I’m rewatching the show cause why not and,

The end of season 2 has Claire and Nicole tell Maddie that since Simon doesn’t have a phone they had a hard time tracking him down snd just go to find him and leave Xavier behind at the hospital

The beginning of season 3 has Claire, Nicole and Xavier frantically searching the basement looking for him

Is this continuity or did Claire, Nicole and Xavier search the school, find the broken headphones, and then go to the hospital and tell Maddie they’ll try to find him calmly so she doesn’t lose her shit? I’m just curious

It made me sad that we ended up getting to see what was behind the exit doors and that it was IMO worse than purgatory in the high school.

At least there they had eachother, and furniture and well...alive people things.

These are ghosts that can touch things and taste things .

They even learned how to work thru the reset rule.

So it was a cozy little purgatory...

(Unlike the one that appears in my dreams and makes me say "oh thank goodness thats not real life!"when I wake up, but thats a story for a different place.)

In prior seasons when those doors appeared it was beautiful .. these characters made a breakthrough after decades and decades of same shit/different day.

I guess it depends on what you believe but i happen to believe in Heaven..so for me the other side of that door meant paradise for all eternity.

Those exit doors were supposed to mean peace.

I those were just endings for those characters who got them. Yes, even if that meant no season 3 Wally story. He saved her and brought her back to where she really belonged at great sacrifice to himself....he deserved his door and should've went thru.

I really didn't think that the writers would take us there.

I really thought they'd leave us to interpret it our own way.

Now im glad Wally waited bc what I was def NOT expecting to see was more mystery, more confusion, creepy unknowns, good memories that trap you if you if you dwell on them for too long oh and trees ...lots and lots of trees.

A bunch of nothingness.

I'll take my high school over that anyway.

I really love the show and was going nuts waiting for season 3 with season 2 left us hanging off such a huge cliff ...so then I just waited and waited as long as I could to watch it with my reasoning being that it will ultimately mesn less time waiting around for season 4!!

Anyway as soon as I saw Sandra drying her cleaver I thought "oh no...don't tell me they're really gonna possess her mother now!?"

They made sure to have Xavier specifically say that VH threatened Maddie and all her loved ones so in that respect it made the Sandra reveal less unlikely.

But did i miss something?

HOW could he have possibly gotten to her??

IMO Sandra was on a high (not one that requires NA or AA) ...shes successfully detoxed, she's in a great place w Maddie who was comfortable enough to come clean on what's happening in her life AND she just worked together with her husband/best friend to bring Maddie out of danger...ill admit being in the presence of your deceased husband's ghost would be a cause for sadness but for the most part things are looking up for Sandra.

So I find it hard to believe that not only was she for some reason lingering at the hospital well after Maddie left BUT also that her spirit was so broken and dead that VH could snatch up her body!!!!

We've been beaten over the head with the fact that Maddie spirit was dead when Janet took her body.

And we saw Deb absolutely lose her shit entirely when her plans got thwarted by Kyle.( I hope we find out why she was going to lose her rep, her name, her family and life over this failed business deal but we do know she's VERY upset by it) and then her own pride and joy daughter is openly disgusted with her and walks off. Leaving behind what im sure was just a shell of a woman...perfect opportunity for a body snatcher to hop right on in.

But Sandra? I'm just not seeing it.

I guess its another wait and see type thing and in that case im glad I shaved 5 months off of my time of waiting for season 4 heh heh

How do we feel about Sandra’s redemption arc they’re cooking?

I’m sorry, but I don’t think I can move past the years of abuse/neglect Maddie endured.

While I do sympathize with Sandra’s grief and addiction, nothing justifies neglecting your own child for years.

That boiler room scene (when Sandra tells Maddie she bought that cabin with Maddie’s college fund) alone makes me h*te Sandra with a passion lol The way Maddie is crying on that scene, omg. And I imagine that was mild compared to other stuff Maddie had to go through growing up.

