The firehouse is shown on TV during a slow day. Then, someone changes the channel (wanting his children to watch something "educational" instead of the news) but only gets a few gossip channels. He then goes back to the channel that was showing the firehouse, where two reporters named Sandy Van Sanders and Helen Shreck are entering to try to prove the Ghostbusters are con artists. Janine doesn't let them in, but they barge in anyway.
Janine and Slimer leave (with her walking him on a leash) and the reporters ask Peter, Ray, and Winston where Egon is. They lie that he isn't there, but then he yells out, so they have him make the experiment he was doing public. It turns out that he and Ray invented a machine called a "dimensionometer" to send ghosts back into the Netherworld instead of trapping them in the containment unit to be safer and save money. They demonstrate on a random ghost, but Sandy is doubtful and starts messing around with the machine, which starts a fire and turns Egon into a demon.
While Ray grabs Sandy's neck in anger and Peter and Winston put out the fire, the demon Egon says he's "free to destroy" and throws Peter. Winston determines that Egon is possessed, and what's more, his soul got sent to the Netherworld via the machine. They find out that they only have fifteen minutes to save Egon, and they can't trap the demon as it's inhabiting Egon's body, so they dope the demon and drive off, but the reporters take the demon, wanting to interrogate it.
While Ray and Winston go to search for the demon, Janine sends Peter to the Netherworld to retrieve the soul, but Sandy and his cameraman follow him. Helen, meanwhile, tries to interview the demon but is carried away. Ray and Winston arrive, and eventually catch the demon, but Helen and her cameraman follow them.
Peter, meanwhile, finds that the ghost used in the demonstration is scared of the Netherworld and begs to be trapped. Peter agrees to re-trap him if he shows him where a human soul is, so the ghost shows Peter Egon's soul, which is being used as a trampoline by a one-legged demon. Peter retrieves the soul and then he and the demon go back to the firehouse, with Slimer distracting the monster by tickling it. The possessed Egon runs into the soul, getting Egon back, then the possessing demon slimes the reporters and both demons re-enter the Netherworld.
This episode provides examples of
- Badass in Distress: Egon ends up needing his soul retrieved from the Netherworld.
- Bait-and-Switch Comment: When the reporters use a particular word to describe Egon and Ray's invention, Ray says, "You could call it that... if you want to use the wrong word."
- Comedic Underwear Exposure: The narrator loses his pants at one point, to his embarrassment especially since he's on live TV.
- Con Man: Discussed when Sandy and Helen think the Ghostbusters must be frauds.
- Covered in Gunge: The Egon-possessing demon coats the reporters in thick, pinkish goo.
- Evil Sounds Deep: The demon who possesses Egon has a deep voice.
- Goofy Print Underwear: When the narrator loses his pants, he's revealed to be wearing spotty boxers.
- Horrifying the Horror: The Netherworld scares a ghost.
- Instantly Proven Wrong: Peter, Ray, and Winston try to claim Egon isn't around, but then he calls out.
- Mass "Oh, Crap!": All the Ghostbusters look scared when Sandy pulls the lever.
- Our Souls Are Different: It's implied that losing one's soul makes you more vulnerable to Demonic Possession (though having one's soul intact doesn't make you impervious, as shown in "Mrs. Rogers' Neighbourhood").
- Out-of-Character Moment: Janine has a crush on Egon, but she doesn't seem bothered by him being possessed and his soul being separated from his body.
- Shout-Out:
- Peter calls the possessed Egon "King Kong".
- Janine mentions having seen Poltergeist (1982).
- Winston calls Helen "Lois Lane".
- Simple Solution Won't Work: Ordinarily, the Ghostbusters would trap the demon, but they can't since it's in Egon's body.
- Super-Strength: The demon that possessed Egon can lift Peter up.
- Tempting Fate: Sandy says that he's sure the machine is fake, because if it were real, it would overload when he pulled a lever... which he does, and it does overload.
- Theme Music Power-Up: The theme tune plays when Egon goes back to normal.
- Transformation of the Possessed: Being possessed by a demon makes Egon take the form of said demon.
