The End

This article is about the episode from The Ghost and Molly McGee. For other media, see The End.

The Ghost and Molly McGee
"The End"

Season 2

Number 21

Episode information

Production code

221

Written by

Bill Motz
Bob Roth

Storyboards by

Johnny Castuciano
Stephen Heneveld
Sam King
David Knott

Directed by

Stephen Heneveld
David Knott

Original airdate

January 13, 2024

*The Ghost and Molly McGee* Episodes
Previous
"Jinx vs. The Human World"

"The End" is the forty-first episode, as well as the series finale of the Disney Channel animated series The Ghost and Molly McGee. It premiered on January 13, 2024.

Synopsis[]

A flood of lost memories forces Scratch to make big decisions about his afterlife.

Plot[]

The McGees are being presented an award by Mayor Brunson for all the good they have done in Brighton. As the town holds a festival to celebrate, Molly happily tells Libby and Ollie that she is just glad that she can continue to enhappify people with her work. Scratch on the other hand simply wants to try the funnel cake and makes a plan with Geoff to use their ghost powers to possess people to eat as much as they can. As Scratch goes about his plan, he suddenly gets hit with a flood of memories and rushes to tell Molly what he has learned. His life was actually exhilarating and he adventured with his friend Adia. Libby and Ollie find the sudden revelation suspicious.

After showing the rest of the family what they learned about Scratch's life through his memories, the only thing that Molly and Scratch still cannot figure out is how he died, thinking that it may have happened on one of his adventures. Thanks to Darryl, he manages to locate Adia. It turns out that she continues to go on adventures and posts her exploits on the internet. Molly manages to snag an interview with her, but the reception is terrible. All she learns is that Scratch is just a nickname, he never went on any adventures with her, and apparently, he is not even dead yet, surprising both Molly and Scratch. Libby (clad in her detective outfit), Ollie, and Geoff arrive and reveal the truth to them. Scratch is really a wraith of Brighton citizen Todd Mortenson, having given up on life.

Scratch finally remembers everything. He and Adia spent their childhood going on imaginary adventures together, but upon growing up, Adia went on adventures for real while Scratch stayed home and read letters from her. Having grown hopelessly depressed, he became a wraith and had been haunting Brighton ever since. Scratch cannot fathom the fact that he had wasted his purpose in life and runs away. The McGees, Libby, Ollie, June, and Geoff go around his favorite places in Brighton, as well as the Ghost Realm, to try and find him, but to no avail. Molly realizes that there is only one place he could have gone, his actual home.

Molly finds Scratch sitting across the street from his house, admitting that he is scared of returning to his body. He attempts to deter Molly away, but she accuses him of "playing it safe", the very thing that made him a wraith. He admits that he is afraid of forgetting her, but Molly assures him that everything will be okay. Scratch finally reenters his body. Now as Todd Mortenson, he happily quits his job and sells his house, but he appears to not remember his previous life. He runs into Molly where he tells her that he is happy as well his plans to travel the world. As his bus arrives, Molly hoped that he will remember his friends in Brighton no mater where he went, which he will and may even come back for a visit someday. Upon getting on the bus to leave Brighton, he uses the words "sweet baby corn" and "enhappifying", both of which he believed to have made up but loved and decided to use them frequently, and calls Molly "Moll" despite not knowing her or Molly herself telling her name at all. The McGees, Chen siblings, Libby, and Geoff all decide to celebrate Scratch's release with a treat.

During the credits, photos of Scratch/Todd's adventures are shown before he happily reunites with Adia, bringing the series to a close.