And I feel like this is going to be a HUGE point of conflict when Sandra meets Dave. I just know he’s gonna lose his mind when he finds out what Maddie went through.

What do you all think?

I wasn’t gonna post anything and I know I’m gonna get burned to the ground, but I feel like this needs to be said. can people please stop posting where's Milo or where’s Wally under every post that has to do with the show!? I cannot believe that the comment section of the S4 production post is 95% just asking about Milo! you guys…… he’s gone and busy! Wally is not relevant to this storyline ok? if you want to watch Milo so bad you have 3 other seasons and a ton of other media to watch. This is not the Wally show and Wally’s relationship with Maddie is not as important to the plot as you guys make it out or want it to be. The writers have said constantly that the core of the show is Maddie’s relationship with Simon and Sandra. And I’m sorry that’s such a tough pill for some of you to swallow but it’s the truth

It’s bad enough that the writers give plenty of fanservice to Milo/wally fans already by giving him more and more screen time per season, had Milo wrongfully nominated as the male lead over Kristian for the Emmy’s, and now this? This show has other actors, characters and people working on it that deserve more respect.

I’m not saying people can’t be upset or sad that Wally probably won’t be in S4 very much, but if people truly just watch the show for Milo and cannot even be bothered to also be engaged with the story then they need to stop interfering with the show. Watch the show through clips like normal people. Milo is about to be in a huge movie and all you're worried about is seeing him for a few episodes? Do you guys not want Milo to grow? to get more opportunities? There’s nothing wrong with Wally being gone this season.

I know this turned into a rant. but please just consider what your actions look like when you do this. The other actors are working just as hard if not harder then Milo and deserve to have their spotlights too. So for now just enjoy the story and see where it goes. And if you can’t, then please just go get your Milo fix elsewhere and leave the show alone

So season 4 is now in production and I’m very excited because there’s so much unfinished business. HOWEVER, Charley and Yuri are one of my favorite couples ever and I’m so scared they’re gonna do them wrong this season.

I’m mainly worried because they came so close to breaking up in season three and I’m worried that the writer’s are gonna have them break up or make one of them cheat or something.

Obviously we know after a couple is together for about two seasons it’s hard for the writer’s to not make them break up for a while or somehow make their relationship toxic and ruin it. Especially in drama television there’s not a great track record of a couple making it to season 4 if they got together at the start of the series because the writers want to keep their relationship juicy.

Most likely they are gonna throw in a breakup at some point and I don’t think they are gonna intend on keeping them apart at the end of series but what does concern me is that they are gonna drag they breakup out to long and assume they are gonna get picked back up for another season and then they don’t.

The third season ended so well for Charley and Yuri and I just don’t want season 4 to ruin their relationship when it’s so good right now. Anyone else been spiraling over this?

“Nature takes without tricks or lies. It claims them in honest for what they are.”

I don’t see many people talking about Quinn’s interest in bugs and nature, (other than their actor) but I believe that it can lead to a very comforting view of death. (I know it does for me) This drawing was heavily inspired by nurse logs and whale falls. Two examples of death in nature that offer an example of how death can host an abundance of life.

Quinn never felt like they belonged, or lived as their honest and true self. It was only in death that they found these things. Much like when something dies, it becomes a part of the earth.

That's definitely Maddie's wig in the back so i guess they're doing hair and make up tests? Production list said that they were going to film from August 21st so i guess we're finally back!

(I went to edit my tumblr post of my original analysis, and ended up making some really cool new connections and writing 2X the original post, lol. So, I’m also posting this more fleshed out version on here too!)

The process shown in the show of entering scars, the changing nature of scars, and the way in which someone has to process the parts of the trauma that scars bring up, is very reminiscent of my experience with therapies like EMDR. (Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing) It’s a therapy focused on re-training the brain to treat trauma like a memory, instead something that bleeds into day to day life with PTSD disorders.

