MTV’s popular reboot series “Scream,” returns to the network for its second season on May 31 — a return accompanied by quite a few changes in Lakewood.

Based on the Wes Craven-directed film franchise of the same name, the show has brought in new showrunners and added six new faces to its cast (two of them series regulars).

Season two, which is in production in New Orleans, picks up with Emma’s (Willa Fitzgerald) return to Lakewood after spending several months at a retreat recovering from the horrors of last season. In a situation not so different from Neve Campbell’s Sidney Prescott in the films, everyone is walking on eggshells around Emma, and questioning whether she has truly gotten over the killer’s crimes.

Meanwhile, Audrey (Bex Taylor-Klaus) is hiding her connection to the killer, but someone who knows the truth is threatening to expose her secret. Brooke (Carlson Young) and Jake (Tom Maden) are also keeping secrets — they are hiding a budding romance from Mayor Maddox (Bryan Batt). And, Noah (John Karna) is getting closer to the truth about the season one murders.

Joining the cast as series regulars are Kiana Lede (“The Smurfs 2″) as Zoe, a driven overachiever at the high school who –surprise, surprise– harbors a secret; and Santiago Segura (Silicon Valley) as Gustavo Acosta, a dark, brooding, and handsome outsider with a love for art, horror, serial killers and comics.

The show has also enlisted four newcomers as recurring characters in season two. Anthony Ruivivar (“Banshee,” The CW’s “Frequency” pilot) will play Sheriff Michael Acosta, Gustavo’s father and a former Lakewood resident who returns to the town where he grew up; Austin Highsmith (“Criminal Minds”) will play Karen Lang, a psychology teacher who becomes a confidant and mentor to her students; Sean Grandillo (Broadway’s “Spring Awakening”) will join as Eli, Kieran’s (Amadeus Serafini) cousin; and Katrina Logue (“Bates Motel”) will play Tina Hudson, a proper girl with a grifter’s sense of self-reliance.

Aside from cast additions, “Scream,” is making some changes behind the scenes with new showrunners Michael Gans and Richard Register (“Make It or Break It,” “Celebrity Deathmatch”). It will be interesting to see how Gans and Register will change the show creatively.

The series returns Tuesday, May 31, at 10 p.m. ET/PT on MTV, but those who need to catch up on the first season can grab a copy of the DVD when Anchor Bay Entertainment and Dimension TV release season 1 on May 10.

The Lakewood killer was finally revealed on Tuesday, and our theory on his, or her, identity may or may not have been completely right (definitely 100% right).

We last left Emma at the school Halloween dance, where monitors turned on to show a bloodied and bound Sheriff Hudson. Maggie fills Emma in on Mr. Branson’s escape, which the police believe looks too staged (duh). Piper shows up to make sure Maggie and Emma are okay. After offering to go to the police station to find out more about what’s going on, she eerily tells Emma not to trust anyone. She forgot to mention that that includes her, but anyway…

We then find Kieran sulking in his car about Emma not trusting him. He loads some bullets into a gun and ignores Emma’s call, because MTV wants us to think he might be the murderer, but we know better. After trying to call Kieran to tell him about his dad, Emma goes to Noah. The two quickly realize that Audrey and Brooke aren’t at the dance. Emma tries to contact them to let them know what’s going on, but it’s no use. The killer hacked everyone’s phones to cut out communication.

But of course the killer can still reach Emma. The masked murderer promises Emma the “finale” will be gut wrenching, (which it literally is). Unless Emma puts the pieces together quickly, the murderer is going to break Daisy’s heart, which obviously means killing Clark Hudson.

Maggie goes to the station, and discovers the cop that was killed during Branson’s escape had a locket jammed down this throat, a locket that Brandon had made for Daisy. Emma suggests Sheriff Hudson might be where Brandon used to leave Daisy gifts.

Meanwhile, completely unaware of everything that’s happening, Audrey goes to Brooke’s party. Audrey fills Brooke in on her suspicions about Kieran, to which Brooke replied, “Kieran can’t be the killer; He’s too pretty.” Thank you Brooke for stating what we’ve been thinking all along!

Emma was right about Sheriff Hudson’s location. Maggie and Emma find the sheriff tied to the tree where Brandon used to leave gifts for Daisy. Maggie rushes to help him and untie him, not knowing that the rope was keeping his insides, well, in. As she unties him, his guts pour out, leaving his death equally disgusting and like the killer promised, gut wrenching.

Piper of course shows up to report on the death, and tells Emma she wants to help in any way she can. She offers to go to Brooke’s to check on her. Thinking her friends would be safe with Piper’s check up, Emma goes to the police station with her mom. Noah call her to tell her what he’s discovered: malware has cut everyone off from each other, but he located where it’s coming from. 1221 Sparrow Drive, which Emma quickly realizes is Brooke’s house (who memorizes people’s addresses?). Emma immediately gets a text saying, “No cops, or they will all be headline news.”

Noah and Emma decide to go to Brooke’s themselves. Noah goes off on one of his slasher movie rants, saying the the killer is going to murder all of Emma’s friends one by one until it’s just her left. He tells her, “…you’re the survivor girl, which make me the know it all sidekick. Aw crap I’m going to die.” Emma reassures him, “Tonight, we change the ending.”

While all this happening, Brooke gets jealous over Jake when she sees him making out with some girl. Two can play that game though, so she grabs a random guy to make out with. Brooke’s game worked, and Jake quickly follows her inside the house. He admits that he was spying on her, but that he was looking out for her. He had seen that the spyware was deleted and then put back on the computer, so he was trying to figure out who did it.

Outside, the drunk girl Jake was making out with begins to look for him. Instead of finding Jake, she find a dead guy in a closet- the same random guy Brooke kissed. Understandably so, the girl shrieks and everyone runs away as they see the dead body. Audrey goes toward the body, only to be met with the killer. Audrey taunts the killer as she’s held with a knife to her, “What are you waiting for?”

Brooke comes back outside to an empty house, but instead of thinking something was wrong, she cried, “They ditched me!” She hears a noise and runs back inside. Branson shows up and tries to explain to Brooke that he was set up. Of course he was! The killer stabbed the cop and let Branson out, but he has no idea who it was. He pours his heart out to her, saying that she’s special, what they have is special, etc etc. (Eye roll, eye roll). The lights suddenly cut out and Branson disappears as the Brandon James mask appears.

Brooke runs and hides in the freezer, because that’s smart. The killer locks her in and starts stabbing the freezer. She gets hit a few times, and just when she thought it was over, the killer plugs in the freezer.

Emma and Noah show up to Brooke’s and find Kieran holding up a gun. Emma and Noah don’t try to hide their distrust, not even a little. Emma tells Kieran what Piper told her about him visiting Brandon’s mom, and his reaction is much like ours was, “And you believer her??” Kieran defends himself and assures them that Clark Hudson is his dad, 100%. Emma breaks the news to Kieran about his dad. He yells at Emma, “And you still think that this psychopath is me?!”

