Last week's episode ended on a bang with the savage murder of Riley. With her peers heartbroken, Audrey, Emma and Noah attempt to connect the dots and lift the curtain on what's going on.
SCREAM -- S01E04 -- "Aftermath"
The episode starts with a quick flashback of last week's events and Noah storms the police station in a rage (can you blame him?).
And meanwhile, back at the bridge where Tyler's car went over, Maggie and Sheriff Hudson discuss matters.
Hudson tells Maggie that he blames himself -- that he should've been at the station and that Riley shouldn't have died.
One of the officers brings Hudson a bag with a burnt up Brandon James mask in it. It's looking more and more like Tyler was the killer, using the old Brandon James M.O.
Brooke is taking Riley's death especially hard. She chose to answer a booty call rather than stay with Riley -- a booty call that never even happened, either.
Noah ends up spending the night at work -- Audrey brings him coffee in the morning. It's easy to feel for Noah because his characters comes across as a genuine guy.
Noah wants to seek justice. And Audrey jokes they could be a duo: "Bi-Curious and the Virgin."
The principal and Sheriff Hudson hold a meeting for the students of George Washington High to fill them in and let them know what the status of everything is.
Hudson assures everyone that "it's over" and this infuriates Audrey. He mentioned Nina and Riley's death but said nothing about Rachel's.
Audrey confronts Hudson about this after the meeting and he tells her that Rachel's murder is still an active investigation.
Later, at the morgue, Hudson and Maggie discuss whether the body pulled from the wreckage is Tyler or not. It is. And Hudson makes a great JAWS reference: "If the mayor wants to open the beaches, you got to make sure the shark is dead."
Maggie also informs him that they can't seem to find his head.
And, of course, Brooke's biggest dilemma is deciding which color nail polish to wear to Riley's funeral. Titanium or black onyx?
And then Brooke gets a rather sinister message...
...it appears that she's the favorite to be killed next.
And podcaster Piper Shaw seems to be spending a lot time at the coffee shop where Emma works. They seem to be bonding, but if she's anything like her movie counterpart, Gale Weathers, then there's an angle here we're not yet aware of.
Once home, Emma receives a package in the mail. It's the 1994 George Washington High School yearbook.
All the victim's of the original massacre have had their pictures cut out, and the sole survivor, Emma's dad, has had his picture crossed out.
Later, Audrey catches Noah drinking on the job. He claims they can't fire him because he's the only one who knows how to reset the router.
Emma shows up and shows them the yearbook she received. Emma and Audrey agree to visit the old abandoned hospital together -- the place where the attempted corrective surgeries on Brandon James took place.
Will tells Jake that he got into Duke, but can't afford the $63,000 tuition. And Jake reminds him that "there's another way."
Jake says they can finish was Nina and Tyler started. Apparently they were blackmailing some guy out of a lot of money.
Audrey and Emma arrive at the creepy old hospital.
Once inside, Audrey jokes and says they should split up. I found that line to be quite funny. Very meta in a SCREAM kind of way.
They follow a blood trail that leads to a set of double doors that has the killer's "logo" on it.
They've stumbled upon the killer's lair. And they find a mutilated pig -- most likely where the heart that Maggie got in the mail came from. But don't plan on the killer returning to the hideout, because this is all clearly staged for them to find.
And Emma finds the sketch pad of the masks that were custom made for Brandon James' face after the surgeries.
Suddenly, they hear someone coming and they hide, prepared the attack.
Emma and Audrey attack the figure, but it ends up being Noah.
"Did you just try to taze my man-parts?" he asks them.
Noah then goes on to gush over being in the killer's lair and then proceeds to give a pretty cool little monologue on the subject.
And they find the cut-out yearbook photos -- accompanied by photos of Emma.
They also stumble upon Nina's missing laptop. Emma turns it on sees multiple files with names of people in their circle. She transfers all the files to one of Audrey's SD cards.
And suddenly they hearing someone else coming. They hurry -- and run into one of the Brandon James masks.
The mask, however, was resting on Tyler's severed head.
The three take off.
And run into Sheriff Hudson.
They get a lecture about how if they find out any information at all, they are to contact the police.
And Hudson confiscates Audrey's camera -- for "evidence." Something's fishy here.
Brooke checks the updated poll...
...and she's still the favorite to die.
Brooke's father comes out to talk her and his phone starts buzzing.
He's the one that Jake and Will are blackmailing. But why?
And later, Noah and Audrey and attempt to hack into the encrypted files they got off Nina's laptop. Something went wrong, though, and they were only able to transfer one file -- and file with Emma's name.
And when they succeed, they see that it's a sex tape of Will and Emma.
Back at the coffee shop, Emma tells Piper to stick around because she doesn't think it's over yet. And she's right.
Noah tries to turn the sex tape off but it begins to automatically upload due to a hidden executable.
This can't be good.
Soon, everyone's phone is buzzing. Including Emma's.
Piper asks Emma what it is. She replies, "It's my first time."
And that's it. Episode over. Helluva cliffhanger, really.
Even though no one was killed in "Aftermath," there was still plenty of story and exposition to keep the viewer hooked -- which, I am.
Next episode: S01E05 -- "Exposed"