Recap / The Real Ghostbusters S5 E2 - "Something's Going Around"

A large, purple ghost is haunting a club, while Peter and Slimer are watching TV. The phone on the coffee table rings, and Peter has Slimer answer it. They, along with the rest of the Ghostbusters, then drive off to answer the call, which is related to the ghost at the club. Peter and Slimer try to order from the drive-thru, only for the ghost to spray the filling of an apple turnover in their faces. The Ghostbusters try to fire at him, but he brings a statue to life and has it chase them. Luckily, they manage to trap the ghost, but Peter feels unwell.

Back at the firehouse, Louis Tully is doing paperwork and hears groaning coming from the dormitory. He enters with a proton pack, thinking a ghost has escaped, but it's actually Peter, who is still in bad shape and is lying in bed. Louis wonders if Peter is sick from too much fast food, and Peter denies that he only eats fast food, when a bunch of it falls from beneath his pillow. Slimer tries to steal a bag of chips, but Louis swipes them and reveals that they're his and are designed to be healthy. Peter then develops a fever, feels lightheaded, and begins levitating, prompting the other Ghostbusters and Louis to call a doctor.

The doctor, who is an old man named Dr. McAtheter, arrives. He examines Peter, who starts to grow Tic-Tac-Toe markings on his chest, and determines that he is allergic to ghosts. Ray and Winston think that Dr. McAtheter is joking, but he is serious and decides that Peter must resign immediately. Slimer hugs Peter, causing his face to become swollen and blotchy. Dr. McAtheter throws Slimer away and tells Peter to stay away from ghosts for the rest of his life. He then tells Louis to feed the other Ghostbusters the chips so they don't also develop the same allergy, but when he leaves, he shapeshifts into a monstrous ghost.

The guys break the bad news to Janine, who refuses to offer Peter accommodation. She eventually changes her mind, but only as long as it's temporary. She takes him home, and while he is still sleepy, his temperature has returned to normal. Meanwhile, the rest of the Ghostbusters and Slimer are eating chips and miss Peter already (though Ray is still hopeful that they'll get him back). Egon asks Louis where he got the chips from, and Louis explains that he got them from Dr. McAtheter. Egon asks Louis how long he's known the doctor for, and Louis replies that it was since he opened an office two days ago. Egon determines that the chips are what's causing the symptoms, which causes Winston and Ray to wonder why they aren't showing symptoms. However, their faces then swell up and get plaid stripes while Ray's eyes turn red. Then, Egon gets green spots and Winston's hair turns green and stands up.

Soon, their faces and Ray's eyes go back to normal, but Winston's hair is still green and standing up and Egon still has spots. They go to the car to tell McAtheter off. When they get out, Ray gets the swollen, striped face again, then it goes away but his head shrinks. Meanwhile, Winston's head grows and then he becomes tall and gangly, and Egon (who explains that there may be residual ectoplasm in the car causing symptoms) is changing between being very fat and thin.

In Janine's apartment, she is making soup and decides that Peter (who is now having the similar size changes to Egon) can't be allergic to ghosts as he's been in contact with thousands of them. The rest of the Ghostbusters show up and explain the situation to Peter, then ask to borrow Janine's car. She says no because apparently they crashed it the last time, but they promise not to let that happen again.

She drives them to McAtheter's house and the guys enter it. They find Dr. McAtheter, who explains that with the Ghostbusters out of commission, he can run New York. Meanwhile, the Ghostbusters are all shifting in size and their ears have grown.

McAtheter flies to the firehouse, answers a call, and drives off wearing a proton pack. After scaring off all the humans, he joins two other ghosts (who were the reason the humans called) on a rooftop. The three ghosts get into the car and drive back to the firehouse, where Louis tries to zap them with a proton pack, but misses. He gives up when McAtheter threatens him with his own proton pack.

Meanwhile, Janine is driving the Ghostbusters (who are now covered in itchy, multicoloured lesions). Egon gets the idea of forcing their bodies to build up an immunity to the "allergy" so they can catch McAtheter. They do this by locking themselves up in Janine's apartment with Slimer. This ends up turning them into monsters, but then Janine uses traps to pull their monster forms away, turning them back into humans. They drive up and trap all the ghosts, accompanied by Louis. Then, Janine has to stay at the firehouse while Louis cleans her apartment.