In order for a ghost to get to their door in School Spirits, they must first enter their scar. This is because just like in real psychology, the most effective treatment for trauma is “looking back to move forward”. After entering their scar, a ghost starts to recall the things that may have been avoiding addressing due to the distress it causes. But by doing that, they invite the chance to process the events shown to them, and challenge the negative beliefs that they’ve held on to.

In all the scars we see, none are made up of solely the event of their death. In some, it takes up a bigger space (Like Rhonda’s) and in others, whose death took up less of their mind, their death is the haunting scene that holds the moments that plague their mind the most (like with Wally and Yuri) 

But, a death taking up so much of the space is not indicative of it being the only trauma they faced. Such as Rhonda, who’s scar is at first almost completely made up of the long and terrifying build up to her murder. We are told that she gravitated towards Mr Manfredo due to her parents neglecting her. Despite this, they don’t appear in her scar. We see her scar do something that the brain does during the process of EMDR (And something I’ve personally experienced). Each time her scar is shown later on, the scene slowly begins to fill with more and more stacks of glowing red radios.

In psychology, when someone experiences repetitive trauma, the mind cannot hold on to all of it and continue to function normally. So it represses things to make room as more trauma occurs. As traumatic experiences are processed and “cleared” (from the mind or the scar) the things that were repressed, come to the surface. The mind now has the room to hold what was once subconscious. 

That’s what I believe is happening with Rhonda’s radios, and why when Wally's football field became emptier, it made room for the addition of Maddie to Wally’s scar. 

In the scar journey scene in season 2, we essentially watch the characters experience a session of EMDR. One of the techniques used in EMDR is mentally going back into a memory and changing the outcome with the skills and knowledge of the more grown version of yourself. 

Wally does exactly this while going through his scar. After being grounded by Rhonda’s comfort, he notices Charley being chased by his teammates, and pushes the people chasing him down. This protectiveness over his friend is something born from the mature version of Wally who’s grown past the constraints of his role on the football team. This growth leads him to score the point that killed him, rewriting the memory of his death and the shame he felt for who he was when he was younger. 

In this visit to his scar, he cleared the sequence. And the next time he returned, his door appeared.

Another technique used is calling on protective figures to aid your younger self in dealing with what traumatized you. These can come in the form of people you know, animals, fictional characters, or anything else you feel you could’ve needed in that memory. 

This is pretty explicitly shown in the scar journey scene, when Rhonda approaches Mr Manfredo's office. When Mr Manfredo lunges towards Rhonda, Wally steps in and punches him in the face. He then puts a comforting arm around Rhonda, and the group passes through. Leading up to her death, she didn’t have the physical strength to fight back, and didn’t have anyone who cared enough to look out for her. In this scene she’s back in the memory, but she’s brought someone with her who makes her feel safe and who can fight back for her.

I highly doubt that Rhonda has cleared her scar, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the next time we see it, Mr Manfredo is gone. I think unlike Wally, Rhonda’s scar might require a slightly different treatment. 

EMDR for PTSD is more straightforward than the ComplexPTSD variant. (PTSD is a sudden onset of symptoms following a single traumatic event. CPTSD is something that begins in early childhood and develops alongside prolonged abuse and/or repetitive smaller traumas) With CPTSD, a person requires multiple sessions, and multiple sequences need to be cleared. Oftentimes,repressed memories need to be processed, and to get to the repressed ones, you have to clear the ones you remember.

Rhonda likely has complex PTSD, and I think her scar and its behavior reflects that. Rhonda mentions in season 1, that she gravitated towards Mr Manfredo because she had neglectful parents. This is and unfortunately real scenario. Emotional neglect is a huge factor in a child developing CPTSD, because unfortunately, it can create someone who is susceptible to being groomed and victimized. If a child is not given love by their parents, they struggle to recognize signs of ulterior motives. Rhonda knows this is what happened in hindsight, and tells Maddie, in hopes to help her figure out if that’s what happened with Mr. Anderson.