This convinces Emma and Noah, and the three go inside Brooke’s to find her and Audrey. Jake eventually shows up, startling Kieran and Emma. He runs straight to the freezer after telling the gang that he had heard banging coming from the garage. The rescue Brooke, who is somehow still alive, just very cold, and Jake assures her, “I’ll keep you safe.”

Noah finds Audrey, who miraculously was spared by the killer. He wonders why the killer let her get away (I smell some foreshadowing…). Emma goes to look for the land line to call for help since their phones aren’t working. But she gets a call instead. I wonder who it could be!

The murderer tells her, ” “It’s not just you that I want… can’t have one without the other.” Emma understands what he means- the murderer has her mom. Because Emma is a super genius and figures out clues like Sherlock Holmes, she knows her mom is at the dock where Brandon James was killed.

Emma runs to the dock alone, after the murderer warned her not to bring anyone, where surprise! she does find her mom. It doesn’t take long for the murderer to show up. And finally, the murderer reveals himself- except its a girl, and it’s… PIPER.

“Hey sis,” she says to Emma. The dad that Piper had told Emma about was in fact, Brandon James. She admits that she wants revenge for Maggie’s mistakes- including hurting Emma any way she could. She then fills them in about her plan to frame Branson, who is tied up in her car.

Emma tries to attack Piper, but fails. Maggie, who had been tied up, escapes from her chair and tries to help Emma. The three start fighting for control. When it seems like Piper might actually kill Maggie and Emma, she gets shot instead. She falls into the water, just like her dad did, and we see that Audrey, who saw Emma running into the woods, was the one that fired the gun. But the shot didn’t kill her, and she tries to come back on the dock. Emma grabs the gun, and shoots her in the face like a bad ass.

All seems perfect the next morning. Noah takes over Piper’s podcast, Kieran and Emma make up, Brooke and Jake seem cuddly and lovey, and Branson is free. But is all really fine in Lakewood? The season ends with Audrey looking at letters from Piper and stolen papers from the Lakewood Municipal Building. We guessed that whoever the killer was, was likely not working alone. Was Audrey helping Piper? Was her “saving” Emma part of the plan all along or did she feel regret?

We’ll have to wait until next season to find out!

We’re almost to the end of the season, where we’ll hopefully figure out who the masked killer is. “The Dance” beings with footage from a year prior of someone breaking in to Lakewood County Municipal Records building to steal Brandon James’ mask from his evidence box. The scene then cuts to present day Lakewood getting ready for Halloween, with a voice over from Piper’s podcast wondering what the connection between Branson and Brandon James could possibly be. (There is none, because he’s not the killer, duh).

After interrogating Branson, who revealed nothing incriminating, Sheriff Hudson announces to the town that the Halloween high school dance would still be taking place, but no trick or treating and no masks. Believing that the murderer is behind bars, he feels confident that nothing would happen to the teens. Piper confronts the sheriff about how safe this possibly be, but he dismisses her worries and says, “I’m just trying to protect the peace, what are you doing?” Ouch.

Meanwhile, Brooke tells Emma she’s not convinced that Branson is the murderer. Although she’s obviously a bit biased since she, well, was close with him, she believes he couldn’t kill. Brooke doesn’t have it easy right now with her mom in rehab, dad and “boyfriend” in jail. Emma takes Brooke to stay with Jake for a while. It’s quite clear that Jake has some sort of feelings for Brooke, whether or not it’s romantic isn’t at obvious. He goes out of his way to make Brooke feel comfortable and at home, in a way a good friend would do. He cares for her, and he slightly becomes less “doosh”-y every time he shows that.

Emma wasn’t convinced with Brooke’s claim that she only wanted the murderer to be Branson so that someone could be held accountable. Emma asks her mom and Sheriff Hudson to see Branson. If her theory is correct, that the child her mother gave up is behind the murders and that that person is Branson, surely he’d have some sort of reaction to seeing her. By the way, the theory makes zero sense considering Branson sees Emma everyday at school. But anyway. Branson continues to play it cool when he sees Emma. Upon seeing her he says, “Hello Emma,” exactly the way the murderer has been saying that in phone calls. But he’s convincingly innocent throughout their exchange. Emma brings up her mother, which confuses Branson. “She’s… nice. You look a lot like her,” is all he can say about Maggie.

Emma reveals her half brother murderer theory to Noah and Audrey. Noah decides that Branson is a clever name because of how much it sounds like “Brandon’s Son.” Audrey doesn’t understand what connection Branson would have to Rachel, though. Why kill her? This continues to eat away at Audrey, and later she decides, with Noah’s help, to go through Rachel’s old tapes. Apparently, she video taped everything in her life, so maybe she caught Branson doing something wrong?

During Audrey and Noah’s Rachel movie fest, Piper goes to Emma with some news: She’s found Brandon’s mother, Cassie James. Piper’s visit lead to nowhere since Cassie was incoherent, but the two decide to go together. Upon seeing Emma, Cassie says, “Your mom was Daisy… now I see the resemblance. Eventually, Cassie’s old age takes over and she starts believing that Emma actually is Daisy. She becomes a bit angry and tells her, “You got him killed.”

Cassie begins singing the “Daisy” song, and mentions how much Brandon loved that song, “and so did his boy.” Cassie mentions that his boy had just visited, but she couldn’t remember his name. Emma asks, “Was it Seth?” (Branson’s first name.) Cassie confirms that yes, his name was Seth, and that he wanted to know all about his daddy. The whole exchange seems weird. Why couldn’t Piper get any information alone? Also, why had nobody else thought to go to Cassie? It seems as though Mr. Branson is being framed. Is he just the easiest target, or does the masked murderer have a personal vendetta against him?

Although Jake seemed very sincere when he was welcoming Brooke into his home, she blames him when she discovers that someone hacked into her computer and turned the webcam on while she was undressing to get in the shower. She feels uncomfortable and heads back to her empty house where she decides to have a party. Sounds like a great idea while there’s potentially still a murderer at large.

Sheriff Hudson discovers that the phone found in Branson’s classroom traced back to a tower far from Branson’s house and the school. He takes initiative, and goes to the house to see if witnesses could place Branson there. The house seems to be empty, so he enters, only to find a computer streaming live videos, including one from Lakewood County Jail. Surprise, surprise, the killer is there! The masked killer strikes Sheriff Hudson. This could mean the murderer is clearly not Branson, but it could also go back to the team theory.

While searching Rachel’s archives, Noah and Audrey find something odd, though it has nothing to do with Mr. Branson. The two find a video of Kieran leaving a bar with a drunk Nina, the night before she was murdered.

Jake sits in his car outside the dance for a while, watching live video of Brooke’s house. If he’s hacked her security footage, was he the one who hacked her computer? Or is he worried about his friend being in a big house alone? His past makes me lean towards creep, but something about his affection for Brooke makes me second guess myself.

