Scream Queens: Season 1 – Episode 7

Reviewed on February 25th, 2010 By Jigsaw (contributor) & filed in the TV Show Reviews vault "We all go a little mad sometimes"

“I decided to go balls to the wall”

Only last episode I was complaining that the show was slowly losing its backstage drama as the competition rockets towards its conclusion. I’m glad to say that the bitches are back in the mansion and this episode was one emotional breakdown after another. This was Scream Queens: Bitch Edition.

Hot off Angela’s shock in finding out that Michelle was last week’s leading lady both she and Lindsey return to the mansion with their tails between their legs. Most weeks we get a quick reaction of how the ladies feel regarding last weeks eviction but no one could really give a shit that Jessica was gone. On reflection, although Jessica was one of the most entertaining housemates in real life she is not the type of person you would want to associate with and I’m sure all the girls were glad to be rid of all the headaches she gave them. Tenedra and Michelle clearly have been sat together by the producers as you can still see the tension between them due to last weeks falling out.

As Lindsey wallows in self pity over the scathing comments she received (”when you walk in the room you suck the life out of it”) Michelle is told of her leading lady position. This sparks off an angry rant from Angela leaving all the queens in stunned silence. What a great way for the show to begin.

I actually found the whole first challenge to be a bit mundane. I know that the director’s challenge is always the stand out set piece of the week but since the show began Shawnee’s immunity challenge (I don’t know what else to call it anymore) normally gives us some interesting settings. A lot of the shows have the girls at the mansion preparing for each of their tasks, also Homa’s classes (bar one) take place there, I was actually getting sick of seeing this location. Shawnee’s task was a simple one that mirrored the famous scene from Blair Witch project. Each of the girls were to receive a camera and had to perform a spontaneous scene as if it were their final moments so no need to leave the house. Great.

I don’t really see what was to be gained from this task; it was basically a retread of Homa’s acting class a couple of weeks back (reading of the nursery rhymes after being locked in a body drawer) only on handheld camera. I also wanted something a little more fun each week the opening scenes have been getting larger, head on a table, dowsed in blood, giant pentagrams but here we have girls hiding under their beds.

No matter what I was expecting it was still impressive as all the remaining ladies gave it their all bringing their own personal baggage along for the ride. Angela was desperate to win something as she pointed out from the beginning of the show she has yet to win any task. Her desperation was carried over into her work. Lindsey needed to show that she had star quality and rather than worrying about the judges comments used her nervousness to create a thrilling piece, lucky for her the scene required that type of fear. Michelle clearly gained great insight from Homa’s lessons and put all of that into another serious performance. Lastly Tenedra gave another stellar performance, is there nothing she can’t do?

All the ladies were desperate to be picked as the winner and Shawnee, who had a tough time deciding, announced Lindsey as the best. Everyone was clearly disappointed but the hate in Angela’s eyes was so fierce I half expected her to leap up and start attacking everyone in the room. So what did Lindsey get for winning the challenge? Nothing, ah maybe the show has had a few cut backs.

John Homa is a dick, over the weeks I’ve watched him berate and criticise the girls to the point of breakdown. But that is the point, here he is able to tap into real raw emotion and no more so than what he did here. As we can tell from the opening challenge this week is all about going solo, there are no actors to back them up. Homa made the girls act out a scene with an inanimate puppet but they had to believe it was real. To teach them how impressions are made he would act like a casting director and if at any point he didn’t believe their performance he would give them 15 seconds to rectify it or their turn was over. One by one each of the queens tried the scene only to be shouted at as they performed. No one lasted more than 15 seconds.

Wow, after each were made to feel like amateurs their second go round was fantastic and I actually wanted to see more – it’s amazing what can transpire over the course of 15 seconds. John Homa may be a dick but if it gets results like this it’s worth it.

After such an intense session I wasn’t really prepared for what happened as John was wrapping up the class. Angela was the last to perform crying in a great performance… only it wasn’t a performance. As she returned to her seat the sobbing continued over Homa’s final lesson and he had to ask her what was wrong. At this point Angela broke down demanding to know why Michelle was granted leading lady status. Last week I felt she was being too arrogant but seeing this actually made me feel sorry for her, she looked pathetic.

This allowed for some great Michelle moments as she relished in Angela’s jealousy (all in backstage segments). Lindsey on the other hand once again managed to make me dislike her by stating that Angela was unprofessional and had to learn how to control her emotions on set. As far as I can remember this is the problem that Lindsey was chastised for the week prior and spent the whole opening of this episode whingeing about. Maybe one day I’ll understand the mind of a woman. Of course Angela’s antics left the session without a proper wrap up so I don’t think things bode well for her in the upcoming axing.

After this we got a poorly staged sequence that mirrored a horror cliché. I had totally forgotten that this show did nonsense like this. At the start of the competition this was a silly little addition which did nothing but pad the show’s run time. As the show progressed there was no longer a need for such toot so it was bizarre to see it surface again. This time the girls found a note on one of the mansions mirrors while they were looking at it a lady in a mask appeared behind the mirror to instruct them they had been delivered scripts in the bedroom, waste of time really. This was followed by Michelle and Lindsey slagging each other off, which was nice.

James Gunn’s director’s challenge reminded me of Evil Dead. Not that it was good or cheesy but each of the girls were to play good and evil versions of themselves. The evil representation coming from the opposite side of a mirror. Unfortunately this was Gunn’s worst challenge ever, not that it had a bad set up but it the way it was presented to us the viewer. One of the things I like about the show is the behind the scenes stuff. We get to see how a film or scene is put together and how the elements are set up. The mirror scene was set up with green screen techniques but other than telling us that, we don’t see how that process works. Each of the queens enter the room and we watch their performance with the green screen added. When the girls made the trailer a few episodes back we didn’t actually watch it, we saw them making it (it played over the credits granted). Aside from this let down it was good to watch them perform as they were far more professional than week one.

Speaking of week one, the girls all watched each other’s performances on a monitor as they did in the opening episode which lead to numerous bitchy comments. Lindsey vowed that she would not lose this competition to Michelle; it’s easy to get cocky when there’s only one week left. After her outstanding performance in the challenge perhaps she was right, game over?

Once all had finished, James revealed that all were to report to the ballroom at midnight and one would get the axe. DUN DUN DUN. This moment was so ridiculous, was it meant to be shocking? It’s the week before the final, we all knew someone would be axed, it happens every week. The girls stand their with their mouths open, did they forget that two weeks ago six girls were called before the judges. There are only eight episodes that comprise the series so we’re hardly going to forget what happened.

The judges have softened over the weeks and praise each of the girls in turn, the first week they slagged everyone off. Ultimately though Angela’s outburst cost her a place in the final and Lindsey was named leading lady. Before we finish though an announcement is made that next week things are going to be different and the remaining three will have to take part in the Scream Queen gauntlet.

Well on top of all the great bitchy moments this was a rather lacklustre episode but by the sound of next week’s gauntlet the money saved here will go into that. I’m looking forward to the big finale as the preview looked action packed. Funnily enough the voice over guy labelled the remaining three girls as the former child star, the hottie and the rookie shows how much they think of the cast. 6.5/10

Starring: Shawnee Smith, James Gunn, John Homa
Contestants: Michelle, Lindsay, Angela, Tenedra

(2 votes, average: 8.00 out of 10)

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