“Scream: The TV Series” – Episode 2.03, Vacancy
[BEWARE: ALL MAJOR EPISODE SPOILERS AHEAD]
Picking Up Where We Left Off: Audrey, still dressed in stereotypical spy clothes, is inside the storage locker staring at a very dead Jake surrounded by dozens of pine needle air fresheners. Stupidly, she sneaks over to him to see if he’s alive – again, Jake is VERY dead – and noticing a cryptic message taped to his chest. Ghostface calls to taunt Audrey again, which throws her into a panic attack and forces her to flee the storage shed.
Daddy Issues: The next morning, Emma informs Maggie that her dad is back in town, I think his name is Kevin. Maggie warns Emma to be careful, that her father isn’t who he seems, but Emma isn’t so quick to write him off yet and wants to hear what he has to say. Emma calls Audrey to tell her that Kevin is back in town, which causes Audrey to believe that Kevin’s surprise return has something to do with Jake getting killed. Audrey calls Kevin “damaged” and that doesn’t sit too well with her best friend, obviously.
Daddy Issues Part 2: Emma meets Kevin at the coffee shop, telling him that she’s starting to work there again. Kevin confesses that he tried to come back once before, but Maggie warned him to stay away. Together, they bond over being survivors of the Brandon James murders, although their timelines are 20 years apart. Emma asks Kevin why he abandoned her as a child and when he is unable to answer, she walks out of the coffee shop and leaves him sitting there.
What’s in the Box?: Noah and Audrey head to the storage locker that Eddy informed them about, where he saw Piper Shaw talking to her accomplice. They open it up and find nothing. Of course Audrey is shocked that Jake’s body and the air fresheners have been removed, the whole locker scrubbed down. Noah notices a camera recording them in the corner and rips it down to take home, hoping that he can get files off of it. Audrey has a panic attack once again realizing she may be on the video camera.
Brooke’s Still Here: Brooke is at school practicing for the Lakewood High Beauty Pageant, but she’s taken a break to leave Jake a voicemail. She has a quick chat with Zoe, obvious canon fodder and Riley 2.0, who admits that she has a crush on Noah. Brooke briefly leaves the stage to chastise Gustavo for no reason that I can see. During the pageant practice, Seth calls Brooke and says that she’s missing it. Homegirl is not happy about it and storms off stage.
Why Aren’t They Ever in Class?: In the hallways of Lakewood High, Eli, Kieran and Emma are talking about nothing as usual. Kieran also introduces Eli to Noah and Audrey just before Brooke drags the women away for a girls only chat in the bathroom. Brooke’s musings about Seth are quickly forgotten about when Audrey tells Brooke that Emma’s dad is back in town. Brooke is mad that Emma didn’t tell her and Emma is mad at Audrey for spilling the beans. There’s fighting all around. Soooo much drama in Laguna!
Dead Girl Say What: Kevin shows up at Emma’s house and creepily stands at the door until Maggie opens it. He apologizes for arriving in town, unannounced and hopes that his arrival doesn’t throw Emma’s life into anymore chaos. He says he wouldn’t have come back, but one of Emma’s friends, Riley, has been sending him emails telling him now was the right time. Riley, of course, is Noah’s very dead ex-girlfriend who bit it in episode three of last season. They head to the police station and the increasingly inept Sheriff, Acosta, thinks the emails are identity theft and tells Kevin and Maggie not to worry about it. After pressing for an investigation following last years murder, Acosta decides not to inform Emma bout the emails. On the way out, Kevin goes to grab Maggie’s arm, but she frantically jerks away after mentioning “getting away” with something.
Computer Crash: Noah and Audrey are in the dork’s bedroom and he’s super anxious to see what’s on the security camera from the storage locker. Noah calls Eddy, the hotel front desk clerk, and asks him more questions. The files start uploading to Noah’s computer and Audrey grabs a heavy book weight off a nearby shelf. She’s about to beat Noah over the head with it, but his computer crashes. Just as she can breathe a sigh of non-murderous relief, Ghostface sends her a clip of herself finding Jake’s body and looking hella guilty.
You in Danger, Girl: Emma goes to work to get her first schedule and Eli is there too, for some reason I’m still unaware of. When she picks up her schedule the other coffee maiden informs her that her dad left her a message and wants her to meet him at his hotel. Meanwhile, at the hotel, Eddy brings a wine bottle and a corkscrew up to Kevin’s room as ordered. Everything is covered in plastic, which doesn’t alarm him for another reason I’m unaware of. Ghostface manages to sneak up behind him and stabs him to death with the corkscrew in a very Halloween: H20 kind of way. That kill shot to the throat, though!
Trouble at the Theater… Again: Though: Audrey’s working at the movie theater until Ghostface calls and tells her to go to the hotel. Audrey doesn’t want to go, but Ghostface reminds her that he has all the dirt and video footage as blackmail. Off she goes! Gustavo, Noah, Zoe and Brooke meet up at the Theater to see Killer Klowns from Outer Space… but the evening is ruined by the arrival of Seth! Brooke accuses him of stalking her, reminding everyone that Seth’s name was fake, life was fake and that he was wanted in the murder of one of his previous students. Noah goes for Seth’s jugular with a sassy as fuck comment. Despite always being a bitch to him, Brooke gets Gustavo to pretend to be her boyfriend and they make out in an effort to piss Seth off more. Seth says she’s changed, noting that she didn’t even say thank you for the flowers he left her. Brooke realizes the flowers on her car weren’t from Jake and texts him, but gets no response.
Let Yourself In: Emma goes to the hotel and sees that her father has checked in and what room number he’s located in. She lets herself in and finds all the newspaper clippings of her from the James’ farm house. Ghostface calls Audrey to tell her he can’t wait to see what her insides look like in a very Scream way and FaceTime’s her a video of himself/herself in the hotel bathroom watching Emma go through the newspaper clippings. Audrey hangs up on Ghostface and decides to risk everything by calling the police.
End: Emma hears noise in the bathroom and starts approaching it with Ghostface on the other side. Shouting outside draws her away and to a nearby local bar, where Kevin is drunk and fighting with a stranger outside. Emma goes over to them and he is immediately filled with regret. Emma thinks he’s the guy from the James’ farm house and Kevin says no way, he never left a note for her at the coffee house either. Through a bunch of emotional moments Kevin also divulges that he wants to leave again and the reason that he left Lakewood was because he’s an alcoholic and ended up beating Maggie so badly one night that he fractured her jaw and was scared that he’d hurt Emma, too. The cops arrive at the bar and arrest Kevin, thinking he’s the one that Audrey called about. When she gets back in the car, she finds the bloody corkscrew that Ghostface murdered Eddy with.