Emma goes to the dance dressed as Mia Wallace from “Pulp Fiction.” She tells her mom, who is chaperoning, that her and Kieran were supposed to meet at the dance because he had something to do beforehand. Maggie is worried that she hasn’t heard from Sheriff Hudson. Could Kieran’s “something to do” mean “murdering my dad”? I am still not convinced that Kieran is the murderer.

Kieran finally arrives to the dance dressed as Vincent Vega, just in time to do the famous “Pulp Fiction” dance with Emma. As soon as the two separate, Audrey swoops in on Emma to show her the video of Kieran and Nina. Although Audrey is convinced that this makes Kieran a top suspect, Emma doesn’t completely buy it. Didn’t Audrey just have an incriminating video that wasn’t as it seemed? Why should Emma treat Kieran’s situation differently?

Emma asks Kieran about the video. He admits that he knew Nina, but that she had lied about her name and so didn’t realize he knew “Nina” as first. He says that he met her that night, and drove her home after seeing how drunk she was. He swears he didn’t go inside her house, and left right away. It’s obvious that Emma doesn’t trust Kieran, though, and he tells her that “Branson won, even from jail.”

Of course, Piper shows up. I wonder how a stranger is allowed to go to a high school dance? Piper tells Emma that she went back to Cassie’s after something she said didn’t sit right with her (How convenient). When showing pictures from the yearbook, Cassie pointed out that “Seth” was actually Kieran, not Mr. Branson. But how did Kieran have a picture in the yearbook if this was his first year at the school? This might be an oversight by the writers, but could also be a key to Piper’s lies.

Suddenly, the lights go out, and a video screen projects a very wounded, bloody Sheriff Hudson. We then quickly hear that there’s an APB for Seth Branson, who had escaped jail. The scene shows a dead officer in front of an empty cell. Could we have done it? Did the killer get him out to murder him?

TOP SUSPECT: Piper. Piper. Piper. Although there is no way she’s working alone.
NEXT TO DIE: Since the finale is next week, I have a feeling there’s going to be lots of bloodshed before the identity of the killer is announced. Emma, Brooke, and Noah are high on my survival list.

After Will’s brutal death, Emma is traumatized. After seeing her ex boyfriend get sawed in half, Emma can’t sleep and listens to the tape of her father she found in the abandoned bowling alley.

Noah visits Jake at the hospital. Seeing that he’s passed out, Noah gloats about tagging Jake’s car with “Doosh.” Low blow, nerd, even if it’s towards Jake. Once he comes to, Jake asks if everyone made it out. Noah doesn’t lie when he says yes, but Brooke quickly steps in to tell him the sad new about his friend.

After surviving the original attack with Will, and being interestingly absent from the bowling alley fiasco, Piper gives Sheriff Hudson Mayor Maddox’s take. The tape has the same date at Nina and Tyler’s murder- September 30. The sheriff takes all the new information Piper brings seriously, and eventually questions Maddox.

While Emma is trying to pretend she’s okay, Audrey and Noah continue trying to find a way to catch Mr. Branson, since they’re so convinced he’s the killer. While Audrey mentions that other than the malware, all the two have is that he changed his name. Noah quickly noted that Mr. Branson had conveniently been absent from Lakewood during the bowling alley incident. Coincidence? Maybe.

The sheriff begins questioning Mayor Maddox, but he insists that the tape is not what it looks like. Sheriff Hudson allows the mayor to explain himself. After insisting that his wife is in rehab, like he had been saying, Mayor Maddox asks the sheriff if he could have Brooke call her. You know, to prove she’s alive and all that jazz.

Seems as though Sheriff Hudson also has a long list of suspects. He approaches Maggie about Emma’s dad, Kevin. He tells her that he looked up his whereabouts. Apparently, he’d been away from his job at an oil rig for three weeks- right around the time that Maggie was sent a pig’s heart.

Emma sees  no end of people trying to cheer her up at school- from Noah and Audrey, to Kieran, to Piper. While Noah and Audrey insist that she can talk to them, she says, “I just keep replaying what happened.” She means that quite literally. Because of Emma’s shock and lack of sleep, she keeps having hallucinations of Will’s gory body split in two. While at school, she envisions him squeezing a heart to have the blood splatter everywhere. As she runs away, she runs in to Kieran (IRL). He wants to be there for here, but she tells him to go away because the killer is out there, which means he could be a victim at any minute.

While at working at the coffee shop, Emma has a crazy breakdown, and is sent to the hospital. She gets a surprise visit from her none other than her dad. Emma confronts him about his absence. He says he never responds to her letters because with the way things were left between him and Maggie, he felt a clean break would be best. Emma calls out his selfish reasoning. Kevin admits it has taken him a while to sort things out, but that he’s there now. Emma’s not having it though, and tells him he should leave.

Emma begins to regret her actions after Piper goes to see her. Piper earns Emma’s trust by telling her that she’s there as a friend, not for a story (DOUBT IT). Piper offers Emma some good advice about reconnecting with her father: “Second chances are rare, don’t waste them.” Maybe the killer wants Kevin to be around, well, to kill him. Why does Piper want him around so bad? Hm…

Meanwhile, Brooke finally talks to her mom, although her suspicions about her father aren’t completely gone. Just because it wasn’t her mom in the bag… Mayor Maddox reveals that after seeing one her mom’s friends OD, he panicked. Brooke still has a hard time trusting her dad, and leaves him, maybe for good.

If Emma’s dad visiting was good for anything, it was for the flashback it caused: Emma sees her parents the night her dad left, fighting about something she can’t quite figure out. In the fight, Kevin yells about wanting Emma to know the truth, about not wanting to keep a baby. Maggie insists that it was her choice.  Emma runs after her father at the hospital and insists that they weren’t talking about not wanting her, and that there were signs everywhere about it. Emma wakes up in pediatrics, her dad nowhere to be seen. (Which begs the question, was the first time she saw her dad real or not real?)

Noah and Audrey decide to investigate Mr. Branson further, by searching his classroom. They find a knife in the air conditioner unit. They call the sheriff (SMART! FOR ONCE!) after finding out that Mr. Branson is actually Mr. Palmer, a guy who was involved with an 18 year old, that is until she turned up dead. Palmer was a suspect until he disappeared, and became Mr. Branson. The sheriff asks why they were looking into Branson in the first place. Noah freaks about asks, “You think we planted this?” (Chill, a little Noah, you might look suspicious yourself). Noah spills about the malware, how it disappeared, and how he happened to be out of town during all the murders. After finding a cell phone with texts from Riley right before she died, Sheriff Hudson calls for an APB on the creep.

Emma asks Audrey to send her the video from the abandoned hospital. While searching it, she sees an ultrasound with the name “Anderson” written on it. Emma immediately questions her mom about it, and she finally begins telling some REAL truth: When she was 16, Maggie found out that Kevin had cheated on her with her best friend. Maggie went to her friend Brandon for comfort, but ended up sleeping with him. She got pregnant, and moved away for a while to give the baby up with adoption. When she moved back to Lakewood, she reconnected with Kevin.

