You can sometimes feel a show overcomplicating itself to keep going past its natural end. The prime example of this is Lost’s middle seasons, which many pointed to as wheel-spinning. Their case is certainly reinforced by how the show’s storytelling strength returned once it had a specific endpoint. There are moments in the first three episodes of School Spirits Season 3 that make weary critics nervous. At times, it feels like the series is flirting with adding difficulty to achieve longevity. However, time and again, it somehow turns into the skid. The show finds a way to make most of the complications work. Those that don’t resolve quickly enough that the audience doesn’t register them as overly burdensome or undercooked.

For instance, at the end of last season, Maddie (Peyton List) and Simon (Kristian Ventura) essentially swapped places. She finally returned to life and her own body. Meanwhile, he stumbled directly into the land of the dead despite his heart still beating. That move can often carry with it the odor of an artificial extension of a show’s life. Here, though, series creators Megan Trinrud & Nate Trinrud and the writing team don’t offer warmed-over “here we go again” gender swapped vibes. They find and highlight enough differences it feels more like a rhyme than a photocopy. Similarly, the revelation of a possible deeper, darker reason for Split River High’s oddly elevated student mortality rate is thoughtfully and efficiently integrated into the show’s reality.

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Other additions remain outstanding questions. Superintendent Deborah Hunter-Price’s (Jennifer Tilly) arrives as a human antagonist/someone who may know more than she’s saying. In the first three episodes, though, she’s mostly just setup. That said, Tilly has a great cockeyed energy for this kind of project. Giving the kids someone like that to tangle with on the living side of the show has promise. Erika Swayze, as the administrator’s feared cheerleader daughter, Livia, is a bit strange. Given the fear and loyalty she inspires, it feels odd the audience is only just “meeting” her. Still, a seemingly authentic moment of concern expressed during a picture day disaster suggests she’s a more complicated figure than her reputation.

With all the new faces, it could be easy to toss aside the old favorites. Smartly, School Spirits Season 3 does the opposite, pulling everyone on either side of the Veil of Tears closer. With everyone organized around a single mission—get the still living but somehow stuck with the ghosts Simon back to where he belongs—it gives most, if not all, members of the expanding cast something to do each episode and time enough to still have distinct personalities and “side quests.”

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Like Buffy the Vampire Slayer before it, much of the supernatural concern is either a metaphor for very real teen angst or a different way to showcase it. Quinn (Ci Hang Ma, bumped from recurring to series regular) and Rhonda (Sarah Yarkin) spend most of an episode trying to give Quinn a yearbook photo to make up for the three she dodged while she was still alive. However, it never feels like a waste of time because it serves the show’s wider purpose: capturing how hard it is to be a high schooler, especially when forced to hide away some piece of yourself. The dead are literally invisible to most of Split River’s teachers and students, but every cast member, breathing or not, has their own moments of feeling abandoned or unseen.

None of it would work without the cast’s talents and chemistry, though. List continues to be a strong lead, dropping her double role from Season 2 and stepping out of the spirit realm without getting stale. Former mean girl Claire (Rainbow Wedell) has fully completed her journey to ally without feeling scrubbed clean of personality. Ventura has grown as a performer. In previous seasons, when he became upset or went negative, it sometimes tipped into petulant, but he finally seems to have a groove that makes Simon feel resolute and angry, not whiny. Previously established all-stars like Yarkin, Milo Manheim as 80s quarterback Wally, and Nick Pugliese as closeted 90s teen Charley aren’t carrying as much of the dramatic load so far, but they remain invaluable.

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One downgrade from last season is the “scar” that the teens imprison Mr. Martin (Josh Zuckerman) in. Seen briefly last year, it was downright hellish. With repeated exposures this time out, though, it quickly loses any ability to frighten or unnerve. On the other hand, a trip onto the ill-fated band bus is possibly the darkest, nastiest set piece the show has put forward yet.

Defying warning signs, after three episodes, School Spirits Season 3 seems poised to be another highly watchable installment of the supernatural teen drama.

School Spirits Season 3 rattles chains at Paramount+ starting January 28.

School Spirits Season 3 Trailer: