"The (Un)natural" is the second segment of the second episode of the Disney Channel animated series The Ghost and Molly McGee.
Synopsis[]
When Molly’s softball team struggles to believe in themselves, she decides to use Scratch’s ghost powers to manipulate the game and make them feel like winners.
Plot[]
Molly is watching her softball team the Brighton Lemmings lose miserably. Despite her optimism and support, the team members are well aware of how terrible they are. Molly decides to join their team so that she can "en-happify" them and turn them into believers, though Scratch thinks that her efforts will be wasted. Molly, as it turns out, is just as terrible, if not worse, than the other Lemmings and cannot even toss the ball properly. While up against their rivals, the Skylarks, their star player Tammy Meyers calls Molly a "clown" when she fails her first pitch. This infuriates Scratch, who believes insulting Molly is his job, and uses his powers to make the Lemmings win for the first time.
Molly later finds out that Scratch was manipulating the events. Happy that he would help her, but upset over this revelation, she refuses to cheat. However, Scratch convinces her to continue with the charade as the Lemmings would be miserable losers without her and the residents of Brighton need to be happy, at least for Molly's sake. Molly decides to continue with cheating and sends the Lemmings to the top. The Lemmings go up against the Skylarks again in the finals, but Molly is disappointed to learn that her teammates still do not believe in themselves, as they have been totally focused on supporting her. Scratch is suddenly called away by the Ghost Council when they are 18-0.
The Ghost Council inform Scratch that he is one scare short for the month due to 2 people he scared being the same person, and he hastily returns to find that the Lemmings are now 18-17 with their bases filled. Molly finally decides to believe in herself for real and informs Scratch to stop. She tosses the ball where Tammy strikes it, but it is caught by Libby, with her face. The Lemmings win for real as they celebrate their win, though Libby is once again injured after getting dropped by her teammates. Molly is glad to see that the Lemmings believe in themselves now when Tammy comes and continues to call her "pathetic". Scratch goes and scares her, successfully filling up his scare report for the month (all he has to do is ask Molly if Tammy ends with "I" or "Y").
Cast[]
- Ashly Burch as Molly McGee
- Dana Snyder as Scratch
- Lara Jill Miller as Libby Stein-Torres
- Aparna Nancherla as Sheela
- Eden Riegel as Kat
- Chandler Kinney as Tammy Meyers
- Jules Medcraft as Andrea Davenport
- Grey Griffin as Barrister Ghost #1
- John DiMaggio as Barrister Ghost #2, Chairman
- Greg Baldwin as Barrister Ghost #3, Umpire
- Kari Wahlgren as Barrister Ghost #4
- Tom Kenny as Announcer
Songs[]
- "If You Believe"
Trivia[]
- The title is a take on The 1984 baseball film The Natural, while the plot is a warped version of Angels in the Outfield.
- The Brighton sports team are the Lemmings. This is most likely based on the myth that lemmings are known to not be very bright, made famous in the movie White Wilderness.
- Todd Mortenson Sighting: Seen sitting among the Brightonians at the game, resting his head on his hands.
- This is Todd's first appearance in the show.
- The original pitch pilot would be adapted into this episode, with the opening scene from "The Curse" and the subplot of Scratch being called "the worst of the worst" from "First Day Frights" also having originated from it. There are several minor differences:
- Andrea Davenport was portrayed as her original snooty, bullying version. She was part of the opposing team, the Skylers, and was the one that Scratch scares at the end. In the final episode, her role is taken over by Tammy Myers. Scratch's final line in the episode, where he asks if Tammy is spelled with an "i" or a "y", was in the original pilot except he asks how many "n's" are in Andrea's name.
- The Ghost Council scold him for not having scared anyone at all, noticing that his scare report is ridiculous (he claimed to scare all of Australia). He is actually threatened to get sent to the Flow of Failed Phantoms, before promising to do better.
International Premieres[]
- October 3, 2021 (Canada)
- November 10, 2021 (Australia, New Zealand)
- November 12, 2021 (Singapore)
- December 29, 2021 (United Kingdom, Ireland)
- February 2, 2022 (France)
- February 15, 2022 (Spain)
- February 22, 2022 (Portugal)
- April 13, 2022 (Italy)