EPISODE: EXPOSED
THE DISH: When Will and Emma's salacious sex tape goes viral, a buried nefarious secret comes crashing to light that implicates a serious suspect of the Lakewood murders. Who is it?
WARNING: MINOR TO MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD. IF YOU'VE NOT SEEN THIS EPISODE YET, STOP READING HERE!
THE DICE-UP: With the messy "Aftermath" of last week's epsisode leaving us with a high-note of a climax, especially making amends for a somewhat underwhelming opener, Scream The Series is back with its fifth frame "Exposed" – a key implicative cog in a half way unrolled murder mystery. More on that in a sec. First, let's address the crux of this week's plotline: Will and Emma's virginal sex tape that's making the rounds in Lakewood after someone leaked it online. Brutal. But does that really mean whoever uploaded the video is the killer? Could be. After-all, he or she or them did hang a "just like your mother" slut-shaming pic in Emma's locker the next day at school. Kieran suspiciously pops back up this week, as does Mr. Branson and his likeminded Scarlet Letter lesson plan. Could these two dudes be moonlighting in lethality?
Adding to the intrigue is the next scene, a nighttime joint memorial service for Riley, Rachel and the rest. When Emma tries to memorialize Riley, she gets a harassing text, then peers into the faces of a skein of potential suspects: Sheriff Hudson, his son Kieran, Brooke's dad, Jake, Will, Audrey. So where's the female reporter? We learn later she has a motive, being a victim herself of matricide. Where's Branson, and why the hell was he hacking into student webcams? Damn perv! Anyway, a new copper shows up wanting to ask Emma some questions, while Jake and Will carry on their ballsy blackmailing scheme, even going so far as to brandish twin Johnny from The Karate Kid skeleton masks and pulling a knife to get their deleterious point across. Seems these two are prime suspects, but like we've said before, almost too obvious to really be guilty of murder. No Brandon James mask anyway, remember. Still yet, they sure put a good dent on Brooke's mayoral daddy, didn't they?!
Speaking of Will, this f*cker's a piece of work, ay? Turns out he only dated Emma to begin with as part of a bet that he could bag her and tag her within a month of meeting. Brooke broke the news to Emma, who really seems to have less and less friends by the day. She confronts Will about this and further drives the fractious spike between their fizzling romance. And if words won't do, how about a smoldering kiss with Jesse f*cking James Kieran, right in front of Will no less. But wait, aren't their parents dating…Clark and Maggie? Sheesh, and I thought that reporter chick feeding booze to Emma was taboo! Speaking of odd pairings, Brooke and Jake's dastardly collaborations definitely raise white flags, no? What are they keeping from Emma, if anything? And why did Jake just inform Brooke about the blackmail of her dad and pin the whole thing on Will? Some amigo right, especially when he shows Brooke footage of her sick papa dragging what could be her MIA mother across the linoleum. Not a good look for what now could be our lead suspect (doubtful), certainly not as good as Emma and Kieran ripping their clothes off in the moonlight to end the episode. Go get it Em!
So, as Scream now hurdles past the midway marker, I really dug how "Exposed" cast a wide net of suspicion to set up the second half of the series. A lot of red-herring and sly misdirection this week keeps the guessing game alive and well with a whole cavalcade of plausible killers, some overt (Will, Mr. Branson, Brooke's dad) and some a bit more covert (Jake, the reporter gal). Unfortunately, as the only episode to not let a single satisfying drop of blood, I must score this one down a peg. I mean, where are the goddamn slashings!?! I get that the more main characters you kill off the easier it is to narrow down a legitimate suspect, but come on…there's a big enough ensemble here to whack another with five weeks to go and still retain the opacity. Still, this is a minor gripe, as the intrigue is still gripping and entertaining enough to endure a single bloodless week. But it better be only one…next week we better get two or threefold the carnage we deserve!
KILL OF THE WEEK:
Negatory!
BLOOD & GORE:
Zilch-o, unless you consider a couple of bloody noses. I don't.
WTF CHARACTER MOMENT: I do wonder what Jake has up his sleeve. After duking it out with Will in the hall, then taking sides with Brooke, giving her the scoop on her dad's shady doings, what will it all add up to? Could this dumb Abercrombie lummox actually have a master plan?