After coming home from a job busting a bunch of giant bugs, the 4 Ghostbusters notice something in their scrapbook that their viewers noticed 3 or 4 seasons ago: their secretary's appearance has changed drastically. Her hair, her eyes, her facial structure, her figure, her height, and her voice are all radically different than they used to be. They can see it while looking at photographs, so how come they never noticed it while looking at her until now? Egon concludes some supernatural force must be behind the change and preventing them from recognizing it as such. But what?
The guys' attempts to study Janine don't yield any clues, just annoy her enough to make her leave work early. Her bosses have Slimer follow her back to her apartment. Once home, she immediately goes to the mirror, completely dissatisfied with her appearance. She calls out for a "Fairy Godmother," and a beautiful woman in a white dress with giant white butterfly wings appears in a whirlwind. Janine asks her to make her even taller, thinner, and change her eyes from blue to green. The spirit happily grants her wishes, to Slimer's shock. Confused and worried about what's going on, the spud immediately heads for home to tell the team, but the spirit intercepts him. Angry about him spying on her, she conjures up three demon dogs that chase him. He makes it back to the firehouse where the heroes quickly bust and trap the dogs.
Based on Slimer's report, Egon concludes the creature changing Janine is a spirit called Makeoveris lotsabucks that gains strength from feeding someone's desire to look beautiful more and more until the person becomes one of them. Ray notes it's unusual to find one this far inland, as they tend to live near water, where they're strongest. Based on the attack on Slimer, Winston deduces she's onto them, so they should go take care of it now if they want to save Janine. The others agree, and they leave without noticing the spirit was watching them the whole time.
Janine's "fairy godmother" wakes her up, telling her that her friends have turned against her and she needs to get out for her own safety. The guys find her apartment empty when they arrive. They each take a PKE meter tuned to the creature's energy signature and fan out to search.
Janine gets more and more terrified as her fairy godmother tells her to run, causing the spirit to get more impatient with her. It's clear Janine doesn't fully believe, but she also doesn't have the strength to fully resist. She keeps running.
The Ghostbusters are still searching the city with no luck. All Peter finds is a guy so annoyed at being woken up at 4:37 a.m. that he throws a shoe at him. Egon finally remembers what Ray said about water and realizes where the spirit must be taking Janine.
He's right. Janine and the spirit have reached the waterfront, which she says is where she came from. It's clear from the way she talks that her kind find victims when someone looks at their reflection in the water, although it shows something quite different when she does... but Janine doesn't notice. The spirit presses her about what she wants most of all, reminding her how she's never felt good enough or pretty enough. At first, Janine wishes her friends were here but slowly falls under the spirit's influence, agreeing about how badly she wants to be beautiful. She's finally about to wish to be just like her beautiful friend when Egon arrives and shouts for her to get away.
While Janine's on the verge of tears, the spirit forces her to look in her eyes and hypnotizes her. Egon begs her to listen to him, but she uses the powers the spirit's given her to attack him, pushing him back, rapidly changing her appearance over and over again, and shooting him with an energy blast, unleashing 6 years' worth of frustration on him: "It's your fault! All of it! I did it for you! I wanted to be prettier so you'd notice me! And you never did! Just like all the rest!" Her increasing frenzy causes whirlwinds and lightning as, her eyes blazing red, she rages about how sick and tired she is of being made fun of for how she looks and all she wants now is to be perfect!
Egon tries to reason with her and tell her he doesn't care what she looks like, he still cares about her, but the spirit tells him he can't reach her: "She's mine now."
Egon finally realizes what he needs to do. Refusing to fight Janine, he removes his proton pack. His defenses thus stripped away in every sense, he finally says what she's been waiting to hear for 6 years: "You want to destroy me, Janine? I won't try to stop you. But remember this: I love you!"
