Sumith Prasad
The eighth episode of Paramount+’s teen series ‘School Spirits,’ titled ‘Madison’s Body,’ revolves around Maddie and Simon’s efforts to find out whether the former’s mother Sandra killed her. Nicole, Claire, and Xavier try their best to clear the name of Mr. South so that the atrocities against him would come to an end. Dawn’s journey to the “Beyond” surprises Wally, Charley, and other spirits of Split River High as they question Mr. Martin’s intentions and abilities. The episode ends with mind-blowing revelations one after the other. If you are intrigued about the same, here’s what we can share! SPOILERS AHEAD.
School Spirits Episode 8 Recap
‘Madison’s Body’ begins with Simon searching for Nicole’s money in Sandra’s house as per Maddie’s instructions. He discovers Maddie’s necklace in an envelope and brings the same to his best friend, only for her to reveal that she had the same when she met her mother on the day she got killed but not when she woke up in the boiler room after her death. Maddie asks Simon to bring her mother to the school so that she can find out whether the latter is lying about her supposed part in her daughter’s death. Simon accepts that Maddie may move on or cross over when she finally discovers who killed her.
Wally, Charley, and other spirits want to know how Dawn crossed over to the Beyond when they are not able to. When Mr. Martin fails to help them, they try to find a way on their own. Nicole doesn’t want to confess to the police that she extorted money from a teacher using Maddie’s identity so that Mr. South will be free of suspicions. She, however, joins Xavier and Claire to find a way to prove that he is innocent. Xavier meets his father Sheriff Baxter to let him know that Mr. South was with him the day Maddie was killed. Baxter, however, dismisses his own son’s words.
When Baxter ignores Xavier, he realizes that Mr. South’s innocence can only be proven by himself, Claire, and Nicole. They go to the abandoned house where Maddie’s backpack was found, only to encounter the anonymous individual who ran away from the property upon seeing Xavier. Simon confronts Sandra about Maddie’s death, only for her to detail her meeting with Maddie. While Sandra opens up about the same, Maddie remembers that her mother only fought with her but didn’t kill her, leaving her clueless concerning the identity of her murderer.
School Spirits Season 1 Ending: Is Maddie Dead or Alive?
While Nicole and Xavier go through the rooms of the abandoned house, Claire sees the anonymous individual who was seen on the property days ago and chases the latter. The person drives off in Claire’s truck but only after Nicole captures a video of the same. In the video, they see Maddie’s reflection in the mirror. When Simon watches the video, he thinks that the spirit who speaks to him is his imagination, created by his grief of losing his beloved best friend. However, Maddie’s spirit does exist, which means that she was killed. But Maddie’s death is anything but normal. Her body is still “alive” and that’s how the same is reflected in the mirror of Claire’s vehicle.
On the day Maddie apparently got killed, she fought with her mother in the boiler room. After the fight, she was sitting at the place, only to listen to a cry for help from the fallout shelter. The cry for help was from Janet, who died alongside Mr. Martin when the chemistry lab got burnt down. When Maddie opened the door of the shelter, Janet’s spirit ran through Maddie, only to possess her body, leaving Maddie’s spirit behind. Rather than having a normal death, Maddie died by losing her body to Janet, who started to use the same to live like a human being. She leaves Split River at the end of the episode to escape from the people looking for her.
While Wally and Charley try to find out more about Mr. Martin’s death, they discover a stack of records written by him about the spirits and the struggles they face. In one of them, he wrote about trauma can “thin” the line between the worlds of the dead and the Beyond. Similarly, trauma must have thinned the line between the alive and the dead, which explains how Maddie listened to Janet in the first place. During the fight with Sandra, Maddie relived her trauma of getting emotionally abandoned and not cared for after the death of her father. Such an experience must have enabled her to listen to Janet and become an access point for her.
What Does Mr. Martin Do to the Spirits? Do They Really Cross Over?
The discovery of case files written by Mr. Martin about the mental states and deaths of the spirits resided and residing in the high school stuns Wally and Charley. With the help of Rhonda, they also find objects the spirits had before the moment they died as human beings such as Charley’s letter to Emilio, Wally’s football, etc. While pretending to be taking care of the spirits at the place, Martin has been conducting studies about them. Although the motive and purpose of the same aren’t revealed, it is safe to say that the teacher has been exploring the realm beyond the school using the spirits at his disposal.
Martin can be relying on the personal information of every spirit to find out how the same influence their existence in the world of the dead. That can be how he theorized that reliving trauma can open an access point to the Beyond. He must have collected the personal belongings of the spirits to make them relive the final moments before their deaths to find out whether their traumas make them cross over.
When Maddie became a spirit, Wally and Charley let her know that Janet is the last one to cross over to the Beyond in a long time. Since Janet really didn’t cross over to the Beyond but possessed Maddie’s body, the process of crossing over can even be Martin’s creation. However, it doesn’t mean that a spirit cannot cross over to another realm. Dawn must have really crossed over, without the help of Martin. That can be the reason why he gets agitated about the subject when Wally and Charley talk about the same during their routine meeting. Martin must be feeling annoyed that Dawn crossed over on her own while he has been trying to unravel the mystery behind the same for years.
Does Xavier Die?
When Claire sees the anonymous person entering the abandoned house of her stepfather, she goes inside and informs Nicole and Xavier about it. The trio then chases the person, who is none other than Janet in Maddie’s body, only for her to get into Claire’s truck. While Xavier tries to get into the truck, Janet drives the vehicle in reverse, hitting the former. Although Xavier gets up, he loses consciousness soon.
Although Xavier’s condition is critical, it is unlikely that he will die. His unconsciousness can be the result of the blood loss caused by the hit. Since he receives adequate medical attention soon enough, the chances of him surviving are immensely high. In addition, Janet hit him with the truck to stop him from getting into the same, and not enough to cause his death.
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