TV Review: <i>Scream Queens</i> Series Premiere

During the two-hour premiere of Scream Queens, we encounter a motley crew of characters, sudden deaths and a whole bunch of ear-piercing screams. The show, described by creator Ryan Murphy as ‘Halloween’ meets ‘Heathers’, lives up to that description in the first episode. Scream Queens follows a college sorority, Kappa Kappa Tau, while a masked killer is on the loose and targeting the Kappa community.

The premiere opens with a flashback to 1995 when one of Kappa’s deepest secrets took place. Rumor is a girl died after giving birth in a tub because her sisters let her bleed out because they were too busy enjoying a party and singing along to TLC’s Waterfalls. Questions arise throughout the episode if the recent killings are related to this bathtub death and where the baby from the tub is now.

When we enter into the present day, 2015, we meet certified mega mean girl Chanel Oberlin (Emma Roberts) and her minions, Chanel #5 (Abigail Breslin), Chanel #2 (Ariana Grande) and Chanel #3 (Billie Lourd) all dressed to the nines in clothes that no one would actually wear in 2015. Dean of the school Cathy Munsch (Jamie Lee Curtis) has it out for the girls of Kappa Kappa Tau, especially their leader Chanel. In hopes of bringing the girls and their ‘Kappa Kingdom’ down, she requires the girls to accept anyone who wants to pledge Kappa. With this provision in place, we meet the newest, unique pledge class that includes Hester Ulrich (Lea Michele), Jennifer, Zayday Williams (Keke Palmer) and Grace Gardner (Skyler Samuels). In step with Murphy’s style of large, diverse cast of characters, the pledge class alone includes someone deaf, in a neck brace and gay.

For a two-hour episode with plenty of  blood, sexual tension and five ‘dead’ characters, not much else happens. The premiere set up the characters and the high school cheesy drama/ indie slasher style of the show. By the end, everybody seemed suspicious and capable of murder. Between the red cap, the anonymous texts and all the characters looking guilty, I couldn’t help but see a comparison to Pretty Little Liars for a second.

The premiere closes in a mortuary, where we see a shirtless Boone (Nick Jonas), (who was previously called as dead), rise from a table and come ‘back to life’. He pulls off a fake, bloody sticker from his neck and asks the masked devil what took so long. This final scene hints that Boone must be involved in this murder mystery.

Do you think that Chanel #2 and Ms. Bean are coming back too? Do you think they will reappear in next week’s episode?

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