Scream S01E10

To recap: The killer is Good Girl’s half-brother, and most likely her kind-of boyfriend Handsome Guy – which is gross. Handsome Guy’s father, the sheriff, is taken captive and the transmission is partially broadcast to the local high school dance. Meanwhile at the police station the guard has been killed and Hot Teacher – the second most likely killer – is on the run from the authorities.

After a bumpy few set of episodes Scream has focused itself to provide a couple of entertaining hours of television. The finale, uninspiringly titled ‘Revelations’, is one of the best episodes of the season.

The gore factor is through the roof and the body count increases more and more, with our heroes miraculously escaping each and every time. There’s the necklace of the original killer shoved down the throat of the murder victim and a Veronica Mars-inspired fridge scene with Bitch and the killer cranking up the tension right to the big reveal. Scream thinks we care about the sheriff – we don’t – but watching his organs pour out in front of his lover was the kind of squeamish PG horror we’ve been waiting for since the pilot.

There’s a definite full-circle vibe here, with another party at Bitch’s and another fiasco at the lake to book-end the series neatly. There’s also some of the trademark Scream meta-commentary to return some wit to an otherwise stock-standard thriller piece, including references to the film series and the horror genre in general.

The scene is the garage was extraordinary Final Destination – hopefully not by accident. It all looked very Rose McGowan ala the original film for a second but alas, no luck.

The plot consisted of the sheriff dying, a bit of taunting, some fun testing alliances and the inevitable final confrontation. The writers bravely stepped into the previously uncharted character dynamic of Outcast and Bitch not a moment too soon, using their opposite end of the spectrum to punctuate a lot of the points about the supposed protagonist Good Girl.

I know I mock Scream A LOT but in all truth, Good Girl could be renamed Bland or Biege or Boring because she just registers as a nothing quantity. For the character tying the whole series together you are very very unlikable.

Over the course of the episode Good Girl and Nerd meet up with Handsome Guy, Outcast, Bitch and Footballer #2. The only remaining significant characters? Good Girl’s Mum, Hot Teacher and the reporter.

Which will logically imply Hot Teacher. Only don’t be so sure, as until the mask was lifted in the final ten minutes of the episode – on a dock with only Good Girl and Mum – it was near impossible to guess the path the Scream writers would choose.

After the last ten episodes of murder and mild intrigue the killer was revealed to be the reporter, the half-sister of Good Girl and the daughter of Good Girl’s Mum and the (supposed) original killer. Notice how the reporter was in lower case, as she was only a sometimes background player in the grand scheme of things. Or so they had the audience believe…

The answer itself was a little underwhelming – her core motive was solid but her reason for attacking the supporting cast fell a little short – but the execution (pun intended) was brilliant. There’s a definite Friday the 13^th reference, The Ring and a Zombieland one that was almost certainly not on purpose. The hero of the day? Outcast, naturally, with Good Girl coming in for backup.

A montage queues and the meta-commentary wizard Nerd zips through the future for our pals – confirmed for a second season. He points out a few plot holes and it’s almost funny for MTV to be pointing out what is wrong with their show.

Only a few points (NOT ALL) are the result of a second twist. An interesting proposition for a second season and something to make you think. If I enjoyed the show I’d rewatch for Easter eggs but I would rather check off the days til Scream Queens (September 22) and How To Get Away With Murder (Sept 24) burst back onto our screens.

If you look at the whole season of Scream there is an entertaining story to be told, for MTV. The body count is lower than expected, the scares are less frequent and the developments are slow and often non-consequential. It’s not awful but it’s not excellent either.

Personally I’d binge it while I was stuck at home with the flu or waiting for the washing machine to finish for maximum enjoyment. Just try not to think too hard about it.