Danny Phantom

The episode begins with Danny, Sam, and Tucker all in the Ghost Zone, Tucker and Sam, of course, in the Specter Speeder. Apparently they were trying to map it out. Sam and Tucker are both wearing these weird green headphone-like things that are supposed to block out spectral noise so they can communicate with each other (Sam thinks they make "great techno Goth earrings"), but Tucker ends up using his to listen to a song by "Ember." This annoying ghost named Klemper won't let go of Danny, because he insists on being Danny's friend. Danny manages to trick Klemper into entering one of the many floating doors in the Ghost Zone (in this case a refrigerator door), then closes the door and removes the handle, keeping Klemper inside. Klemper, now in a place covered with snow, spots a penguin and asks if it will be his friend, but it just walks off.

Back in the Ghost Zone, Danny enters the Specter Speeder and turns to normal, while Tucker is still listening (and singing along to) the song. Danny's hands are cold, so Sam holds them to heat them up. This results in a rather uncomfortable moment where the two blush at each other, then let go quickly. The Specter Speeder leaves the Ghost Zone with the music still playing, and one of the older ghosts in it wonders "What on Earth is that ghostly wail?"

After the theme song, it cuts to the high school. Tucker is STILL listening to that same song while also wearing an Ember hat and T-shirt. Danny says he doesn't understand how this Ember McLane came out of nowhere and instantly became so popular. Tucker insists that Ember isn't just about music, that she's an expression of his unique individuality. Then the three turn the corner and we see Ember stuff EVERYWHERE (so much for "individuality"), and we finally see what Ember actually looks like.

Paulina, who of course is also wearing Ember clothes, notices Sam's "earrings" and disdainfully asks if she got them from a sale at the 89 cent store. Sam says she got them from Danny, and Paulina, being her usual obnoxious self, says that "He gave you earrings? I always knew you two losers would always end up together." This causes both Danny and Sam to protest that they're not losers and they're not together. Tucker, of course, then starts singing along to the song he's listening to, and both Sam and Danny tell him to keep it down. Dash and some other popular kid notice this and comment on the "two lovebirds ganging up on Foley", causing both Sam and Danny to scream out "We're not lovebirds!"

Later, in the class, Mr. Lancer is talking about how there's some "Northwestern 9" test coming up. Since his bonus is based on their grades, he's installed the "Cramtastic Mark 5", which is basically 3 screens in front of you that you're supposed to watch while wearing this cap with wires sticking out of it and connecting with them. Mr. Lancer turns it on, but instead of anything educational appearing on the screens, it's an Ember music video. Everyone except Danny and Sam are thrilled by this, but Mr. Lancer turns the Cramtastic Mark 5 off and pulls out an Ember CD that somehow got into it. However, THEN they all hear music coming from outside. It turns out it's actually Ember herself (with what's presumably the rest of her band) on a stage.

Everyone rushes outside. Ember asks them all who they love, and they all chant "Ember!," causing her light blue fire-like hair to grow larger. It should be noted that while this occurs several times in the episode, the increase in size is only temporary. Anyway, Danny and Sam seem to be the only ones not mindlessly entertained by her. Danny's ghost sense then acts up, and he tries to see where the ghost is. Mr. Lancer then climbs onto a fire hydrant and through a loudspeaker orders Ember to "cease and desist." In response, Ember changes what one of the dials on her guitar is pointing to and unleashes some purple music wave that hypnotizes some of the students, who all then attack Mr. Lancer. Danny then realizes that Ember's the ghost. Danny turns into his ghost form to save Mr. Lancer from the hypnotized students, and is then about to attack Ember, but she's disappeared (along with the stage and her band).

Later, in the school, Danny notices Tucker is now wearing an Ember wig, and says that he's starting to scare him. Tucker claims it's "Just an Ember thing." Sam responds "You do know she's an evil mind-controlling spirit from another dimension?" Tucker says "Yeah, but you said the same thing about Paulina." Of course, then Paulina announces to the school that Ember's giving away free concert tickets at Bucky's Music Mega Store. Everyone (with the exception of Sam and Danny) all rush towards the exit. Mr. Lancer tries to block the exit, but they trample him and rush out the school.

Tucker tries to follow them, but Danny and Sam pull him back and decide to "deprogram" him. In other words, tie him up and force him to go through the Cramtastic Mark 5. Danny and Sam leave him there, and Danny wonders why they're the only kids unaffected by Ember's hypnosis. Sam says that Danny's not affected because of his ghost powers, but they don't really know why Sam isn't affected (she throws out the idea of "utter disdain for anything popular," but we can tell that's not the real reason). Danny gets the Fenton Thermos from his locker, but Mr. Lancer then sees them and says that "You too lovebirds may be the only students left in the entire school, but that's not going to stop me from giving you an education", causing Danny and Sam to once again scream "We're not lovebirds!" Mr. Lancer starts to drag them off, but Danny grabs Sam and uses his powers to slip out of Mr. Lancer's hands and through the walls. They're both flying through the air to get to Bucky's Music Mega Store when they both crash into an Ember billboard on the roof of Bucky's Music Mega Store.

