Mr. Martin and the big fire twist have been a major point of conversation thus far in School Spirits Season 2.
Played by Josh Zuckerman in the Paramount+ supernatural drama, Mr. Everett Martin has been a part of the series since the very beginning.
Mr. Martin is seen in the show as the leader of the Split River High Afterlife Support Group, the team of teens Peyton List's Maddie joins in Season 1 after she mysteriously finds herself "dead."
Did Mr. Martin Start the Fire?
One of the key plot points to this point in School Spirits has been exploring Mr. Martin and the mysterious circumstances that went into his death.
Early in the series, it was revealed the teacher tragically died in the '50s thanks to burning in a fire. However, as time has gone on, audiences have begun to discover just what went into that fire and how it may connect to other members of the School Spirits Season 2 cast.
At the end of Season 1, it was revealed that perhaps Mr. Martin was the one who started the fire that resulted in his death. Not only that, but fans also discovered that Jess Gabor's Janey (aka the teenage spirit who is now inhabiting Maddie's body in the real world).
Nick Pugliese's Charley was the one to bring this to light in Season 1, as his ghostly character uncovered a newspaper clipping, revealing Janet and Mr. Martin had died together all those years ago, and it was Janet's parents who are claiming it was Mr. Martin who started the fire.
As far as has been revealed so far, it is seemingly like the fire was likely started by Mr. Martin. The blaze itself took place in an old chemistry lab that had been converted into a fallout shelter and was seemingly started during a chemistry experiment gone awry (under Mr. Martin's Watch).
Did Mr. Martin Kill Janet In School Spirits?
One of the big reveals from School Spirits Season 1 was the fact that Mr. Martin did not die alone, but did so alongside Jess Gabor's Janet.
While it has not been expressly stated that Mr. Martin directly killed Janet, if the great fire twist (which seemed to include information that Mr. Martin was responsible for the fire itself) is to be believed, then he did technically kill Janet.
Yes, Mr. Martin did not (as far as it seems) purposefully murder the 1950s teen, it was seemingly his negligence that resulted in Janet's death.
It is also worth noting that Season 2 thus far (specifically Episode 3) added another layer to the fire-based drama, revealing that Mr. Martin had thrown Janet a birthday party on the day of their untimely demise.
This could potentially connect the chem lab fire to what was happening on the day of their deaths, and why the two of them seemed to have a falling out in the afterlife heading into Season 2's "darker" storyline (read more about School Spirits' dark Season 2 storyline here).
Is Mr. Martin Bad In School Spirits?
While Mr. Martin, to this point, has been portrayed as the sort of central villain of School Spirits, recent events in the series have complicated that picture a touch.
He now sits in this morally grey zone, serving as an antagonistic force in the view of Peyton List's Maddie, but not necessarily being entirely evil.
As the series reveals more and more about the character's connection with Janet and how the pair of them died, it seems as though it is slowly offering points of sympathy for the audience to latch onto when it comes to Mr. Martin.
Heading into the rest of the series, it feels as though the previously thought-to-be evil actions of Mr. Martin will be revealed to be something more than that.
In Season 1, helping Janet occupy the body of the living Maddie and sending Maddie's soul to the afterlife prematurely, seemed to be out of purely nefarious and nothing more. However, as more is revealed about his connection with Janet, the series could perhaps be lining up a redemption arc for the character.
Maybe this quote/unquote evil plan was something that Mr. Martin acted upon as he felt guilty for potentially killing Janet thanks to his 'accident' in the chemistry lab all those years ago.
School Spirits is now streaming on Paramount+.
The series will also likely come to Netflix, but it will be some time before it does.
