The show-runners of “Scream: The TV Series” have said that the second season of the MTV original series will be bloodier, scarier and have more deaths than last season; hence why it’s been moved to an 11:00PM time-slot. So, I’m going to give the show one more shot, bring it back for another TV Recap and see what happens… Beware: All major spoilers to follow.
No Kill in Opening Scene
The opening scene starts with a young woman on the phone, very much like Nina (Bella Thorne) last year. The young woman is actually Vine superstar LeLe Pons, who is stabbed and pushed out a window much like CiCi (Sarah Michelle Gellar) in Scream 2. We come to find out that it’s a movie within a movie much like the opening of Scream 2 and Scream 4 and Audrey is still working at the movie theater. When the movie lets out, Audrey starts to lock up the place and is approached by the last theater patron who wants a picture with her. Right after the snap shot, the women are attacked by Ghostface and we’re treated to a pretty decent chase scene. The female theater patron is stabbed by Ghostface and bleeds to death, but Audrey is able to stop him by spraying him in the face with fire extinguisher and stabbing him with a movie prop as Noah watches helplessly outside the locked theater doors. Ghostface starts freaking out, as does the apparently not dead theater patron, and we discover that the whole charade is a prank gone horrible wrong. It still serves as a good premiere opener none the less.
Law Abiding Citizens
The cops have arrived at the movie theater and Audrey decides to keep a secret from them: she’s been receiving ominous text messages from an unknown sender. Someone knows her secret, that she was covertly working with Piper Shaw last year. The woman theater patron is pissed and wants Audrey arrested for stabbing her friend, but the new Sheriff is on Audrey’s side – noting that the live stream proves that Audrey was acting in self defense and had no idea it was a prank. New Sheriff seems nice, but I think he’s going to be as effective as the recently deceased copper Sheriff Clark. Wikipedia has him named as Sheriff Miguel, so there ya go.
Awkward Family Reunion
Some time between the final fight at the docks and now Emma had a mental breakdown at school and was whisked away for emotional and mental treatment somewhere far away. No one has seen her for three months, but she’s finally returned to Lakewood to pick up where things left off before the massacre began. This scene strikes me as odd because it was written so poorly; a lot of odd pairings of words and a lot of wooden acting, especially Emma’s opening lines. After the reunion, we see that Brooke and Jake are still together, but still keeping it behind closed doors. Emma would like to reunite with Kieran in that way, but he seems apprehensive. Outside, Noah asks Emma if she’d be on his podcast – The Morgue – since she’s the only member of The Lakewood Six to not appear. Emma, Audrey, Brooke, Kieran, Noah and Jake have become minor celebrities in town seeing how they were the targets and survivors of Ghostface’s massacre. Emma declines in a rough sort of way and heads inside just as Ghostface sends Audrey another intimidating text.
Don’t Feed the Trolls
Later that night Noah and Audrey are hanging out in his room, going over comments all over the internet in regards to the previous massacre and the video of Audrey being attacked as a prank which is now going viral. People are not happy with Audrey and are grilling her online, saying they wished she died instead of Nina, doubting the story of what happened on the dock, and calling her all sorts of horrible names. This, of course, is the downside to any sort of fame. There’ll always be haters.
Let’s Have Sex in the Pool
Also later that night Brooke and Jake are in a pool somewhere and things are getting hot and heavy. They discuss hiding their relationship and the fact that Jake wants to go public with it. Brooke says that can’t happen because he was blackmailing her dad last year, which ultimately put him in jail, and no one would ever accept their relationship. It’s also a nice little note that Jake still has a scar about his left nipple, serving as a reminder that he was stabbed their last season and almost didn’t survive. The couple get in an argument over the lying and scheming to hide the relationship, which culminates in them breaking up. There’s soo much drama in Laguna Beach. Wait, wrong MTV show…
And the First One to Die is…
Jake’s out in the woods, at an abandoned trailer park looking place and is planning his prank-worthy revenge on Brooke for things going sour. Unfortunately for Jake, he’s not the only one in the woods and a bear trapped snares his foot. He’s left helpless and bleeding and it’s the perfect time for Ghostface to sneak up behind him. We know what’s about to happen next, except Ghostface hits Jake with a bat and things go black… Jake wakes up to find himself in a dirty, dusty barn with a video camera mounted on the wall above him, bear trap still stuck to his leg. He’s somehow able to crawl to the door and just as he’s about to escape Ghostface drags him back inside.
