Scream season 2, episode 8, “Village of the Damned,” gave us Lakewood’s Centennial birthday and, of course, everything went to hell.

Traditions die hard in Lakewood, and despite everything that’s happened, Mayor Maddox is convinced that if everyone were to just plaster a smile on their face, they could drive the killer out of their town with the sheer power of positivity alone.

Audrey is probably thinking the opposite, however, as she wakes up to blood dripping on her face and “12 dead” scrawled across her ceiling. “No one will ever forgive you” is written on her mirror, and I’m so proud of her for going directly to Noah with this information. She may still be hiding her past actions from Emma, but at least Audrey’s not completely alone anymore.

Emma is also coming clean, this time to the cops, as she tells them she and Eli were there as the house burned down. The house, it turns out, is the real estate property of Mayor Maddox. I don’t know why I’m constantly surprised everything keeps coming back to Brooke’s father, but it’s getting difficult to believe he’s nothing more than just a sleazy politician.

There’s also more to Sheriff Acosta, who has received the contents of Ms. Lang’s desk, finding a tape on his son, Stavo. He hides it in his desk, and I have to wonder — how far would he go to protect his son? He has a duty to Lakewood’s citizens, but would he put their needs ahead of Stavo’s?

One young man whose secrets are coming out in droves is Eli, as we discover there is a restraining order for him in Georgia after he snuck into a young woman’s bedroom. We already know Eli likes to make up separate lives, but there’s a difference between sneaking into an empty house and sneaking into an occupied one, especially if you’re wielding a knife while standing over some poor couple in bed.

Acosta puts Maggie back on the case as he goes to confront his son about the tape. We hear him talking about keeping bodies like Michelangelo did to study his subjects and become a better artist. When Stavo finds his father tearing his room apart, they discuss what happened in their old town. Stavo shot someone? It was his friend, and it sounds like he went back to get his body to study it. “If you think I’m a killer, prove it,” Stavo says, and I don’t know if this is because he has nothing to hide or because he’s so confident in his ability to destroy evidence.

Audrey gets a call from the killer telling her not to confess to Emma or shit is really going to hit the fan, so she asks Emma to go to the carnival with her. She wants to tell Emma more than anything, but not if it risks her friend’s life. Still, it looks like they’re having a good time and Emma isn’t too suspicious of Audrey’s ulterior motives.

Brooke, on the other hand, is not having a good time. While Zoe takes a shot to calm her nerves, Brooke drains the flask on an empty stomach. Stavo tries to convince her to skip out on the pageant, but Brooke has her reasons for wanting to do it. I really love this new Brooke. Despite all the tragedy, we’ve gained a much more rounded and real person in Ms. Maddox. She has no qualms about leaning on Audrey for help or telling the entire town of Lakewood where they can shove their Lakewood Days.

Kieran’s also not having a good time. He seems completely on edge as Eli grabs Emma’s elbow. I know Eli has a thing for Emma, but I still can’t decide if it’s genuine, or if he is the most convincingly manipulative person on the planet. If it’s the latter, he’s doing an awfully good job as he presses every single one of Kieran’s buttons, saying, “It’s not like I told her the worst part,” when it came to his parents’ car accident. Then Kieran gets a couple good shots at his face.

I’m not saying that wasn’t cathartic to watch.

But as Emma confesses to Audrey what Eli did back in Georgia, Audrey tells her a half truth about what she found in her bedroom that morning, wondering if Eli could be the one who snuck into her room. Now they’re both suspicious of Kieran’s cousin. That’s probably for the best.

Speaking of Emma’s handsome boyfriend, it turns out he’s been kidnapped by the killer, who lures Emma into the fun house. Because of course he would. It’s a Five Nights at Freddy’s level of creepy, but Emma’s concern outweighs her fear. That deputy who follows her in isn’t as lucky. He’s attacked, and Emma finds him just in time to take a shot at the killer. But if you caught that muffled shout, you probably knew what was coming next.

The cops show up as the masked man stumbles out of the fun house, a knife taped to his hand. When they remove the mask, Kieran is beneath it, mouth duct taped shut. Acosta turns to his son at this point, who has no emotion on his face, and I have to wonder if the sheriff is thinking Stavo got rid of the mask by putting it Kieran. Does he believe his son could orchestrate such horrors?

You have to admit, though, this does make Kieran look less murder-y. We find out he was in the car with his parents when they died, and that he had an argument with his step-father that caused him to take his eyes off the road. Kieran believes his parents’ crash was all his fault, but he wanted to be the one to tell Emma, not Eli.

The push and pull between Noah, Zoe, and Audrey continues to grow stronger as Audrey tells Noah she’s done playing the killer’s games. She going to tell Emma everything tonight. Noah encourages her, and then goes back to his place with Zoe, who locks the door so they don’t have any interruptions. Except Noah hasn’t silenced his phone, and Audrey is calling him. It kills the mood for Zoe, but she seems like a good sport. They’ll know when it’s the right time, she says, and leaves Noah high and dry.

This could be the reason why she sends the file of Audrey’s confession to Emma, though we don’t actually see her do it. I’m trying to give Zoe the benefit of the doubt here, but Noah wouldn’t have sent it, and who else could’ve done it? I suppose Lakewood has a bedroom breaking-and-entering epidemic right now, so perhaps it could be anybody. At least Audrey shows up right as Emma listens to it so they can talk it out right then and there. I hate miscommunication tropes.

One last thing to worry about. Maggie reveals one of the bodies from the fire was Branson, who was missing a hand. Acosta pulls out his file on Stavo, finding a drawing of Seth handcuffed to the bed. Um, how did he know that’s what went down? Would Brooke have told him? If not, then Stavo has some serious explaining to do.

What’s even more worrying is when Brooke asks Stavo over so she can fall asleep. He quietly climbs into bed, not looking like he’s taking advantage of the situation in the slightest. I swear, if this was any show but Scream and Stavo wasn’t setting alarm bells off left and right, I would be shipping these two hardcore.

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.

1. Eli Hudson: He’s so manipulative, he has a restraining order against him, and lots of people are having issues with someone sneaking into their rooms. It just screams Eli.
2. Stavo Acosta: That drawing of Branson is extremely suspicious, not to mention his admission that he likes to keep bodies around to study them.
3. Mayor Maddox: Everything comes back to him, and he’s done some pretty shady things in his past. Could he be orchestrating this entire murder spree?

Who’s your biggest suspect after ‘Scream’ 2×08, ‘Village of the Damned’?