Emma questions, “What if the child that you gave up, is back?”

Brooke turns to Mr. Branson to release some steam, so to speak. The two are just about to hook up, (DO YOU WANT TO DIE BROOKE?), when Branson says he hears something. As soon as creepy teacher leaves, someone begins messing with Brooke. Obviously, it’s the killer. Brooke begins running for her life, and manages to only get a cut. Poor Mr. Branson shows up right as the cops do. They find him holding a half naked teenager with a pretty bad wound. Dun dun dun.

TOP SUSPECT: From the beginning I had a feeling it was someone related to Brandon. Obviously, suspect number one became Emma’s half sibling, the baby Maggie had with Brandon and gave up for adoption. You know who interestingly had a father who was killed with no explanation? Piper. Could it be? While Mr. Branson certainly seems suspect, I find it a little more suspicious that Noah is pushing so hard for him to be the killer…
NEXT TO DIE: Well, it was almost Brooke this week. Going to stick with that guess for now.

After several weeks of no deaths, the gruesome death in “In the Trenches,” proved that the peaceful weeks were way too good to be true.

The morning after Will was dragged away by the murderer, we an unknowing Emma having a nice talk with her mother. Maggie tells Emma she’s glad that they talked. Emma questions how her mother deals with her past, and Maggie answers simply, “you learn to live with it.” Once Emma starts asking why her dad still left, Maggie justifies his actions by saying, “Not everyone learns to live with it.”

Did Emma’s dad carry more guilt? What would the reason be for it? Hmm….

Although Emma tells her mother that her and Kieran are just friends, Emma rushes to school for a make out sesh and to figure out if it’s weird that they’re hooking up while their parents are also dating. Emma’s receives a text from Will and despite not knowing that he is possibly dead, still finds it strange when he says he tried to make things right, but failed.

Emma goes directly to Brooke and Jake, who are still weird about Mayor Maddox. Brooke admits to Jake that her dad went out the night before, was sulky when he returned, and that she had a bad feeling. When Emma tells them about the text Will sent, Jake puts it together that something could have happened with Brooke’s dad. So as Emma gets filled in on the blackmailing situation, who should show up but Piper!

Piper takes the group to the warehouse she and Will had gone to meet Mayor Maddox, and my first thought ia, “WHY DIDN’T YOU CALL THE COPS.” Because, obviously. Piper tells Emma about the previous nights events, and that the murderer tried to kill her, but Will saved her life, as she leads Emma to a lovely note the killer left. In what looks like blood, the wall reads, “NO COPS EMMA.” (Oh).

The group leaves Emma behind after Piper complains about her concussion. Just then, Emma gets one of her favorite phone calls from, the killer. Emma begs the killer not to hurt Will, but the mysterious masked person tells her, “New game, hide and seek. Just like Daisy and Brandon used to play.” Emma thinks she has the upper hand since her mother supposedly told her all about her past. But the killer scoffs, “Your mom’s a lying whore. In time you’ll know the truth, but first you better find Will.”

Meanwhile, Brooke goes to her dad to confront him about seeing Will the night before. She lays it all out, demanding to know where her mother is and that she knows all about the video and blackmailing. Mayor Maddox sticks to his story that his wife is in rehab and that “what [she] saw isn’t what it looks like and [they’re] not discussing this anymore.”

The mayor insists he has no idea where Will is, but the creepy smirk painted on his face makes us think otherwise. He only seems to lose his composure after Brooke says that the truth will inevitably some out, and that won’t protect him.

Emma goes to Noah to help track Will’s phone. Once the two locate the phone to a bowling alley, Jake and Brooke sign up to help find their friend. Emma asks Kieran to cover for her, to tell their parents, whom they were apparently having a weird double date with, that she was going to Audrey’s to help her study.

The foursome split up to search the perimeter of the building. Noah and Emma discuss the killers motives. Noah, being the genius he is, tells Emma, “He’s playing chess instead of checkers… He’s making you responsible for who live and dies.” Until Emma figures out who the killer is, he’s going to keep upping the game.

Jake admits his suspicions about Noah being the killer to Brooke. Jake says it’s always an unexpected person, the funny, nice, smart guy. Brooke teases, “Well that takes you off the table.” Jake responds with, “Or does it?” Didn’t think I could hate Jake more, but there is nothing slightly redeeming about him.

During the search, Kieran has dinner with Maggie and Sheriff Hudson. Apparently, detective Brock is off the case, probably for questioning a minor without a parent or lawyer present. Maggie asks Kieran if he likes Lakewood, and he snarkily replies, “Yeah, you know, aside from all the murders, its nice.” After Maggie insists on calling Emma to make her get to the dinner, Kieran jumps up and offers to go pick her up from Audrey’s.

The “Will Search Party” enters the bowling alley, and Jake almost immediately insists on splitting up. “Said no one who survived a horror movie, ever,” Noah quickly responds. And really, he has a major point. Have you heard of strength in numbers? Apparently not, because Jake and Brooke split off again.

Noah then brings up how off Jake’s story about Will was. If Jake suspected Will was going to meet Mayor Maddox, why wouldn’t he try to stop it?

After failed attempts to get with Brooke, Jake inches too close to her and corners her against a door while revealing he knows about her and Mr. Branson. He stabs the door next to her head with one of the many weapons he brought for protection, but quickly ducks out to pee, and leaves Brooke alone. Because killers have a sixth sense about when girls are alone, the killer in Brandon James’ mask begins to chase her.

Emma and Noah finally find Will, but he’s unconscious. While Emma tries to get Will to wake up, Audrey calls. Noah tries to tell Audrey what’s going on, but the connection is bad. Will suddenly wakes up.

After complaining about back pain, Emma lifts his shirt to find he’s branded with “B4.” She quickly realizes that it must lead to something. She finds a drawer labeled with the same “B4″ and finds Brandon James’ time card and a tape of Emma’s dad called “PTSD project.” PTSD, like post traumatic stress? Does Emma’s dad suffer from it, or Brandon James?

“Daisy” song starts playing and Emma runs out to find somewhere to play the tape. She finds a tape player and hears her dad saying, “How could she sleep with that monster?”

Brooke finds Jake with a knife in him, and her first thought is to pull it out. Emma hears Jake scream in agony, and goes after him, but is met with killer. Despite having a huge stab wound, Will tackles the killer to the ground. Just then the cops show up, thanks to Audrey’s clever thought to go straight to Emma’s house after hearing Noah’s frantic voice.

Kieran shows up too, after supposedly hearing what was going on on the police scanner. As much as I don’t want the hot guy to be involved, why is Kieran so suspicious? (To be fair, 98% of the cast is currently acting suspicious).

