Talk About an Unfortunate Wake-Up Call
Audrey wakes up to the feeling of blood dripping on her face. She looks up to see that the Killer has written “12 DEAD,” in blood directly above her sleeping body. She looks at her mirror, where blood spells out “NO ONE WILL EVER FORGIVE YOU.” For someone who has faced down death-by-serial-killer before, Audrey is so oddly calm to discover that the Killer has been in her room while she was sleeping. Fortunately, Audrey has learned her lesson and brings this latest occurrence directly to Noah. He points out that the Killer owns her until she comes clean to Emma.
As if the earlier activities weren’t enough, the Killer sends Audrey a video of herself sleeping, which is craaaazy creepy. Killer call! “It’s over” if she tells Emma or the cops anything. What’s over? Excuse me, Killer, but that wasn’t very specific. Audrey immediately invites Emma to the carnival and overcompensates with cheer.
Drinking and Beauty Pageants Don’t Mix
Mayor Maddox hops on the high school loudspeaker to assure the students that the town will keep them safe during Lakewood’s annual carnival. It’s the town’s centennial, after all! Can’t let a little thing like serial murders put a damper on that. Listen, I’m all for not letting fear win, but maybe don’t hold a carnival–that seems like you’re asking for a horror show. The gang is talking shit in the hallway, but Brooke tries to encourage them to embrace positivity. She droops after a few minutes, admitting that she can’t duck out of the Miss Lakewood pageant because her dad is campaigning at the moment. Brooke being in a pageant makes me nervous for I Know What You Did Last Summer reasons.
At the pageant, Brooke is helping Zoe get ready as she explains her fear of public speaking. She breaks out her flask, pouring out two Dixie cups full of booze. “To twirling even when it sucks,” she says, clinking cups with Brooke. Noah arrives in an adorable coordinating tux and whisks Zoe away while Brooke continues drinking. Stavo shows up in an attempt to get Brooke to bail, but she refuses. She admits that she wasn’t just doing it for her father, she has her own reasons. Stavo leaves, Brooke downs the rest of Zoe’s flask.
Brooke walks out for her speech trashed. “Congratulations, Lakewood! Happy one hundred years of lying to yourself!” She shouts. She laments the fact that Jake isn’t there with them and explains that when she almost died, she saw nothing. Brooke closes out with a warning: if they don’t start paying attention, they’ll all end up like Jake–but they’ll deserve it. After the speech, her friends gather around her for support, while her father tells her Jake would have liked her speech.
Maggie and Acosta: Definitely Violating the Whole Conflict-of-Interest Thing
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Acosta and some deputies are investigating the burned model home, where we’re told that there was definitely an accelerant involved. The deputy brings Acosta up to see the dead bodies in the bathtub, which inspires him to put Maggie back on the case. Apparently there are no other coroners in the surrounding area. He has a hunch these bodies are part of the same murder spree that started with Jake. After Maggie’s investigation, she explains that the first victim died a few days prior to the fire from a stab wound to the neck. The second victim is a left hand-less Seth Branson. Acosta matches a photo of Branson’s charred, handless body to Stavo’s drawing of Seth in handcuffs.
Upon finding a tape with Stavo’s name on it in the evidence removed from Lang’s sacked office, Acosta squirrels it away in his desk. He later listens to the conversation between Stavo and Lang in which his son says the only difference between serial killer Ed Gein and Michelangelo is perspective. This is extremely frustrating to him, so he starts tearing Stavo’s room apart. Stavo confronts his father about the invasion of privacy, where Acosta says they were supposed to put Phoenix behind them. Apparently there was some sort of accident where a gun went off and Acosta was more concerned with what Stavo was doing after the accident. Details, please.
Stranger Danger
Emma goes to Acosta about her and Eli’s adventures at the model home. At first Emma is put off by Acosta’s questions about Eli and if he was alone, but Acosta explains a bit about Eli’s past. Apparently there’s a young woman with a restraining order against him, as she found him trespassing in her room. Acosta gives Emma the very wise advice of not following a boy you barely know to an isolated location while there’s a murderer hanging around.
