The Ghostbusters return to the firehouse after a call, and Peter gets angry at Slimer for having done something to his bed. Then, a woman comes to visit, who turns out to be Ray's aunt Lois. She reveals that she's hired a "spiritualist" (who the Ghostbusters suspect to be a conman) named Dr. Bassingame due to having a headache she thinks is caused by a ghost and invites them over. They try to decline, but when a client cancels a job, they have no choice but to go.
When they get to her house, it's a very old, fancy house, and Egon does a scan. He determines that while there are ghosts in her house, they're dormant, and Bassingame is in fact a fraud. He has Lois and the Ghostbusters join in on a seance, but this leads to the spirits being woken up. They start throwing things around and Bassingame has no clue what to do, so the Ghostbusters retreat to the Ecto-1.
Egon and Ray look the spirits up, and reveal that they're Russian spirits called "Domoviye", who were passed on from Lois's Russian ancestors and that they're usually benevolent protectors but become destructive when angry, and Bassingame angered them. Seeing as they can't trap them as Lois is in firing range, they lure them away with another seance.
When the spirits are out of Lois's way, the Ghostbusters trap them, but Bassingame still demands to be paid (reminding them that he isn't liable for any mess or damage). The Ghostbusters demand that he pay for the damage, threatening to track him down and put the Domoviye on his property if he doesn't. He reluctantly pays and leaves, with an escaped Domoviye on his back. The Ghostbusters and Lois almost warn him, but decide not to so that he'll get his comeuppance.
This episode provides examples of
- Bait-and-Switch: Egon starts counting... and then switches to trigonometry.
- Beware the Nice Ones:
- According to Egon's research, Domoviyes can be quite benevolent and make things better for the living occupants of the given house. Bassingame's con made them jealous, which in turn made them very violent.
- After the guys bust the ghosts, Bassingame refuses to give Lois a refund. Ray forces his hand by threatening to find out where he lives and release the ghosts at his house. The others fully agree with this threat.
- Lois sees the Domoviye on Bassingame's back and is about to warn him, but then she decides not to. Peter most definitely approves.
- Blue-and-Orange Morality: The Domoviye are usually benevolent, but turn evil whenever they're angry.
- Breath Weapon: One Domoviye breathes fire.
- Conforming OOC Moment: Egon joins in on the "Everybody Laughs" Ending.
- Con Man: Dr. Bassingame pretends he can do exorcisms to make money.
- Ectoplasm: Played for Laughs when Peter arrives home with ghost slime in his boots and complains about it.
- "Everybody Laughs" Ending: The episode ends with the Ghostbusters and Lois laughing at the idea of Bassingame having to deal with the escaped Domoviye.
- Fat Idiot: Lois is pudgy, though downplayed for the "idiot" part as she's more gullible than stupid, falling for Dr. Bassingame's fraud tactics.
- Flowery Insult: Egon describes Bassingame as having all the ethics of a snake.
- Funny Background Event: As Bassingame is leaving the house, the Domoviye on his back waves goodbye to the Ghostbusters and Lois.
- Get Out!: Dr. Bassingame tries yelling at the Domoviye to leave, but it doesn't work.
- Gluttonous Pig: One Domoviye is pig-shaped and eats something of Lois's.
- Greed: Dr. Bassingame tries to con Lois out of her money and demands he get paid even when he's responsible for the Domoviye causing a huge mess.
- Green and Mean: Downplayed for the tadpole-esque Domoviye, who's only an antagonist when he's angry.
- Haunted House: Downplayed for Lois's house. It does contain spirits (before they get trapped), but they're dormant and benevolent until they get angered, but once they do get angered they start throwing things around.
- Headache of Doom: Discussed when Lois thinks ghosts are what gave her a headache. Seeing as the Domoviye were dormant prior to Bassingame angering them, the headache was probably just for a mundane reason, though.
- Heel–Face Revolving Door: The Domoviye can be good or evil, depending entirely on their mood.
- I Don't Think That's Such a Good Idea: Peter thinks of trapping the Domoviye, but Ray objects because they're too near Lois and it's too risky.
- Intentional Mess Making: The Domoviye, once angered, throw everything around.
- Lightmare Fuel: The Domoviye are vengeful spirits who cause destruction, but they're also pretty goofy-looking and cause slap-sticky mishaps.
- Lost Food Grievance: One of the things Peter complains about in regards to Slimer is him eating all the food in the fridge.
- Loud Gulp: Bassingame gulps when he learns the Ghostbusters want to use him to bait the Domoviye.
- Mix-and-Match Critters: One Domoviye looks like a cross between a cat and a bat.
- Morally Ambiguous Doctorate: Dr. Bassingame is deceptive and smug.
- Necromancer: Discussed when Bassingame pretends he can speak to the dead.
- Never Say "Die": Unusually for the show, which usually mentions death on a fairly regular basis, there's one scene of Lois saying, "Is he...?" when wondering if Bassingame was killed.
- Never Trust a Title: There's actually more than one spirit.
- Nice Guy: Lois makes the boys treats and she sympathises with Bassingame even once she knows he's a fraud.
- No Full Name: We don't know Lois's last name (though it may be "Stantz") or Bassingame's first name.
- Nothing Is Funnier: We hear Peter yell, "SLIMER! What have you done to my bed!?" without ever seeing what he did. Knowing Slimer, he probably either got slime on it or made a mess of it while eating.
- Not So Stoic: At the end, Egon joins in on the "Everybody Laughs" Ending.
- Nursery Rhyme: As part of the seance, Peter and Ray start singing, "99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall".
- Oh, Crap!: Bassingame gets nervous upon realising he'll be used to bait the Domoviye.
- Properly Paranoid: Ray is certain Bassingame is a fraud out to bilk his aunt for money. He's absolutely right.
- Say My Name: Peter angrily yells Slimer's name upon finding he's done something to his bed.
- Shaped Like Itself: Bassingame tries to demand payment by saying, "A contract is a contract".
- Slapstick: When the Domoviye first wake up, they throw the guys and Lois around, and they end up landing on one another.
- Something We Forgot: If you're paying close attention, you might notice that the winged, pink Domoviye (the one who got the ball rolling by interrupting Bassingame's tape recorder) didn't get trapped along with its fellows. The final scene shows it sticking to the back of an unaware Bassingame, giving way to the "Everybody Laughs" Ending.
- Speak in Unison: Ray says to Lois, "That was a job for..." and then he and the others say, "...the Ghostbusters" in unison.
- Spooky Séance: What Bassingame was aiming for with his con. He has everyone sit around a table, while his projection and audio equipment fakes the appearance of a spirit. Too bad real ghosts take offense to this and do something about it.
- Take That!: Dr. Bassingame dresses like Jake Kong, Jr., who was appearing in a competing show at the time. Bassingame being a complete fraud and coward should indicate what the writers thought of their competition.
- Tempting Fate: Egon tells Ray the worst that could happen is that Bassingame looks like a fool in all this. Bassingame certainly does look like a fool, but it turns out there are ghosts in the house that don't take kindly to what he was doing.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Bassingame had no idea there were actual ghosts in the house and that they would take deep offense to his shenanigans.
- You Wouldn't Like Me When I'm Angry!: Anger is what causes the Domoviye to become violent and destructive.
