Scream season 2, episode 2, “Psycho,” just finished airing, and we meet several new candidates for v.2 of the Lakewood Killer.
The beginning of the episode picks up right where last week left off, with Emma running out of the farmhouse, thinking she saw a masked man out of the corner of her eye. She immediately goes to her mom, who confesses that she knows about the pig farm. It’s where the Jameses went after the murders in order to get away from all the gossip. She used to take Emma there, too, and that’s why Emma has been seeing the farm in her dreams.
But when Emma and her mom go back there, all the pictures and all the furniture are gone. Did someone clear the place out, or did Emma hallucinate what she saw? As Brooke points out, it wouldn’t be the first time Emma has seen things. Emma questions her own sanity and wonders if she’s come back too soon. Should she go back and continue her treatments? This idea propels Emma’s storyline forward for the rest of the episode.
Emma meets with her psych teacher and asks about her hallucinations. Everything seems normal until Emma walks away to pick up their coffees and we see that her teacher is recording her. There could be a hundred reasons why this is the case, but at the very least it’s creepy and immoral. She may not have a nefarious motive, but it doesn’t mean that what she’s doing is right. Especially after we see Emma have a flashback to meeting Piper for the first time.
But Emma is ready to take her story back into her own hands. She asks Kieran to go with her to the docks, where she relives her confrontation with Piper. Looking into the lake, the music swells and the murky water seems ever more ominous. A person in a mask appears on the opposite bank, but Emma is able to blink him away. Does that mean he wasn’t real? Not necessarily, but the most important part is that Emma feels so much better now.
The feeling is only enhanced when the couple learns that Kieran isn’t being sent away to Atlanta. That’s all well and good, except this also means his creepy aunt and even creepier cousin are moving in. Seriously, though, tell me Eli doesn’t give off some serious Norman Bates vibes.
One thing we know for sure that’s not in Emma’s head is the blue car that’s been following her all day. The driver is revealed to be none other than her father, who wins no awards for stalking his daughter down a dark road at night. Emma does not seem overjoyed that he’s back.
One character we wish would return is Jake, but that’s definitely just wishful thinking at this point. After not hearing from him for two days, Brooke goes against her Cosmo instincts and texts him first. When he doesn’t respond to the promise of some naughty pictures, she heads to the police station where she meets Stavo, the new sheriff’s son.
Stavo is creepy. There’s no other way to put it. Not only does he have a staring problem, but he’s also ranked the Lakewood Six by number, placing Jake at number six, Brooke at number four, and Noah at number three (there goes my ‘Noah is the Final Girl’ theory). I’d bet money that Emma is number one, while Audrey is number two and Kieran is number five. Does this mean Kieran’s next on the hit list? If Stavo is in charge, probably.
Interestingly, as Brooke is about to open a missing person’s report for Jake, Stavo pulls out his phone for a minute, types something in, and puts it away again. A mere moment later, Brooke gets a message from Jake. I see you, Scream, but I’m not biting just yet. This franchise’s foundation is made up of misdirection and red herrings. It’s only episode 2, and I refuse give into your tricks so early.
But, seriously. Stavo is so creepy. Nothing’s gonna change that.
At home, Brooke informs her father that she’s been dating Jake — which he’s already aware of because he’s been tracking everything she does on her phone — and informs him that she’s much more interested in her life with Jake than her father’s stupid campaign. You go, Brooke! It’s clear her father is still as slimy as ever.
When Brooke receives roses and a note, she heads over to Jake’s house, only to find that no one’s home. She sits sadly on his front steps, observed by none other than His Creepiness, Stavo Acosta. Did he follow her from the police station, or did he know where she was headed because he’s the one she’s been texting?
Meanwhile, Noah is hot on the trail of Piper’s accomplice, feeding into Audrey’s paranoia. She’s still getting harassed by the new killer, but has no idea who it is. Instead of pushing Noah away and trying to convince him to stop tracking the accomplice, which would make her seem hella guilty, Audrey volunteers to film the meeting with the lead.
Audrey’s late to the hotel where the mysterious Eddie works, so Noah goes in on his own. Turns out Eddie doesn’t live up to his “Krueger” namesake, and he’s a complete pushover when Audrey calls him on the phone using the voice modulator app. She tells him to lie, and he easily acquiesces, leaving Noah without any significant information other than the fact that Piper’s accomplice was a woman.
When Audrey does finally show, Noah’s not too annoyed to share another bit of information with her: Piper had a storage locker that the police may have overlooked. The two head in opposite directions, promising to meet up in the morning to check it out together, but Audrey heads over there right away. When she opens the door, she finds Jake’s body with cutouts from her letters that read, “See how I finished the job for you, Audrey?”
If the job is finished, does this mean the rest of the Lakewood Six are safe? Probably not.
Killer potential
Half the fun of Scream is trying to figure out who the killer is. Let’s sees who’s most suspicious this week.
- Kevin Duvall: He’s shown up at a very suspicious time, and I’m still not convinced he wasn’t involved in the original murder back when Brandon James was accused of killing his classmates. Emma’s father doesn’t seem like the most stable guy, especially if he’s stalking his own daughter. This is also the second week in a row he’s made my list.
- Stavo Acosta: We saw him drawing a bloody picture of Emma, he’s just as obsessed with death as Noah but doesn’t have The Virgin’s quirky sense of humor, and his interactions with Brooke have been extremely suspicious. Plus that whole ranking the Lakewood Six thing just does not bode well for anyone.
- Eli Hudson: Five minutes with this guy, and I’m convinced he’s got a screw loose. His quiet control over his mother aside, he does give off a Psycho vibe, which fits well with this week’s episode title. He knows exactly who Emma is and has already gone out of his way to interact with her.