The New (Para)Normal

"The New (Para)Normal" is the twenty-first episode, as well as the season two premiere of the Disney Channel animated series The Ghost and Molly McGee. It premiered on April 1, 2023.
==Synopsis==
When a new family moves in across the street, the McGees are put in a sticky situation when they turn out to be ghost hunters and Molly forms a crush on their son. Meanwhile, Scratch avoids his duties in the Ghost World.
==Plot==
The intro to the series fades into Molly and Scratch rocking out in the living room, only for the two of them to be distracted by the arrival of new neighbors next door. The McGees are excited and curious to see who they are, but fail to notice Scratch getting sucked back into the Ghost World. The McGees meet their new neighbors, the Chens, consisting of "cool" dad Ruben, spice obsessed wife Esther, autistic tech genius Juniper "June", and handsome helping son Oliver "Ollie". The McGees immediately fawn over their new friends, especially Molly who takes joy in learning that Ollie is interested in helping the community the way that she does.
Scratch learns from the Ghost Council that because he defeated the Chairman, he has to take his place. He simply tells the ghosts in the Ghost World to do whatever they want, not knowing that in doing so, he has released the Frightmares (truly terrifying ghosts who exclusively followed the original Chairman's orders that were kept in the Flow of Failed Phantoms for the safety of both worlds). While the McGees continue to show their admiration towards the Chens, Scratch is shocked to see the Ghost Council in his home and at a loss over what to do. Through song, he convinces them to pursue activities that they have always wanted to pursue, even in life. However, this seems to make things worse as they refuse to leave him alone and as they, ironically, refuse to listen to him.
The McGees, seeing the Chens as the next step in their forever home, invite them over for a barbecue where they once again connect with Ruben showing Pete his self-made root beer, June causing trouble with Darryl, and Esther and Sharon sharing spices. Molly and Ollie go off by themselves and learn that they have much more in common. As Molly is about to show Ollie her room, he reveals that he and his family have been moving around because, as it turns out, they are ghost hunters and have a web series called Ghost Chasing Chens. Molly is shocked and warns Scratch about them before warning the rest of the McGees. They are forced to "stuff their faces" to get rid of the Chens while Scratch has to deal with the Frightmares while not getting noticed.
The McGees finally send the Chens home while Scratch reluctantly dons the Chairman's cloak to order the Frightmares away. He then returns to the Ghost World to tell the rest of the ghosts to not cause any trouble before getting rid of the Council for good (they become his advisors for tricking him into the job, but are allowed to still have fun on weekends). He also warns the Council to not leave out any important information again, particularly Grimbella (whose name he has trouble pronouncing correctly). The McGees are saddened at the revelation that the Chens hunt ghosts, but decide to maintain their friendship with them so as not to arouse any suspicion from them. While Scratch is annoyed at the prospect, Molly and the McGees promise to look out for Scratch in case anything goes wrong. Later, the Chens come home to see their ghost alarm go off. Realizing that there are ghosts in Brighton, they suit up to go hunting.
==Cast==
*Ashly Burch as Molly McGee
*Dana Snyder as Scratch
*Jordan Klepper as Pete McGee
*Sumalee Montano as Sharon McGee
*Michaela Dietz as Darryl McGee
*Grey Griffin as Lucretia
*John DiMaggio as Sir Alister, Heidi Hairylegs
*Greg Baldwin as Barthalomew
*Kari Wahlgren as Grimbella
*Alan Lee as Ollie Chen
*Leonard Wu as Ruben Chen
*Sue Ann Pien as June Chen
*Stephanie Sheh as Esther Chen
==Songs==
*"Enjoy Your Afterlife"
*"Stuff Your Face"
==Trivia==
*This episode introduces the Chen family.
*Starting with this episode, the intro is slightly altered with new visuals.
**The theme song also extends to the beginning of the episode.
***This makes this the second episode to not feature a title card, following "The Curse".
*This is the first episode to be half an hour long.
*This is also the second episode where the end title card gets interrupted (in this case by the Chen's ghost alarms), following "Out of House and Home".
*June Chen is revealed to be autistic.
*Scratch becomes the new Chairman.
*Sharon and Pete are officially introduced to the Ghost Council (and in technical sense the Chairman).
*Ollie is revealed to be a vegetarian.
**Molly appears to be one as well when she asked for one, though she may have done this to impress Ollie as she is later seen eating what appears to be a regular burger.
*Scratch learns the Ghost Council's names, after not realizing that they had any.
*Ollie mentions that his family visited a haunted house in New Orleans. This is most likely a nod to The Haunted Mansion.
*The name of the episode is very similar to Amphibia's Season 3 premiere episode "The New Normal".
**Ironically, The Ghost and Molly McGee originally premiered on Disney Channel a day before the third season of Amphibia premiered on the same network.
*Grimbella states that her name is a "family name". This is a likely reference to a line from the VeggieTales episode "Beauty and the Beet".
*This episode premiered to 0.146 million viewers.
==International premieres==
*April 2, 2023 (Canada)
*May 2, 2023 (United Kingdom, Ireland)
*July 30, 2023 (Israel)
*September 18, 2023 (Portugal, Spain)
*September 23, 2023 (Japan)
==Gallery==
The Ghost & Molly McGee S2 (2).jpg|Molly & Scratch singing and playing their theme song.
File:The Ghost & Molly McGee S2 (3).jpg
The Ghost and Molly McGee S2 (12).png|Scratch is declared the new Chairman
File:The Ghost & Molly McGee S2 (1).jpg|The McGee's welcoming the Chens to Brighton.
File:The Ghost and Molly McGee S2 (5).png
The Ghost and Molly McGee S2 (23).png|Molly falls for Oliver
The Ghost and Molly McGee S2 (11).png
File:The New (Para)Normal (19).png
File:The New (Para)Normal (20).png
File:The New (Para)Normal (11).png
File:The New (Para)Normal (12).png
TG&MM - Enjoy Your Afterlife.jpg|"Enjoy Your Afterlife"
File:The New (Para)Normal (21).png|"Last one to cry wins."
File:The New (Para)Normal (22).png
File:The New (Para)Normal (23).png
File:The New (Para)Normal (24).png
File:The Ghost and Molly McGee S2 (6).png|"We're ghost hunters."
File:The New (Para)normal (1).png
File:The New (Para)normal (2).png
File:The New (Para)normal (3).png|Ruben "lead investigator"
File:The New (Para)normal (4).png|Esther "video/graphics"
File:The New (Para)normal (5).png|Oliver "research specialist"
File:The New (Para)normal (6).png|June "tech wizard"
File:The New (Para)normal (7).png|"Ghost Chaser Chens" title card
File:The Ghost and Molly McGee S2 (7).png
File:The New (Para)normal (8).png|"Sweet baby corn!"
File:The New (Para)normal (9).png
File:The Ghost and Molly McGee S2 (8).png
File:The New (Para)Normal (13).png
File:The New (Para)Normal (14).png|Scratch as the Chairman
File:The New (Para)Normal (15).png
File:The New (Para)Normal (16).png
File:The New (Para)Normal (17).png
File:The New (Para)Normal (18).png
==References==
==External links==
*The New (Para)Normal on The Ghost and Molly McGee Wiki
Category:The Ghost and Molly McGee episodes