Well, I hate to say it, but Scream got me.
The killer was finally revealed and I have to say I was surprised, but that’s not to say I was satisfied.
In retrospect I suppose it makes sense that Piper was the killer all along. She shows up the moment the killings first began and as she reveals to Emma, there was that talk of how Piper also lost her father.
From the outset, Scream made a point to bounce suspicion from character to character. In this final episode it seemed Scream was going to follow in the footsteps of the film, making Kieren, Emma’s newest love interest, the killer along with someone else. It was my prediction that this person would be Noah as he was the only person I saw that possessed the skill set to hack into virtually everyone’s electronic devices.
I would have much rather seen this outcome.
What made the reveal of the killer so great in the original film was how much was at stake. Although it is always suggested that Billy might be the killer, it’s Sydney’s trust in him that makes revelation still so shocking. We kind of don’t want to believe that it could be Billy because we know it will be such a betrayal for Sydney. Furthermore, it’s such a long con to not only try and gain Sydney’s trust, but also to enter into a romantic relationship with her. This puts Billy so much closer to his victim, showing him to be a true sociopath.
The series on the other hand seems far more interested in shocking the audience than trying to create an emotional connection with them. Emma and Piper don’t really have the type of connection that Sydney and Billy had. Romance aside, Billy was in Sydney’s life far longer, showing his commitment in truly destroying Sydney’s life. Piper just shows up one day, with only a few scenes between her and Emma to establish a connection between the two. The revelation of Piper as the killer is a surprise to be sure , but one without any emotional investment. Did anyone care if Piper was killed during the show? So why would we be disappointed when we find out she’s the killer?
The series tries to make up for this with it’s cryptic ending showing Audrey’s involvement in the murders, but since we have no understanding as to why she would help Piper, we now have to wait till season two.
Overall, Scream never was able to overcome it’s most fatal flaw, it’s boring cast. There were moments when it seemed that Brooke would be the one character that would have some semblance of an emotional arc, but ultimately the series ruined that. In the last few episodes Brooke falls right back into her old habits, continuing her relationship with Mr. Branson and constantly imploding into haze of sex and alcohol. Her relationship with Jake is an even worse decision, as he’s a complete frat boy idiot that will ultimately be horrible influence on her. Honestly, she was better off with her teacher.
Emma also turned out to be a total let down, being for more interested in finding a boyfriend than finding the one responsible for killing all her friends. This never changes even in the finale where she takes time to go to the dance with Kieren and absolutely refuses to believe that he could be the killer. This coming right after seeing her previous boyfriend, Will, brutally killed right before her eyes.
Ahh, young love is so fleeting.
The rest of the cast never really got out of being a collection of one-dimensional archetypes. Kieren never became anything more than brooding eye candy. When he finds out that his father has been killed, he had his one moment to show an ounce of emotion, instead we’re forced to watch him desperately hide his face from the camera and lean depressingly against the side of a house. Then of course there’s Noah who never quite got out of being a carbon-copy of Topher Grace.
The only character that did show promise was Audrey and with that I’ll give MTV credit. At least they managed to keep the one interesting character still around for a second season.
It’s hard to see where a second season of this series can go from here. I suppose a new school year could bring a new class of kids to Lakewood, making this series a Glee knockoff where we get to see the kids violently slaughtered. Then again that does sound pretty good, perhaps there is something to look forward to next year.
