MTV’s Scream returns tomorrow night for a two-hour Halloween special, bridging the gap between its second and upcoming third season. It is a standalone story for the most part, but it is bookended by scenes that tie into the main series arc.* Taking cues from films such as And Then There Were None and I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, Scream‘s Halloween special shows the series returning to the playfulness that has helped make some of its better episodes so enjoyable. That being said, a bridge is still a bridge. The episode does feel rather pointless in the long run, but at least it’s fun to watch!
*One of these scenes is spoiled in the trailer, so don’t watch that if you haven’t already.
Set eight months after the events of the season two finale, “Halloween” and “Halloween II” (heretofore referred to as “Halloween”) are two episodes being billed as one TV movie. Kieran is behind bars and the remaining members of the Lakewood Six are getting back to their normal lives. Brooke is contemplating going to NYU but is hesitant to bring along Stavo. Emma is contemplating not going to college. Audrey has a new girlfriend in the form of Gina (Zena Grey). Noah and Stavo’s graphic novel was a huge success and they are now under pressure to produce a new one for their editor Jeremy (Alex Esola).
That pressure leads Jeremy to give Noah and Stavo an all-expense-paid trip to Shallow Grove Island in order to give Noah some inspiration. The island just so happens to be the location where a young girl named Anna Hobbs murdered her parents and the residents of the Whitan household with a pair of shears. Once her massacre was over she used the shears on herself. Emma, Brooke and Audrey join Noah and Stavo to get away from the media frenzy surrounding Kieran’s trial. Unsurprisingly, people start getting murdered the second they get to the island and a new mystery unfolds.
“Halloween” works as a self-contained story for the most part, but it does feel needless in the grand scheme of things. It’s a harmless bit of filler, but not much else. The benefit of “Halloween” is that it means Scream won’t need to waste any episodes playing catch-up when Season Three premieres (and it can’t really afford to with that six-episode order). “Halloween” spends a decent amount of time letting us know where the characters are emotionally and setting up their journeys for season three. This means that season three can hit the ground running and jump right into the good stuff.
“Halloween” almost matches the body count of the entire second season. Yes, you read that correctly. “Halloween” has nearly the same body count as the 12-episode second season (I want to say there are six deaths in this episode and seven in all of the second season). The deaths are pretty brutal, too. Scream amps up the gore beginning with the opening scene (what a scene that is) and it doesn’t disappoint for the remainder of the episode. Unfortunately, it does run into the habit of introducing a new character only to kill them off minutes later, which takes a lot of the suspense out of the proceedings.
Scream is at its worst when it loses its sense of fun, and luckily “Halloween” is a lot of fun. Too often Scream tries too hard to be funny or witty that it becomes a bit of a slog. “Halloween” doesn’t have this problem. The humor comes naturally and makes for one of the more confident episodes the show has ever had. Having survived two separate serial killing sprees, the characters have become desensitized to the violence that surrounds them. They even openly question the frequency at which they are targeted by psychopaths (“I can’t believe that this is happening again,” Emma quips). It’s refreshing to see Scream be playful. If anything, “Halloween” never ceases to entertain and for that fans can be grateful.
It’s not exactly clear why MTV chose to release “Halloween” as a special episode between seasons (it is technically listed as episodes 13 and 14 of season two). Though it is marred by a predictable mystery that doesn’t hold a lot of suspense, it is nice to see these characters again. Plus, the episode is a fun little diversion to satiate fans before the third season premieres next year.