This episode provides examples of

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• Abnormal Allergy: Subverted. Peter's symptoms are said to be from an allergy to ghosts, but they turn out to actually be from the new chips.
• Animate Inanimate Object: The purple ghost brings a statue to life.
• Ask a Stupid Question...: When Louis asks Ray if something is wrong with Peter (who is in bed groaning), Peter responds, "No, Louis; this is my night job: entertaining people in my pyjamas".
• Bathroom Search Excuse: When Louis enters the sleeping quarters wearing a proton pack, having mistaken Peter's groaning for that of a ghost, he lies that he was on his way to the bathroom.
• Blatant Lies:
  • Louis is embarrassed to admit that he'd mistaken Peter's groaning for a ghost, so he tries to pretend he was looking for the bathroom... despite the fact that he was wearing a proton pack.
    Louis: "Bathrooms can be very dangerous."
  • When Louis thinks Peter is sick from eating fast food, he says, "Hey, I don't eat only fast food, okay?!", then a bunch of it spills from under his pillow. When that happens, Peter tries to pretend he doesn't know how it got there.
• Blowing a Raspberry: Slimer blows a raspberry at Dr. McAtheter when the latter picks up the former.
• Body Horror: Among the symptoms caused by the chips are extreme swelling.
• Calling Your Bathroom Breaks: Slimer says, "I need to go to the bathroom" at the end.
• Continuity Nod: Ray calls Slimer "spud", which is a reference to the movie, where he called him an "ugly little spud".
• Covered in Gunge:
  • When Slimer lands on Peter's head, Peter ends up covered in ectoplasm.
  • When Peter and Slimer try to order from the drive-thru, the ghost sprays the filling from an apple turnover into both of their faces.
  • When Dr. McAtheter first arrives, Slimer gets ectoplasm all over his front.
  • Slimer gets ectoplasm on Janine when he kisses her.
  • The ghosts who McAtheter ends up taking the call related to end up covering one woman and one teenage boy in ectoplasm.
  • When the Ghostbusters are building up their immunity, Slimer gets ectoplasm on Janine and Louis.
• Cyclops: Ray's final symptom is he turns into an orange, one-eyed creature.
• Does Not Like Spam: Winston describes the chips as "the worst".
• Evil Gloating: When the Ghostbusters meet Dr. McAtheter in his true form, he brags about how with them out of the way, he can take over the town.
• Evil Laugh: Both of the villainous ghosts in this episode laugh maniacally several times.
• The Food Poisoning Incident: Discussed when Louis wonders if the reason Peter is sick is because of "all the fast food he eats".
• Fooled by the Sound: Louis hears moaning and thinks it's an escaped ghost, but actually it's Peter who's in pain from a supernatural ailment.
• The Hyena: Both the greaser ghost and McAtheter do many Evil Laughs.
• Involuntary Dance: One of the symptoms of the "allergy" is Winston involuntarily spinning around.
• Ironic Echo: McAtheter happily indulges in this when terrorizing humans while wearing Ghostbusters gear.
  McAtheter: Who ya gonna call? [laughs]
• Last-Second Joke Problem: The episode ends with the Ghostbusters' supernatural ailments cured and the ghosts caught. Unfortunately however, Janine has to stay at the firehouse while her apartment is being renovated and the Ghostbusters and Slimer are made to wait in line outside the bathroom while she takes a bath.
• Lost Food Grievance: Slimer is annoyed when Louis swipes his (Louis's) chips back from him.
• Mad Doctor: Dr. McAtheter is a ghost who can shapeshift between an ashy-skinned human and a red, otherwordly-looking being, and who works as a doctor but actually makes his patients sick.
• Mistaken for Undead: When Louis hears Peter groaning, he initially thinks it's an escaped ghost.
• Ocular Gushers: When Slimer is crying at the idea of Peter losing his job, the tears spray out like a sprinkler.
• Platonic Kissing: When Janine allows Peter to stay with her (albeit temporarily), Slimer kisses her on the cheek.
• The Pratfall: Louis falls on his behind while helping the Ghostbusters defeat the ghosts.
• Quack Doctor: A ghost pretends to be a living doctor named Dr. McAtheter and sells the Ghostbusters potato chips that he claims are a health food. However, they actually give the Ghostbusters bizarre symptoms (such as random size changes, strange-coloured lesions, and levitation) whenever they're around ghosts so that the ghosts can cause chaos without being caught.
• Sick Episode: Subverted. Peter appears sick, with his lethargy and groaning, but then it turns out that he's apparently "allergic" to ghosts, which then turns out to actually be because of the chips.
• Slapstick: After sliding down the firepole, Louis ends up sliding along the floor and landing upside-down against the wall.
• Tempting Fate: Ray wonders why he, Winston, and Egon aren't sick, only for them to instantly start showing symptoms.
• Toilet Horror: Discussed when Louis tries to pretend that the reason he was wearing a proton pack (actually because he'd mistaken Peter's groaning for that of an escaped ghost) was because "bathrooms can be very dangerous".

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