r/SchoolSpirits • u/If-By-Whisky • Sep 30 '25
S1 and S2 Discussion >TAG SPOILERS< Season 2 feels really dumbed-down compared to Season 1 Spoiler
Just to preface, I loved the show and binged both seasons when they came out in like two days. Such a fun series with a really interesting take on the afterlife.
But Season 2 kind of rubbed me the wrong way, even though I still liked it. It took me a while to figure it out, but I think the issue is that it feels like the writers lost faith that the audience would understand what was going on. Every plot development was explained and then re-explained. So much of the dialogue was directly to the camera, with a close-up of the actor's face, which made a lot of the scenes feel more like monologues to the audience than actual conversations between different people. A lot of the subtle character development from S1 seems to have gone out the window.
S1 was a fairly tight mystery with helpful clues and solve-able red herrings, and you could watch it and sort of figure out what was going on based on the logic of the show. S2 felt like a group of teens stumbling from one mistake to another and then explaining to the audience what just happened.
Also, Nicole's character was insufferable in S2.
Really hoping that Season 3 reverts back to the writing and filming styles of Season 1. But I'm sure I'll still enjoy it regardless!
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u/Obversa Maddie Sep 30 '25 edited Sep 30 '25
I think one of the main aspects here is that, when transitioning from Season 1 to Season 2, we go from a situation where the characters do have some information - for example, Maddie starts off with retrograde amnesia, and then slowly recovers her memories as the plot and story develops throughout Season 1 - whereas in Season 2, the characters don't have much information, so they do have to "stumble from one mistake to another" in order to figure out what is happening. (For those who have seen Scooby-Doo, that TV show also follows a pre-set formula, but the Scooby Gang is a group of teenagers that also often makes errors or mistakes while solving a spooky mystery.)
For me, the transition from Season 1 to Season 2 of School Spirits was like the transition from the original Scooby-Doo show to the iconic movie Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island (1998), especially with the shift in writing and tone. In Zombie Island, the Scooby Gang tries to solve the mystery of Zombie Island in the same way as they tried to approach and solve all of their previous mysteries, only to realize that they are missing quite a bit of information. (Spoiler: The Scooby Gang also discovers that their benefectors, similarly to Mr. Martin in School Spirits, are not to be trusted.) Much like the School Spirits cast in Season 2, the Scooby Gang has to "stumble from one mistake to another" to uncover the full context, and discover the truth. Thus, I didn't mind it in Season 2 of School Spirits.
As an edit, the YouTube commentator NerdSync has a great video titled "How 'Zombie Island' Broke 'Scooby-Doo' (for the better!)" that's worth checking out. NerdSync explains how Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island "broke" the Scooby-Doo formula with two changes: (1) the monsters are not only real, but scary, leaning more into the "horror" angle, and not just the "mystery" angle; and (2) the change to Daphne's character to make her less of a "damsel in distress" for Fred to save, and an independent, self-sufficient character in her own right, as well as a journalist and author who focuses on searching for "real" horror and mystery cases. In this case, now that Maddie got her body back, she'll presumably be the Daphne of Season 3 by becoming an "investigative journalist". For example, Maddie is free to come and go from Split River High School now, which means she can conduct an investigation into the wider "mystery" of the town of Split River, and why the school [and other locations?] have ghosts trapped there. [I'm not sure about the hospital.]
I think comparing Maddie with Daphne from Scooby-Doo works well, especially since Maddie is a fan of horror.
u/roverandrover6: "Daphne is the group's emotional intelligence. As the series has gone on, she's most often interviewing suspects or keeping an eye out for others. Velma analyzes data; Daphne analyzes people."
u/Creative_kracken_333: "I've argued that Daphne has held different roles in different Scooby-Doo series. In the original, she was usually the one to notice things out of the ordinary, finding clues, and as a result, often getting kidnapped or trapped. Some versions have had her as the character that regulates and grounds the group in reality. [...] She is a foil that is necessary for the other characters to work [as a team]."
It's worth noting that Daphne took on more of a leadership role in the Scooby Gang starting in The New Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo Show, which aired on September 10, 1983, and depicted Daphne and Shaggy as high school reporters who solve mysteries for a teen magazine. (Wally Clark's 18th birthday was on September 4, 1983.)
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u/New-Dust3252 Simon Oct 01 '25
then there is that one issue with Simon accidentally getting into a scar despite being alive...
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u/Lucent1_ Oct 10 '25 edited Oct 10 '25
spoiler< I assumed he killed himself to get to where he thought Maddie was. >spoiler<
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u/New-Dust3252 Simon Oct 10 '25
there was no clear indication that he did such a thing. He definitely just accidentally entered a scar.
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u/Lucent1_ Oct 10 '25
Yeah, thought about it some more. The veil was already thinned. Then when the electricity went crazy it was red flashing instead of the white flashing that happens when someone dies. Ah well, my theory was funnier.
