We begin with protagonist Jerry playing make-believe in his brand new house and talking about himself in third person when he hears music coming from the basement. Following the sound, he discovers an old piano playing by itself [Ooky spooky!]. It quickly stops making noise, so Jerry tries his hand at playing some tunes, unaware that a g-g-g-g-ghost has materialised behind him!
That night, he wakes to the piano playing again and investigates, finding the g-g-g-g-ghost woman it this time [These special effects are hilarious hahaha], and warns him to “sssssstay away” before disappearing.
The next day, as Mum takes him to the Shreek School where he’ll be taking the titular murderous piano lessons, Jerry wonders if the ghost was warning him to stay away from here [That’s a good observation, Jerry]. Mum thinks it looks more like a prison than a music school, especially with the high-tech [For the 90s] security equipment at the entrance. The building is full of music, seemingly from other people getting lessons, and Jerry recognises the same melody the ghost woman was playing, but is unable to see who’s playing it because Dr. Shreek appears.
Dr. Shreek creepily admires Jerry’s hands before sending Mum away [I wouldn’t leave my kid here lol] and as Jerry follows Dr. Shreek to a room, he asks about all the technology at the entrance. Dr. Shreek explains that it’s security measures built by Mr. Toggle, a mechanical genius who’s also the janitor [That’s suss. I bet Dr. Shreek’s a robot].
Jerry notices that Dr. Shreek’s hands seem to be permanently frozen in a claw-like position and asks about it [Wow, manners please, Jerry!]. Dr. Shreek explains “they just don’t work like they use to” and once again admires Jerry’s “marvellous hands” [Stranger danger!].
After his lesson, Jerry decides to explore the rest of the building while pretending to be being a lost adventurer, narrating out loud the whole time [He’s constantly narrating his fantasies, it’s pretty cute]. Jerry’s eventually chased by a weird robot thing until he’s found by Mr. Toggle, the janitor. He explains that the machine is just a floor sweeper and jokes that he programmed Dr. Shreek to say he was a mechanical genius [That ain’t no joke; Dr. Shreek is definitely a robot].
Later, Jerry has a nightmare about being possessed by the ghost woman while playing piano and awakens once again to the same music being played. Downstairs, he finds the ghost woman at the piano once again, and she warns him to stay away from the Shreek School because it’s eeeeeeeevil. His parents wake up to his screaming but again think he’s imagining things.
[I’m not expert, but I’m pretty sure that’s not how you play piano] The next morning, Jerry doesn’t want to go back to the Shreek School because of the ghost’s advice, but Mum urges him to give it one last go before quitting and Dad says he’ll feel better after confronting his fears. We cut to Jerry at his next piano lesson, and I can’t work out if he’s playing bad on purpose or just because he’s nervous. He anxiously starts to bite his nails and is quickly yelled at by Dr. Shreek because his hands are precious.
Soon after , Dr. Shreek falls to his knees, but tells Jerry not to worry and starts obsessing over his beautiful hands again [I know he’s probably a robot but still, this is creepy]. Jerry runs off in search of Mr. Toggle as Dr. Shreek gives chase, still yelling about Jerry’s beautiful hands, eventually stumbling into a large room filled with pianos being played by disembodied gloved hands.
Just as Dr. Shreek grabs Jerry, Mr. Toggle appears and with a press of a button, Dr. Shreek is shut down [He is a robot!]. Jerry thanks Mr. Toggle for saving him, but soon realises Mr. Toggle has been behind everything [Duhhhhh]. Hands are apparently too hard to build mechanically because there’s “too many moving parts”, so he wants Jerry’s exquisite hands to make beautiful music.
The ghost woman appears now, scolding Mr. Toggle for going too far and not practicing piano enough himself [I guess she was his old piano teacher?] She also has no hands for some reason [I think her sleeves were always covering them before but now they’re just stumps. Can’t work out why though…]. Jerry escapes the building to his parents’ waiting car and they finally see the ghost he’s been banging on about before driving away.
The episode ends with the ghost woman forcing Mr. Toggle to practice piano for all eternity as punishment for terrorising Jerry.
Final thoughts
This was a fun one! I feel like there wasn’t much sense to it though. Like, if the ghost woman could change locations freely, why didn’t she just stop Mr. Toggle in the first place, without the need for Jerry to go through all that trauma? Also, why did she have no hands at the end?
And I know Mr. Toggle wanted to create music, but is that seriously all the explanation we get? What was he going to do with Jerry’s hands? It’s not like that were playing music by themselves, Jerry was controlling them. And he was only just learning piano anyway, he wouldn’t be making beautiful music anytime soon right?
Oh well, 49 ghosts without hands playing piano out of 60.