The cops have a hard time finding the killer and one states the obvious, “People don’t just disappear into thin air.” They don’t, so was the killer among the group the whole time? Was someone missing when the cops showed? Yeah, Noah was.

Everyone gets out of the warehouse, with just Jake and Will wounded. Emma gets reprimanded by her mom and Sheriff Hudson for not going to the cops.

Kieran also confronts Emma, but about more than just her safety. He realizes that Emma obviously still has feelings for Will. Emma admits that feelings don’t just go away. As he leaves, Emma asks him if he’s mad. “No, I just know what I want,” he responds with the saddest face ever which makes me forget that he was ever on my suspect list.

Noah tells Audrey that he thinks Jake and Will were behind the entire scene at the bowling alley to convince everyone to trust them, which sounds like a reasonable theory until the last minute of the episode.

Will calls Emma and invites her over to watch a movie– which is clearly going to be a set up by the murderer. But Emma apparently decides to forgive Will after his heroic move and rushes to his house. Upon her arrival, she is greeted with a phone call from the murder. He tells her, “I wanted you to have a little pride, instead you forgave his lies just like Daisy did all those years ago. I don’t forgive so easily.” He doesn’t forgive Emma so easily? Does that mean the murderer is someone that’s in love with Emma, the way Brandon was in love with Daisy? Emma starts running to find Will. She trips over a string, which is triggered to drop a chainsaw/tractor thing (sorry, I don’t know power tools). Sitting tied up in front of said tool is Will.

And he’s dead.

TOP SUSPECT: I’m still convinced the murderer isn’t part of the main crew. Piper is still fishy.
NEXT TO DIE: Brooke. Just a weird hunch.

Another week without a murder. This definitely won’t last much longer.

Continuing her night with Kieran, Emma decides she wants to go to Brandon’s house. As soon as she arrives she receives a call from you know who –well, we don’t actually know who, but you get what I mean. The caller laughs at Emma’s naivety as she freaks out upon realizing Kieran disappeared from her side and tells her, “He even made you think it was your idea to come here.” As Emma frantically searches for an exit, someone in the Brandon masks grabs her. As the mask falls off, Emma’s face is revealed on the other side. She tells herself, “It ends with you.” End dream. If dreams are made up of subconscious thoughts two things are for sure: Emma doesn’t really trust Kieran and she’s definitely putting a lot of the blame on herself for the murders in her hometown.

If that horrible dream wasn’t enough to snap Emma awake from her slumber, the scene in her living room surely did the trick –a makeout session between her mom and Sheriff Hudson, sexy right? Emma tries not to make things awkward by saying she was happy for her mom, happy that she took her advice to go for it. Personally, I’d be mortified if my mom was dating my currents hook ups dad, but hey, to each their own… Or maybe Emma was just glad someone was there to distract her mom from realizing how late she came home after her night with Kieran…

Aside from figuring out who the murderer is, one of the show’s biggest mysteries is Nina. What did she have on all these people? How did she have all the information? Why? Turns out we’re not the only ones wondering. Piper confronts Will and asks him to go on her podcast to air all of Nina’s secrets- and his. A chance at redemption, if you will. Although Will doesn’t exactly agree to Piper’s request, he later gives her a different story to share…

Meanwhile, Maggie is being questioned by Detective Brock over Sheriff Hudson’s royal screw ups in the murder investigation, like, you know, completely not realizing a possible suspect was right under his nose! DNA had been found on the inside of Brandon’s mask that was found in the old hospital. DNA that matched Audrey’s.

After Audrey gets pulled out of class for questioning, Noah goes to Emma to tell her his theories about Mr. Branson. Could he have seen Noah and Audrey looking at the malware on his computer and plotted against Audrey? As expected, Mr. Branson pulls Noah away from Emma –but to talk about classwork, of course. Later, Noah changes his tune about Mr. B, saying that he couldn’t possibly be responsible. Maybe Tyler put the malware on the computer while working as a teacher’s aid? While maybe being a pedophile, I have to agree with Noah- I think his crime spree ends there.

During Audrey’s questioning she’s asked about her whereabouts on September 30, the night Nina was murdered. Audrey says she was filming videos with Rachel, who obviously, is the only person who can confirm her alibi. Unfortunately, she was killed –so there’s that. Detective Brock asks to see the footage the girls shot. When Audrey hesitates, Detective Brock says she has a search warrant anyway, so oh well! While Audrey’s dad, who showed up after realizing his minor daughter was being questioned without a parent present, and Detective Brock step out of the questioning room to have a chit chat, Audrey quickly calls Emma and asks her to destroy the SD card labeled September 30.

Being the super smart teenagers they are, Noah and Emma proceed with Audrey’s request. The duo break into her house right before the cops show up and take the card. Obviously, the cops notice the broken glass and the very specific missing SD card. Although the chain of events is obvious, Emma keeps her mouth shut to the detective. Before even watching what was recorded, Emma tells her mom, “I know this looks bad, but I can’t help but feel that someone wants it to look that way.

When Tweedledee and Tweedledum (aka Emma and Noah) finally cave in to their curiosity, they see a video of an angry Audrey yelling about Nina to Rachel, who is recording. At one point Rachel says, ‘If we do this we are even worse than Nina,” although whatever ‘this’ is, isn’t clear. Audrey goes on about karma and how it doesn’t just happen to girls like Nina, “sometimes you have to take it in your own hands.” Audrey says to the camera before it’s cut off, “I’m coming for that sorry bitch.” Is Audrey really capable of murder? Her friends certainly don’t think so, but could she?

Later, Maggie takes Emma to her old house, the one she lived in before the murders years before. Maggie finally begins to reveal information about her past: Her and Brandon were neighbors, and became friends after passing notes to each other. The night of the dance when the killing spree happened, Brandon knew that Maggie and her current boyfriend (Emma’s dad) were having problems. So, Brandon went to convince Maggie she deserved better. Someone overheard them talking and told Emma’s dad. That’s when the fighting started, the “bloodshed.” Emma tells her mom there’s no way she could have known he would snap. Maggie responds with a very ominous, “I’m not convinced he did.” Could this mean that it was someone else that killed everyone, say someone who was jealous, like a boyfriend?

The night of the dance ended with Maggie asking Brandon to meet her at the dock. Her boyfriend saw and called the cops. Then, they shot him. Maggie urges Emma to stand up for her friend if she believes she’s innocent, because “people saw Brandon as a monster and [she] didn’t defend him.”

This convinces Emma to do the “right” thing. After realizing that her friend couldn’t have possibly murdered anyone, despite the scary video, Emma goes back to Detective Brock. She tells her that she saw Audrey the night of Nina’s murder and that Audrey kept it a secret to cover for her. There’s no doubt in my mind that this lie will come back to bite Emma in the butt.

The episode ends with Piper Shaw’s unexpected story from Will. Will meets with Brooke’s dad to return his blackmail money and the incriminating video. Mayor Maddox asks if he watched the tape, Will assures that he had not. Will tells the mayor, “I really don’t want to die for doing the right thing.”

