TV Review: Scream The Series (Season 1, Episode 8)

Last Updated on July 22, 2021

EPISODE: GHOSTS

THE DISH: As Emma struggles to cope with the death of Will, an even deeper and darker piece of the past comes crashing to light.

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

THE DICE-UP: Well god dayuumm! A week after Will's icky mastication left Emma facialized in a shower of gore – itself good enough to earn our highest rating of the season so far – out from the shadows comes the nowhere near as haunting "Ghosts" in the 8th episode of Scream The Series. Ah, where to begin. Oh, how about Will's mama going apoplectic when finding her son's body eviscerated in half, pools of pulpy entrails aplenty. Nice! Not so nice is Emma's emotional state though, as she's now prescribed anti-depressants. Uncool, especially when they render terrifying hallucinations of Will's putrid corpse. Jake survives the stab wound to the heart, only to come to and learn of Will's woeful demise. Cue the tears. In fact, double the tissue for Brooke as well, after all this time, she learns her mom is alive and well once Piper brings the blackmail video of her dad to Sheriff Hud and he does a little sniffing. I know, a lot of moving parts!

But most of the movement comes via Emma's eerie vision-terrors, where we sort of cheaply get various iterations of Will's chomped up body…dome-to-torse split in half, carrying his own heart in the palm of his hand, etc.  Noah and Audrey offer support to Emma, who hardly wants to do anything at the moment. Remember, one of the unique things that sets Scream The Series apart from its filmic counterparts is how the killer manipulates Emma into unwittingly lending a hand in the death of her loved ones. Will was no exception. So, sad emo-wallowing aside, it's hard to blame the poor girl for being wracked with such guilt. She's even come to realize that her friends and fam are even more endangered than she is. About time. Of course, cool boy Kieran is all shoulder to cry on now, almost too suspiciously.  Same goes for Piper, who, after weirdly broadcasting Will's fate on her podcast in Emma's cafe, gives our heroine a lamely acted rah-rah speech about fighting back. Not effective!

Then Emma trips balls right into the E.R. It's so bad she envisions her long lost father Kevin, equipped with some ham-fisted soap opera exchanges that are unneeded to say the least. Is he  really there? After-all, he now seems to be a legitimate suspect. Hud even puts a trace on him and finds he's not too far away. But could Kevin be the killer, Emma's dad? Doubt it. How about Brooke's papa, jail-bird Mayor Maddox? Don't think so. All too tidily buttoned up. Too lazy after all the subterfuge the writers have crafted so far, don't you think? Besides, the body the Mayor was taped dragging through the kitchen was explained to be an overdosed lover of his wife…again in overly dramatic fashion.

Nah, the more likely suspect this week has to be Mr. Branson, who Noah and Audrey continue to investigate. Hell, they uncover his true identity (surname Palmer) and even found the potential murder weapon stashed in his classroom. The two make a strong enough case to Hud that he puts out an APB on the slick young teach. Think he could be the one? He did mysteriously appear as soon as the show ended with Brooke catching a blade across the forearm. Or maybe you think, like Emma, the neglected lovechild Maggie had with Brandon James may be back with avengeance? That was the major  unearthed secret this week, right? Interject below!

As for my two cents on "Ghosts", I think the episode could have been called "Tears" instead. After last week delivered a series-defining knockout punch, this one fell into the sappy emotional pitfall of dealing with Will's death and Maggie's unwanted lovechild with Brandon James. Way too weepy and mawkish, way too overstuffed with soap opera music and tacky dialogue. More egregious yet however is that there wasn't a single new dead body this week. The only scary bits came by way of Emma's ghastly hallucinations and the lackluster finale of Brooke getting sideswiped by the killer's blade. Hell, even if she or Mr. Branson met their maker this week, they're both too unlikeable to really give a damn at this point. Simply, the show would have been a lot more badass if they both caught the knife right here. Alas, the episode feels like filler, an inevitable valley-episode that was bound to succeed the peak of last week. Still, I have no doubts the last two chapters of Scream The Series are going to bring the motherf*cking pain. Yes I believe in the madness of the method man!

KILL OF THE WEEK: Negatory!

BLOOD & GORE:

• Will's body split in half, gory remains scattered about (rinse and repeat).
• A ripped out heart squeezed in palm of hand.

WTF CHARACTER MOMENT:

The incessant trickery of mama Maggie is dubious at best. The big twist this week is that Maggie had a baby with Brandon James', one she was forced to give up at birth. Why so damn secretive with so many damn things?