The Vanishing continues with its take on the Goosebumps novel The Haunted Car, except unlike in the book, Trey's Oldsmobile is "haunted" by its owner instead of a ghost.
But before we get to the crazy car stuff, episode 3 spends some time providing us with Alex's backstory. Alex is the group's resident criminal/bad girl, played by Francesca Noel, though there's far more to her than initially meets the eye. A flashback from one year ago shows us how Alex wound up in juvie. She and some of her friends, specifically another teenager named Murph (Ethan Viera), were messing around with fireworks in an abandoned house. Murph inadvertently started a fire that burned the place down. Alex got blamed for it. Hence, the juvie sentence. We already know it was her mother, Detective Jen (Ana Ortiz), who put Alex there, and their relationship has been fraught ever since.
Present-day Alex is still paying the price for Murph's misstep. She's out of juvie but still has community service hours to finish. Alex is also under house arrest, with an ankle monitor and a 10 p.m. curfew. She intends to find Murph, convince him to confess, and clear her name.
Alex spots Trey's car near his dad's shop and "borrows" it. She finds Cece on her way to debate camp and blackmails her into helping her track down Murph. Alex still has that video of Cece stealing lip gloss. All she needs is Cece to ask Murph's friend where he is. Obviously, she can't do it herself because he'd never tell her. Alex's story about not being believed and going to juvie for something she didn't do convinces Cece to help. With the address in hand, the duo tracks down Murph, but that's when the car takes over.
Speeding down the residential roads, Alex tries to catch up to Murph despite Cece asking her to slow down. Even when Alex tries to take her foot off the gas, she can't. The car is in control now, swerving around a corner like a maniac and crashing into a pole. Cece is pissed and terrified, believing Alex is a total maniac. She jumps out of the car and gets a ride home with CJ instead. Neither girl realizes that a puff of those mysterious spores came out of the car's air conditioner and landed right into Cece's kombucha cup, which she leaves behind in her rush to leave Alex behind.
At the complete mercy of the car, Alex is forced to watch as it fixes itself and speeds out of town. Murph catches up in his own car, entering a dangerous game of car chicken. But Alex shows him her hands aren't even on the steering wheel. She's not in control. Out of options, Alex climbs into the trunk and jumps out the back just as the car veers off the coast and into the water.
Her mom and another detective discover the scene where Trey's car struck the pole. The cops are left mystified by the lack of paint chips or any other signs of vehicle damage. Jen calls her daughter and discovers her phone left behind in the rubble.
Forced to walk home, Alex is almost late for her curfew until her mom shows up just in time. Jen even uses the sirens to ensure they can return before the clock strikes 10. Despite Alex's belief that her mom wouldn't have her back, Jen seems to be doing her best to understand her daughter.
It's happening again
This episode's other main storyline continues the whole plant saga. After the break-in, Anthony is determined to find Trey. While cleaning up Trey's mess, Cece tells him about Devin's fuzzy memory and his story about being pulled into the sewer by vines.
Anthony is pissed about his basement, so he calls Jen for assistance. He needs her help finding Trey because he's concerned about the missing bulb, or what he refers to as his "unstable research." They head first to the car shop, where they miraculously discover Trey's car fixed, soon to be stolen by Alex. No more broken window. But Trey's dad is also worried about his son, who hasn't shown up to work yet.
We pivot to Devin, who meets up with Frankie at the coffee shop where she works. Devin explains his working theory that the vines and whatever thing took over Trey's body is a monster version of his dad's plants. They'll need to investigate the basement to learn more.
Meanwhile, Anthony traces Devin's path into the sewers and retrieves a piece of the vine that previously constricted Devin. Taking it back to his lab, he records himself studying the new specimen, noticing that it oozes the same black liquid as the plant bulb. He might not know where the bulb is, but the fluid in the Petri dish acts like a compass, leading him to it. Having snuck into the basement to investigate, Devin and Frankie overhear everything Anthony says during his research.
Following the direction of the black slime, Anthony finds himself back where everything started: Fort Jerome. He remembers the night Matty disappeared. The last thing Anthony said to him was "I wish I didn't have a brother." Ouch.
But more importantly, Anthony finds something else down there. Trey. And he's back to normal, albeit traumatized. Anthony puts a blanket on him and herds him into his car, contacting Jen to tell her that he's found Trey and that he believes everything in 1994 is happening again.
Back at Jen's house, the camera closes in on Cece's kombucha cup, innocently perched on the kitchen counter, both Alex and Jen unaware of what's contained inside.
Odds & Ends
- Jen was Matty's girlfriend as a teen.
- Alex casually reveals she likes girls and there's definitely some flirting happening between her and Cece.
All episodes of Goosebumps: The Vanishing are now streaming on Disney+ and Hulu.