Air date: 5/20/2023
Molly and her "Ghost Friends" (Libby, Scratch, and Ollie) deal with a spirit haunting the future site of Brighton's new community center, but first they'll have to deal with Ollie's self-doubts.
Tropes:
- Armour-Piercing Question: When Molly, Libby and Scratch re-enter the video store via through the vents, Molly asks Ollie if he's hiding his feelings about his past. At first he denies it before breaking down in tears over his past actions in ghost hunting.
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: While Ollie broke down in tears, he told Scratch that he was right when he said that Ollie didn't deserve to be on the team, help ghosts, or do cool poses.
- The Atoner: Ollie is genuinely trying to help out this episode's Ghost Of The Week, along with some other ghosts during the "Ghost Friends" music number as a way to make up for his past deeds in ghost-hunting.
- Bland-Name Product: Brighton Video is an obvious spoof of the now defunct (save for one remaining location in Bend, Oregon) Blockbuster Video.
- Bottle Episode: This episode mostly takes place in the abandoned video store.
- Call-Forward: Ollie and Blair watch a bunch of horror flicks after the latter kicks out Molly, Libby and Scratch. One of the films in question was "Fins of Fear", which plays a major role two episodes later.
- Casting Gag: Kimberly J. Brown voices Blair, a young girl ghost who is a fan of scary movies and anything spooky. Kimberly also played as another girl who is also a fan of spooky stuff.
- Censored Child Death: Implied. As Blair reveals her backstory, she stated that she wasn't able to return the tape because she died. It implies that she died shortly after trying to make numerous attempts to return it.
- Combat Tentacles: Blair utilizes film roll tapes as tentacles to attack the "Ghost Friends" crew.
- Commonality Connection: Ollie and Blair are both repressing their guilt and after Ollie empathizes with said pain, Blair comes to genuinely like him enough to let him stay while she evicts Molly, Libby and Scratch. Later on, Ollie helps her move on from her pain once he himself is forced to confront his guilt.
- Continuity Nod:
- The name of the "Ghost Friends" group was revealed in the epilogue of the previous episode and is given its own theme song here. Ghosts that appear in the theme song include the Ghost Council, Jinx, Ezekiel Tugbottom, the Sobgoblins, Howling Harriet, and the Frightmares.
- Also this episode takes after "Frightmares on Main Street", now that Ollie has abandoned his ghost-hunting ways and is trying to make up for his past actions.
- The episode, "Howlin' Harriet", has been referenced several times when the gang is trying to find out Blair's "emotional toes".
- The name of the "Ghost Friends" group was revealed in the epilogue of the previous episode and is given its own theme song here. Ghosts that appear in the theme song include the Ghost Council, Jinx, Ezekiel Tugbottom, the Sobgoblins, Howling Harriet, and the Frightmares.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Blair reveals that in life she rented her favorite movie, Blood Mansion, selfishly kept it over its return date, and died before she could return it. Now her spirit haunts the video store she rented it from, spending all her time watching horror movies, but unable to watch Blood Mansion, as "the tape" became a ghost alongside her because she never returned it.
- Death Glare: Jeff gives Ollie one when the latter accidentally tumbles on Geoff.
- Discussed Trope: Blair, as an Unabashed B-Movie Fan, likes to talk about her favorite horror movies tropes a lot.
- Dislikes the New Guy: When Molly invites Ollie into her "Ghostfriends" team, Scratch makes it very clear that he doesn't want the ex-ghost hunter in the group.
- Double Aesop: Both Ollie and Blair learn that confronting your mistakes can be painful, but it's necessary to move on from them and become a better person.
- Edible Ammunition: Blair throws stale popcorn at Scratch. For him, it was Worth It.
- Exact Words: Scratch decides that they should leave Blair alone and find another place for the community center, and Ollie agrees with him…on the part of leaving Blair alone, not finding another construction site.
- Get Out!: After Ollie defends Blair, she decides that she will let him stay and forces the others out of the abandoned store, all while saying, "LEAVE!!!".
- Hypocrite: In the previous episode, when Scratch was cornered by Ollie, he (along with Molly) asks him to give him (and by extension innocent ghosts) a chance. Here, he barely gave the former ghost hunter a chance when dealing with Blair.