In the middle of prepping a mighty finishing blow, Janine's eyes start to return to normal. The spirit and Egon both keep trying to get her to listen to them. She can now see her fairy godmother's true form. She finally makes her choice: "I... I love you, too, Egon!" Her powers unchanged, she turns on the spirit and attacks her instead. The two fight in midair, Janine now completely free of the spirit's control. No longer hiding her true form as a Gorgon-like snake creature, the spirit eventually manages to get the upper hand, knocking Janine to the ground... right before getting hit in the chest by 3 proton streams. She briefly reverts back to her fairy form as Ray sucks her into a trap.
Egon rushes over to Janine, but she tells him to stay back as she rises into the air, glowing hot white. When it's over, she looks unchanged, but her powers are gone and she's fully under her own control again. After assuring herself it's okay to be herself and she's okay the way she is, she throws her arms around Egon and thanks him and her friends for saving her. Egon effortlessly returns the embrace. All restored to normal (well, almost...) and their work done for the night, Ray suggests they get back to the car and go home. Egon tells the others to go ahead, he'll catch up later. His friends comply, Ray winking at him as they leave him with Janine.
In a scene Janine probably thought she'd never be a part of, the two sit on a bench with their arms around each other watching the sun rise over the river. Nervously pulling at his collar, Egon asks, with tremendous effort, if she'd like to go see a movie with him. Janine, of course, accepts, and he begins listing science films he'd like to see. Looks like the two have crossed the line and entered a new phase of their relationship. How does Egon feel about it? "This could be fun."
This episode provides examples of the following tropes:
- And Your Reward Is Edible: Egon gives Peter a cookie to reward him for thinking.
- Armor-Piercing Question: As the guys head out to search, Peter has one that gives Egon pause.Peter: What if we can't get to Janine in time, and she isn't Janine anymore? Can we change her back?
Egon: I don't... I don't think so. - Ask a Stupid Question...: After Slimer is caught sneaking around.Makoveris: Didn't anyone ever tell you it's not nice to spy on people?
Slimer: [hopefully] Uh, no.
Makoveris: Then let me be the first! - Batman Cold Open: The guys are taking a horde of ghosts haunting a pottery store. The ghosts can take over anything, from the pottery to cockroaches (the latter to Peter's horror). After a scene transition, the guys return with full traps, dazed, and slimy.
- Beauty Equals Goodness: Played with — the spirit successfully tricks Janine into trusting her by taking on a beautiful appearance, but her true form is as ugly as her true intentions are evil.
- Big Creepy-Crawlies: Some giant cockroaches scare Peter.
- Cerebus Retcon: A consistent Running Gag on the series was Egon being Oblivious to Love no matter what, much to Janine's chagrin. This, however, was how the spirit was able to get its hooks in Janine and is the in-universe reason for her various changes over the last few seasons.Janine: [to Egon] It's your fault! All of it! I did it for you! I wanted to be prettier so you'd notice me, and you never did!
- Chekhov's Classroom: After Egon determines what kind of ghost they're dealing with, Ray remarks there are legends saying such creatures typically live near water. After the group splits up to search for Janine, Egon recalls this while looking at a puddle.
- Cue the Sun: The episode ends at sunrise, following a harrowing night of battle and turmoil.
- Does Not Like Men: Janine grumbles about hating men after Peter pranks her.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: Janine and Egon have more than earned their happiness together at the end after fighting so hard for each other that night.
- Emotion Eater: In this case, the insecurities that come from hating your own appearance. The spirit grows stronger as it feeds and augments that desire until the victim transforms into one of them.
- From Bad to Worse: Egon says the scans prove his fear that a ghost is changing Janine. He says their big problems now are figuring out who specifically is doing this and why. He doesn't like the ultimate answer.
- Glamour Failure:
- Slimer and the audience gets glimpses of the ghost's true form here and there before she finally drops the illusion all together during the climactic battle.
