School Spirits Is Starting To Remind Me Of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Here's Why

There is only one Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It’s my favorite show and influenced my love of television from a young age. I know it’s a show that means so much to many people, therefore, it's unsurprising that many shows take influence from the '90s classic. Some make direct references to it, and some just have a feel of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

School Spirits is its own show, and I really adore it. Lately, it’s been giving me the same feel as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, in the best way.

Warning: School Spirits Season 3 spoilers are ahead. Proceed with caution.

School Spirits Season 3's Villain Is Starting To Remind Me Of The Buffy The Vampire Slayer Big Bads

Buffy the Vampire Slayer has some iconic villains. These bad guys would usually have a reign of terror all season. They were the Big Bads. It isn’t and wasn’t unique to Buffy for a season-long arc with a main villain. However, it’s the show that had the most impact on me with season-long villains. I used to look forward every year to seeing who or what would try to destroy the world and open the Sunnydale hellmouth. It was part of the Buffy experience.

Many great superhero shows also follow this pattern of a major villain each season. I watch a lot of streaming shows, so often there isn’t a main villain of the season but a major bad guy throughout the series. Therefore, I hadn’t noticed that School Spirits started to take the superhero and Buffy the Vampire Slayer route of a major villain each year. Season 1 focuses on Maddie (Peyton List) trying to find out what happened to her.

She wanted to know who killed her or how she died. The villain of that season was going to be whoever killed Maddie. Things turned out more complicated. This led to Mr. Martin (Josh Zuckerman) and Janet (Jess Gabor) being the villains of Season 2. Season 3 redeems both of them, but you worry about what Janet and Mr. Martin are capable of for a while.

The School Spirits Season 3 villain actually has some terror to him. Van Heidt (Michael Adamthwaite) is scary in a way that feels reminiscent of characters such as The Mayor (Harry Groener) and the Master (Mark Metcalf) on Buffy. With only a few episodes before the School Spirits Season 3 finale, I am curious where the story takes Van Heidt and the darkness lurking within him.

I hope School Spirits now makes it a tradition to have main villains each season. It adds more gravity to the season.

The School Spirits Groups Have A Very Scooby Gang Feel

School Spirits now has a large group of characters. It has the core humans and the main ghosts, plus a few additions, such as Quinn (Cihang Ma). The humans feel like an unbreakable unit, and the ghosts as well. The first season of School Spirits brings Nicole (Kiara Pichardo), Claire (Rainbow Wedell), Xavier (Spencer MacPherson), and Simon (Kristian Ventura) together to help find out what happened to Maddie. Season 2, their bond grows as they try to save her.

The ghost gang was already a group before Maddie arrives but they added Quinn and Yuri (Miles Elliot) to their group in Season 2. These two separate large groups feel like a cohesive unit, all orbiting around Maddie.

It feels very much like how the Scooby Gang orbited around Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) throughout most of the series. Maddie is the center of their group, but each person adds something to it. They function and exist as a collective because that’s what works best. The humans and ghosts all love Maddie, so doing what it takes to help her is often their top priority.

I Used To Love The Buffy The Vampire Slayer Twists Because They Were Actually Shocking. The School Spirits Twists Give Me The Same Excitement

I trust School Spirits to deliver a surprising twist. It has done some really shocking moments over the last three seasons. Everything from Maddie not actually being dead to White Eyes not being the villain. The show knows how to surprise and delight. Now, it has not reached Buffy the Vampire Slayer levels of shocking moments, but the writers have done some twists really well. I haven’t seen some of them coming.

Maybe because I hadn’t had nearly three decades of TV watching history to learn when to spot a twist, but the Buffy twists always shocked me. Some of the best Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes usually had some sort of twist. These game changing events still stick in my mind because they were so surprising at the time.

I hope that School Spirits eventually reaches Buffy's level of ability to pull off a moment so shocking and compelling that I still think about it decades later.

Wally And Maddie Remind Me Of Buffy And Angel

I am personally team Spike (James Marsters). Yes, Spike has a lot of issues and is toxic, but the TV shipper in me loved Buffy and Spike’s chemistry. I also liked Angel (David Boreanaz) and Buffy. I just didn’t love them together as much as Spike and Buffy. Until the big twist of Season 2 (one of the show’s best seasons), Angel and Buffy had a sweet first love innocence. Wally (Milo Manheim) and Maddie also have a similar quality.

Angel guided and looked out for Buffy as the stress of being the slayer often got to her. Wally has been earning Boyfriend Of The Year awards in School Spirits Season 3. He’s been understanding and there for her whenever she needs him.

I have been loving the evolution of Wally this year, including his new friendships, following his heart, and making unexpected decisions. He’s been just as kind and patient as Angel was in Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 1. Wally and Maddie’s relationship has also gotten more complicated, including having a similar problem to Angel and Buffy’s after Season 2.

Wally and Maddie cannot be together physically because they live in different worlds. This isn’t a problem for either, but a small barrier that strengthens their bond. No sex means they have to grow deeper emotional connections. Angel and Buffy became such a strong relationship because the emotional passion stood above their sexual desires.

I Love That Maddie And Buffy Are The Leaders And Heroes Of Their Group, But Very Human and Layered

Maddie has a duty to her friends and family. They saved her, so now she feels the burden to save Simon. She also must now save all the ghosts from being pushed to an even worse version of the afterlife. She has the weight of her friends on her shoulders.

Buffy always had to save the world and her friends. It caused her a lot of anxiety and stress. It became too much that she regretted being brought back from the dead. She enjoyed finally being at peace in death. One of the best storylines of School Spirits Season 3 has been Maddie’s anxiety. Anyone who underwent the same ordeal wouldn’t be emotionally stable.

Therefore, I love that the School Spirits writers are approaching Maddie’s trauma over all this realistically. It’s the same type of storytelling that I would expect on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It was always a superhero show about the humanity of heroes.

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