There are many tropes of teen-focused media, and after the homecoming dance — which we’ve already covered here in Just Beyond Season 1 — the field trip is one of the more popular ones. That’s the setup of Episode 6: A 14-year-old, Ella (Lexi Underwood), heads to a legendary theatre with her class, but is more concerned about the presence of her ex-best friend than she is the ghosts that may or may not be haunting the place.
Just Beyond Season 1 Episode 6 Recap
An old theatre is a pretty fertile environment for spooky goings-on, though the episode goes for the most obvious representations of ghosts — translucent, blue-tinted apparitions of former thespians who all died in a fire. They’re not hostile, so once Ella discovers them, “We’ve Got Spirits, Yes We Do” abandons any ideas of being scary, instead leaning into being funny, mostly at the expense of actors and acting. The ghosts want to make Ella “one of them”, but not in the way she thinks — they want to make her an actor.
The “scary” aspect is a screaming, spectral skull that the other actors call “The Critic” since only a critic could be so mean (oh, ha ha ha.) In the absence of a relatable theme relevant to young people, which all of the previous episodes have been built around, this cheeky self-referential motif feels ill-fitting, unlikely to satisfy the same target audience that the other installments have been pitched at. It’s a shame, really, since Lexi Underwood is a compelling screen presence, and when the haunting aspects are turned up, there are some decent visual beats too.
It does all loop back around to Ella’s relationship with Zoe (Claire Andres), though, her former best friend with whom she used to sing and write songs, which she explains to one of the ghosts in the theatre. Ella recorded a song saying how much she missed her, and the exposure of that song led to her present state of isolation and, in the ghost’s words, “limbo”. Beyond the obvious commentary on old-timey acting and singing, that’s the secondary metaphor, the idea of someone in the midst of a significant change, not knowing where or how to proceed in the wake of it. But this more interesting theme is lost in the set dressing.
There’s also another element, that of “The Critic” being Dolores, one of the other actors who was mistreated by the others and has been lingering, alone, after also dying in the fire. In revealing this to the others and forcing them to confront how they contributed, she’s able to repair the relationship and thus reframe her own rivalry with Zoe, understanding that you have to make peace with people and the past lest you remain stuck in the same place forever.
Just Beyond Season 1 Episode 7 Recap
Just Beyond Season 1 Episode 7 (Credit – Disney)
Once you meet Rick (David de Vries), it’s easy to see why Trevor is the way he is. His mistress, Kendra (Lindsay Lamb), is terrified of him. He believes that in this life you’re either wearing the boot, or you’re under it, and he’s wearing the biggest boots in town. But bigger isn’t always better, which Trevor realizes when he picks on new student Evan Burger (Henry Shepherd), a freckled ginger boy with one leg who he naturally sees as an ideal new target, and ends up being cursed by Evan’s no-nonsense grandmother.
Part of the curse is that Trevor becomes smaller (Logan Evan Grey plays the little version), though still recognizable by his telltale facial scar, and another part is that his influence on Larkinville is lifted. Nobody is afraid of him anymore. Everyone wants their revenge. But when a terrified Trevor finds himself cornered by all those he has wronged, it’s Evan who reaches out a helping hand to him. After all, they don’t want to become just as bad as he was as soon as they’re given the opportunity.
Having learned his lesson, apparently, Trevor is promised by Evan’s grandmother that when he wakes up the next morning, the world will be back to how it should be. He’s big again. And, of course, the first thing on his mind is payback. But things are different now. Rick tends the flowers he tramples every morning. Kendra is with someone else. The town is owned by the Burger family now. And Burgerville is a much nicer place.
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