Nightmares of Two Kinds
Emma spends the night at Kieran’s house because she doesn’t want to be at home with Maggie. During the night, Emma has a nightmare about a little girl – can’t tell if it’s her or her mother – disemboweling a pig in a barn. Emma goes home in the morning and Maggie confronts her in the kitchen about feeling cut off. Emma doesn’t know if the relationship between mother and daughter can ever be repaired again, due to Maggie’s denial and lying causing several of Emma’s friends to be butchered and her life to pretty much be ruined. The conversation is abruptly ended by Emma bailing the kitchen and heading to school, her first day of school since her mental break down.
Meet the New Characters All At Once
It’s not going to be a great first day at school for anyone. People are taunting Audrey about the attack video and Emma is showing signs of post-trauma before even making it through the halls of the high school, which looks drastically different, by the way. It’s nice to see that Brooke is friends with Audrey and Noah now instead of just acquainted with them through Emma. We get to see their first class and meet the new psychology teacher, Karen, who seems to take a couple podshots at Emma during class. Today’s subject is dreams and how to interpret them and we’re treated to some quirky and informative discussion in reference to Wes Craven’s A Nightmare on Elm Street. Wes Craven is still listed as executively producing the show for season two despite tragically passing away in August 2015. We also meet two other new supporting cast members, Zoe and Gustavo, the new sheriff’s son and an avid lover of horror films. He’s either going to become Noah’s best friend or bisexual lover. Mark my words!
Permanent Seats at the Police Station
Audrey gets even more threatening text messages and Noah forces her to go to the police station. Sheriff Miguel proves his uselessness and we move on. Back at Noah’s house, we see Noah’s huge diagram of pictures, facts and timelines and he tells Audrey that he believes Piper had another accomplice that hasn’t been identified yet. Well, make two unknown accomplices now! The killer texts Audrey I Know What You Did Last Summer, which is another funny movie reference, and hangs up her damning letters to Piper Shaw all over the women’s room in the movie theater. We put a cap on Noah’s story in this episode with Emma deciding to come on his podcast and the two of them delivering a very insightful show.
You’re No Randy, Jake!
Jake wakes up again, this time hanging upside-down in the barn. Jake tries to free himself, but it’s futile and Ghostface has already returned to finish what he started. Jake yells at Ghostface saying it’s not his time to die yet right before Ghostface slices him wide open vertically with a farming scythe. Jake bleeds to death and dies. An unexpected, main character kill reminds me of Scream 2 once again, but Jake was never an important enough character for me to feel that same type of emotional reaction as I did with Randy (Jamie Kennedy). All we get from his death is a gruesome kill in the first episode and that’s already a brighter highlight than most of last year’s episodes.
You Failed to Mention This Before, Emma?
After having another nightmare about the barn, Emma reveals to Brooke that she’s had nightmares about the same barn every since she was a little girl. This, of course, may have been helpful with discovering clues last time, but no, really, keep that to yourself until right now. Emma and Brooke head over to the barn which is coincidentally located on Brandon James’ property. The girls go inside the barn and I expected them to find dead Jake, yet they find nothing at all. Television static from a seemingly abandoned house next door catches Emma’s attention and she barges on in. Inside the house she finds that a squatter has been living there and there’s a mural of newspaper clips about The Lakewood Six taped to the walls of the living room. She becomes separated from Brooke, who’s only waiting outside, and a masked assailant walks out of the shadows.
END OF EPISODE…
