Like most horror television shows, MTV’s Scream is what you would call an “event” series. While nothing may be going on in the the day to day narrative, these kinds of shows rely on “events” to keep people hooked and talking. In The Walking Dead, for example, at the end of one of these event episodes would spell out a character death or some kind of grisly action. It’s basically the same principle here. Since Scream has been so reliant on character death to anchor each episode, the first episode without one certainly has a lot to make up for.
We’re four episodes in now, so it’s time for some actual development. How does the show stack up now that it’s not killing anyone off? Well…
The TV series has been trying to separate itself from the films for a while now. One major way it’s drawing distance is the whole Brandon James thing. As I mentioned before, Brandon James was a previous killer that terrorized the TV series’ town and the new killer is modeling himself after him. The new Ghostface mask is based on James’ face, and a lot of the story is wrapped up in trying to solve both of those mysteries. This episode, as the title suggests, is dealing with the fallout of Riley’s (the nerdy girl who was killed in the last episode as she Facetimed with the nerdy guy) death. As people scramble around trying to cradle up some emotions, Emma (the main girl) is finally a bit interesting. After being forced to choose between friends’ lives last episode, she’s distrusting everyone and is finally making some proactive choices, which is something Sidney Prescott, the main girl from the Scream films, is known for. But it’s just a shame that what she decides to do is just so damn stupid.
Emma, Best Friend Whose Name I Forget, and Noah end up going to the killer’s former lair and find all of the stuff the killer wanted them to find. While this scene was meant to play out as tense it’s just goofy all around. And unlike the fantastic goofiness the show’s been able to enjoy so far, this episode just dragged on and on. As the characters find out the same things the audience is already aware of, the only new bit on info is on the two Bro Guys’ hidden camera enterprise. Through this we learn the killer is aware of all of their hidden camera shenanigans, we learn that main girl Emma isn’t a horror trope virgin (as she explicitly states the video they have of her is her first time), and we learn that these kids are terrible with technology. A couple of clicks onto a laptop end up sharing a private video across multiple phones and devices. At least we know how the killer was sharing to everyone’s phone now.
I know this show’s main goal isn’t to reveal who the killer is, but why’s they’re killing, but I need something more to go on. Since we’re nearly halfway through the first season, I hope there’s a change coming soon.
Assorted Musings:
- Rich Girl Brooke also had a story this week. We learn a little about her absentee mother and father who’s wrapped up in some scandal, but any scene that attempts to give her character also has her in a bikini. Really hard to take seriously.
- Also, kids voting on which popular girl should die next is sadly all too true.
- You might wonder why I’m sticking to this show as I grow increasingly tired of it, but like other horror shows, it’s the only one of its kind. I really want to see where this experiment goes. Can’t say I’d be here for Season 2, however.