“What fresh hell is this?” Who knew that this quote from the very first episode of Scream Queens would be the best way to describe Tuesday night’s shit show of a season finale? It was a crazy two-hours, during which I didn’t see even a single thing coming.
First of all, only two people died. With a show that tore through the cast as quickly as The Walking Dead – though not quite as quickly as Game of Thrones – you would think that Scream Queens’ season finale would have been a bloodbath. There’s also the fact that the producers said only four would return for a second season of Scream Queens, which led me to believe that the rest of the characters would be missing for a more gruesome reason. In the end, though, Pete (the unknown third Red Devil) and a random pizza guy were the only fatalities of the episode. Although the pizza guy might be able to count for two, seeing as they exploded him on TV, which I didn’t know was allowed.
But let’s get back to Pete. I really wanted to believe he was a good guy; his Matthew Mcconaughey impression was on point, and how can you hate anyone who does a good “alright, alright, alright”? Unfortunately, there’s no excuse for being a killer, not even if you have a “really good reason.” It was awesome to see that, though Pete ended up being no match for Hester (but really, he kind of deserved it seeing as he murdered her brother) Grace was able to kick some serious Red Devil ass. Even though we found out later that Grace was never in any real danger. I love that the reason that Hester let her live was because Grace was nice to her – so ridiculous.
Speaking of which, the most shocking reveal of the Scream Queens finale, of course, was that Hester was the last Devil standing. Oh, and that she got away with it. Honestly, the writing and planning that went into her backstory and explanation was excellently thought through; it completely fleshed out her character in a perfect conclusion. And of course, there was Lea Michele’s acting, which was some of her best work yet. It almost made the fact that they spent about 30 minutes explaining her motives, even though they could have ended the episode ten times before they did, worth it.
I think that we all sort of suspected Hester, but just as she expected, we all chose to disregard her because of her supreme strangeness. For that reason, I think that she deserves to have gotten away with it by pinning the murders on the Chanels. I will say, though, that after everything that Grace and Zayday went through to prove Hester guilty, you would think that they would have been smart enough to see through her bullshit. Not to mention what we had to go through! I wish I could permanently erase Wes’ dad bod rolling around with Dean Munsch as they ravaged each other from my mind.
However, without the framing, we never would have gotten to see Emma Roberts, Billie Lourd, and Abigail Breslin’s best scene of the season, their arrests. From Roberts’ overly dramatic, “you’ll never take me alive,” to Breslin’s facial expressions as her parents publically disowned her, and Lourd’s long-awaited appearance in her mother’s signature Leia buns, the three girls stole the spotlight during their final scenes of the season. Lucky for us, it looks like, if Scream Queens gets renewed for a second season, we’ll get to see the Chanels again in what looks like it will be Scream Queens: Asylum.
I’ll take these final few moments as we say goodbye to our favorite idiot hookers (hopefully only for now) to speculate about what the second season could be like. First, I doubt that they’ll keep Hester on as the Red Devil if they do choose to do the asylum storyline. Though she is still running free since she and Dean Munsch decided to call it even, I feel as if Hester’s business is finished. I am, however, all for bringing back the three Chanels, as well as Chad Radwell, because what would Scream Queens be without Chad? I don’t doubt that they’ll bring back the funny one-liners, excellently crafted references, and hilariously satirical and simultaneously completely serious underlying lessons.
This season relied heavily on bashing the Greek system and mocking today’s feminism (while strangely enough also managing to have highly feministic tendencies). Hopefully next season will tackle the mental health issue that has almost become a social media trend, in the way that only Scream Queens does, by making the awful un-politically correct jokes everyone else is too scared to. What I’m saying, I guess, is, please Ryan Murphy, I need more.