Scream Queens Season 2, Episode 1: Scream Again

Scream Queens, that little show that started last season with a bang and went out with a whimper, is back. Seriously, what were the writers thinking? They made the biggest red herring actually be the killer. I never even considered her because she was so suspicious that I assumed only an idiot would make her the real killer. Well, Ryan Murphy & company are back again with a completely new season that I just watched the first episode of the other night.

You may remember when he originally said that Scream Queens would work like American Horror Story, as in each season would feature some of the same actors but in brand new roles and with a brand new setting. He apparently decided to throw all that out the window because we have some of the same exact actors playing the same exact characters. The only thing missing is the extremely gorgeous Oliver Hudson. Luckily, we have John Stamos to make up for that.

Dean, the ever wonderful Jamie Lee Curtis, became a best selling feminist author and used her cash to buy a new hospital where both Stamos and Lautner now work as doctors. She then tracked down Zeyday, the only one from the old sorority that she actually liked, to also work in the hospital since Zeyday apparently graduated college in just a year and a half before starting med school. Denise got Hester to confess to being the real killer, which led to the Chanels getting released from the mental institution. They got jobs working in the health care field, and when Zeyday complains about the hospital not having enough women on staff, Dean adds the Chanels to her hospital/med school.

We also learn that Jerry O'Connell was a truly terrible doctor. Way back in the day, a hugely pregnant woman came in with her dying hospital. O'Connell lied about his condition, and he and a nurse dumped the poor guy's body in a swamp behind the hospital so they could go out and party. We also have Kristie Alley popping up as a hard ass nurse working in the current hospital. As much as I once loved her, I have to give her the side eye since she came out in support of Donald Trump.

Scream Again was kind of meh in terms of a season opener. If it were the first episode of a brand new show, I'm not even sure I'd pick up and watch a second. While Curtis was great as Dean, it felt just a little too unrealistic, even for a Murphy show. Dean somehow manages to open her own teaching hospital and medical school with no experience, Hester randomly gets caught because she doesn't know what double jeopardy means despite being the one most obsessed with killing, and the Chanels constantly complain about being broke and poor while living in an apartment full of mid-century modern furniture and decor as they walk around in designer clothing.

It also sucks that there was a large lack of killing and any interesting kills. I still remember the moment in the first season where deaf Taylor Swift got run over by the lawnmower and how I couldn't stop laughing and feeling shocked at the same time. This episode gave us a guy getting thrown in the swamp and a woman getting her head chopped off while locked in a hydro bath. I do have to give a nod to the episode playing a song from Dirty Dancing since Chanel #5 will play Baby in the remake of that film.

Scream Again pretty much sums up the way Murphy works. His shows start out good and then fall off pretty fast, but I'll still try to follow along this season and see how it goes.