BWW Recap: SCREAM QUEENS Offers Cheap Thrills for 'Black Friday'

SCREAM QUEENS, at its core, is an absurd horror satire. It infrequently satirizes the genre in which it is indebted, and instead focuses a lot of its absurd humor on millennials and the adults who don't care about them. Up until this point, the show has remained consistent, but tonight, it loses its sense of self. The humor falls flat and there are no stakes to make any of it dramatic.

Last week we found out that Wes is the father of Boone and the last Red Devil killer, who killed Gigi. This week we get the follow up on that. The episode opens exactly where last week's left off (excluding a pointless cold open where Chanel mocks Black Friday, in a mostly true, but out of place, way, reminiscent of the opening to Chanel-o-Ween). Dean Munsch is comforting Zayday who is scarred from seeing Gigi's severed head. Chanel and the Chanels come down the stairs and say they're going Black Friday. In the first of many Chanel-Dean Munsch stand-offs this episode, Chanel stands her ground, and she and the Chanels go Black Friday shopping.

Grace, Wes, and Pete go to the police station to report the death of Gigi, but they find out that the homicide department was fired because of lack of evidence in the Red Devil case (and spending all their money on ghost hunting supplies). The people actually trying to solve the murder, of which there are surprisingly few left, realize that there is no help from the police in this area.

Meanwhile at the mall, Chanel bribes workers to be let into stores a half-hour early. And then she and the Chanels stay way later after everyone left (or something? The justification for them being the only ones in the mall is weak, and the show's low-budget and lack of extras really shows in scenes like this). Red Devil closes down the mall and starts to hunt after them. They shoot Chanel in the shoulder with an arrow. Denise comes in, reveals she's the new chief of police, and pulls a gun on Red Devil. Red Devil runs away while Denise obtusely explains her new role.

Only, this ONE Red Devil scene in the penultimate episode lacks any punch. There are no stakes. We know the show isn't going to kill Chanel ('cause she's the main character and fan favorite). The other Chanels flee the scene, leaving her to be the only target. The show has even set up a track record since the Halloween episodes of killing off a rarely scene peripheral character each episode. Because no main character has died, there are no stakes involved. We know that they're not going to die now. Even Chanel's shoulder injury only gets a brace for a scene and a half before it disappears, even though all the action takes place in a small time frame. The show puts no emphasis on its deaths or its injuries. If it doesn't put its characters in danger, how are we supposed to feel any?

The rest of the episode on the Chanels side involves their plot to kill Dean Munsch. They're convinced that she is Red Devil, and decide to take a vigilante approach into their own hands. Grace is initially on board with this. She and Chanel go to poison Dean Munsch in her cider, only Dean Munsch doesn't die. Grace goes to talk to Pete, who tells her killing is wrong, then Grace backs out of the plot to kill Dean Munsch. Chanel kicks her out of Kappa. The Chanels and Zayday try to freeze Dean Munsch in a cryotherapy chamber, only it doesn't work.

Again, the show is teasing the idea of Dean Munsch dying, only it never follows through. There's a lot of tension in the first scene, because of the possibility of the show actually taking such a daring leap, only it doesn't go that far, and the subsequent attempts become slaps to the face.

Grace's character has had no consistency throughout the season; she's the weakest of the main cast. Tonight, even though she knows Red Devil is the girl baby in the bathtub, Boone's twin, her dad's daughter, she still supports the plan to kill Dean Munsch. Her flip to being against the kill also makes little sense, though it's clear Pete has a strong control over her.

Pete, meanwhile, has the objective role tonight. He dismantles the importance of Greek culture, which is the main point of the show. By reaffirming that college Greek culture is detrimental ("archaic," "misogynistic," "hierarchical"), the show is able to situate itself back where it started. We find out that Boone was Pete's Deepthroat in his journalism pieces on Greek life. And then, later in the episode, we see a phone call between Pete and Red Devil. Pete all but confirms that he was the Red Devil in the suit at the mall, working under the control of the girl in the bathtub. At the end, Grace tells him she loves him, and Pete reveals to her that he's a murderer.

Pete's plot is the most interesting of the night, as it furthers the plot. We even get a justification for why the murders are happening. Gigi's sister was a sorority girl in Kappa, the one that took the babies. She then killed herself, and Gigi raised the kids for revenge for her sister's suicide.

At the end of the episode, Chanel tries (on her own) to murder Dean Munsch. The other Chanels miss her phone call, and she is left alone to tie Dean Munsch up and throw her in the pool. In a reversal of the opening scene, Dean Munsch stands up for herself and puts Chanel down. We know Dean Munsch isn't going to die-but it's great to see Chanel cower in fear.

With two hours left, I don't see how the ending of SCREAM QUEENS isn't disappointing. Red Devil is either Chanel #3, Chanel #5, or Hester, with my money on Chanel #3. The problem with whodunnits is that the end is generally not as good as a journey. SCREAM QUEENS has been a wild fun journey, and I'm still hopeful that the show will stick the landing.

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What did you think of SCREAM QUEENS tonight? Let me know in the comments below, or on Twitter @gunnar_larson. Also, don't forget to follow @BWWTVWorld on Twitter and Like us on Facebook for all of the latest TV news, reviews, and recaps. Tune in next weeks for the thrilling finale.

Photo Credit: SCREAM QUEENS official Twitter

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