Mayor Maddox responds, “Not a word to anyone… Remember, there’s a killer on the loose,” with a creepy grin. Piper was hiding to capture the entire moment, though its entire meaning is still lost. What did Will mean he didn’t want to die? Did he think Mayor Maddox was capable of murder? Piper tells Will, “It’s not the story I came for, but it’s a hell of bonus chapter. You know he just threatened to make you victim number five?”

Anyway, seconds later Will and Piper hear a strange noise, only to have the Brandon-masked killer appear and stab Will. He gets dragged away, still alive, while Piper remains untouched. Fishy.

TOP SUSPECT: Emma’s Dad. Piper. Mayor Maddox. Could they all be a team?
NEXT TO DIE: Will.

Don’t worry guys, my “Scream” recaps aren’t gone- I was just on a two week vacation in Nicaragua. I somehow managed to stay away from any spoilers, and with that being said, it’s time to catch up quickly before next week.

This episode was probably the most lackluster so far, and it has nothing to do with the fact that another week has passed with no lives taken.

After Noah and Audrey accidentally leaked a tape of Emma and Will having sex, typical high school behavior ensued: humiliation, gossip, Will angrily lashing out against anyone who mocked the situation, etc. Not so typical high school behavior: Emma receives a call from the presumed murder asking how it feels to be the “star of the show.” To give a little more of a punch, he (or she?) printed a still from the video and left it in Emma’s locker with “Just like your mother” written on it. Ouch.

To add just a bit more salt to the wound, “The Scarlett Letter” is the topic of discussion in Mr. Branson’s class. Not to miss out on the irony, someone sends out a mass text with a little reminder of the video. After class, Kieran (HE’S BACK), comforts Emma by telling her, “Just remember, you don’t have to be afraid.” Oh, he also explains his absence by saying he was out of town to deal with some insurance stuff from his mom’s accident. Probably should seem a bit fishy, but people that good looking just aren’t the killers, so he’s good. (RIGHT???)

Also becoming increasingly sketchy: Piper Shaw. After revealing to Emma that Rachel’s parents felt that Audrey was manipulating Rachel, and could make her do anything, she says, “It’s hard to know the truth if you don’t know the whole story.” Should Audrey be a suspect, not of the murders surely, but perhaps of something else? But, also, what’s Piper’s whole story? Why is she there? Why is her storyline so insignificant so far, and yet so important? Hmm… Later, she reveals to Emma that her father was murdered when she was young. The case was never solved, which is why she spends her time doing the podcasts.

During a vigil held for Riley, Emma discovers that there is a new detective in town- Detective Lorraine Brock. The detective’s presence means Sheriff Hudson is to step away from the case, which given how little has been solved (read: nothing), it’s probably for the best. Sheriff Hudson’s displeasure over the detective makes it obvious that it’s not just that he was replaced, but they the two share a history together.

While Emma gives a speech at the vigil, she receives a video message of herself. Realizing that this means the person who has been taunting her is currently watching her, she begins to stumble over her words. She then gets a heartwarming text warning her that if she speaks to the detective about him (again, or her), it’ll be her mom’s heart in a box.

But Detective Lorraine Brock appears to have a much better grasp on the case than the sheriff. Right away she pieces together that it’s Emma and her mom at the center of the murders. It’s no coincidence, but Emma’s silence doesn’t lead the detective much further.

Audrey and Noah discover that Mr. Branson was somehow involved with phones and computers getting hacked- and perhaps was in on it with Riley, Tyler, and Nina. While something is definitely fishy with Mr. Branson, I don’t see him as a killer. Perhaps a creepy pedophile? Yes. But, murderer? Nahhhh.

Since Brooke is on quest to become a better person, she decides to tell Emma something that’s been eating away at her, something Will so desperately wanted to keep a secret. Pulling out the “She’s All That” card, Emma learns that the only reason Will ever talked to her was for a bet. Nina and Will had made a bet on whether or not Will could get Emma to sleep with him in under a month. Judging by the video, he probably won. This leads to her finally telling Will off with the cliche phrase, “We’re done.”

Proving once again how awful they are, Jake and Will go through with their blackmail plan. Brooke’s dad, Mayor Maddox, shows up with only part of the requested money, which leads Jake to break the Mayor’s nose. Will, who was only on board if nobody got hurt, was upset with the change of course. He tells Jake he wants nothing to do with the money.

Later, Jake goes to Brooke’s house with pizza, and a twisted version of the blackmail story. Jake reveals that Nina and Tyler had a video of Mayor Maddox doing something bad, and were blackmailing him for money before they died. But, apparently, Will has taken over. Mayor Maddox overhears the conversation making him angrily write Will’s name with lots of underlines on a piece of paper. While Brooke still doesn’t understand why Jake has the video (Um, because he’s the evil(er) one!!!), she watches the video: Mayer Maddox is seen dragging what looks like a body out of the trunk of his car. The date is marked as the day before her mom left to rehab (which her father had just admitted). Brooke clearly thinks the body could be her mothers. (I’m going to go ahead and say it’s a dead deer or something way less provocative).

Meanwhile, Kieran takes Emma somewhere far in the middle of nowhere, so “no one will hear.” At first this seems creepy and scary, especially after you know, he pulls out a gun. But he just wants Emma to get over her fears by shooting some cans he had set up. He tells her, “All I know is that right now, I’m holding you and he’s not.” Is he talking about Will? The murderer? The two start making out hardcore, and as much as I love Kieran, something’s weird. Maybe it’s their lack of chemistry. Maybe bad acting. But the scene was just, weird. Also, doesn’t sex=death in slasher world? (PLEASE DON’T DIE KIERAN!)

Oh, and Kieran’s dad, Sheriff Clark, is making out with Emma’s mom Maggie during all this.

TOP SUSPECT: Too obvious for it to be Mr. Branson.
NEXT TO DIE: Still Jake.

Well, we were wrong about Jake’s death last week. Would you believe it if I said guessing everyone was safe for the next week was a very close second guess?

“Aftermath” picks up right after Riley’s (Brianne Tju) death, with all the students clearly upset. This death was unlike Nina’s (Bella Thorne) in the way that people were sensitive and saddened by the loss. But there’s no time to waste mourning because new questions start to pick up right away. Noah (John Karna) says to Emma (Willa Fitzgerald), “I need to know who would kill her,” after lashing out against Lakewood Police Department. But honestly, how does someone get murdered so close to police? How did they leave her out of sight? Perfect plan by the murderer to make Sheriff Hudson (Jason Wiles) a scapegoat… (But truly, he gave off some serious creep vibes in this episode).

“Tyler’s” (Max Lloyd-Jones) car was found with a decapitated body in it, assumed to be Tyler. Nearby, a Brandon James mask was found, leading Sheriff Hudson to declare that the “case is closed,” to the town (for now, anyway). Ah Sheriff, if you only knew. Everyone, Emma, Audrey (Bex Taylor-Klaus), and even reporter Piper Shaw (Amelia Rose Blaire) exchange knowing looks- what the Sheriff declared is far from the truth.