Meanwhile, in the store, Ember appears on a balcony, which causes everyone to cheer. She throws tickets to the crowd, and asks them to "Tell me who you love!", causing them to start chanting "Ember!" again, making her flame-like hair grow larger again. Danny and Sam then manage to get in. Sam distracts the crowd by disfiguring one of Ember's billboards. Ember's about to attack her, but Danny attacks Ember first. Danny's about to open the thermos and hopefully suck Ember into it, but she hits Danny with a blast from her guitar first, causing him to drop the thermos, and disappears. Danny follows her onto the roof and the two fight. The crowd outside chants "Ember!," again causing her hair to burn stronger, and Danny realizes that the chanting makes her stronger. Ember, extremely strong due to the chanting, knocks Danny into the Ember billboard, causing it to fall over. The hit also cancels out Danny's powers. Ember says that since the whole world will be watching her concert that night, everyone will be chanting her name and she'll be unstoppable.

Sam, who grabbed the thermos, gets up to the roof, presumably to give it to Danny. Ember, however, says she needs to keep the two of them distracted, and "nothing distracts teenagers more than hormones." With the crowd chanting her name, she's powerful enough to make her music affect them. She changes one of the dials on her guitar so it points towards a heart, then blasts the two of them with a music wave. This blasts Sam to the part of the Ember billboard that's currently teetering over the street. Ember leaves, and Danny is now ensnared by her spell. Now completely in love with Sam, he starts to walk across the billboard to her. Sam realizes that Danny's under Ember's spell (though Sam is unaffected by it). Of course, Danny's weight on the teetering side of the billboard causes it to teeter downwards, and Sam slides off. She's caught by some member of the SWAT team that showed up; Mr. Lancer apparently used the "Emergency Mass Grounding Act" to send the SWAT team to grab all the students and send them home to await parental punishment.

Danny and Jazz are both thrown into their house by members of the SWAT team. Their parents are mad at them for not studying for the Northwestern 9 test. They ground the two, but Jazz (under Ember's spell) sneaks out to get to the concert, along with all the other kids. Danny, meanwhile, is still completely in love with Sam and is in his room surrounded by pictures of her (not to mention some snippet of her hair he somehow got). Sam comes into his room through the window and tells them they need to stop the concert before Ember takes over the world... and then notices all the pictures and gets a bit creeped out. Danny, still under Ember's spell, tells her it doesn't matter as long as they have each other. Sam gets mad at Danny and tells him they're not actually in love, and Danny asks her why she's still wearing the "earrings" he got her if that's true. Sam points out that they're not earrings, they just filter out ghost noise... which makes her realize that the reason she hasn't been affected at all by Ember's music is because she's been wearing them the whole time. Then, when Danny makes another comment about love, she says they'll have to deprogram him like they did Tucker, which suddenly makes her remember that they didn't free Tucker from the deprogramming.

They get over to the school and find Tucker STILL being forced to go through the standardized test prep (it's been 12 full hours, according to him). Tucker, upon finding out what's going on, suggests deprogramming Danny for 12 hours, but that's not going to work because they actually only have 15 minutes before the concert begins. The three then sneak into the control room of the concert using Danny's ghost powers. Tucker tries to turn off the power to stop the concert, but instead just turns on the PA System and blurts out a random fact about electricity (an apparent side effect of being deprogrammed for 12 hours). This, of course, alerts Ember to their presence, and she has some of the hypnotized kids (Dash and two other of the other "popular" boys) grab hold of Danny, Sam, and Tucker to prevent them from interfering with the concert. Sam tries to get Danny to use his ghost powers to escape and stop Ember. However, Danny, still madly in love with Sam, doesn't want to leave her to stop Ember.

Meanwhile, Ember appears on the concert stage and (again) asks the audience to tell her who they love, which AGAIN causes them to start chanting her name. Yet again, this makes her fire-like hair burn even more strongly. With the concert now being broadcast to the entire world, Ember starts singing, hypnotizing everyone watching it and making them chant her name.

Back to Sam, Danny, and Tucker. Sam, desperate to snap Danny out of Ember's spell, actually kisses Dash. Sam and Dash are both totally disgusted by this. However, this sight snaps Danny out of his trance, although making him feel "like his heart has been ripped out." Danny takes out his anger on Ember, interrupting the concert. Ember, however, extremely strong due to all the energy she's receiving, blasts Danny away. She's about to start singing again when Danny gets back to the stage and grabs the microphone away from her. The two battle, but Ember seals Danny in a force field. Danny, in an effort to stop the crowd from chanting (which as we know is where Ember's getting her power from), throws Tucker the microphone and tells him to start singing. Tucker, of course, is such a horrible singer that his singing actually brings the world out of their trance and stops their chanting. This takes away all of Ember's power and frees Danny from the forcefield. Ember desperately screams at the crowd to say her name, but they just stare dumbly. Danny then sucks her into the Fenton Thermos. After that, the rest of Ember's band, which were presumably also ghosts, all disappear.

Later, at school, Mr. Lancer tells the class that the standardized test scores are the worst in school history, but that Tucker's perfect score brought the entire school's average up. Everyone except Tucker has to go through the afternoon Cramtastic session. Sam asks Danny if there's any chance he could release Ember to get them out of it. Danny says no, and that Ember's a little busy right now.

Meanwhile, in the Ghost Zone, Ember is stuck with Klemper in that same snow-covered place. Klemper keeps shouting "Ember!" over and over, and Ember finally screams at him to "Stop saying my name!"