Halloween continues on this week’s hilarious episode of Scream Queens, additionally delivering a major reveal in regards to the killer’s identity! We pick up with the Chanels’ planning the upcoming haunted pumpkin patch to raise awareness for black hairy tongue and maintain the original Chanel’s position of power. While Hester (#6) confirms Maroon 5 as performers, #3 had a mix up of Fergie the pop star and Fergie the duchess (but no worries, both are attending!) and #5 was unable to book Led Zeppelin on account of a member being…well, dead. Chanel takes her minions into her luxurious wardrobe and informs them that they will be dressing as wives of fallen (or nearly fallen) presidents. Chanel will be Jackie Kennedy, #3 is Nancy Reagan, #6 will be Ida McKinley, and #5 is Mary Todd Lincoln “You’re a Mary Todd Lincoln if ever there was one!” Chanel explains while deciding on her solidified costume. #5 snaps back at Chanel, and Chanel tells her she can take her place and fall in line, or leave the Kappa’s. Hester takes the chance to attempt to become Chanel’s newest second in command by backing her up against #5 and kicking her out; Hester’s really growing into a true Chanel isn’t she?
Dean Munsch gathers the Kappa sorority and the neighboring fraternity run by Chad Radwell with the realization that they are the targeted students. Munsch announces a new curfew that will take effect resulting in no Halloween festivities and causing the college students major disappointment (who cares about a masked murderer, it’s Halloween!) Chad tries to persuade the dean with a speech that focuses on the “slutty” purpose of Halloween and decides if his armless friend is willing to party, they all should have that chance… of course it goes nowhere, and Halloween is still halted by Munsch. Chanel takes her frustrations to her computer, typing out a letter to the school with the hopes of rallying the students for a Halloween party “and remember, Chanel Oberlin is above the law.” She uses to conclude her letter announcing the haunted pumpkin patch will still take place.
Hester wanders into the kitchen to find #5 baking a batch of toenail cookies for children in lieu of her Chanel frustrations. Hester tells her that she should use her anger to hurt Chanel herself, and describes herself as a double agents (after mixing up the meaning of a switch hitter). This idea begins to blossom when they track down Jennifer (candle vlogger) to ask for her vote for Zayday with the assumption Hester will become Kappa’s second in command. She doesn’t seem trustworthy at first, until #5 bribes the candle aficionado with a closet of nearly unused expensive and rare candles that solidify her involvement. We next see Chanel in class testing with “her Asian” to help her with answers, but is stopped when the police arrive to arrest her for the murder of Ms. Bean. While being walked to the police car, she reminds herself to smile in her mugshot and commends her choice of wardrobe before noticing the other Chanel’s looking mighty suspicious in the background.
With Chanel in jail, the others assemble to enjoy a meal of nothing but air, and Grace enters to beg for help on a search for Grace. #3 takes initiative to remind them she is now in charge and with the trouble surrounding Kappa she insists they need to lie low. Hester also offers her opinion that, “look – I’m all for Zayday not being tortured or killed or whatever, but don’t you think a girl who wants to be president of this house should prove her abilities by escaping from the lair of a psychopath?” and predatory lez/Sam agrees that it would be a great tool for the Kappas to have. With nobody willing to aid them, Grace and Pete leave to find her dad Wes, who is actually sleeping with Gigi to the 1989 hit “Black Velvet.” Of course things only get more awkward when they enter in the middle, and Gigi writes it off as a salad date which only causes more confusion of their acts. The four of them decide to next track down Munsch and find a way to track Zayday once and for all. In jail, Chanel has already found three new minions from her Instagram page and vents her frustrations about her father not wanting to bail her out for his political image (while endorsing Ted Cruz) “Besties for life I say!” Chanel tells the ladies until she is informed her bail has been posted, and proceeds to call them losers amidst making her swift exit. Luckily, it’s #3 and Sam who arrive to pick up Chanel, and #3 explains she came up with the money by telling her dad college textbooks went up in price ($300,000 should be enough I’d assume.) Before any Halloween activities can commence, she says she needs dipping sauce for her cotton ball meal and to exact swift punishment for #5 after believing she is the reason for her arrest.
In an unexpected turn of events, Munsch and Denise Hemphill bond over the enjoyment of younger sexual partners, mostly Chard Radwell – who as it turns out has actually been with Denise as well. Good luck finding someone in the cast who Chad hasn’t been with (other than Boone of course.) Pete, Grace, Wes, and Gigi enter Munsch’s office to interrupt the conversation and the dean tells the concerned four that Denise has been enlisted to locate Zayday (but of course Denise still wants to prove Zayday’s guilt.) A scene that is a major nod to the Evil Dead films, Chanel quickly arrives to confront #5 who has been told by Hester and Jennifer she was the reason Chanel went to jail. She tries to say that Hester is merely trying to cause problems, but Chanel doesn’t believe her and forces #5 to prepare the pumpkin patch. Though #5 isn’t keen on the idea, Chanel blackmails her with #5’s secret and creepy interest for Dora the Explorer, so despite the risk of death – #5 has no choice but to succumb to Chanel once again.
