The beginning of a frightful friendship.
Original air date: 10/1/2021
Production code: 101a
Optimistic Molly McGee and her family move to Brighton, where Molly discovers their new home is inhabited by a grumpy ghost named Scratch, who accidentally curses himself to be permanently bound to her.
Tropes:
- Chekhov's Gun:
- A longterm example, but a throwaway line establishes Scratch's distaste for carob. This will come up again in "Innocent Until Proven Ghostly".
- Even farther out is Scratch's fondness for strawberry soda. This will be very important later.
- Didn't Think This Through: Scratch tries to curse Molly by saying that no matter what, he'll always be there haunting her. As he later finds out, that just means that instead of Molly being stuck with him, he's stuck with her.
- Dumpster Dive: When the Ghost Council summon Scratch, he's in the middle of eating garbage from a dumpster.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: Scratch, upon noticing that the Ghost Council and the Chairman has summoned him, attempts to act chummy with them while also being visibly rude. Later episodes would show that he very much fears them and he typically assumes that they caught him doing something wrong whenever summoned and pleads with mercy.
- Also, here, when he is summoned by the Ghost Council, he is summoned with the trash can he is eating food from and does not notice that he has been summoned. This is not something that happens in later episodes, as when they summon him, he always notices that they are summoning him and always feels himself being pulled into ghost portals whenever it happens.
- Everyone Meets Everyone: Inevitable, given that this is the pilot.
- Exorcist Head: While inside of a plush bunny, there is a moment where Scratch turns his head all the way around.
- Gone Horribly Right: Scratch curses Molly so that as long as she lives in his house he will never leave her alone...except for Molly this is actually more of a blessing, with Scratch being the one left miserable instead.Scratch: I didn't curse Molly McGee... she cursed me!
- I Have This Friend: Scratch asks the Ghost Council how a ghost could go about reversing a curse they have cast, "just asking for a friend." The Council see right through this, as they note that he has no friends.
- Mood Whiplash:
- Scratch bestows his curse on Molly, causing everything to levitate as she looks increasingly petrified... then she suddenly smiles, comments "Fantastic performance!", and Scratch is confused as everything drops to the floor.
- The episode ends on a high note, with Scratch settling into the little haunted house Molly put out as a home for him and the two starting to bond... then it cuts to the Ghost World, where the Chairman notices Brighton's "misery meter" move a tick towards the positive side and growls disapprovingly. Which THEN cuts right to the cheerful excerpt of the theme song.
- The Scottish Trope: Scratch's curse has a Speak of the Devil aspect where he would appear whenever Molly said his name. Unfortunately for him, that means Molly now has an "on call bestie".Scratch: Oh, no! This curse just got worse!
- Shown Their Work: A water tower says that Brighton was founded on February 29, 1872. 1872 was, in fact, a leap year.
- Spanner in the Works: Scratch's plan to get the McGees to leave the house would've worked... if the brave and obsessively optimistic Molly hadn't interfered and convinced them to stay.
- Threat Backfire: Scratch curses Molly with a lifetime of torment unless she leaves the house, but instead of being scared, she's overjoyed to have a best friend who is now stuck with her.
- Where the Hell Is Springfield?: When Molly puts pins on a map of all the places her family moved, when she puts a pin in Brighton, it doesn't zoom out to reveal what state it is in. Going by the water tower it's a place that is mostly known for growing turnips and was a settled area by 1872, but that doesn't narrow it down in the slightest.
