The season premiere of Scream showed us its true horror colors, but will it continue in the second episode? Spoiler alert, nope–but not in a bad way.
Things Just Aren’t Going Emma’s Way
Emma goes to her mother about the creepy murder wall in Troy James’s abandoned pig farm. Maggie reveals that she knows who used to own the farm, as she continued visiting the ostracized James family up through Emma’s childhood. However, she doesn’t know who owns it now, so now they’re going back to the farm in the middle of the night. Seriously, how did this set of people make it through the first season? This is begging for murder. When they get to the farm, the creepy murder wall and the furniture have vanished, causing Emma to ask Kieran if he thinks she should go back into treatment the next morning. He assures her that he doesn’t, though Brooke isn’t so sure.
In all the hubbub, Emma forgets her tutoring session with Zoe. Zoe is sympathetic; she went through a lot of heavy stuff the year before. She assures her that tutoring will help them both. Emma makes plans with her psychology teacher, Ms. Lang, to work out some of her issues. She assures Emma that hallucinations and paranoia are part of PTSD, calming her through a panic attack. Lang gives her a pep talk, assuring her with, “Emma, you’re not a victim, you’re a survivor.”
Rubbing Salt in the Dramatic Irony Wound
Brooke gets concerned when she realizes that no one has heard from Jake in two days. His parents are in Mexico, so there’s no one keeping track of him. She attempts to text him, but even the promise of a sext doesn’t merit a response, which bothers her throughout a coffee date with her father. She leaves and her father attempts to call his cell phone, getting his voicemail.
When Brooke goes to file a missing persons report, she’s met with Sheriff Costa’s son, the bitter Gustavo. He explains that he’s ranked the Lakewood Six–Brooke is number four, Noah is three–but we have no context at all, so I wonder why Brooke fights him on her number. “Jake” sends her a text saying, “Hey baby, send pic?” so Brooke thinks all is okay with the world. She also receives a giant bunch of roses and apology card that is left on the hood of Brooke’s car, which tells us that Lakewood Killer #2 is prepared to drop mad bank just to mess with Brooke.
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When Brooke bails on her father’s photoshoot, she reveals to him that the she and Jake are dating. She gives a speech about how he’s a good person and she really cares about him, rubbing salt into the dramatic irony wound. She waits on Jake’s porch for him, with Gustavo looking on from the trees.
Oh Good, a Creepy Cousin
Sheriff Costa meets Kieran at his house after school. Noise complaints from the neighbors caused him to contact Kieran’s legal guardian, his Aunt Tina, which is how he found out that Tina doesn’t even live in Lakewood. Tina appeals to the Sheriff on Kieran’s behalf and promises to work something out. When Sheriff Costa leaves, Tina upbraids Kieran for the parties–she’s supposed to be able to live her life in Atlanta collecting the support checks in exchange for him staying in Lakewood. She tells him he’s moving to Atlanta immediately, something that doesn’t improve Emma’s day.
Emma goes to Kieran’s house and meets his cousin, Eli–the very same guy who is a certified creep to her in the hallway at school earlier. His desire to live in Kieran’s house along with a discussion with Maggie convince Tina to move to Lakewood. Kieran no longer has to move, everyone is a lot happier, though still creeped out.
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Emma and Kieran go back to the lake, the scene of last season’s climax. Emma relives memories but doesn’t let them overtake her, leaving her lighter and happier than we’ve seen her in awhile. Emma and Kieran hook up in his car, where Emma allows him to remove her shirt and touch the scar from her knife wound. She’s so happy later on that she opts to walk home in the dark by herself, which I probably wouldn’t have done. A car starts stalking her, chasing her when she starts to run. Oh wait, it’s only her father. “Just trying to figure out the best way to approach you,” he says. Hint, sir: not that. He’s not expecting her forgiveness, he just wants to be there for her.
Audrey’s Suspicious Behavior is Getting Heavy-Handed, No?
Noah shares the latest bit of evidence in his search for a second, a comment from someone named “Eddie Krueger” claiming that he saw Piper’s accomplice himself. Audrey, who is guilty as hell about something, visibly panics. Lakewood Killer #2 sends her a teasing text that says, “Afraid? should be. Your Friends’ll turn on you when they know the truth!” Why is the killer using terrible grammar? Inquiring minds, over here. Audrey’s agitation causes her to throw prankster Hayley against the wall and accuse her of sending the text. Noah starts getting a little concerned about his best friend’s mental state.
Noah explains that Piper stayed at a motel called Crescent Palms on and off while she was staying in Lakewood. Eddie Krueger is a manager at the motel, but he wants to save his big reveal for a spot on the podcast. Audrey offers to videotape the podcast for Noah.
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When Audrey bails on his interview with Eddie, Noah carries on and gets him talking. Eddie receives a killer call–oh wait, it’s Audrey using the voice change app. Eddie ends the interview out of sheer terror, disappointing Noah. Audrey meets up with him and pretends like she didn’t just sabotage his interview. Unfortunately for her, Noah has arranged a viewing of Piper’s old room.
Audrey breaks into a storage facility, where she’s met with a forest’s worth of air fresheners hanging from the ceiling. She pushes them aside and finds Jake’s mutilated body with the sentence, “See how I finished the job for you Audrey?” pinned to his chest on tiny pieces of paper. Yikes.
I was a little surprised that there wasn’t as much action in this episode of Scream, until Noah gave a speech about suspense at the end of the episode. The writers did a great job of building that sick feeling of dread throughout this hour, especially when it came to Brooke’s storyline–I spent the entire time wondering when she was going to stumble upon Jake’s dead body. One of the weaker aspects is how they’re handling Audrey’s part in all of this; everything she does is so suspicious and a little over-the-top. Hopefully there’s a good reason for it in the end, because right now I just want her to relax. See also: Gustavo and his overly suspicious behavior.
Best line: “Play it cool, scumbag, or housekeeping will be scraping your bone fragments off the ceiling.” I mean, I don’t think Audrey is the second killer, but she sure does sound like one.
Killer Calls: ZERO!
Body Count Per Episode: ZERO!
Body Count Per Season: 1.
Episode Rating: 6/10.
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