“You think the killer is still out there,” Audrey says to Emma after the town meeting. The two agree that Tyler’s motive wouldn’t make sense. Nina and Riley, sure. But why go after Rachel? And why bring up all the Brandon James family drama to Emma? 

Riley’s death is not easy on anyone. Emma leans on her ex-boyfriend Will (Connor Weil) for a cry while she’s at work. Apparently for some reason, Emma decided to be friends with him. (Why people decide to be friends with ex’s is beyond me- but whatever). Noah is heartbroken, but Brooke (Carlson Young) seems to take the death the hardest. Not only does she feel it’s her fault for leaving Riley alone at the police department (for a booty call, nonetheless), but she quickly finds out she’s hated by everyone. Someone (aka most likely the killer) created a poll to see who everyone would like to see die next: Brooke or Emma. Brooke is in the lead- by well over 500 votes.

Piper makes her way to the coffee shop Emma works at, only to tell her “I think people need it to be Tyler. And I think the Sheriff isn’t going to be the only scapegoat here.” I have a feeling things aren’t going to end well for Piper. She’s going to find out too much and then… bye bye bye.

Back at home, Emma receives a weird package- a 1994 Lakewood yearbook with all of Brandon James’ victims cut out, except for of course her father’s since he got away. With big scribbles all over his photo, the page also read “The truth lies where the mask was made.” Cue to Emma going to the expert, Noah, to find out where said mask was made. He informs Emma and Audrey, who is almost always next to Noah, that the mask Brandon wore was actually a surgical mask to protect sutures on his face after surgeries. But of course the hospital where he had stayed, said surgeries have been closed for 6-7 years!

Audrey and Emma go to the hospital without Noah (rude), because they believe he would be like a kid at Disneyland. Yes, that’s probably true, but power in numbers people! Anyway, the girls find a bunch of creepy stuff at the hospital including Brandon James’ x rays for all sorts of body parts, papers that show Brandon’s mask was custom made, oh yeah and a dead bloody pig missing a heart and head. If that’s not a sign to GTFO, I don’t know what is.

Noah sneaks up on them causing a big scare, but he joins in digging around the lair. Speaking of digs, Noah takes a stab at “Pretty Little Liars,” saying how unbelievable and set up all of A’s lairs are. Clearly, this was another self aware dig, since you know, “Scream” kinda does the same thing. The trio find the missing yearbook pictures hanging from the ceiling, but right in the middle is a picture of Emma, “the star of the show,” as Audrey put it. But that’s not the weirdest part: Nina’s computer is also there.

Nina’s computer holds folders named after various people in town, including themselves. They try to move the files onto an SD card Audrey had, but were disturbed by the noise of someone coming to the room. As they run out they see Brandon’s mask. In an oh so clever move, Emma grabs the mask to take to the police- perhaps there will be DNA on it. Tyler’s head falls behind it.

Luckily, I guess, the person who surprises them is the Sheriff. At the station, the group gets questioned. Emma harshly tells him she didn’t bring the yearbook to him because the police hadn’t been doing a good job. (Withholding creepy threats? Sounds very PLL to me…) After realizing Tyler’s head had been moved before the car crash, the Sheriff realizes the murder cases are far from over.

Meanwhile, Jake (Tom Maden) comes up with a brilliant idea to make some fast cash after hearing Will got into Duke. “We can finish what Nina and Tyler started,” he tells Will. While still not getting any real answers about their blackmailing business, we learn that Nina had an incriminating video of some one that she kept secret in return for money. Although Jake and Will have no idea where Nina’s laptop is (because obviously it’s at the killer’s lair), Jake says he has a backup. Who is this guy they’re blackmailing? Brooke’s dad Mayor Maddox receives a text asking for $100k. Ding ding ding.

Emma later goes back to work, to find Piper again. Piper says she’s getting read to pack and leave. Emma easily convinces her to stay, saying there’s so much more to the murder cases. Piper knows this, of course. During their conversation Emma gets a text, as does everyone in the coffee shop. The message? A video of her and Will’s first time. (Um, child pornography much?) When Audrey and Noah tried to get the information off the SD card, they realized only one file had copied, Emma’s. As they tried to open the video file, the file was automatically sent to a list serve to the whole school.
With all this sneaky business Nina was up to before she was murdered, it’s hard to tell whether this was part of her plan, or is it the murderers? Also, if it’s someone related to Brandon James why are they only going after Emma? Why not go after her mom Maggie (Tracy Middendorf), too? Aside from the pig’s heart, why isn’t she being targeted? Where was Mr. Branson (Bobby Campo) this episode? Could he be related to Brandon James somehow??? Sidenote: Where was Kieran (Amadeus Serafini) this episode? (Asking for a friend who may or may not find him extremely attractive).

PLEASE CAN I JUST HAVE ONE OF THESE ANSWERED NEXT WEEK?

TOP SUSPECT: Still think it’s someone related to Brandon.
NEXT TO DIE: Jake, still Jake.

Needless to say, SPOILERS AHEAD.

Well, what do you know, we were right about who would be killed on this week’s “Scream.” Some horror rules never change, it’s always the person having sex, but I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s go back to to beginning.

The episode begins with a flashback to 1994, where Brandon James killed two teenagers, as told by Noah (John Karna) to Piper Shay (Amelia Rose Blaire). So far, Piper has had zero purpose on the show. She recorded that video of Jake (Tom Maden) going ballistic on Noah, but hasn’t used it for anything, yet. She probably has too many juicy details to reveal, so we’re going to say she’s safe from the killer, at least for another week.

Meanwhile, Emma (Willa Fitzgerald) overhears her mother and Sheriff Hudson (Jason Wiles) talking about Rachel’s death. After hearing her mother was hiding some things and that Rachel’s death was in deed a murder, not suicide, Emma storms off, only to receive a text from Ghostface. Emma immediately goes to Audrey (Bex Taylor-Klaus), who she catches about to hang herself –although she swears it was just to see if it was even possible to die that way. Emma fills her in on what she learned about Rachel, as well as on her communication with the killer. She believes the killer wanted Rachel’s death to look like suicide so that Emma would feel guilty. The two decide to text the killer, “I know you killed Rachel. Tell me why.” If only it were that easy Emma…

Then there’s Brooke and Mr. Branson’s (Bobby Campo) super inappropriate relationship. For some reason Mr. B has decided the two should try having a virtual relationship, and Brooke is not a fan. While video chatting, she teases that she left a naughty picture hidden somewhere in his classroom. Mr. B is another character with more up his sleeve. So far, he’s just an adult lusting over someone much too young. Could he be involved with the murders? Could he be the next victim? Definitely no to the latter. He, like Piper, has more to give us on the show.

