Pete, Molly's father, moves very quickly to adjust his language when he talks to Scratch. Being an urban planner, the guy's had experience with dozens of different cultures, opinions, attitudes, and sensitivities that would require language adjustment on the fly to optimally connect and communicate.
It seems odd that Scratch would help Libby out despite having no interactions with her until you realize Scratch is also an outcast among the other ghosts so he can empathize with Libby, who had suffered it for seven years, more than with Molly, who had only just arrived.
How did a dog rescue prove impervious to a ghost's misery efforts? Why didn't the ghost at the start of the series just sabotage it? Simple, the Evil-Detecting Dog trope. In a lot of cultures, dogs can sense ghosts, so a whole bunch of them should probably be able to easily sense a ghost and prevent them from doing anything substantial to sabotage the rescue.
This is proven in "Mama's Gotta Hustle", when dogs and other animals (much to Scratch's surprise) are indeed capable of sensing, or even seeing his presence, going so far as to harass and assault him.
It’s also hinted at prior to the above confirmation in “First Day Frights,” when Scratch goes into the class hamster’s cage and the hamster freaks out.
Libby has a turtle motif going on. Not only is she somewhat shy and withdrawn, but she wears a turtleneck sweater.
In hindsight, there were hints that the mysterious door in "Mama's Gotta Hustle" wasn't a portal to another world or a treasure trove. The first is that ghosts don't use doors— they're summoned into portals. The second is that Scratch didn't have any funds to contribute to the bandshell— he robbed a credit union. The third is that Scratch admitted the basement was full of junk, but it's his junk.
Why did Scratch think that the ghost council would buy his 'I have this friend' excuse about his curse? Because the one person who calls Scratch his friend, Geoff, is dumber than him, and managing to curse himself seems like a plausible fate for Geoff. Scratch just didn't have the poker face to sell this believable lie.
Libby and Scratch become best buds in the Hanukkah episode. He's stuffing his face with latkes and donuts, however; now what was that Grandma Nin said about feeding your ghost to make him happy?
Some people had a problem how Molly just happened to be capable of saving herself and Scratch from the Flow of Failed Phantoms and kill the Chairman easily, calling it a cop out. However, it was clear as day that Molly's situation was the first of its kind. No one really knew what to do about it, since Molly's positivity level has never been seen before, so of course it was shocking to see, Molly is the first.
Molly's joy causes Scratch's curse to backfire, and the Ghost Council have a hearty laugh at the idea of Scratch cursing himself. When the Council curses Molly and Scratch by banishing them into Flow of Failed Phantoms, Molly uses her joy to destroy the Flow and the Chairman, stripping them of the main enforcer of their rule. In other words, the Ghost Council have cursed themselves.
Jinx trying to eliminate joy in Brighton by murdering Molly seems a bit of an empty threat considering this show's very premise, but it's possible Jinx was planning on dragging Molly's ghost through the portal for the Ghost Council to condemn.
One might wonder why Darryl had to give Molly and Libby the rare bottle of soda at school, thus ensuring that the plot happens. Even if they didn't know about the anti-soda initiative, that would come with a long wait to be able to have Scratch try it and risks the bottle being damaged or destroyed somehow. However it would in fact make a lot of sense of Darryl couldn't order the item to their home and had to pick up either at school or very close to it. Darryl is constantly getting up to shenaniganry and schemes that his mother admits in another episode she has no idea what or how they are, and the items for them have to come from somewhere, and as Shannon also would prefer Darryl not do such things, his own order destination separate from the family home is a necessity. It's also a safety precaution given that said soda bottle required accessing the dark web, and for all of Darryl's chaotic tendencies he probably would prefer not to put the family address up on there.
Scratch having memory problems about who he was when he was alive has always been pretty apparent. Pretty much every other ghost we meet has had a human first name from Geoff to Harriet, but Scratch's name is clearly inhuman. It just took till Season 2 for it to be spelled out in story.