- This is also discussed as the reason why the guys and no one else ever noticed the changes to Janine until now, despite going on to talk about how extensive they are. Egon immediately suspects the force behind this is preventing them from noticing the changes, to which Winston says such a trick doesn't work on cameras and photographs.
- Go Fetch: Peter distracts the blue Hell Hound this way by using Egon's new Beethoven record. The ghost is soon busted, but at the cost of Egon's record.
- Hell Hound: The ghost summons a trio of hounds to hunt down and destroy Slimer for finding out about her. They chase him all the way back to the firehouse.
- Hidden in Plain Sight: Fleeing the Hell Hound trio, Slimer tries hiding up against the Ghostbuster logo on an ad on the bus. It doesn't work for long.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Janine fights back with the powers the spirit gave her to kill Egon.
- I Just Want to Be Beautiful: This is what allowed Janine to be vulnerable to the spirit's influence.
- I Warned You: On the job, a panicked Ray runs in and slams the door behind him. He explicitly warns Peter to stay away, saying it's just too horrible. Peter ignores this, opens the door, and sees a host of giant cockroaches (his greatest fear).
- Lampshade Hanging: Much of the episode addresses the various real-life decisions that affected Janine's voice, personality, and design.Ray: What I wanna know is how come nobody noticed this change before.
- Leave the Two Lovebirds Alone: Ray's wink at the end shows he at least knows exactly what's going on when the rest of the team leaves Egon alone with Janine.
- Light Is Not Good: The spirit dresses in white and is associated with white, bright light, even when attacking.
- Love Epiphany: Egon at least starts to have one as they drive to Janine's apartment and Peter makes him realize they could very well lose her for good tonight. By the time the battle's over, it's complete, and he's able to accept it.
- Love Makes You Evil: Janine's feelings for Egon drove her to make the deal with the ghost and feed her rage during the climax.
- The Mirror Shows Your True Self: The water reflects the spirit's true form. The glamour that stops people from thinking the victim's change in appearance is unusual also doesn't work on a camera, which is why the Ghostbusters are able to notice Janine looks different in the scrapbook.
- Mirthless Laughter: Winston chuckles nervously after Janine catches him spying on her from the stairs.
- Near-Villain Victory: As she's being trapped, the ghost bemoans how she was so close to claiming Janine.
- Not So Stoic: Egon has to drop all his emotion suppression and let his true feelings completely show in order to reach Janine.
- Parting-Words Regret: Peter's Armor-Piercing Question has Egon reflect on this and how he never truly appreciated what Janine meant to him or her overtures, until he might lose her forever.
- Properly Paranoid: After looking at the photos, the guys immediately suspect a ghost is at work. Upon checking all the scanned data, Egon says it confirms his fear.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: Janine's eyes glow red when she's in a trance.
- Relationship Upgrade: While it wouldn't be explored in later episodes or the sequel series, Janine and Egon get together at the end of this episode.
- Singing in the Shower: Peter sings in the shower. One of the lyrics is "I'm in the shower!".
- Spanner in the Works: The spirit's whole plan to claim Janine gets found out because Slimer looked over a photo album and noticed the differences between two pictures of Janine.
- Tempting Fate: As Ray frets about Slimer taking too long to get back, Peter asks how much trouble the spud could possibly get into. Cue a screaming Slimer entering, while being changed by the Hell Hound trio.Peter: I should've known.
- Theme Music Power-Up: The main theme plays as the Lotsabucks is getting trapped.
- This Is Gonna Suck: After confirming a ghost is at work, Egon doesn't know who is doing this or why, but his tone indicates he expects it to be very bad.
- True Beauty Is on the Inside: Egon assures Janine he cares about her "not because of how you look but because of who you are." She's eventually able to accept how she looks on the outside doesn't matter.
- Wham Episode: This one gave an in-universe explanation as to why Janine was so radically changed throughout the last three seasons, as the result of an evil spirit taking advantage of her desire to be noticed by Egon.
