before her death, the possibility of Martin killing himself and Janet for not losing the latter cannot be ruled out.
Since the spirits are deeply attached to the place where they die, it might have been easy for Martin to keep Janet as his captive at the fallout shelter, where the chemistry lab was previously located. Janet passed through Maddie, possessing her physical body, while seemingly trying to run away from Martin. He must have started spreading the lie that Janet crossed over to the Beyond to explain her absence as well. Martin’s lies about himself and Janet make him earn the trust of other spirits, who open up about their lives to him.
Furthermore, the first season of the show doesn’t reveal whether Martin’s ambiguous death is connected to the “studies” he conducts after his death about the mental states of other spirits. In one of the case files, he wrote about an access point to another realm. If Paramount+ renews the show for a second season, we can expect the sophomore round to reveal whether Martin killed himself knowing about the world of the dead and the Beyond to explore the same.
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