| Reviewed on February 2nd, 2010
By Jigsaw (contributor) & filed in the TV Show Reviews vault
"We all go a little mad sometimes" |
“What would it be like to not be here anymore”
Lately I’ve been extremely busy (that’s code for lazy) and haven’t had the time to finish the reviews for this show. Scream Queens actually ended screening on Viva in December but this week MTV have started from the beginning (so you could say I’m now ahead with the reviews). If you have nothing else to do at 10pm this is great mindless fun (at least that’s what I thought).
Following Lina’s shock exit last episode we get a quick reaction from the remaining girls and move straight in to the good stuff. Before we even get into the opening challenge we are treated to a montage of the queens getting changed into bikinis and smearing themselves in petroleum jelly. Apparently it had something to do with the challenge, I wasn’t really listening to what the girls were saying and neither will you.
Shawnee, just like last time goes solo giving the girls a piece to read, the difference this time was they were submerged in a pit of blood (that’s what the jelly was for, so the blood didn’t stick to their skin, why did that matter?). Most of the girls were fine in this task but once again Jessica went to her crazy place, I still like her but her continuous bizarre actions are starting to become tedious and predictable.
As motivation everyone was told to draw upon vengeful feelings they’ve had in real life, cue melodramatic self indulgent crap. Angela (bottom two previously) breaks down about her horrible biological father, I don’t mean to be insensitive but this is the fifth week and we had yet to see any of this baggage which suddenly appeared after severe criticism that she didn’t stand out. Lindsey drew on her hate for herself, it must be hard being pretty and having lots of money in the bank (she was a child star). Tenedra also had a hissy fit about this being the fight of her life!? (I don’t think she realises when someone gets the axe it’s only pretend) Being from a poor family and having no formal acting training she feels at a disadvantage. What bollocks – as I’ve mentioned before in previous reviews she already had a part in the Prom Night remake (Did she forget about the internet?).
Despite the above nonsense, Tenedra did give the best performance and rightfully won the challenge. Upon this Shawnee drops the bombshell that they will no longer be given immunity as whoever wins needs to truly earn their place. This makes sense but why did they have immunity from the start, I feel like they have no idea what this show wants to be and are trying to retool it as it’s going on (rather than being a shocking revelation as it is presented). Tenedra does win the opportunity to pick her partner for a later task (picking Angela) so the challenge appeared to have a purpose other than getting the girls to wear bikinis.
The next was John Homa’s acting class and this one sequence actually changed my opinion on the show. Rather than his traditional class in the mansion’s ballroom the girls were taken to a local morgue to try their hand at method acting. All the girls were given a nursery rhyme to read but prior to this each girl would be locked up in a body draw (in complete darkness) in an attempt to draw out the emotions of dieing.
Scream Queens up to this point was some light-hearted fun. The actual programme is produced by a company called ‘Joke’ so I never expected anything that could move me emotionally. The task was simple enough but an added layer was given in the instructions. Homa drove home the idea of what it’s really like to die, the loved ones you leave behind and your total inability to control fate. The tone completely changed as Michelle (the pretty one) stepped up to attempt the task first.
Michelle, who also happens to be claustrophobic, at first struggled to be locked up but when she did she actually broke down. This was a hard thing to watch as this was not a film, or a scene being played out – these were real emotions. All was witnessed through a night vision camera placed above her in the drawer. When she was let out the first she had to do was read the nursery rhyme of Little Bo Peep. Shaking and with tears streaming down her face I was left in awe of this fantastic reading. Michelle before this was a terrible actress who gave stilted performances; this was an amazing thing to witness on television, especially from this programme.
Each of the other girls had similar reactions but nothing on Michelle’s scale. Only one of the Queens let them down and that was Sarah who totally missed the whole point of the exercise, rather than drawing on real emotion she gave a crappy readout, despite being given two chances.
After such an intense session I found it particularly heartless that as they were leaving one of the supposedly dead bodies in the hallway jumped up and scared the shit out of the Queens. I usually like these little horror throwbacks but this was unnecessary.
The director’s challenge was to film a scene with killer cockroaches and following on from the theme of the day (method) the cockroaches were real. I was actually a little disappointed watching this section, the girls were afraid of bugs, what a surprise! They gave the reactions needed as they were really afraid. I kind of wish they had used fake bugs, this way we could have seen what they had really learned from the day’s sessions.
Prior to the great bug dumping the girls in two by two played out a little scene. No shock to any that Jessica and Sarah had no idea what they were doing despite having the whole afternoon to practice. The real revelation was Lindsey’s inability to give a realistic performance. Out of everyone she has the most experience and has always given solid turns. She gave some crap excuse why but from an earlier statement she noted being envious of Michelle’s new acting ability and focused more on that than herself.
The midnight axing this week had all the girls called before the judges, it was gonna be a tough call but I had my money on one lady. Tenedra and Angela were given high praise (what a difference a week can make) and as each of the girls were given a pass we were left with Jessica and Sarah. Sarah attempted to pass every problem off on Jessica but to no avail and found herself axed. I wasn’t partial to her and was happy that Jessica at least made one more week.
This was a mixed show and all three sections didn’t gel as a whole. Despite this they all had positive aspects, with the acting class with John Homa totally blowing me away. On a side note as I write this The Quick and The Dead is playing on Five which just happens to have an appearance from Tobin Bell, spooky coincidence. Bring on the next episode.
7.5/10
Starring: Shawnee Smith, James Gunn, John Homa
Contestants: Michelle, Jessica, Sarah, Lindsay, Angela, Tenedra
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