Throughout most of “School Spirits” Season 1, Janet Hamilton (played by Jess Gabor) remains a mysterious and largely absent character. Her existence is first mentioned in the premiere when Charley (Nick Pugliese) shares that Janet supposedly moved on sometime ago after haunting the school from 1960. Later, it’s revealed that Janet possessed Madison’s (Peyton List) body in the boiler room and left with it, resulting in Maddie being neither dead nor alive, but rather disembodied, framing Janet as the presumed antagonist. However, further revelations uncover a deeper complexity to her story.

Despite her role as a seeming villain and her frequent absences in Season 1, the subsequent season redefines Janet’s narrative. It sheds light on a more nuanced portrayal of the mid-century apparition, eventually unveiling Mr. Martin (Josh Zuckerman) as the true antagonist. He spent years manipulating and tormenting Janet. Unlike the other spirits who bear emotional scars, Janet’s are profoundly severe. In executing this significant plot twist, Gabor embraced the misdirection, ensuring the audience initially despised her character before unveiling the underlying truth.

Janet’s poignant backstory is revealed starting with her death and continuing into the afterlife. The first episode of Season 2 offers insight into her home environment and aspirations. Despite her strict parents’ objections, Janet once aspired to be a chemical engineering scientist post-high school. These ambitions were nurtured by her grandmother Ruth (Beverley Elliott) and her chemistry teacher, Mr. Martin. The trust she placed in Mr. Martin both before and after her death amplifies the tragedy surrounding her story.

After Janet’s old-fashioned and abusive reverend father Joseph (David James Lewis) discovers a University of Chicago college catalog among Janet’s belongings, he tells her to focus on finding a husband and having some children before pressuring the school to fire Mr. Martin for promoting unorthodox attitudes toward women in science. Caught up in his anger at the firing, Mr. Martin planned to use the school’s gas lines to fill up the lab, ending his life, but he ended up changing his mind.

Unfortunately, the gas that he freed was still hanging around in the chemistry lab when Janet showed up, leading to both of their deaths in an explosion when she struck the flint to start an experiment. Unaware of the gas and of Mr. Martin’s plans, Janet spent decades believing she was the one who caused the fire, and Mr. Martin was more than happy to let her live out eternity wracked with guilt. Never has the term gaslighting been more appropriate. 

After their deaths, Mr. Martin and Janet continued to be close, a closeness made possible in part by Martin’s manipulation of Janet: She was extremely grateful that he was so forgiving about her (apparently) causing their deaths. They eventually came to realize that spirits have a connection to their “scars,” energy imprints of the moment they died that allow them to relive that moment again and again. After “School Spirits” fan favorite Rhonda (Sarah Yarkin) died, Rhonda’s acceptance letter from Berkeley caused Janet to realize that objects relating to their deaths are important.

Janet and her teacher decided to manipulate the energy contained within the spirits’ scars and keys. To harness that energy, they hid all of the spirits’ keys for their own use. However, after years of experiments and spending more and more time in her scar, Janet’s mental health began to deteriorate, while at the same time the veil between the spirit world and the living one was getting thin. 

Eventually, Mr. Martin went full villain and trapped Janet in the fallout shelter, telling the others that she had crossed over. She spent around six months imprisoned before Maddie opened the door. Desperate for release from the shelter and her former trusted mentor’s control, Janet threw herself into Maddie’s body, leading to the events of the series. Once we understand everything she’s been through, it’s hard to see Janet as a villain, even if she did steal the body of an innocent girl.