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Emma calls Kieran over to apologize and commit herself to telling him and Acosta the truth. She divulges what Eli told her about Kieran’s past, which immediately upsets Kieran. “I don’t want you hanging out with him…he’s family but he’s not right,” he explains. Can someone help Kieran? I’m starting to feel very bad for him, there’s barely anyone helping him.
At the carnival, Eli pulls Emma aside to ask why she’s avoiding him. She cites the Atlanta incident, explaining that she’s keeping her distance because she doesn’t know him very well. He makes the mistake of grabbing her arm, bringing Kieran out of the woodwork to sucker punch him. Again. And again. When Kieran and Eli take their exits, Emma explains Eli’s past to Audrey. Audrey’s suspicion is piqued–could he be the one sneaking into her room at night?
Never Go to a Funhouse
“Kieran” texts Emma to meet up in the fun house. NO. Just, no. Even if that is Kieran, you should tell him not to be a crazy person and pick literally anywhere else to meet up. Instead of taking my life-saving advice that she can’t hear from that side of the TV, Emma heads over there alone. Killer call, from Kieran’s phone! They say they liked Brooke’s speech and send along a video of Kieran bound and gagged in the fun house. Emma immediately runs in there to save him, because self-preservation is not high on her list. The Killer then sends Audrey a video of Emma running into the fun house. Audrey calls Emma, but gets no answer.
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The deputy tasked with following Emma also goes in, jumping and saying, “I hate clowns.” Oh dude, it sounds like you’re not too long for this world. He lies to Acosta on the phone, claiming he has eyes on Emma when he doesn’t. Strike two. He’s thrown through a mirror by the Killer. Emma stumbles over his unconscious body and grabs for his gun. She aims for what she thinks is the Killer, but she doesn’t realize that she’s staring at a window. The Killer runs away and confronts the police. Methinks that since the gun is taped to their hand, the mask is at a weird position, and there’s a lot of muffled grunting, we’re actually looking at Kieran dressed as the Killer.
Acosta gets Emma to drop the weapon and the police cuff her as they disarm the “Killer.” They then pull off the mask to reveal Kieran, who does indeed have a knife taped to his hand. Emma is distraught that she nearly killed him. “When I was in there, I thought I was going to die. And you would never learn the truth!” Kieran says. The upset is understandable, but there’s definitely some scenery chomping happening right here.
Kieran explains more of his background to Emma. He was in the car with his mom and stepfather the night that they died. His stepfather got so mad at him that he took his eyes off the road, causing the accident that killed them. He explains that he lost it on Eli because he told Emma before Kieran got the chance. “Anything good in my life Eli tries to take,” Kieran explains.
The Wrap-Up
Audrey tells Noah that since the Killer sent her the clip of Emma going into the fun house, they clearly want Audrey to feel responsible for what happens. She decides to tell Emma that night. Later, Audrey calls back while Zoe and Noah hook up, causing Zoe to decide that it’s not the right time for them to have sex and leaves with an evil glint in her eyes. Meanwhile, Stavo is sneaking into Brooke’s room so he can keep her company while she sleeps. She thanks him, so clearly this is a welcome thing and not a creepy thing.
Having been ignored by Noah, Audrey shoots him a text to let him know that she’s about to tell Emma. When she walks in, Emma is listening to Noah’s recording of Audrey’s confession. “I can explain!” Audrey shouts. Sorry bud, you can’t explain until next week.
And murder three officially makes these killings serial! This week’s episode of Scream put the all the important players in front of the case. Thankfully, we’re finally ending Audrey’s secret. Worry not–we’ll be dealing with it a lot next week for sure. My money is still on Zoe for the Killer, which is a bummer because Noah is so happy–there’s something that’s off about her. Eli and Stavo have been way too suspicious from the beginning, which usually means they’re innocent.
Best line: “To twirling, even when it sucks,” Zoe, for the perfect toast.
Killer Calls: 2
Body Count Per Episode: 0 (I’m not sure that deputy is dead)
Body Count Per Season: 3
Episode Rating: 7/10
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