TV Review: Scream Queens (Season 1, Episode 3)

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

EPISODE: CHAINSAW

THE APPETIZER: When Grace's dad decides to teach her new film class, his screening of THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE inspires what we learn is two Red Devil killers from terrorizing the campus. Off we go!

WARNING: MINOR TO MAJOR SPOILERS BELOW. IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THIS EPISODE, STOP READING HERE!

THE ENTREE: After a tale of two rated halves in the initial episode of Scream Queens last Tuesday – the first part a 9, the second a 7 – we put "Hell Week" behind and us thrust full throttle onto the equally double-sided "Chainsaw" – inspired by Tobe Hooper's unparalleled 1974 horror classic about that good old Texas massacre. Talk about a way to my heart! More on that in a moment, but let's us first scoop it up where we should, the beginning of the frame. We immediately find Grace and Zayday in a convenient store, when someone in a Red Devil uniform slowly accosts the two. Yeah well, Grace zaps the piss out of his balls with a taser. Of course, it turns out to be no one of real interest, just some geek from one of Zayday's classes. Cue to the blood-dripping title before returning back to the freezer where bodies from last week disappeared. First Mrs. Bean, then Chanel #2, the bodies of both of which still can't be found. Grace and Zay try to locate the body of the latter, but only get confirmation from rent-a-cop Denise Hempville that she indeed got butchered to death. So, who'll be next to fatally meet the Red Devil this week?!

At a candle-lit vigil for the fallen, Chanel tries to console Chad about Boone's death (remember, we know he's still alive). Chad ain't having it and kicks the bitch to the curb once more, exhorting her that she better pray all of her pledges get killed so she can remain popular. This of course gives Chanel motive, though she's already proven to be a sadistic little sicko in her own right. But wait just a minute. We soon learn Chad had been pooning Chanel #2 on the down low, and now he's implicated as a potential suspect. After-all, he even met the gal's parents who found a card saying Chad loved the poor dead #2. Couple this with the mysterious ending last week, where Boone's so-called corpse was met by a willing coconspirator. And this friends, is one of the major developments we can now start to sniff out and suss once and for all. There's a bare minimum of two killers in this series. Two Red Devils! So, could it have been Chad who picked up Boone from the morgue last week? Could be, but not likely. Especially since the end of the episode left him knocked the f*ck out with two Red Devils revving their saws over his unconscious dome-piece.

Others implicated this week include Chanel #3, who strikes a bond with the Predatory Lez, Sam. It comes to light that #3 (played by Carrie Fisher's daughter Billie Lourd) was the forgotten lovechild of her mother and infamous serial killer Charles Manson. Yup, for real. This obviously implicates #3, a fact she tries to disarm by confiding in Sam (played by Jeanna Han). Real quick, I'm digging this Lourd chick quite a bit. She has that disaffected look of her mom, but looks much more like a young Blythe Danner, down even to the deep raspy voice. No shock she'll be in the new STAR WARS flick. Anyway, getting back on point, Grace's dad keeps up the locuhe antics when, as a matter of protection, he decides to teach her Analysis to Film Studies course. Can't fault the dude when he pops in what he deems the greatest cinematic feat of all time, the aforementioned masterwork THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE. The shot of Oliver Hudson creaming his shorts at the climax of the film, well, it was likely looking in the mirror frankly. Hilarious. That I appreciated a great deal, even if Grace was nowhere near as amused.

Who else was inspired, however? Obviously our two killers, who spend the rest of this episode terrorizing mofos with a blood-buzzing chainsaw. Two cats in particular catch a messily-red demise…cut in half, arms lopped off, the works. Solid stuff! Those two barbarous acts were definitely highlights of the show, even if the overall bloodshed decreased a bit from the pilot episode. Beyond that, I think "Chainsaw" was otherwise directed (by Ian Brenner) on par with the same vim and vigor, the same camp and kitsch, the same lowbrow horror and humor that made the first two chapters groove so well. It's still hard not to compare the series to that of Scream, particularly now that we know for sure there's at least two killers at large and working in unison. Still, the mystery is intact, the intrigue thick, the corpses growing to a sure to be exorbitant toll, and most of all, the entertainment value remains at a high clip. It's early, but we're on a promising pace so far!

BLOOD & GORE:

• A geyser of gore upon a chainsaw halving of the new school mascot.
• Two shower-head like faucets of blood spilling from chopped off arms of one of Chad's bros.

MOST BIZARRE MOMENT: Since there wasn't anything too terribly outlandish this week, I just want to take this time to echo how #5 Abigail Breslin described being double-stuffed by a pair of golf yuppies. She done said she got spit-roasted! I laughed.

MOST PLAUSIBLE SUSPECT: Could it be Zayday, who for ridiculous reasons has a chainsaw kept under her bed (my gra'mama gave that chain! Nice FRIDAY reference). Could it be Dean Munsch, who decides to move into the Kappa house in order to poach on Grace's pops and interrupt the growing flame between he and Gigi (Nasim Pedrad)? Could it be Neckbrace, now reformed with a full on Glee makeover? How about Pete, who convinces Grace to drive 6 hours out of town to locate the kin of the baby born in that bloody bathtub 20 years ago? Seems sort of shady. Whoever it is, they must be working in tandem with Boone, no? All in due time folks, we'll piece it together.