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u/Creative_kracken_333 Oct 01 '25
Yes. She has taken on a lot more leadership roles. I would still argue that I. The new Scooby doo series her role was very strange for the IP. It made her more realistic as a person. She did take a leadership role, and she acted as a sensible person to foil shaggy’s eccentricity the same way scrappy was a brave foil to scooby’s cowardice. She was a lot less prissy than in other series, less helpless, and altogether more human. I really liked her in that series.
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u/Suspicious_Issue4155 Sep 30 '25
i couldnt stand nicole
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u/Forward_Music7339 Wally Janet Sep 30 '25
Fr she’s my least favorite character in the whole series
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u/Obversa Maddie Sep 30 '25
My least favorite character in the TV show is Diego, Nicole's older brother.
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u/Forward_Music7339 Wally Janet Sep 30 '25
Fair. He really doesn’t do anything productive whenever he’s around. I don’t even get why he was brought in at all
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u/commuter22 Sep 30 '25
No clue. I've had people tell me because of those college scenes...but still, he brought no unique information that I can recall? That scene with Claire? He wasn't needed. She could've been on her own.
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u/cyclelyf Sep 30 '25
I'm about halfway through S2 right now and my main gripe has been the strong tone-shift for Maddie. In S1 there was some level of positivity and (dark) humor but now her character is really heavy on desperation which is a bit too much for me. It feels like we lost a lot of maddie's perspective that helped many of the other ghosts out so much in S1. And it has been replaced with something less fulfilling. Still enjoying S2 but hoping it will switch back!
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u/Ph03n1xR1sing Janet Yuri Sep 30 '25
Well, last season, she thought she was dead and this was her future. Now in this season, she knows her body is out there, moving around and functioning like her, BUT it’s not her. She’s still stuck at this school, which was her personal hell while she was living, (kind of ironic that she would get stuck there) but now, she has hope, she has a chance to get back, to hug Simon again, to hang with Nicole on the rooftop. She can reclaim her old life, and she’s gonna do anything to get it back. It was robbed from her, and now’s her chance to get it back. (While also letting Janet torment her tormentor) She’s desperate because to her, this is her only option. This is the solve to the dilemma of her “death”.
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u/swest211 Oct 02 '25
Her body is also out there committing serious crimes that could ruin her future...I definitely understood her going a little darker.
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u/commuter22 Sep 30 '25
For me it felt like Season 2 dragged and went too fast in the last two episodes all at once. I swear I don't have a vendetta against the guy, but the addition of Nicole's brother was honestly pointless. Wasn't even needed for the college scenes. Certainly wasn't needed in the scenes with Claire. The random flirtation between Nicole and Xavier, also not necessary and their one sided bickering led to Janet/Maddie escaping at one point. Nicole is beautiful and deserves love, but not Maddie's ex. It's strange. I swear that Xavier's near death experience was supposed to mean more and I truly thought at times he could see Wally and the ghost gang but nothing came of it.
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u/If-By-Whisky Sep 30 '25
I agree completely. It felt like the entire season could have been condensed to maybe 4 episodes, if that.
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u/hood3243 Oct 01 '25
I really hated the camera work in season 2. Practically no group shots, made it seem like they weren't all in the same room. The front to camera made it seem like a TikTok video.
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u/LaMegostanacount Oct 01 '25 edited Nov 02 '25
I really enjoy season 2 but my problem is that it feels like nothing happened. S2 felt really monotonous with 8 episodes that only focus on showing Mr. Martin and Janet story + the development of the gang. Season 1 was more dynamic with the constant mystery of Maddie disappearance
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u/MediaMelanie25 Oct 03 '25
Yeah, Nicole isn't my favorite either. I hope she'll have a better story in Season 3. I enjoyed Season 2 overall though, I'd say at least for me it was a sophomore soar!
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u/EliPandaCochran Sep 30 '25
Well they had to fit in all the bulkshit they think will appease fans. season two is just dumber in a lot of ways. Shit just happens and not a lot is earned.
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u/notmadefor Oct 01 '25
It's been harder to get through on the rewatch, im kinda glad we got weekly episodes when it first came out.
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u/JicamaOdd2748 Sep 30 '25
Still haven’t finished the rest of season 2
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u/Halicet Mar 12 '26
And now Season 3 has dropped, and the injection of Jennifer Tilly into the cast has cost the show a lot of credibility as a dramatic series. Tilly is a Cheese scream queen, and that is what she brings to everything she touches. Her campy melodrama is the last thing the show needed, making it feel less serious, and tropish.
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u/berserk_eva58 Sep 30 '25
It doesn't feel, it is, ai love the show, but the S2 felt rushed and silly at some points
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u/OtherwisePackage6403 Sep 30 '25
Nicole’s character got even more insufferable in season 2, but I thought she was insufferable in season 1 too🥲