Most of School Spirits may take place in the afterlife, but that doesn't mean there isn't constant romance and drama. Now, thanks to Episode 5, another romantic pairing was officially declared with a big kiss that was a long time coming.
Warning - The rest of this article contains spoilers for School Spirits Season 2, Episode 5.
As Episode 5 of School Spirits Season 2 comes to a close, Rhonda (Sarah Yarkin) and Quinn (Ci Hang Ma) finally share a kiss. Some might be surprised given last week's episode where Quinn tries to kiss Rhonda while high as a kite, but Quinda (the ship name for Rhonda and Quinn) truthers never lost faith.
Rhonda's original hesitancy was never downplayed; as she makes clear, in the last 60 years, she hasn't been able to get that close to anyone. So when Quinn started to encroach upon that territory, naturally, it scared her. Though fans do have to admit that it's much better that the kiss happened in a genuine moment and not when someone was tripping on afterlife drugs.
The Direct sat down with School Spirits star Sarah Yarkin, who plays Rhonda Rosen, for an interview where we discussed Episode 5's big kiss and why it was such a great moment for Rhonda.
The star shared how happy she felt for Rhonda, especially given how genuinely tragic her backstory is. "I was just so happy with how it came together," she noted, adding that "Rhonda getting some romance is very sweet."
The actor also pointed out how many of Rhonda's scenes "are just wrapped around processing trauma," and while she "obviously touches on that" in the moment, the scene isn't actually about that.
Yarkin also made sure to give credit to the Quinda truthers out there, explaining how they called the couple's pairing on day one. While Yarkin and the show's creative team "knew there was going to [be] chemistry" between the two, it was unclear if that meant only friendship or an actual love interest. Yarkin admitted that she "really didn't know until we got the scripts that that's where it was [going to go."
Yarkin described Rhonda as "a teenager with a crusher" while also revealing that Episode 5's big moment actually gave her an entirely new understanding of her character and "did change [her] perception of [Rhonda]. The actor recalled a scene in Season 1 in which Rhonda clearly indicates that she slept around and had experience. However, when Yarkin went to the show's creatives to clear up her confusion, they explained "that was all for show."
More of Sarah Yarkin's interview with The Direct's Russ Milheim can be read and viewed below. School Spirits Season 2 is streaming on Paramount+. The Direct previously spoke with both School Spirits stars Sarah Yarkin and Ci Hang Ma ahead of Season 3's release.
Rhonda Gets Her Much-Deserved Kiss, Quinda Truthers Rejoice!
"Rhonda Getting Some Romance Is Very Sweet.
- The Direct: "You got a big kiss in Episode 5, [a] very, very big moment with Rhonda... In a season full of people going through some of the hardest parts of their own relationships, how does it feel to kind of get the happy parts, at least so far?"
Sarah Yarkin: I mean, I'm sort of like, justice for Rhonda! You know? Like she's such a tragic figure. Genuinely, when I think about her backstory and even going into the show and being like, 'Oh my god, this is, like, horrific what she's been through.' It's so sweet. Like, I haven't seen a scene like that with her where I'm like, 'Oh my God. Like, this is so great for her.' I just watched it this morning, and I was just so happy with how it came together. I mean, it feels amazing...
There are so many of her scenes that are just wrapped around processing trauma, and so much of the show is about that, that to sort of have a scene that's not—I mean, she obviously touches on that, but it's not about that, and she's actually trying to work through it, is really sweet. And Rhonda getting some romance is very sweet.
- The Direct: "How was it getting to that moment on set, and what was it like building that with each other, and how that moment was gonna play out in the final product?"
Sarah Yarkin: There are some real Quinda truthers out there... [On] day one, they were like, 'That's a couple.' And what's interesting is we did chem reads for this role. So there was an element of, we knew there was going to [be] chemistry, whether that means, friendship or more. And I always had this idea. I was like, Nick [Pugliese's Charlie] got a love interest, I should get one. But I wasn't sure if that's genuine.
I really didn't know until we got the scripts that that's where it was necessarily going to go. I knew there was a connection, but I didn't know if it was going to be more than friendship. And Ci Hang Ma is so amazing, and as the episode progresses too, it was fun getting to play and being like, Rhonda is obviously interested, but doesn't even know what that means to her, or it's almost like a teenager.
She is a teenager with a crush, or a middle schooler. Of being like, this is so overwhelming, I don't even know what to do. Seeing Rhonda awkward was fun to play with leading up to that. And then also, in Episode 4, people are just freaking out about that Rhonda pushed away from the kiss...
There are some people—I love watching the discourse, like, secretly online. People being like, 'I knew that they weren't into each other! They're not gay.' And then other people being like, 'They like, no, no, they're gonna, they're gonna talk about it next episode, I know! 'And I'm sort of like, just wait. You're gonna love it.
Was Quinn the First Person To Try to Romantically Connect With Rhonda in the Afterlife?
Season 3 Changed Sarah Yarkin's Understanding of Rhonda.
- The Direct: "Quinn seems like the only person who may have come along since then, and maybe even dips into that wheelhouse. Do you think there was ever anyone else that could have even approached that level of connection with Rhonda, where she had the choice to be like, 'No, I can't?'"
Sarah Yarkin: It's so funny because there was this, I think it was Season 1, and there's an episode with Peyton [List] and me, and Milo [Manheim] comes in, and we're like, in the costume closet thing, and I'm like sort of saying like, 'You've never had sex? We've been here forever, like we've all done all the things.' And it's funny because at the time, I was like, Rhonda has slept around. Rhonda has done whatever. She's been around the block.
And then when I got this monologue, I talked to them, I was like, 'Guys, like, were you—Rhonda hasn't done anything here?' And then they were like, 'No, that was all for show, just saying that.' So, it did change my perception of her, because I thought she was like, whatever. But I think how I can compare it to my life is when you grew up with the same people, and you knew them—I went to a high school where I went to kindergarten with a lot of those people.
So, there was an element of being like, very hard to change or grow, or to kind of see someone in a real way when you've known them when they were picking their nose in second grade. And so it sort of feels like that relationship with Wally and Charlie, of she's just been around these people for literally ever, and so, I mean, I don't think there's any connection there, unfortunately. I'm shipping Rhonda and Charlie, maybe one day.
Is Rhonda & Quinn's Relationship Doomed From the Start?
"We All Want to Crossover, Right?"
- The Direct: "I'm gonna put on my cynic hat here for a second. Just looking at Rhonda and Quinn, could this relationship potentially be heading to tragedy? Because I was thinking, Rhonda was the one to wake up Quinn, right? And so, an immediate, deep connection formed. However, and I don't really know the term, or something close to it—I don't know if it's maybe called the Nightingale Syndrome, or just that idea of a connection being formed so quickly in kind of a moment of trauma, or like your caretaker saves you, and so you form that connection. Could that be what's maybe happening with Quinn, where she feels this connection only because Rhonda kind of saved her [and] woke her up to reality?"
Sarah Yarkin: It's funny, I haven't thought about that. I am a really cynical person, and I think Rhonda is too, and I think there is obviously so much trauma bonding, and that's probably why she's so connected to Charlie and Wally. I mean, literally all they do is trauma bond. That's their relationship.
But the Quinn thing, I didn't see it like that, but I did see it in my cynical brain of being like every romance on the show is destined for pain... But I'm sort of like, we're all dead, and we all want to cross over, right? And who knows if we get to certain people and they get doors, and we don't know when or why, and we have to work through these things.
And I think relationships are a great place to work through these things, but at the end of the day, like, is anyone gonna choose to be stuck there forever with the love of their life? I don't know.
