“Jeepers Creepers” was a pretty solid episode of Scream and continues its trend of being a vast improvement over the first season, but before I get into why this episode worked as well as it did one glaring flaw needs to be brought up: Why set a good chunk of the episode in a carnival and completely squander any potential it has for a chase scene? Just when it looked like the killer was going to get our quartet of leads caught in an exciting chase, they leave. Why even set a scene there at all? One can only hope that the series will return there for a legitimate chase scene. That’s my rant, but the episode gets docked half a skull for that missed opportunity.

While there was no real reason for the carnival setting, it did finally reveal Audrey’s past with Piper. After receiving a text from the motel concierge (who died three episodes ago) to meet him at the aforementioned fair grounds, Noah unwittingly walks into a trap and gets knocked out by the killer.  He wakes up strapped into a roller coaster car with Audrey tied up behind him. Lo and behold, it was Audrey’s who knocked him out and tied him up, not the killer. It was all a ploy to get him to confess why he has been following her around lately. She certainly was the poster child for taking things too far, no? She could have just sat him down and asked him, but that wouldn’t have made for very exciting television.

It is revealed that Audrey was not Piper’s accomplice (I called it). She merely begged Piper to come Lakewood and feels guilty about it since it led to the death of so many people. While her methods may have been extreme, at least her secret is finally out in the open (with Noah anyway) so we can move on past that mystery. It is still puzzling that she still wants to keep it a secret from Emma, but now that Noah and the audience knows the truth the focus can move on to the killer.

A common theory among viewers this season is that Emma is the killer. While it is understandable that one would assume that (she only interacts with the killer when there is no one else around and the emails to Emma’s dad that were coming from Riley’s email address were coming from Emma’s computer), it’s still a highly unlikely scenario. For one, Audrey saw the killer recording her in the motel room a few episodes back. Second (and here’s the big one), it would be a High Tension-level cheat if Emma turned out to be the killer. It makes sense that Emma’s PTSD will cause her to hallucinate, but to have her be the murderer and not realize any of it? No. The only reason I’m worried is because when the killer calls her this week he (she?) tells Emma that he’s in her head and she knows it. Is that a literal statement? If that is the direction this season takes it would ruin an otherwise solid season just like High Tension‘s twist ruins an otherwise fantastic film. Don’t do it writers.

Emma was all about telling people who wasn’t the killer this week (first Audrey and then Branson), which was a little frustrating. You’d think that after last season she would be a bit more suspicious of those around her. That being said, it’s nice to see her staying strong after her upswing last week. Those who have been skeptical of her (myself included) as a Final Girl may finally be coming around to Emma. This is the Emma we have been wanting to see since the series began.

The real badass of the episode was  Brooke, and boy did Branson get a little more than he bargained for with her, didn’t he? What we saw this week was Brooke taking matters into her own hands and it was glorious. After getting Gustavo to go through his dad’s file on Branson, she learns that he was dating Ms. Lang (a fact that surprisingly hasn’t been brought up until now), Brooke slyly tells Ms. Lang that she was with Seth the night of Jake’s murder and then seduces Seth into a trap. The reason Brooke is and always has been a more compelling character than Emma is that she is a stronger female character. Rather than retreat back into her shell like Emma has done in the past, she unhinges just a bit and goes full-on Catherine Tramell on him, except with a pair of scissors instead of an ice pick (What did that pillow ever do to you Brooke?). I’m not defending her bender here. She clearly needs to talk to a therapist, but where Emma has frequently been stuck in a period of stasis, Brooke has always taken action. It’s not always the right action, but it’s an action nonetheless. This automatically makes her the more interesting character. If there was an MVP of “Jeepers Creepers,” it was Brooke.

The missed opportunity with the carnival setting aside, “Jeepers Creepers” continues Scream’s trend of getting better each week. I have actually found myself excited when a new episode airs and wanting to find out where everything is headed. That is not something that could be said about every episode last season.

Random Notes

• Scream Thinks the Audience is Stupid Moment: Noah tells the audience that sometimes no one survives a horror movie. Oddly enough, Audrey seemed not to know that fact. You’re better than that Audrey.
• Why doesn’t Noah just show Emma the GIF? That would seem to make a lot more sense in convincing her of Audrey’s guilt.
• Emma, it’s not your crime board. You don’t just get to dictate what Noah does or doesn’t put on it. Make your own.
• Brooke’s dad and Kieran’s aunt seem to be hitting it off nicely. I expect we’ll be seeing more of them in the coming weeks.
• Gustavo’s drawing were for a graphic novel. He’s not that crazy you guys! Props to Kaitlin and John of the “Do You Like Scary Podcasts?” podcasts. They called it last week.
• “I know. She’s his age.” -Gustavo, when Brooke says it “makes 100% no sense” that Branson is dating Ms. Lang. His sassiness is endearing.
• “Playtime’s over, bitch!”
• “Jake was doing that? For me? What an idiot.” -Brooke was on fire this week!
• “JK. Now I believe you and you get to keep all of your man parts. Win win!” -I couldn’t not make a GIF of that.

• Somewhere in Time is Noah’s second favorite movie. I have no room to judge. Steel Magnolias is in my Top 10.
• “You love your Murder Board it’s what you do. It’s who you are!” -I don’t think any actor could have sold this line, but damn if Bex didn’t try her hardest. It still came off as silly, but props for trying.
• Branson got his hands cut off and the killer cauterizes his bloody stumps with an iron, so I guess he’ll be sticking around.
• Did that iron ding when it was preheated? I wish my iron did that.
• Brooke was giving us all kinds of face this week. Here was my favorite (sorry Carlson):