The group searching for Zayday brainstorms some effective (and ineffective) ideas to begin their search with Gigi hoping to ask various car washes if anyone has had red stains in their trunk, and Grace thinks of using the find my phone feature on smartphones. Obviously Grace’s idea is the selected method, and before it can begin Grace pulls her dad aside to say she’s surprised the first woman he’s shown interest in is a psycho, “Oh shoot guys… I can hear you.” Gigi responds nervously and brilliantly. At the pumpkin patch, #5 brings her boyfriends Rodger and Dodger to help her prepare and they are quickly met by the Red Devil. Now paying homage to The Shining, the three flee into a snow covered maze with the killer chasing them. The brothers stop in the midst of the chaos to make her awkwardly choose one over the other, and she decides on sticking with Rodger. The other brother then heads the other direction as a distraction, and #5 comes up with a strategy to trace their steps backwards to throw off the Red Devil. A confused Rodger yells the plan incorrectly to his brother about walking backwards, and is seemingly killed because of the killers close trail and the sounds of screams. No more Eiffel tower for #5, that’s certain.
Denise and the others track down the address where Zayday’s phone is listed, and an eerie elderly woman describes a perfect horror film setup by describing the tenant of the location as someone who pays on time in cash, and isn’t ever seen. I see your eye-roll Wes, and appreciate your horror knowledge at every random moment. Denise passes out her supplies including a compass, decoder ring, and taser, but forgot flashlights which would probably hold some importance. They separate into smaller groups with Pete, Grace, and Wes looking around a workshop of sorts, with Gigi and Denise finding a basement filled with various torture devices. The Red Devil cuts the power and we begin to see from his/her perspective with night vision goggles and taunting the pair in the saw-like basement. In a moment of fear, Denise accidentally tases Gigi in the boobs (ouch) and Gigi successfully fires at the killer. By the time everyone makes their way to the room, Gigi claims to have been hit over the head and he made his escape. Denise finishes searching the premises and finds nothing, fuelling her theory about Zayday being one of the possible killers.
Back at the Kappa house, the Chanel’s gather (with Jennifer and Sam also) deciding to begin the vote on the Kappa president – courtesy of Chanel’s new written-in-marker laws. Chanel states it’s been the worst night because of her pumpkin patch was halted due to a murder. “Can we talk about that for a second, because it just happened a few hours ago and I’m still really traumatized.” #5 says through tears, but Chanel redirects and reminds them this is about her.
Before the vote can begin, Zayday returns and explains that the Red Devil attempted to romance her (with something only Grace and a few others overheard) but she took the opportunity to stab him in the hand and make her getaway. #5 becomes more emotional than her brush with death and responds saying, “The Red Devil is in love with you? Ok that is so unfair because it literally took me like 3 years here for a guy to even look at me!” Grace is the last to arrive, backing up her claim saying she has seen the location, and Chanel decides to wait no longer – let the voting for the next Kappa president begin. Will the next in power be Team Chanel, or Team Zayday? In the final scene, we see Gigi walking in the darkness with the Red Devil lurking closely behind. “You’re late.” She says, surprising viewers with her awareness. “That got way out of hand. He’s gotta go. You understand me?” Gigi commands the killer before leaving for a date with Wes. So we now officially know another person involved, but who is Gigi referring to?! I’m assuming we’ll find out very soon, and next week the Halloween centric episodes conclude!
The episode titled Pumpkin Patch was yet another great installment to Scream Queens, providing constant laughter from beginning to end. #5 received many great moments and sound bites, making me feel more attached to the oddball Chanel, and hopeful that she’ll stick around. Hester was another character who stood out, with her thirst for power and Lea Michele’s flawless facial expressions characterize Hester as one of the best Scream Queens in the series. The horror maze scene brought great uses of suspense and still managed to create moments in between for humor as we are learning Scream Queens is fully capable of. Kudos Scream Queens, I can’t wait to see what’s next for the Kappa women!
Overall Grade: This is another consecutive ‘A’ for the comedic horror series. The twist ending provided assurance that the episode deserved recognition with the addition of great performances from the cast.
Aedan’s Final Thoughts:
-Every episode of Scream Queens causes me anxiety as well as an overwhelming joy, I’m still completely obsessed.
-The cast continues to bring great chemistry to Scream Queens as the series progresses. With that being said… Chanel still reigns as the true queen
-I caught every horror reference in the episode which included Saw, The Exorcist 3, Evil Dead, The Shining, and a slightly possible nod to Silence of the Lambs. They obviously know the horror genre!
-Hester should be feared by her enemies because of the insane dedication for her personal agenda; nobody knows what the curveball character will do next!
-Gigi’s reveal managed to be a surprise, even with so many hints that she was practically a shoe-in to be the/a killer.
-With at least 3 characters involved, I’m very anxious to learn the killer(s) endgame plan.
