“Scream: The TV Series,” Episode 2.08 – Village of the Damned
[BEWARE: ALL MAJOR EPISODE SPOILERS TO FOLLOW]
Intro: Noah is hosting an episode of his podcast and tells listeners that Lakewood is holding a carnival to celebrate the 100 year anniversary of the town’s founding. He makes a lot of Jaws references, considering a town carnival is the perfect spot for a serial killer to make another statement. Audrey wakes up to find “12 DEAD” written on her ceiling in blood and “NO ONE WILL EVER FORGIVE YOU” written on her mirror in blood, too.
School, Where No One Ever Learns: Before school, Audrey tells Noah about the messages and they go over the list of dead people and come up with only 11 victims including last year’s killer, Piper. Audrey knows that she has to tell Emma the truth soon, that she originally called Piper to Lakewood, so she can get Ghostface’s blackmail off her head. During study hall, Audrey, Eli, Gustavo, Noah and Zoe talk about Karen Lang’s “accident” and they’re all convinced that she was pushed, with Gustavo even pointing a finger at Audrey and saying she was there and could have done it. Brooke’s Dad comes on the loudspeaker and tells the school that they are going on with the carnival despite Jake’s murder. Brooke is feeling anxious about the carnival and asks that the group come with her for emotional support. She also tells them there was a fire at one of her dad’s developmental properties, the one from last episode, which casts another shady cloud on the mayor.
Raging Fire of Possibility: Sheriff Acosta is going over crime scene photos of Karen Lang’s “accident,” though he notes it was no slip because her office was ransacked. Someone was looking for something, and he begins looking over all the notes and tape recordings the “psychology teacher” was hiding in her office. He gets called to the crime scene of the house fire and CSI says they found a huge amount of flammable liquid and they determine the fire was set on purpose. As Acosta continues to survey the scene, he discovers the bodies in the bathtub upstairs. After having his hand cut off, burned with a hot iron, stabbed in the chest and burnt by flames – Seth Branson is finally dead. Emma wants to believe that Acosta is on her side and she shows up at the crime scene to tell him exactly what happened. He believes her, but warns her to stay away from Eli because there’s a girl in Eli’s hometown with a restraining order out on him. When Emma leaves with Maggie, Acosta orders that a deputy, Dwayne, follow her around for her own safety.
Resolve This Already: Brooke and Zoe are in the middle of their pageant class, the Lady of the Lake Pageant to take place at the carnival tonight. Brooke doesn’t want to win, instead opting to be Zoe’s wing-girl in hopes of helping the other girl win. While going through Karen Lang’s tapes, Acosta finds a recording of Gustavo likening serial killers to gods, which sends Acosta into a rage and he starts taring through Gustavo’s room looking for his Brandon James mask. Acosta just wants to “put Phoenix behind us,” and Gustavo is hurt that his father thinks he could be the killer, even going as far as telling his father to prove it. Kieran goes to see Emma and they forgive each other, again, for all the drama this year. Kieran tells Emma about the accident that killed his stepfather and mother, but when Emma tells him that Eli already told her about it, Kieran warns her to stay away from his cousin. Audrey gets a phone call from Ghostface, who warns her not to tell Emma the truth. Audrey thinks differently and invites Emma to the carnival in hopes of being honest there.
This Will Never Go Well: Emma and Audrey go to the carnival and are happy to be spending best friend time together for the first time in a while. Behind the scenes, Brooke is doing Zoe’s hair and make-up for the pageant and they have a drink or two from Brooke’s flask. Noah brings Zoe flowers and they go off to make out in a photo booth while Brooke stays behind to keep drinking. Gustavo shows up and doesn’t want Brooke to do the pageant, but she has things she needs to get off her chest and this is the best time to do it. Emma and Audrey run into Eli at the carnival, when Emma tries to break away from him, he roughly grabs her arm. Kieran sees and decks his cousin. Emma tells Audrey about the break in and the fire and Audrey tells Emma about someone breaking into her room to leave bloody messages and now they believe Eli could be the killer. Drunk Brooke goes on stage in front of the whole town and talks about Jake and his death and how they should be at the carnival together. She says the town is cursed and everyone is going to die before being whisked away.
Important: Maggie identifies the body’s in the bathtub, officially confirming that Seth Branson is dead. Despite knowing that Ghostface has now killed three people – Jake, Eddy and Seth – she and Acosta keep this information confidential. At home, Acosta finds a hand drawn picture of Seth that exactly mirrors the way he was tied to the bed by Brooke in the hotel.
Yay, Carnival: Back at the carnival, Emma, Audrey, Noah and Zoe go backstage to comfort a drunk and distraught Brooke. Her dad takes her home and in the commotion Emma gets a text message from Kieran to meet her alone by the funhouse. When she arrives, she gets a phone call from Ghostface on Kieran’s phone while also getting a .gif of Kieran being held hostage. She rushes off to save him alone and is stalked through the funhouse by Ghostface, though he does not attack her. Emma’s undercover police detail, Dwayne, loses her in the funhouse and he is attacked by Ghostface, getting thrown through a glass door. It is unknown whether the deputy dies in the attack, but Emma trips over him and grabs his gun in just enough time to shoot Ghostface. The cops come rushing in and lead Emma and Ghostface out of the funhouse in handcuffs. When they’re outside, Ghostface is unmasked to be Kieran with tape over his mouth. They’re both let go when they realize it was all just another game orchestrated by the killer.
Ending: Emma is sorry she shot Kieran. Kieran tells Emma the reason his stepdad and mother died is because he started a fight inside the car which made his stepdad take his eyes off the road. Zoe wins the Lady of the Lake Pageant and goes back to Noah’s house to have sex with him. Right as they’re about to go through with it, Noah gets a text from Audrey which makes Zoe stop and leave mid hook-up…again. Audrey goes to Emma’s house to tell her the truth. At the same time, Ghostface sends Emma the .mp3 of Audrey’s confession to Noah about bringing Piper to Lakewood. Audrey opens the door to Emma’s bedroom just as the .mp3 plays “I brought Piper to Lakewood.” Audrey says she can explain and that’s where we fade to black.
