Scream season 1, episode 3, “Wanna Play a Game?” just finished airing. Read our recap and find out who kicked the bucket this week.
The episode opens up with the first of Brandon James’ murders from Halloween 1994. Noah is telling Piper Shay the story, speculating that the bodies will keep piling up.
Emma heads to the morgue to talk to her mom, but she overhears her talking about her past. The killer chooses this moment to ask Emma, “You and mom have a heart to heart yet?” Emma is starting to have serious doubts about trusting her own mother.
Brooke and Mr. Branson try having some sexytime over the computer, but it’s just not working for Brooke. Instead, she has a game for him — she’s hidden a naughty picture of herself in his classroom. If Mr. Branson isn’t having serious doubts about how far Brooke is willing to go to keep things interesting, there’s no hope for him.
Jake wanders out into the woods and digs up an empty box. He then confronts Will about it, who says he’s hidden the money before Tyler could get to it. He’s also not going to give it up until Jake shuts down the “operation” once and for all. Jake may have a rich father to get him out of trouble, but Will needs to think about his future.
Audrey is at Rachel’s wake, but it’s clear she feels uncomfortable there. She heads up to Rachel’s room, and just as she’s about to loop a noose around her neck from the ceiling fan, Emma walks in. Audrey wasn’t trying to kill herself; she was trying to test the strength of the fan. That’s when Emma says she thinks Rachel was murdered and they decide to DM the killer back and asked why he killed Rachel.
Mr. Branson finds the picture of Brooke before anyone else does, and then proceeds to pair the kids up to do dramatic readings of well-known scenes. Kieran and Emma are grouped together, and she finds out his father has all the Brandon James files at his house. Kieran brings them over to her house and that’s when Emma finally finds out her mother is Daisy.
Emma confronts her mom, but she won’t tell her daughter anything. She just wants to protect Emma, but she’s also playing right into the killer’s hands. “I’m the only one around here telling you the truth,” he tells Emma in a phone call later. Emma won’t play his games, though, so he decides to play with someone else.
Conveniently, Riley and Noah are paired up for the assignment. Noah surprises her with several television screens playing video games and Riley mutters an adoring, “You get me,” before the two nearly go all the way. But then Riley gets a “HELP ME!!” message from Tyler, and the gang have a group meeting.
Emma admits she’s been getting weird phone calls and doesn’t think it’s Tyler on the other end of that text message. Everyone but Riley wants to call the cops, and majority rules. As the girls take off, Jake says he’ll text Tyler and say they’ll give him the cash so he doesn’t take the two of them down with him. But when the two frenemies meet up later, Jake admits he didn’t text Tyler and Will admits they’re not where the cash is buried. Both grip their respective weapons, a shovel and a knife, and we seriously have to wonder if they’d be willing to do the deed.
Meanwhile, the cops surround the meeting point. The girls are safe and sound at the sheriff’s station, and it’s revealed that the guy approaching the undercover cop was paid to deliver a message. It’s a note with the killer’s mask on it that simply says, “Nice try.”
Brooke gets a text from who she assumes is Mr. Branson and goes to the hotel to meet up with him. When they can’t find her, Emma and her mom try to track her down, leaving Riley by herself. That’s when the killer messages Emma to make her choose — the good girl or the bad girl?
Emma tells Riley to stay at the station, that they’ll be right there. Since she can’t find Brooke, she tells the killer not to hurt her. The killer happily agrees, sending a text to Riley as Tyler to have her meet him out back. She’s chased down and killed, dying on the roof, staring up at the stars, as she talks to Noah on the phone.
Brooke is perfectly safe in her hotel room, albeit bored because she dressed in lingerie and put on handcuffs for Mr. Branson, who didn’t show.
The cops find Tyler’s car, but it explodes before they get too close. Looking over Riley’s body, Emma says, “I didn’t mean to choose.”