TV Review: Scream The Series (Season 1, Episode 4)

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

EPISODE: AFTERMATH

THE DISH: Upon receiving an enigmatic package from the Lakewood murderer, Emma joins forces with Audrey to decipher what the f*ck it all means. Think they're up to the task?

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

THE DICE-UP: Well goddamn! Just when you thought heart-wrenching rip-job of poor Riley last week was too cruel to bear, the ferocious 4th stint of Scream the Series – affectionately dubbed "Aftermath" – the teen-emo lamentation was laid on pretty thick to kick things off. Noah's all busted up and wants answers, as is and does Emma. When Tyler's decollated body is found in a car wreckage charred to an incinerated crisp, Sheriff Hudson is quick to implicate old headless Nina's boyfriend as the Lakewood serial killer. But Emma and Audrey believe otherwise, there has been too much terror and bloodshed to the contrary to think this rash of savage slayings are the work of one jilted lover. So, after some more Riley memorializing, a new social media poll is making the rounds asking who'd you rather see on the chopping block next: Brooke or Emma!

Of course, Brooke is a doltish slattern we all want to see die before Emma, and again, the show cleverly knows this by the lopsided poll results proving such. Meanwhile, Emma gets a 1994 yearbook in the mail showing her mama as a wee lass in high-school. Problem is her dad's image has been cut out, name crossed out, with some cryptic message about a mask being made. Does this mean Emma's dad is Brandon James? If not, did James kill Emma's pops? How much of this is mama Maggie privy to, and when the fuck does she plan on sharing it with her daughter, if not the Sheriff? In order to suss the sitch…never mind Velcoro and Bezzerides, it's Teen Detectives on the case this week, as Emma reforms a bond with Audrey and together they decide to investigate whether or not Tyler could really be the true killer? As we know however, he's damn well not.

But come on, the best part of this episode is when said trio – Emma, Audrey and Noah head to the defunct hospital in which Brandon James underwent operation. As the vile and repulsive pschyosphere would suggest – dark, gore-sodden, filthy, strewn with creepy skeletal X-rays and eerie medical equipment – the killer has been using this as a home-base of sorts that serves as a warped extension of his sickened mind. I loved how Noah made mention of such, citing Spacey in SE7EN and Hopkins in LAMBS. Perfect comparisons. Beyond that, the killer has planted mementos from his sadistic slaughters, trophies if you will, that include Riley's keychain and Nina's much sought after laptop. Emma bravely got a digital copy of the files on the pc before sheriff Hudson suspiciously appeared and shook the trio off the premises for good.

Yet how much, if any, of those files could really implicate the killer's true identity? After-all, it seemed the killer actually wanted those files to be found since the one folder Noah and Audrey were able to hack into automatically uploaded to a public server and went online immediately. That the file was a salacious webcam video showing Will and Emma getting down and dirty only ups the stakes and muddies the waters. Will it turn out to be Jake and Will killing in tandem, as their cryptic, almost too-obvious blackmail subterfuge also involved material on Nina's missing computer? And for the love of dried blood, where the hell has Kieran been? His dad sure took a hell of a beating of suspicion this week? But hey, do you really think the sheriff could be the killer? Perhaps it's a father-son lead massacre? Either way, that we're one chapter deeper without having a real clear idea of who the killer is a great feat, constantly entertaining, and is sure to promise another vicious six weeks of bloodcurdling whodunit fun. Let's solve this f*cker together!

KILL OF THE WEEK: Sad to say no substantial deaths occurred this week. However, that hospital scene and the bloody lead-up to that gorily disemboweled porcine was pretty damn gnarly!

BLOOD & GORE:

• A charred, decapitated corpse lying on a morgue slab.
• A foot-wide blood smear splayed across a hospital floor, for several feet in length.
• A fully eviscerated, grue-soaked pig corpse that has been decapitated and disheartened.

WTF CHARACTER MOMENT: Since I just clocked SCREAM 2 earlier today, I was struck by the mere presence of this Piper character. Why is she here? Is she supposed to be more of a Gail Weathers type of the Laurie Metcalf crazy bitch from SCREAM 2, the faux-reporter. Either way, I'm starting to get suspicious of her ways and how she was quick to implicate sheriff Hudson so soon after Tyler legally was declared a culprit.