After last week’s gruesome death in Scream, we knew we were in for a pretty devastating follow-up, and the assumption was correct. From many aspects including grieving, to bouts of mental anguish, and a reveal/confirmation of a theory! Before I completely spoil, we’ll start with the massive cliffhanger from last week. We begin by seeing flashes of the bloody scene, after Will was split in half, and a blood soaked Emma walking away who is obviously traumatized. What hasn’t this girl gone through already? Will’s mother notices her and an expressionless Emma walks straight past her. Maggie narrates the scene through her coroners report, noting his mother was able to identify him by his clothing, and it cuts to his mother screaming at the discovery of her son. We pick up with Emma sitting in the sheriff’s office, still in shock, and in what seems like the blink of an eye to Emma, she’s being questioned by a psychiatrist unable to express her immense grief. The only thing she can focus her energy on is the tape from her father confirming something more between Daisy (Maggie) and Brandon James.

Brooke sits with her wounded friend and potential boyfriend (Still approving of it) and Noah visits. As Brooke leaves the room, Jake wakes from his pain medication induced slumber to Noah confirming his actions in the tagging incident and says “nerd…?” Jake asks him if they all made it out alive, and assumes Will and Emma have rekindled their relationship and everything has returned to normal. Obviously that isn’t the case, and when Brooke breaks the news to him they both cry together. Emma decides to return to school despite her mother’s plea to stay and rest – she apparently isn’t sleeping after witnessing her former boyfriend’s demise, go figure. Piper visits the Sheriff to hand over the evidence against Quinn (the mayor) which we later learn was prompted by Brooke. When Audrey and Noah see Emma at school, they check on her and notice that she isn’t processing everything just yet, especially after spotting Will’s locker decorated in his memory. Audrey and Noah speculate during class that Mr. Branson is the killer for his absence during the bowling fiasco, and hidden identity. This makes me think one of the lovable geeks is involved in the killings, but more on that later.

Quinn is taken in for questioning after Piper and Brooke’s decision to turn in evidence, and finally provides a number for her to reach her mother. When she actually hears her voice Brooke is brought to tears and is probably both relieved of her safety and distraught by her absence. At the same time, Emma has another bout with her hallucinations and spots a severed Will in the mirror while taking her medication. Later, Maggie and Sheriff Hudson talk about Emma’s father, and he reveals he took time off working on an oil rig the same time she received the heart in a box. She reminds him he agreed to drop it and he places the information on the back-burner for the time being. Noah and Audrey notice Emma doing research on sleep deprivation, hallucinations, and paranoia so they rightfully begin to pry information from her. She finally admits to seeing Will’s mutilated corpse but leaves which sends her into another brain-lapse. Emma follows a bloody trail with flickering lights that lead her to him and he extends his hand to her with a heart in his hand that he squeezes until it bursts. Emma rushes away, when Kieran is there quickly to catch her…Yeah I still don’t trust you Kieran!

photo by: themovienetwork.com

Kieran Takes Emma outside and she shares how numb she feels, as if she has removed her emotions from the equation and he attributes it to self-preservation. He offers his comfort (and tells a story about losing his mother) but Emma declines his help and says she couldn’t fathom losing him in addition to everyone else. When Emma heads to work, she finds Piper recording a sorrowful podcast that thanks Will for saving her life. Piper tells Emma that although she’s going through hell she knows she will survive this. “You come from a family of survivors. Your mom. Your dad. And now you.” Except for the fact that Piper shouldn’t know anything about Emma’s mother, which could be one of two theories I have (but I’ll save that for the end.) Sheriff Hudson checks in with Maggie and tells her that although he swore to stay out of it, he discovered that her ex used a credit card near Lakewood, setting up for a possible family reunion. Emma has another escape from reality moment when she begins to hear the creepy tune for her mother playing, and see’s Will once again holding a keychain of a heart. An officer notices the temporarily cuckoo Emma, and is next seen being evaluated at a hospital where she will stay overnight. She hears a knock and at first glance assumes she’s having another hallucination, but not this time – it’s the return/introduction of Emma’s father!

photo by: themovienetwork.com

Emma begins by asking what he’s doing here, and he claims to have realized something was wrong when the sheriff called his boss. He notes he’s received her letters, but never responded so everyone could have a fresh start, which she says was only beneficial to him. Emma tells him she listened to the tape with the psychiatrist, and he apologizes for her listening to it and says he’s had time to sort himself out, but Emma isn’t willing to forgive just yet and tells him to leave. She spends the entire night sleepless, and Piper visits her when Emma quickly shares her dad’s visit – just yearning for someone to talk to. Piper tells her that second chances are rare, and that she should take the opportunity with her father (which Piper notes isn’t an option for her, hmm.) Elsewhere Noah and Audrey continue with their Branson speculation, pointing out that the victims each fulfilled archetypes and Audrey responds with one of the best lines saying, “If he is killing off the members of the Breakfast Club, the only one left is the raccoon-eyed weird girl who only wears black.” They decide if he is upping the stakes, they need to do more digging of their own.

