A poltergeist is haunting Mayor Jones, so Mystery Incorporated takes it upon themselves to find out who, or what, is responsible.
The episode provides examples of:
- Ambiguously Evil: Mayor Jones.
- He's storing a piece of the Planespheric Disk in his bedroom.
- While everyone is being chased out of the house, Mayor Jones makes it seem like the ghost caught him. However, security camera footage reveals that he faked it and went back to check on his piece. Why is he so concerned about it and does he seem so smug about it?
- He's uncomfortable with people being in his room. He claims that it's because he doesn't want people tattering his ermine sheets, though while the kids are setting up the cameras in the house, he suspiciously glances at his hidden safe, as if he was making sure they didn't stumble upon it.
- At the end of the episode, when Pericles warns the gang about trusting him and they ask him about the whole thing, he laughs it off, saying that he has the disk because something went down years ago regarding Pericles and the piece, causing Mayor Jones and the police to throw Pericles in the asylum and figured keeping the disk piece to himself was the safest course of action. So who can we trust here, Pericles or Jones?
- The Bad Guy Wins: Pericles escapes with the disc piece.
- Bear Hug: Fred gives one to his dad at the end of the episode.
- Commercial Break Cliffhanger: After Mayor Jones is apparently grabbed by the ghost before he can escape the house with the kids.
- Companion Cube: Freddie, growing up an only child with an uncommunicative parent, apparently considered "Tyler", the stuffed moose head by the staircase, a "good listener".
- Downer Ending: Pericles got exactly what he wanted and escaped scot-free, and it's obvious there's something up with Mayor Jones.
- Failed a Spot Check: Mayor Jones forgot that his entire house got hooked up with security cameras, leading to the kids going over the footage and learning that he's up to something.
- Five-Second Foreshadowing: Listening closely to the ghost's voice just before it's trapped (and even in the cold open), it can be easily discerned as Pericles' voice pitched down, complete with Gratuitous German.
- Food Eats You: The pizza tries to eat Shaggy and Scooby.
- Foreshadowing: If you listen closely, the Poltergeist is saying that he wants the Planespheric Disk back from Mayor Jones.
- I Can't Hear You:Fred: [...] and we're gonna need your help, dad. [cut to a worried Mayor Jones lying on the couch, pulling up his blanket]
Mayor Jones: What? I can't hear you, I'm too comfortable! - Improbable Weapon User: Shaggy and Scooby watch a Vincent Van Ghoul movie in which he's seen using a stethoscope like a whip to ward off zombies.
- Internal Reveal: The gang is starting to catch on to Mayor Jones possibly being Ambiguously Evil.
- Kick the Dog: Minor, but after being scared out of his own bedroom by the ghost, Mayor Jones runs out of the house without thinking to take Fred with him.
- Missing Mom: It turns out that Fred's mother left when he was a baby, but he hopes he can meet her one day.
- Monster of the Week: The Shadowy Figure, a poltergeist that has taken up haunting the Jones residence and terrorizing the mayor.
- Red Herring: It seems that Lady Marmalade has something to do with the plot like helping expel the ghost or possibly even being the ghost, but she ultimately contributes nothing.
- The Reveal:
- Fred's mother left when he was a baby. What exactly happened is unknown.
- Mayor Jones has a piece of the disk... or rather had, since Pericles steals it at the end.
- Pericles seems to confirm at the end that Mayor Jones can't be trusted and has an agenda of his own.
- Shout-Out: The score of this episode is reminiscent of The Thing (1982).
- Velma: Mayor Jones, why would Professor Pericles want that piece of the Disk so badly?
Mayor Jones: <laughs> How should I know? Are you kids trying to imply something? Because if you are...
Fred: No, No, dad. We're just all really happy you're okay. That's what's important, right, gang? This mystery is over.
Daphne: I'm not sure this mystery is over at all.
