Review: Scream - Season 2 Episode 01 - 'I Know What You Did Last Summer'

I could sum up my thoughts about Scream season 1 in just a few statements. It was very flawed but fun. The overall plot was slightly underwhelming, but overall it ended up working. The killer reveal ending didn't feel very surprising, but it was okay. I think it gave me enough of the Scream vibe, but it still didn't hit all the right notes. In any case, I ended up enjoying it enough to be pumped up for season 2.

(Spoilers Below)

The title of this episode is a nice wink to movies of the original Scream time, 'I Know What You Did Last Summer'. I thought that was a neat thing. Once again the first seven minutes were released by MTV prior to the official debut of episode 1. I think season 2's opening, like season 1, starts the season off strongly. I like the focus on Audrey and the intro segment is a bit of an homage to Scream 2. It feels slightly meta and had a neat twist. Audrey's character seems to be the one receiving the calls and texts in this first episode. She has some skeletons in her closet as revealed at the end of season 1 and it seems those chickens are starting to come home to roost in this season. I'm crossing my fingers that Audrey will have a ton more to do this season as her character was easily one of the best parts of season 1. The others are adjusting to life after season 1. Noah has taken up the role as resident Lakewood podcaster. Emma has been away recovering from season one events and other events not disclosed in this episode that evidently occurred after the events of season 1. She returns just as things start heating up again with a new killer. Brooke and Jake have been secretly dating. Kieran is nursing his break-up wounds with Emma who broke up with him during those undisclosed events in between season 1 to season 2. Brooke, Noah, and Audrey steal most of the scenes. Once again Audrey and Noah come off to me as the most interesting characters (much like most of last season).

This time around the killer seems to be honing the vibe of something like we've seen in movies like Saw (or maybe Hostel) over the somewhat Jason/Friday The 13th vibe of last season. I was hoping for a course correction from season 1 and have the killer feel more like that classic scream Ghostface. It's yet to be seen whether this new one will or will not, but it doesn't feel that way with this episode. There's some neat movie drops here and there from Noah who brings up Freddy as well as some discussion about killer comics,  like Nailbiter, from the new Sheriff's son. We have the set-up of a few new characters, Zoe and Gustavo, who will no doubt be bumped up to main cast as the body count goes up. I particularly liked the Zoe character. The high stakes nature of a show like this has to deal at least one death in the debut episode. This episode axes off a season 1 fan favorite. The episode's script is better than most of the episodes from season 1. I also think the acting seems stepped up and I generally like the direction the show is headed in. There are a few flaws. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre/Nightmare On Elm Street-esque dream (or repressed memory) barn sequence gives me flashbacks to the cringe-worthy feeling I had when the origin of Brandon James from season 1 was revealed. With that being said, and understanding this show isn't perfect, it might always feel like the straight to DVD/Stream/VHS version of Scream, but I was overall pretty pleased. I am looking forward to a hopefully much improved, if any indication from the start with this episode, season 2.