In "A Period Piece", when Libby and Andrea are starting to get along after Libby got her first period and they're able to bond over it, Molly isn't just jealous of their bond, but she's noticeably a little aggressive towards Andrea. Molly's aggressiveness towards Andrea is likely because she's worried that Andrea would takeover her sleepover and make Libby her new best friend, similar to how she hijacked her movie back in "Hooray For Mollywood".
In the first episode, Scratch admits at the end that he's partial to two things: tacos and strawberry soda. This is also the first time he starts to lighten up to the idea of Molly sticking around. In "A Soda to Remember", it turns out strawberry soda is attached to a memory of Scratch's childhood friend, who lived in the same house Molly does. First, this shows the writers were planting the seeds for Scratch's backstory early on, but second, this may symbolize that, subconsciously, Scratch connects strawberry soda to friendship.
In 'Fit to Print' we see that Sharon is impartial to the whole Turnip Burger using parsnips from Perfektborg when everyone else is shocked. It makes sense given Sharon isn't a native Brighton denizen, meaning she wouldn't care if a burger was made with a rival town's ingredients.
Geoff’s habit of correcting people on how to spell his name makes considerably more sense when we find out he’s been in a relationship with Jeff-with-a-J for years. He didn’t want people getting them mixed up.
Remember the business suit monkey from "All in the Mind"? Given that Todd had a Soul-Crushing Desk Job and never took up Adia's offer to join her on her adventures, that may have been how he saw himself.
Confirmed when, at the bus stop, he tells Molly he's not a 'monkey in a tie' anymore.
At the end of the show's finale, everyone who knew Scratch (Molly, her family and Libby, Geoff) acts as if he had passed away (phrases like "he would have loved that," etc.), even though he had just come back alive. The reversal is kinda cool when you think about it.
The series begins with Molly, having travelled around her whole life, settling down into her "forever home." The series ends with Scratch/Todd going to travel the world after leaving the home he's been stuck at forever.
Fridge Horror:
How much did Libby's seven long years as an outcast mess with her, given that she calls herself an acquired taste and is sincerely shocked by Molly wanting to be her best friend?
Pattie tells Molly that Brighton used to be happier but became miserable, and Scratch due to being Brilliant, but Lazy wasn't the one responsible. What was the catalyst?
Honestly, probably the same social and economic factors affecting every other town in the Midwest.
Related to the above trope, the simple fact that the fate of any ghost assigned to scare goes far beyond their control to really influence. As shown in the opening of the first episode, it doesn't matter if a ghost works hard, if something makes a place less miserable and they can't undo it, they are punished with eternal torment. You could be the hardest working ghost ever, but if someone builds a dog rescue, the economy of a region booms, maybe a loved son or daughter of the region does something amazing to fill the town with pride, bam, you're eternally punished. Meanwhile, if you are lucky enough to work in a naturally miserable place like Brighton you don't have to work as hard to get the desired results. To put it simply, every ghost's assignment is a gamble that they get a place that is naturally miserable enough and that stays miserable or they will be in trouble.
As outside factors like dog rescues can make a place less miserable and the council expects ghosts to deal with that, does that mean that ghosts would be expected to deal with anything that would make a place happier? If, for example, happiness was added by a major factory that employed hundreds and added economic prosperity to say, Brighton, would Scratch be expected to sabotage the factory and deprive hundreds of a good-paying job just to avoid punishment?
This ends up being answered in "Turnip Twist" and the answer is apparently yes. Scratch's getting Geoff to wreck the end of the Turnip Festival to save Scratch from the Flow of Failed Phantoms is explicitly shown to nearly cost someone their business...before backfiring as "all publicity is good publicity" kicks in and starts getting people wanting to attend the next year, saving the motor lodge which was about to go under. The question then becomes, what other improvements to Brighton is Scratch going to be forced to find ways to sabotage? And how much longer does he have left, given just Molly's pre-festival improvements in Brighton were enough happiness to almost get him condemned to the Flow?
