Scream The Series - Second Season: Vacancy

 This episode is my pick for best of the first three episodes of the second season and one of the best of the series three seasons. Granted, I'm not the biggest fan of the MTV series, but "Vacancy" was a good one. It certainly follows how the second season Ghostface killer keeps twisting the vice on Audrey. The body of Jake found in the storage has been moved before Noah could get there as Audrey takes a sigh of relief. The killer spends the episode antagonizing Audrey. She's led on a wild goose chase. Room 213 is supposedly being hired by Emma's dad, however, the Ghostface killer lures the counter clerk (with info that Noah tried to get out of him regarding Piper's accomplice) to it and uses a champagne bottle and corkscrew ("Ted, where's the corkscrew?!" - Dead Fuck, "Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984)) to make sure he never says another word. The killer also makes sure Audrey sees that he or she has lured Emma to Room 213 while he points out the clerk's bloodied body in the tub of the bathroom. The episode also gets really into the complicated family situation of Emma and her parents. Her mother was assaulted by her father after he fell into alcoholism...an assault Emma never knew about because her mother kept that secret. This sort of comes up when Emma sees her dad across from the hotel pummeling another bar patron. In the police station, Maggie, Emma's mother (Tracy Middendorf, the babysitter killed by "Freddy" similar to Tina in "Wes Craven's New Nightmare" (1994)) agrees with her ex-husband, Kevin (Everett Scott), to visit Sheriff Miguel Acosta (Anthony Ruivivar) about emails sent to Kevin by a victim of Piper's who is dead so they felt this is something that should be looked into. 

Now I'm not all that warm and fuzzy about the icky storyline involving former teacher, Seth Branson (Bobby Campo), and his former lover, high school student, Brooke (Carlson Young). The Ghostface killer having fun with her by using Jake's phone to text her, Brooke got roses from Branson, not her recent ex. The movie theater scene reveals Branson's return to the series. Noah and Zoe are sort of setup for a date by Brooke after Brooke and Zoe have a fun talk at a pageant recital about Noah. And creepy Gustavo--clearly a series red herring, painted as very suspicious and stalker-like when it comes to following Brooke around--interjects himself between Brooke and Branson. So all of this plays out to develop a love triangle where Brooke has two men, one in her school, the other a teacher she fucked when he was formerly at her school, she wants nothing to do with...just not particularly an inviting storyline to get sucked into, although it does have that Lifetime Thriller feel all over it.

Audrey, though, has issues with Emma over her returning father. Emma doesn't realize Kevin isn't "cured" of his "damage" and Audrey just wants her not to get hurt. Kevin does have breakfast with Emma, and talk of how both suffer from serial killer pasts doesn't go over well. And clearly Kevin is still unsettled while Maggie is right to keep a distance and have reservations about getting too close and maintaining a distance. Audrey being near the hotel and realizing Emma is outside Room 213, she can make up a story about why she is in the area, even though the real reason is because of Ghostface. This episode will be more up the alley of Scream slasher fans since the murder of the desk clerk is particularly grisly. 3.5/5

***There is a particularly fascinating scene where Noah is loading a camera found in the emptied storage shed with Audrey behind him holding a marble bookend, seemingly prepared to possibly attack him with it. It posits the idea that to protect herself, she might kill a good friend.***