“We all go a little mad sometimes. Anthony Perkins, ‘Psycho.’” – Billy Loomis, “Scream”
Coming off of last week’s premiere, “Psycho” was a little slow. But “Scream” planted some seeds here that I think are going to bloom in interesting if bloody ways.
Starting with the James family farm, Emma and Brooke’s late night field trip to which doesn’t end so hot. Emma comes tearing out of the house, babbling to Brooke about the creepy photos and clippings, as well as the hooded figure who disappeared as quickly as he appeared. And she’s unsettled further when she tells the tale to her mom, who hesitantly reveals that she and Emma visited the farm a few times when she was a child. Maggie’s story is super sketchy – she keeps claiming Emma was too young to have remembered, but she was clearly old enough in the nightmare she had – so I suspect there’s still some secrets about Emma’s time there to be uncovered. In any case, the Duval women return to the farm (with admirable bravery, but without a police officer, or even some pepper spray!), but find no evidence that anyone was staying there, let alone a stalker shrine of Emma.
Then there’s Ms. Lang (Austin Highsmith, “Criminal Minds”), the high school’s psychology teacher. Considering what happened with Piper, you’d think a slightly older brunette with a big sister vibe would be the last person Emma would want to confide in. But after Brooke suggests that what she saw was a hallucination akin to her visions of Will last season, Emma decides to bend the educator’s ear. And it’s soon clear that Ms. Lang is up to something, as she sets their meeting at the Grindhouse (cueing a freak-out from Emma when she mistakes a bespectacled woman for Piper) and is shown to be secretly recording their conversation. But her words are what get Emma to start facing her fears head-on, starting with a visit to the dock where she had her final confrontation with nuGhostface.
But that brief moment of peace is quickly shaken by the arrival of her estranged father Kevin (Tom Everett Scott), whose decision to approach his daughter by stalking her in his car isn’t a great one. This is a narrative road I’m really excited the show decided to drive down. Scott is a big enough name that I figured his brief appearance last season was a Cotton Weary-esque setup for more story and Kevin wading in as someone who knows firsthand what Emma is going through should be good drama, especially given the slight tension between Emma and Maggie. I’m also interested to hear his take on the Brandon James backstory, and the ways it agrees and/or disagree with Maggie’s.
Kieran is also having family drama this week. Like many legal guardians on TV, his aunt Tina (Karina Logue, “Terriers”) is more interested in the money she gets for being his caregiver than her nephew himself. So when Sheriff Acosta reports that he’s been getting complaints from Kieran’s neighbors, she threatens to move him to Atlanta. It’s a little bit of false drama because we know Kieran’s not leaving the show this way. But whether it’s Maggie’s doing (she and Tina have an off-screen conversation and I noticed Maggie later fiddling with her checkbook) or her son Eli (Sean Grandillo, “Secrets and Lies”) pointing out the perks, Tina decides that she and Eli are moving to Lakewood instead. Something tells me these two are going to shine a light on Kieran’s murky past. And Eli already seems a bit fixated on Emma, given their meet-slightly creepy at the school.
Audrey and Noah’s conflicting agendas also continue to collide this week. While Audrey is anxious about the threatening texts from nuGhostface, Noah is ecstatic about a new lead on Piper’s alleged accomplice – a desk clerk at a seedy motel Piper used to stay at who claims to have seen Piper arguing with someone. It’s clear Audrey doesn’t like lying to Noah, or setting him up for failure. But she does it anyway and it’s disconcerting to watch, especially when she uses the voice changer app to graphically threaten the clerk into silence. And Noah, on some level, seems to know something’s up, given his speculation on his podcast that he’s “not gonna like what [he] finds” when he cracks the case. Is this the end of Bi-Curious and The Virgin?
Last but not least, the deceased. Brooke starts to worry when she realizes nobody has talked to Jake in two days. She’s especially unnerved when he doesn’t respond to her texted tease of a boob pic! So she heads to the sheriff’s station to report him missing – which catches the attention of a creeping Gustavo – only to conveniently receive a text back from “Jake" at the last second. But it turns out Brooke isn’t the only Maddox trying to get a hold of him. I was very intrigued to learn that Brooke’s dad was involved in whatever plan Jake had going at the construction site the night he fell into nuGhostface’s trap. I’d say there’s trouble ahoy for that father-daughter relationship.
So where is The Jake? Audrey knows. Because in the episode’s closing minutes, we see her breaking into a storage unit the desk clerk told Noah about, presumably to remove anything connecting her to Piper. But instead what she finds is a creepy tableau – Jake’s body amidst a forest of air fresheners, his insides on the outside, with a personalized note just for her.
How crazy were you about “Psycho?” Which “Scream” newbie made you the most suspicious this week – Ms. Lang, Eli, or Gustavo? Shout about it in our comments section.