Given how Andrea has total control of the school including the teachers, one might wonder how she manages to establish herself as The Dreaded and if she is the driving factor of the misery in Brighton given how everyone is afraid of her.
Her family is implied to be one of the better-off ones in Brighton, as they own the local department store. Given Andrea's father has a callous attitude about firing family members, how much of a factor is he in everyone's misery?
"No Good Deed" implies that Darryl is well on his way to ending up as a criminal, as Scratch snarks. He engages in a prank that nearly gets himself injured while damaging school property, the principal notes that he's probably not going to graduate middle school in six years given by how many classes he's skipping, and when Molly gives him some common sense advice— think of others' feelings, take responsibility for your actions, and find solutions to problems— he uses them in an Insane Troll Logic fashion to justify sending three teachers to prison under the guise of it being a team-building exercise. He even knows how to lift signatures with Scotch tape!
Libby's great-grandparents escaped from what is all but blatantly stated to be Kristallnacht. Does that mean Hitler and the Nazis are ghosts in this world, who have the ability and duty to spread misery?
On that note, is EVERY historical villain a ghost in this universe? The ghosts are supposed to spread fear and misery and will be punished if they don't spread enough, and these guys were very good at it when they were flesh and blood...
Alternatively, it could be an Even Evil Has Standards situation, where anyone who was particularly horrible is automatically sent to the Flow of Failed Phantoms.
Which now that Molly has destroyed the Flow of Failed Phantoms, is another Fridge Horror. If the above is true, historical villain ghosts are now free to do God knows what with no fear of punishment.
Does even Abraham Lincoln have to fill a monthly scare quota or risk being sent to The Flow? Admittedly, by real-world accounts, all he has to do is show up; his celebrity status has made the late President's appearances a thrill for people for over 150 years. However, the Council must frown on him occasionally helping mortals—something he no doubt carries over from his living days. You can only coast on the strength of your fame for so long, even when you're dead....
Poster of the "historical villains in general" entry here: While people like Hitler, Mengele, Himmler, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, Saddam Hussein, bin Laden, Jack the Ripper, Caligula, Nero, Attila, and many, many others would thrive, what about the other side of the coin? Are people like Fred Rogers, Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King Jr., and Nelson Mandela in the Flow? Yeah, Molly destroyed the Flow with her positivity, but it doesn't sound like it was a fun experience.
Many background ghosts seen in the Ghost World are historical figures from all walks of religious background, from Julius Caesar (Roman pagan) to The Presidents of the United States (varying shades of Christian). Scratch even implies in "Not So Honest Abe" that Joan of Arc (a Christian saint) is in the Ghost World. There's also no indication that the spiritual structure is like Beetlejuice or Soul, where this is temporary until the Celestial Bureaucracy gets them sorted into the proper afterlives for the former and until they're done mentoring new souls for the latter. So are all religions (including Libby's thoroughly well-represented Judaism) false and lies in this universe? Have countless atrocities been committed and people's lives ended in horrible ways in the name of gods who never existed?
The fact that the Chen's blasters have a setting that is implied to be able to kill ghosts, and the fact that unlike the phantom canister, there is no mention of it being just a protoype, suggests that the Chens have destroyed ghosts before. Given that Ollie is shown to feel guilty in the next episode episode after he learns that not all ghosts are bad, how will the rest of his family feel should they also be convinced to stop hunting innocent ghosts?
"Jinx vs. The Human World" ends with the titular ghost getting trapped in the Phantom Canister with the vicious Frightmares. Jinx was quite a piece of work, but if and when she gets out of there, how much is going to be left of her?
With the knowledge from the finale that simply being so depressed will cause your soul to leave your body like with Todd Mortenson, how many ghosts are like Scratch in that they're actually wraiths who have forgotten that they're still alive?
. Does that mean Hitler and the Nazis are ghosts in this world, who have the ability and duty to spread misery?