After Jake digs up an empty box, clearly expecting to find something in it, he confronts Will (Connor Weil). After Will discovers that Jake had not shut down whatever weird blackmail scheme they had going with Nina and Tyler, he took money out of the box Jake dug up. Will tells Jake he’ll see the money once he finally does shut down whatever it is he needs to shut down. He doesn’t want to risk it all- his scholarship, Emma, etc. Does anyone have any idea what they’re talking about? Whatever it is, I have a feeling it’s going to blow up in Will’s face. Why not Jake’s as well? I’m glad you asked, because I think he’s going to be the next victim. Maybe I’m just hoping because he’s such a.. well, “doosh.”

While working on a class project assigned by Mr. Branson, Kieran (Amadeus Serafini) lets it slip that he has the case files for Brandon James’ murders at his house. After Emma shows interest in seeing the files, Kieran quickly suggests bringing the files to Emma’s house instead. Weird? I think so. The two look through the files before Kieran gets a text and suddenly has to go home, but not before revealing that he’s been to jail before. As he’s about to leave he notices a file with Emma’s dad’s name (Kevin) on it, and Emma finally puts all the dots together: Her mom is Daisy. Brandon James was obsessed with her mother. But, when Emma tries to confront her mom, she gets zero answers. So, you know, we don’t either.

Mr. Branson also pairs up Noah and Riley, but their study date takes a turn for the steamy. As they are about to get hot and heavy, Riley receives a text from Tyler- you know, Nina’s boyfriend, the guy whose head was chopped off in the first episode, and who everyone thinks is still alive. Riley ditches Noah after reading Tyler’s “Help me!” text and meets up with her friends to tell them about the text. But Emma knows what’s going on. After getting another call from the killer, Emma proclaims she is done, which Ghostface follows with, “Then I’ll find someone else to play with.” That someone else clearly being Riley.

Emma fills them all in on her mysterious texts, and suggests going to the cops, even with Riley’s reluctance. The cops set up a trap to catch Tyler, but just as expected, it’s not Tyler. It’s a random guy delivering a message for “some guy on the internet.” The message? A  piece of paper with Brandon James’ mask and “Nice Try!” written on it. After realizing the set up, Emma realizes Brooke has disappeared.

While on the search for Brooke, Emma receives a horrifying text from the killer. “You have to choose, the good girl of the bad girl.” Thinking Riley was safe with the cops, Emma responded not to hurt Brooke. After putting up a tiny bit of a fight, the masked killer got Riley, just as we predicted. Upon realizing what she had done, Emma cries out, “I didn’t mean to choose.”

Moral of the story: Don’t even think about having sex. (JUST KIDDING OBVIOUSLY)

I’m hooked. I can’t help but need to come back every week, mostly to find out if I’m psychic or not (Or I guess if this show is predictable or not). While I don’t necessarily have any connection to the character, I am intrigued with the reasoning behind the murders. Could Brandon James have a kid that’s getting revenge? Is it Brandon James? So many questions, so little answers.

TOP SUSPECT: Doubtful it’s anyone in the main cast.
NEXT TO DIE: Jake.

WARNING: SPOILER ALERT

After posting a video of classmate Audrey (Bex Taylor-Klaus) making out with another girl, head of the mean girls, Nina (Bella Thorne), finds herself not home alone, like she thought. Dismissing some creepy texts to be her boyfriend, Tyler (Anthony Rogers), in typical slasher film form, Nina decides to take a dip in her jacuzzi. She calls for him to join her, and he does… dead. As Nina realizes there’s a third intruder in her home, she tries to run away and directs the phone’s voice command to “Call 911″ –which the phone understands as “Call Pottery Barn,” ah, technology. Nina continues to run for her life, but we all know what’s coming and sure enough, her throat gets slashed.

And that’s how MTV’s television adaptation of “‘Scream” gets itself started, an homage to Drew Barrymore’s famous death scene in the original Wes Craven film. We see early on, the show isn’t shy about its origins. It wears the films’ history on its sleeve. The majority of the pilot parallels much of Craven’s 1996 film: A group of friends sit around and gossip about their friends’ murders, decide to throw a party in honor of the deceased, and make choices that leave the audience screaming at the screen as they shield their eyes.

Yet, the show does have one major difference, the 50 minutes following Maggie’s death are more teen drama than slasher-horror-flick.

First we meet Emma (Willa Fitzgerald), the good girl of the group who tries to rekindle her friendship with Audrey after Nina’s humiliating stunt. Emma’s jock boyfriend Will (Connor Weil) seems like a decent guy until she learns he hasn’t exactly been faithful. Will’s best friend, Jake (Tom Maden) somehow proves to be an even bigger jerk, making him the perfect next victim to audiences. Speaking of jerks, we’re also introduced to Brooke (Carlson Young), who charmingly plays a convincing mean girl 2.0.

As in the original film version, the main character’s parent are somehow linked to the murders. Emma’s mother, Maggie (Tracy Middendorf) is hiding a secret past. While she was in high school, victim-of-bulling turned murderer Brandon James terrorized their town of Lakewood. After receiving gifts from Brandon and learning of his love for her, she was able to lead police to him. The police ended up shooting him dead, or so was thought until now.

Just like we had Rachel in “Scream 4″ blurt out, “”A bunch of articulate teens sit around and deconstruct horror movies as Ghostface kills them one by one. It’s been done to death,” before she’s axed, we have Audrey’s best friend Noah (John Karna), the horror film buff to guide us through the self referential meta moments (Except he doesn’t die- yet). “You can’t do a slasher movie as a TV series,” he tells his classmates. Unless, we get to know the characters, like them, root for them, hate them, whatever it be so that “when they are brutally murdered, you care.” This will be the show’s biggest challenge. While the self aware dialogue was amusing throughout the show, there is little memorable about most of the characters. Despite Noah’s clever lines, Emma and her relationship with her mother, nobody has proven to be likable or even suspect. If the mean kids are next to go, will it be too obvious? Noah’s entirely correct- while a film only has to maintain our interest for an hour and a half, how will the show maintain our interest to keep coming back every week, for ten weeks?

While the pilot episode doesn’t reveal any groundbreaking twists in the slasher genre, “Scream” starts, surprisingly strong. The show is set up for success with MTV bringing in the target audience, an attractive, likable cast, but that doesn’t mean it won’t go down the wrong path.

“Slasher movies burn bright and fast,” Noah recalls to his friends. Keeping up with the meta theme of the episode, he adds, “TV needs to stretch things out.” So far, the show has succeeded in that. After the first episode, audiences are left with intrigue. Is Branden James back? Is the killer one person pulling the strings of many to keep us second guessing who the murderer is, a la “A” in “Pretty Little Liars”? After the ending montage, we’re left with a mysterious image (But I won’t spoil that tidbit for you).

The “Scream” pilot was screened at the LA Film Festival and will premiere on MTV Tuesday, June 30.