TV Review: ‘Scream’ (2×03) “Vacancy”

Audrey, You’re Making This Worse

When we last left Audrey, she had found Jake’s dead body in a storage locker. Yikes. This week’s episode kicks off right where we left off, with Audrey standing over Jake’s dead body and receiving our first killer call of the episode. Lakewood Killer #2 taunts her about the message pinned to his body and her inability to go to the cops. She removes the pins from Jake’s chest and takes them with her, which is what we call “tampering with evidence.”

Noah and Audrey return to the storage locker the next day, only to find it blood-free and full of junk. “It’s so disappointing! All this hype and then there’s nothing. It’s like everyone saying, ‘Go see The Blair Witch Project!’” Noah says, while Audrey nearly passes out from relief. He sees the camera on the ceiling and grabs it, much to her chagrin. Noah syncs the camera to his computer. Terrified that he’ll see footage of her, Audrey grabs a heavy bookend to smash it. She’s saved when they discover that the camera is blank, but Noah catches Audrey with the bookend and makes a sassy comment about his personal library and bookends. Audrey receives a killer text that says, “Don’t worry partner, I covered for you,” along with a video of her in the storage locker with Jake’s dead body.

Daddy Issues

Maggie advises Emma to be wary of her father’s return, but Emma isn’t hearing it. When she calls Audrey, she doesn’t get any more support; Audrey is suspicious about the timing of her father’s return. After ignoring both warnings, Emma goes to meet her father for coffee. He apologizes for leaving and mentions that Maggie advised him to stay away longer than he would have liked. Unfortunately, he can’t give her an answer as to why he left her. Emma leaves and proceeds to bitch at Maggie for keeping him away.

Maggie confronts Papa Duvall about his return. He informs her that he showed up because Riley Marra has been emailing him for months and telling him that Emma really needs him. Yup, gear up for it. Maggie informs him that Riley’s been dead for months, as she was murdered by Piper in the early days of season one. They bring the issue to Sheriff Acosta, who seems unconcerned about the whole thing. After Maggie fights him on it, he agrees, but insists that they don’t tell Emma–something that doesn’t sit well with Maggie. Maggie is pissed at both of them and she says, “Swapping glances like you’re teenage boys–again,” leading me to believe that Acosta was also involved in the original Lakewood murders.

Brooke’s Storyline is Anxiety Inducing

At the Lady of the Lake Pageant rehearsal, Brooke leaves a panicked, angry voicemail for Jake about standing her up and ghosting. She returns to rehearsal and hangs out with new girl Zoe, further ingraining her in the group. While Zoe is dishing about her crush on Noah and his podcast, Brooke receives what I believe to be another killer call, though Brooke thinks it’s Branson. Whoever is on the phone says that since she and Jake broke up, he wants another shot. “Consider this number blocked too,” she says, hanging up. At school, she drags Audrey and Emma into the bathroom for a girls’ only moment to discuss the Branson situation. Audrey spills the Papa Duvall secret in the process and she and Emma get into a fight.

Over at the movie theater, Noah has been stood up by Audrey. Stavo talks to him about his podcast, wondering if he’s scared that Piper’s accomplice will come after him if he gets too close to the secret. Apparently Noah never considered this. Noah, I’m disappointed. Brooke brings over Zoe trying to set her up with Noah, and is quickly frustrated by their awkwardness. “I’m just going to speed this up a bit. Noah, if you’re smart, you’ll ask Zoe out! And if you’re lucky, she’ll say yes,” she says. Brooke gets peeved when they run into Branson, who promises that he sees her around town but tries to avoid her. Brooke pretends to be dating Stavo, making sure to mention that he’s the sheriff’s son. They’re about to split off when Branson calls, “You’ve CHANGED, Brooke. You didn’t even say thank you for the flowers!” Brooke is more hurt that “Jake” let her think that the flowers were from him and immediately breaks up with him via text. After a casual “hasta la vista,” “Jake” goes dark again.

Another One of Those Look Behind You Moments

Emma gets a note from Papa Duvall–or “Papa Duvall,” more like–apologizing to her and directing her to the Crescent Palms Motel. Cut to the Crescent Palms Motel, where Eddie is delivering a liquor store order to “Mr. Duvall.” Oh Eddie. Seeing that many tarps in a motel room is a bad sign. Lakewood Killer #2 smashes a wine bottle into the side of his head. They proceed to stab him multiple times, leaving the corkscrew in his jugular. They call Audrey (our third killer call of the episode) to tell her that they’re waiting for Audrey at the Crescent Palms and that if she doesn’t show up, they’ll release the video of her with Jake’s body in The Morgue’s comments.

Emma goes to the motel. The blood has been completely cleared, but Emma finds a pile of newspaper articles about last year’s murders. Audrey receives the fourth killer call urging her to hurry up–after all, they have a guest. They hang up and immediately call back with a video call, showing Emma in the hotel room. They pan to themselves in the mirror, then a quick shot of Eddie’s dead, bleeding body in the bathtub. When Emma ignores Audrey’s call, she calls 911 and races to the Motel.

Emma is about to go into the bathroom when she’s drawn outside by a domestic dispute. She goes to the bar next door, where she sees her father drunkenly brawling with some guy. She asks him why he asked her to come there if he was just getting wasted. He explains that he checked out and packed already, as he was heading out–you know, leaving without saying goodbye. He explains that he left because he fractured Maggie’s jaw when he was drunk and she tried to stop him from driving Emma somewhere. Audrey and the police roll up at the same time and she claims that she called them to the bar for the fight and not the motel. Audrey, stop. When she gets back in her car, she gets a killer text that says, “Look under your seat!” She finds the bloody corkscrew and a new text that says, “You shouldn’t have called the police…GOTCHA!”

This week gave us more back story on Emma’s life before the show–and more back story on how the original Lakewood murders affected Emma’s family. The writers are doing a very good job at building the suspense for Brooke’s storyline; I once again felt like she was going to find Jake’s dead body at every turn. Lakewood Killer #2’s acceleration of both bloodshed and twisted games is a welcome piece to the plot (you get what I’m saying); if that’s the kind of death we’re seeing this early in the season, there’s no telling how twisted things are going to get. The only drawback is how suspicious they’re making Audrey’s behavior. Her reckless weirdness is practically smacking us across the face, so it better be worth it in the end.

Best Line: “It’s so disappointing! All this hype and then there’s nothing. It’s like everyone saying, ‘Go see The Blair Witch Project!’” I have to give it to the shade Noah threw at a certain horror classic.

Killer Calls: 5

Body Count Per Episode: 1

Body Count Per Season: 2

Episode Rating: 7/10