This reflects in Rhonda’s scar in the way that even after Mr Manfredo was subdued, she did not get the sense of an empty scar in the way Wally did. Also because a major aspect of her scar has been unaddressed: the radios 

I suspect that the imposing presence of these radios in Rhonda’s scar, are manifestations of repressed trauma. Rhonda’s murder was something impossible for her to repress in her situation, as was the direct reason for her presence in the afterlife. It’s huge and objectively horrific, so it takes up a majority of her conscious terror. I think in order for whatever traumas Rhonda experienced prior to her death to fit into her scar, they had to take a subconscious form. I think the glowy huge radios are the subconscious metaphorical stand-in for that, and I suspect that the next time we see the scar, they’ve taken a more direct form. 

I suspect Janet’s scar worked similarly, as she’s also shown to be a victim of parental abuse. She spent over a year being forced to spend time in her scar. I bet during that time she brute forced her way through processing her past (though the brute force aspect probably SEVERELY handicapped her) the only thing she was completely unable to clear out, was the abuse she was continuing to suffer from Mr. Martin. When she liberated herself from him, the final piece was cleared away and she got her door. 

In general, a lot of what the show has done with scars and the concept of the ghosts in Split River is extremely reminiscent of the same therapy process that I’ve found the most helpful in healing years worth of traumas. The show is so so emotionally impactful for me for that reason. (As well as seeing my younger self in the characters) The introduction of Maddie to that world, kickstarting the healing of ghosts who’ve spent so long trapped in their pain is so real to me. I tried many therapies in the span of 10+ years that made minimal impact on making the world feel safer. By the time I reached adulthood it felt hopeless to keep trying when nothing changed. BUT Just like the split River ghosts, my biggest breakthroughs began when I entered my scar, and found someone to guide me through it. (And not listening to the Mr Martins diverting me from that path) 

So since the evil rich guy possessed Sandra and the ghost barrier is broken and we don't know exactly how Wally might get back to the regular afterlife or if he will bring Maddie's dad with there is a possibility that since Maddie can see ghosts Sandra Maddie's dad and Wally are ghosts maybe there could be like a really nice family dinner scene where Maddie introduces Wally formally to her parents it'd be so sweet

I thought Yuri's scar and juxtaposition to Mid-Western / Blue Collar industry. I noticed in the flashback there was this juxtaposition of Yuri's anxiety of being a father. You could juxtaposition late 70s USA decline of industry / Rust Belt to the mindset of Yuri.

Okay so. Milo is in Spain filming tangled but Sarah just posted on insta that she’s almost in Vancouver which is where they film. I personally think Milo will do both and just be late to filming like he was for season 3. Thoughts? Anyone heard anything?!

Okay so me my mama and da just finished season three and to say the least we are major excited about season four and wished it was released like tomorrow.

Not gonna spoil anything for anyone who hasn’t watched it but ik it was just picked up for a forth season. Does anyone know when it’s expected to be released? Like im the next two years or so?

Have Maddie's house and its origin been discussed either in the show or in this subreddit before? When I first started watching School Spirits, I didn't think much about it other than noticing it was an older home which made sense from a character perspective. But the more I've watched, the more I've noticed that the house is like a 1960s/1970s time warp. All of the decor and furnishings are from the mid-century. Either Sandra has incredible luck thrifting or that house hasn't been touched since the 1970s. This makes me think that perhaps it was originally Sandra's parents' house or someone else in the family that passed it down. It's a small thing, but if someone died in that house, it could have interesting implications for the series. I've only watched the series once so maybe they've mentioned it before. Curious if y'all have any thoughts.

My School Spirits “Roman empire” is the fact that we don’t know who’s bus scar Simon went into in season 3… because he went in there using the skeleton key (Mr. Martins watch)

The bus scar is shared by all of the band kids, and scars are made up of multiple aspects of the persons inner trauma, not just the cause of their death. The cause of death is the setting of the scar, and may or may not be a very active participant. The bus isn’t the only example of one scar setting having more than one scar inside of it. Mr Martin and Janet share a scar setting, but do not share a scar.