- Irony: Scratch throughout the episode chews out and ridicules Ollie for screwing up, yet, in the end, it's Ollie's empathy towards Blair's guilt and previously defending her that allows them to get through to her, where even Scratch with his Chairman powers only managed to make things worse.
- I Heard That: After Ollie's failed attempt at talking Blair down, Scratch tells him to cover his ears and tells him that the next thing he's about to say won't be about him. When Ollie does cover his ears, Scratch yells "Swoopy-Hair's messin' up everything!" And while the phrase is not said out loud, his dejected facial expression implies that he heard what Scratch said and is hurt by the comment.
- I Think You Broke Him: A variation of the trope. When Ollie cries onto Scratch after admitting he feels bad about his past actions as a ghost hunter, Scratch asks Molly to "fix him".
- Jerkass Ball: Scratch. While he's mostly a Jerk with a Heart of Gold, the rest of the episode has him hold a grudge against Ollie, despite the latter's Heel–Face Turn in the previous episode and alienates him for being in Molly's "Ghostfriends" team at every chance he gets. Though it could be justified because of the fact that Ollie used to believe that all ghosts were bad and would attack both bad and good ghosts.
- Jerkass Realization: Scratch has a guilty look on his face when Ollie vents his feelings about being a (former) ghost hunter. Throughout most of the episode, Scratch constantly alienates Ollie for either screwing things up or for being in the "Ghost Friends" team in general. When he hears the latter pour his heart out, it's implied that Scratch realized that constantly outcasting Ollie just made the latter feel even worse about himself, especially when he's genuinely trying to make up for his past actions.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: When Ollie tries to do a cool pose with the letters "GHOSTFRIENDS" hovering above him, Scratch shoots him down, causing the letters to fall to the ground. Ollie then dejectedly looks down on them and kicks the T.
- Made Myself Sad: When he's asked if he's bottling up any emotions of his own, Ollie claims that he doesn’t feel bad for everything he’s done. However, as he continues to rant, he starts to tear up before admitting that does feel bad before breaking down crying.
- Meaningful Name: The epsiode's Ghost Of The Week is a young ghost girl named Blair, who happens to be a fan of horror movies. Her name comes from the horror film The Blair Witch Project.
- Minimalist Cast: The only main characters that appear in this episode are Pete, Molly, Scratch, Libby and Ollie.
- Mood Whiplash: Ollie breaking down in tears over how guilty he feels when he admits his past actions as a ghost hunter is sad. But the sad moment quickly turns funny when he uses Scratch's body as something he can cry on, to the ghost's displeasure and annoyance.
- Pass the Popcorn: As Ollie and Scratch make up, Molly and Libby watch while eating popcorn... which they then spit out because it's stale.
- Repression Never Ends Well: Ollie (who feels guilty about his past in ghost hunting) and Blair (who feels guilty about not returning a movie tape) both repress their feelings about their past actions throughout the episode. That is until Molly asks the former about his "emotional toes", causing the two to pour their hearts out.
- Running Gag: Scratch, who still has a bit of a grudge against Ollie, keeps making fun of him for screwing up.
- Signs of Disrepair: As Pete shows off the facade of the old video store, some letters on the sign reading "BRIGHTON VIDEO" fall off in a way as to spell out the word "IDIOT".
- Shout-Out:
- The title is a reference to the 1959 novel The Haunting of Hill House.
- The video cartridge Molly tries to watch by swiping is titled The Thingy
- Tears of Joy: After hearing Scratch say that he's part of the team, Oliver unashamedly cries out of pure happiness, all while hugging the former.
- Tears of Remorse: Ollie and then later Blair cry these when they reveal their past mistakes.
- The Unreveal: It is left unexplained how Blair died, but it's implied that it was during the numerous times she was attempting to return the tape.
- Vibrant Orange: Blair, when taking on her scarier form. Even her ghost aura is orange.
- What Are Records?: Libby and Ollie mistake the VCRs in the video store for old toasters, and Molly thinks people watched tapes by swiping on the front of the cassette like a smartphone or tablet.
