EPISODE: REVELATIONS
THE DISH: It all ends here. After 9 weeks and 4 dead bodies, Emma finally unmasks the mysterioous Lakewood murderer. Who will it be? Who makes it out alive?
WARNING: MINOR TO MAJOR SPOILERS BELOW. IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THIS EPISODE, STOP READING HERE!
THE DICE-UP: At bloody long last my swell pals, the spellbinding 10-week journey of the cunningly clever yet campy and kitschy Scream The Series has finally reached the end of the dance. Literally. After last week left us at the intermission of a 2-part cliffhanger, director Jamie Travis keeps the orchestration on high tilt with series finale "Revelations." Now, before we delve in, it only seems right to give a yet another RIP shout out to the master of American horror films, Wes Craven, without whom, this series would be for naught. So, again, props to you good sir, you'll be missed. Now on to the ultimate action of season 1. We start with great vim and vigor as the high-school dance has become an utter maelstrom of panic. Branson has escaped, Maggie leaves Emma at the dance, Audrey is nowhere to be found, and Brooke's dodging texts at her post-party rager. Oh, and Kieran's strapped and on the lam. Emma gets a call from the killer, who promises a grand finale of bloodshed before appearing in front of a bound, gagged and bloodied sheriff Hud. Hell of a start!
As Maggie examines the dead cop from last week's body, her and Emma find a necklace buried in the poor sucker's throat. Maggie's necklace that Brandon James gave her 20 years ago, in the woods behind her house. This tips the two off of Hud's whereabouts. Unfortunately, there a bit late, arriving to find the cop's stomach area carved to bone, a shower of blood leaking down his legs. The gals quiver. Soon the press and police show up, including Piper's mysterious ass. Emma tries to console her mom for watching, and complying with, her boyfriend's grisly death. Momma rides with Hud's corpse and implores hr daughter to ride with a deputy and tough it out at the station. She obliges, at first, and admonishes Piper she can't reach Brooke. So, on to Brooke's Piper goes. But then Noah gets ahold of Emma with a trace to the killer's cell, and yup, you know it, it's coming from Brooke's. Noah picks up Emma and heads to the buxom blonde's for the final face-off.
Back at Brooke's bash, she forges an unlikely bond with Audrey, as the two share their legit desire to protect Emma. Some random asshole pops up and scares Brooke with a BJ mask, which she confiscates and shows to Audrey. That dude promptly ends up with his throat slit with a puddle of gore to brace his fall. Then, a shocker of all shockers, the killer immediately appears, pins Audrey to a wall, and BAM…hunting knife to the temple! But is she dead? Back from commercial we find Brooke's party abandoned. Branson shows up claiming he's been framed, and that the killer whacked the guard and let him free. Brooke ain't buying it, and when she locks him out and the lights go out for a second, the killer promptly appear when the lights hit. He chases Brooke through her abode, and she stupidly hides in a long horizontal icebox. The killer taunts, locks her in, flips the thing on its side and starts jabbing the knife into the locker. Brooke wriggles but can't avoid a getting sliced and left to bleed off in a surefire coffin.
Noah and Emma show up to the house, only to find blood smeared on Piper's jeep (her body nowhere in sight) and a gun-drawn Kieran. After some suspicious grilling, Em tells Kieran his dad got fatally accosted and the two make up. They join forces, split up with Noah, and eventually find Jake lurking about. The trio find Brooke alive but frozen and bloodied in the freezer. Noah then finds Audrey alive and well with a stab wound to the shoulder. Now all originals are together: Emma, Noah, Audrey, Jake, Brooke and Kieran. So where's Branson? Where's Piper? Em gets a call from the killer saying he's got Maggie at the Wren Lake dock where Brandon James disappeared years ago. When Em arrives, she finds her mom also bound and bloodied. The killer appears and, what do you know, reveals herself to be none other than Piper, the long lost lovechild of Maggie and Brandon James. A struggle ensues, Piper stabs Maggie in the ribs, and just as she's about to do Emma, Audrey shows up and blasts Piper into the lake with Kieran's revolver. And in typical Wes Craven fashion, Piper makes one last lurch, only to catch a bullet in the forehead…this time from Emma. And that's a wrap son!
Looking back, I had an absolute blast with the inaugural season of Scream The Series. I'm also glad to have correctly called the killer last week. I f*cking knew it was Piper. Only thing though, if Piper acted alone, who knocked her out and abducted Will and left her with a bruise? Surely someone dressed as the killer. That makes little sense. As I write this, I'm glad to hear Noah address this exact subject and parlay it into a tease for next season. Good deal. Beyond that, I thought the show did a great job of keeping us all off kilter the entire season, right down to the heart-thudding, blood-seeping end. I can't help but think Wes Craven is up there somewhere trading a smile for one last Scream!
KILL OF THE WEEK: Hudson's graphic bodily evisceration was a dandy!
BLOOD & GORE:
WTF CHARACTER MOMENT: Why the hell wouldn't Piper at least hint at working with another, if indeed that's the case. I still can't reconcile who was in the mask when Will was attacked and left Piper wounded. As satisfied as I am to have gotten the killer right, it only feels half complete. WTF!