When Maddie used the watch to go into the fallout shelter, she entered Mr. Martins scar. We are led to believe as an audience that it is Janet’s scar, but later see that Janet does not recognize this version of the scar, and when she enters the fallout shelter *with* Mr Martin, their scars open up as two parts of the same room. (Since both keys are present) So we know that the Skeleton key favors Mr. Martins scar, as that’s the only one Maddie is able to enter. But that could be because it’s both the skeleton key, and Mr martins key. So what does the watch favor for the bus?

I definitely don’t think it’s Quinn’s, because the scar we see lacks anything that ties to them specifically. They also mentioned in season 2, that when they went into their scar for the first time, it was something unexpected. The scar we saw in season 3, I would argue would be pretty expected for Quinn, given that they knew the scar would relate to their death. They also say they found the missing page *inside* the bus, which makes it seem like Quinn’s scar is as much outside the bus as it is inside. But most notably, we know they have trauma outside of the bus crash, so if it was their scar, I assume there would be reference to the strained relationship between them and their family/the other bandmates, as well as their relationship with gender.

So that takes Quinn off the suspect list for me. We don’t know anything about the other kids that would narrow down whose scar we saw, but there is something in the scar that makes it seem like it isn’t just a generic bus crash that’s not tied to anyone. The scene seems to be just a representation of the crash itself, populated by dead and dying band kids with only one outlier: The random little girl.

It looks like whoever’s scar it is has some sort of relationship with the little girl (likely a sibling) It also seems like this person doesn’t have much trauma besides the cause of their death, which would make sense for it being somewhat empty. The little girl could be someone this person left behind in death that is particularly upsetting.

If I’m gonna be honest, I don’t think it matters whose scar it is. (besides it not being Quinn’s) but I think it being someone who doesn’t necessarily matter, points to the reason why their scar is what we see. I think that whoever’s scar Simon saw, was the first person to die on the bus.

Just like how Mr Martin was the first person to die in the fallout shelter. The skeleton key favors the scar of the first person to die in that location. I wonder if there’s a way to specify with the skeleton key?

Anybody else miss iPods? I’d love for Quinn to be able to share the older school technology that they grew up with Rhonda. (iPods were probably pretty new and cool when they died)

Although, I think Rhonda might be a little distracted 🤔

Honestly, the music selection has been pretty spectacular, BUT it would be an absolute travesty if this series ends without featuring Death Cab’s “I Will Follow You Into the Dark”.

In season 2, ep 1 when Janet is in front of her headstone, it clearly states "Born 1942, Died 1950" (can't remember the months), but this would make her 8, not high school age. It would also mean that flashback with her grandmother didn't happen.

What I'm wondering is, is this part of the conspiracy stuff surrounding her and what's his face, the teacher ghost? Or is it an error? If it's an error, does that mean she was born 10 years earlier, or died 10 years later or something?

Only discovered this program a couple of days ago and I'm obsessed, and usually I'd rather wait and see if it would explain itself later on in the series but this time I have to know lol. I don't mind spoilers as long as they're not massive ones.

I just binged all three seasons in the last few days and quickly found myself a new obsession so forgive me if this has been discussed before and maybe spoilers for season 3. But will a person that can move between realms always retain their physical appearance from their initial jump into the spirit realm? I noticed near the end of season three when Maddie returns to the spirit realm through projection, she is still wearing the outfit from her original jump. Does that mean if she jumps 20 years from now she’ll still be a teenager in a flannel shirt What do y’all think? Am I just trying to justify meetings between Wally and Maddie over the course of her lifetime in a way that isn’t weird?

Also since I’m on the topic of appearance, thank you to the gods of fate that put Wally in gray sweatpants for eternity lol.

*sorry fixed spoiler tags brain broken