Brooke meets with her father (who is in a jail cell at the moment) and with her knowledge of her mother’s safety, she seeks answers on the footage. Quinn admits to having possession of a body, but it was one of her mother’s friends who had overdosed. He claims to have always done things to keep their family together, but Brooke isn’t willing to be part of it anymore and leaves him. Emma has a flash of a memory, recalling that her father left because he didn’t want her, but he tells her that she knows the truth. She realizes things Will held in her hallucinations were tied to the killer, and remembers the x-rays from his lair which had something more important that they initially realized. When she tries to respond to her father she discovers in that specific moment he wasn’t really there and she’s standing in the pediatrics ward. Does that mean he never visited? I don’t think that’s the case but we’ll find out before the seasons end I’m sure. With a new theory in mind for Emma, (that I also predicted earlier and I’m quite pleased!) she asks Audrey for the video footage of the killer’s lair, which confirms an ultrasound. Oh boy…

Noah and Audrey search Mr. Branson’s class for evidence of his involvement and come across a knife, so they decide to clue-in the Sheriff. When he arrives to collect evidence, he also discovers Tyler’s phone which was used to bait Riley before killing her. They note his unknown whereabouts during pivotal moments when the killer struck, and he decides it’s a promising lead worth pursuing. I however, am not fully convinced and I’m even more positive that Noah or Audrey must be one of the killers. One of them could have easily planted evidence on Mr. Branson, and their location in previous killings has always kept me suspicious, I just alternate on which one of the two is most likely.

A distraught Brooke meets up with Mr. Branson, and he offers his comfort to the emotional Brooke but she seeks something more physical, hoping to shift her attention elsewhere. Emma has her mother meet her at the hospital, and questions her about the ultrasound she discovered in the footage. Maggie reveals that she didn’t leave after the Brandon James murders to avoid press, she was actually pregnant and preparing to give the baby up for adoption. She claims to have never known the baby’s gender, and that when she and Emma’s father were having problems, she visited him at the bowling alley which led to their encounter resulting in Emma’s half sibling. Now I knew that the insinuations from episode two meant that Maggie was lying, and I had a strong feeling we’d be introduced to a half-sibling who could double-down as our killer, but that part has yet to be determined.

While things get steamy between Branson and Brooke in the auditorium, Mr. Branson hears a noise which he goes to investigate leaving Brooke in her lingerie. She then hears a feint noise, and the curtain is pulled open with Brooke center stage. The lights go out, and a dark purple colored light turns on eerily illuminating the stage (with excellent cinematography I must add!) When a spotlight focuses on Brooke, she notices a figure walking toward her from the aisle and questions is it Mr. Branson, but when he gets close enough it’s revealed to be the killer. When he lunges at Brooke, she runs as quickly as possible to avoid death but he manages to slice her arm with his blade. She squeezes in between set designs, and runs until the teacher grabs a hold of her. “Where were you?” she asks suspiciously and terrified. Before the two can really discuss what just occurred, the police led by Sheriff Hudson arrive to arrest him which only looks worse now given the current situation. We only have two episodes left of Scream and I can’t wait for more revelations and reveals bound to unfold before our eyes. Overall this episode provided major motions to plot progression with Maggie and her relationship with Brandon James and Emma’s father, while giving me reaffirmed thoughts on the potential killers.

Aedan’s Final Thoughts:

-I’ve had a sinking feeling that there would be a half-sibling for Emma, and my first guess at this point is Piper Shaw. Given the slight age gap needed, and mysterious back-story, she seems to be the most likely as Emma’s sibling. Does it make her the killer? No, but I’m also not ready to rule it out as she’s been a suspect in previous weeks.

-Brooke once again proves to be one of the most layered characters, as we watch her recognize the major flaws in her family, and she is set-up as a possible “final girl” or survivor role. (One can hope.)

-I’ve always been somewhat suspicious of Mr. Seth Branson, but the last two weeks (which should have made him more likely) make me think he isn’t the killer after all, but he will be a victim before the season concludes.

-I still feel that a father son killer duo between Sheriff Hudson and Kieran could play out.

-My Top 5 Suspects:

-Kieran

-Noah

-Audrey

-Piper

-Brooke