Venice

"**Venice**" is the second episode in the first season of *City of Ghosts*. It is the second episode overall.

## Synopsis

Thomas visits John, who works at a Venice skate shop. He's concerned about Sam, an 8-year old skateboarder who says she's been hanging out with a ghost.

## Plot

We start with Thomas introducing themself, and talking about their friend Sam and her ghost problem. Then, we see Sam introducing herself, talking about where she lives and why she loves skateboarding. After that, we see John, who works at a skate shop, talking about skateboarding and how he knows Sam's family. He suggests that she should be hanging out with friends more often, and thinks she might be getting picked on.

At the skatepark, she tells Thomas about her ghost friend, and also about the "Skate Academy kids". Sam says "That's Colton" in a tone that sounds like she doesn't like him. In an interview, Colton talks about how he skates all the time, but also really likes photography. He asks Thomas to meet him at the benches, and gives them some photos. After Sam recognizes the photos, she shows Thomas a pile of junk she calls a creature, which looks like an animal at the right angle. They say they're definitely ghost stuff, and is even more surprised by the VHS tape the ghost left for her. They take it to John, and he plays it on the TV, and it is filled with a guy doing skateboarding tricks. When we see the skateboarder close up, saying he loves to draw stegosauruses, Sam says that he's her ghost friend. The guy on the video says his skateboard was stolen at a donut shop, and when he says he loves donuts, Thomas gets an idea.

The three of them go to the pile of objects with a big box of donuts; but when Thomas yells that they have donuts, Colton comes out from the bushes, much to Sam's dismay. He asks to have one of the donuts, and then gives some backstory; he likes to go to that alley early in the morning, because the light looks great for pictures. But he started realizing something was adding to the creature, so he started taking pictures of it instead. He introduces everybody to Bagel, his ghost friend.

In an interview, Bagel talks about his past, specifically his love of skating; all of this is conveyed by a paper drawing of him moving along a fence with posters behind him to match what he says. He talks about how everybody used to be an artist in some way, and how letting people be creative is important. He then says that his friend cleans up the skateparks every day, but is interrupted by a skateboard that goes past them by itself. Sam chases after it, and tells them all to follow. They watch through a fence as the skateboard does tricks against the wall, but then the ghost becomes visible, and Sam explains that's her ghost friend.

Thomas is now interviewing Sam's ghost friend, D. He talks about why he started skating and why he moved to Venice; all of this is conveyed through wooden peg dolls and wooden blocks on newspaper. He then reveals that he is friends with Bagel, and the two of them made the creature with things from the garbage. Sam says that she stopped skating because she didn't like skating in front of strangers, but she says that now that she has new friends, she has the confidence to do that. We then see her doing skating tricks in front of strangers as John, Colton, and Thomas cheer.

Sam says that she and Colton are going to make a zine about their favorite things, where Colton takes the pictures, Sam is the editor, and D draws the cover.

## Characters

### Major Characters

* Thomas
* Sam
* John
* Bagel
* D
* Colton

### Minor Characters

* Zelda
* Bagel's friend
* Eva
* Peter
* Colton's mom
* Colton's dad

## Trivia

* It is revealed in this episode that Thomas uses they/them pronouns, and loves to skateboard.
* Sam, Colton, and D start a zine called "Killer Dino"
	+ D drew a stegosaurus on the cover, which matches what he said on the VHS tape.

### Episode Connections

* One of the stories uses peg dolls, just like the story in "The Sort of Japanese Restaurant"

### Cultural References

* Multiple old forms of technology are referenced, like flip phones and VHS tapes.
* Peg dolls are used during D's story.