Cast[]

Ashly Burch as Molly McGee
Dana Snyder as Scratch/Todd Mortenson
Jordan Klepper as Pete McGee
Sumalee Montano as Sharon McGee, Grandma Nin
Michaela Dietz as Darryl McGee
Lara Jill Miller as Libby Stein-Torres
Eric Edelstein as Geoff
Jenifer Lewis as Patty
Alan Lee as Ollie Chen
Sue Ann Pien as June Chen
Greg Baldwin as Bartholomew
Grey DeLisle as Lucretia
Kari Wahlgren as Grimbella
John DiMaggio as Sir Alistair
Patton Oswalt as Mayor Brunson
Kimberly D. Brooks as Adia Williams

Songs[]

"My Life was Awesome"
"Maybe Next Time"
"Live a Little"

Trivia[]

This episode was not promoted as the series finale. Co-creator Bill Motz revealed that 10 scripts for season 3 were being developed, but that viewership was not as strong and the show was ordered to end after 2 seasons. Motz and Bob Roth were granted one additional episode to close out the series. Due to the major transitions happening at Disney, it was decided to hold off on the last two episodes in case something changed, but they ultimately decided to end the show instead as viewership was still low. Motz nevertheless, still indicated that he was satisfied with the show's finale.^[1]
Todd Mortenson was frequently shown as a background character throughout the series run.
Scratch is revealed to be a wraith and not a ghost.
This is the third episode to not feature a title card after "The Curse" and "The New (Para)Normal".
This is the last episode of Season 2, and the series as a whole.
This episode contains several references from past episodes:
- At the beginning, Mayor Brunson acknowledges some of the things that the McGees have done for and brought to Brighton, including the bandshell ("Getting the Band(shell) Back Together"), Sally Tugbottom's statue ("Monumental Disaster"), and the wind turbine factory (which was first seen in "Saving Christmas" and restored in "The Jig is Up").
- Libby says "Mazel tov" to Molly when congratulating her. These words were also used in the title for the episode "Mazel Tov, Libby!".
- The first few minutes of the episode take place at the Brighton Turnip Fest, which was previously featured in "The Turnip Twist". Geoff is also present here (and gets caught in the tornado whirling machine), just like he was in that episode.
  - Clips from said episode are also used as security footage when June hacks into the security cameras for Libby and Ollie.
- Ollie's line "I don't think funnel cakes work like that" is similar to Darryl's line "I don't think arms are supposed to bend like that" from "Out of House and Home".
- Scratch admits that he contributed "a curse here, a possessed pop star there." These are references to "The Curse" and "The Greatest Concert Ever".
- Molly claimed to Adia that their interview was for the readers of the Brighton Bugle, the newspaper from "Fit to Print".
- When Aida stated that Scratch wasn't dead, he thinks she picked up brain slugs, which were hypothesized in "Scratch the Surface".
  - In this episode Scratch said they were from the Amazon, but in "Scratch the Surface" they were said to be from Eastern Canada.
- When Molly failed to have Scratch return to her by saying his name like she did the 1st time in "The Curse", she remembered that the curse was broken in "Home is Where the Haunt Is".
- Grandma Nin is shown to be living at the Brighton Nursing Home, after having moved there in "Nin-dependence".
- Libby once again dons her Bloodhound of Truth costume from "Monumental Disaster" and "Fit to Print".
- Scratch shape-shifts into his "rock-n-roll" appearance from "Davenport's in Demise" and his Thinker pose from "Faint of Art" and "The Many Lives of Scratch". He also turns into a centipede, possibly referencing the Centipede World-themed Death Day story from the latter episode.
- Flashbacks to previous episodes such as "Festival of Lights" and "Molly vs. The Ghost World" are shown before Molly and Scratch part ways.
- Molly and Scratch reference some of the lyrics to the theme song when Scratch asks "Dream team, you and me?" and Molly responds with "For all eternity."
The last line of the series is said by Molly: "Aw, Scratch would have wanted that too."
Motz revealed a hypothetical afterscript where after Sweets & Treats, Molly went home, went to bed and looked at the dollhouse with her final line being "Goodnight, Scratch. Wherever you are. Hope you have a good life."^[2]
When production for season three was still being considered, an episode titled "Molly and Scratch Solve It All!" was being developed which would have been the season opener. The premise instead involved Molly and Scratch using a curse to solve the latter's past via a curse that turns their world into a television show.^[3] Elements of this episode were actually taken from "Scratch from the Past", which had Scratch remember his past via getting surprised by Molly and Libby. The realization that he didn't travel with Adia was the same, but Adia actually came to Brighton to accept an award and leaves before she could reveal anything else about Scratch.^[4]