In this episode of Scream Queens, “Black Friday,” Chanel comes face-to-face with the Red Devil, Grace decides it’s time to take extreme measures to ensure the safety of the sisterhood and Pete has a secret.
Nothing gets in the way of Chanel enjoying the frenzy of the unwashed, unkempt masses during a Black Friday doorbuster — not even the roasted head of the Kappa Kappa Tau’s national president, Gigi, served up like a Thanksgiving turkey.
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The Kappas and Black Friday
Dean Munsch tries to exert some parental-like control over the queen of Kappa, only to be thoroughly rebuffed. Chanel points out how Dean Munsch has been completely ineffective at protecting her students from the Red Devil, and while Munsch was determined to shut down the Kappa house, the sorority is still limping along while the university is closed for business. It’s pretty safe to assume that the dean’s career is over.
After this oral evisceration, Chanel and her minions bid Dean “Carpetmunsch” adieu and head off to watch the “hippo stampede” at the mall.
Off Duty
Grace, Pete and Wes go to the police station to report Gigi’s murder and run into Detective Chisolm. He informs them that the entire homicide department has been fired, himself included. It seems the mayor was displeased at the lack of progress being made on the Red Devil case.
The Kappa Who Learns the Meaning of Christmas
Chanel embraces her inner bargain-hunting consumer on Black Friday so she can buy her friends crappy gifts that make them insecure and easier to manipulate. But after learning that her minions sprung for an expensive handbag just to make her happy, Chanel’s heart grows three sizes. She decides to spring for matching pink Jeeps for her entire clique.
All of a sudden, they find themselves alone in the mall. Of all of the improbable situations this season, an empty mall on the Friday after Thanksgiving is the biggest farce of them all. They try to leave but find that they are locked in and being hunted by the Red Devil.
While the other Chanels scurry off to find a hiding place, Chanel #1 decides to stand her ground. Convinced that the killer, armed with a crossbow, is Dean Munsch, Chanel hurls a flurry of insults, even after she gets shot in the shoulder with an arrow.
Just when it looks like it could be lights out for Chanel, Denise Hemphill arrives to save the day. Denise is the new chief of police. The Red Devil gets away, and Denise comments that perhaps she should have shot him when she had the chance instead of talking so much.
The Kappas Who Decide to Commit a Murder
After her experience at the mall, Chanel is riding a pain killer high and is convinced more than ever that the dean is the killer. Munsch has been after Chanel and Kappa house since day one, and she’s the only one who knew that the Chanels were going to the mall. Chanel thinks Munsch orchestrated every attack on campus and lists them as follows: Melanie Dorkus; Deaf Taylor Swift; Predatory Lez; Chad’s irritating, armless friend; Candle Vlogger; and Black British Guy. She even tries to pin Miss Bean’s death on Munsch. After all, she’s not the one who turned on the fryer.
Like it or not, they are all sisters, and it’s time to take matters into their own hands. The only way to stop the murders is to kill Dean Munsch. Chanel has an unlikely ally in Grace, who gives an endless speech about the importance of sisterhood. The police are no help, so it’s time to take the offensive for the good of the Kappas. Grace and Chanel agree that poison is the way to go.
Grace and Chanel go to see the dean under the guise of starting a feminist group, Wallace University Campus Feminist Collective. There’s nothing like a few killings to stress the importance of female bonding and empowerment.
The girls come prepared. According to a recent status update, Munsch’s favorite drink is apple cider, so the Kappas spike a mason jar full of the autumnal drink with puffer fish venom.
The dean downs the drink, but it fails to kill her, and Grace and Chanel wind up saddled with an assignment on the militant suffragette movement.
The Kappa Who Almost Goes All the Way
Grace voices her frustration over the botched murder attempt to Pete. Pete tries to convince Grace that she’s just not a killer and it’s illegal. Grace doesn’t think she could forgive herself if she did nothing, and someone she really cared about suffered — someone like Pete.
Speaking of Pete, he has a whole ordeal with Chad at the Dickie Dollar Scholar house that is too inane to go into great detail about. All you really need to know is that Pete tells Chad that Boone had been his source, his Deep Throat. Chad is confused by this and questions whether Pete and Boone may have been secret lovers.
It’s also revealed that Pete pledged to the fraternity but was rejected. Chad suggests this may be where the root of Pete’s hatred for the Greek system first took hold and then invites him to join the Dickies. Pete declines, Chad challenges him to a duel under fraternity bylaws and Pete leaves.
Pete tells Grace about Chad’s invitation and then admits that there’s a part of him that sides with the Red Devil. The killer(s) is cleaning up the mess and filth in a way that the dean never could. Realizing that he sounds a bit extreme, Pete backtracks. He says guys join frats for a sense of structure, but the structure they’re buying into is misogynistic and dangerous. Pete already has structure: the school newspaper, his dreams for the future and Grace.
Grace and Pete start to fool around and he’s ready to go all the way, even declaring his love for her. But Grace just isn’t in the mood. She is hyper-focused on murdering Dean Munsch.
Pete tries to make Grace understand that even if Munsch is the Red Devil and Grace succeeds in the task she’s set for herself, she loses. Grace will have embraced all of the worst parts of Kappa house, the parts she’s been fighting so hard against, and that would break Pete’s heart.
With the dean still alive and well, Chanel is incensed. And while her stance on killing the administrator hasn’t changed, Grace is having second thoughts. All they have is circumstantial evidence, and even though she’s pretty positive that Munsch is the killer, she’s not ready to move forward without a smoking gun.
Dissension in the ranks doesn’t sit well with Chanel, so she boots Grace out of Kappa. It’s pretty easy to change the rules to work in your favor when the majority of the voters consist of your minions.
As Grace prepares to storm off in a huff with Zayday, her bestie informs her that she won’t be leaving. Zayday is on Team Chanel. It’s pretty obvious the dean is the killer, and she won’t stop until all the Kappas are dead. Murder isn’t an ideal solution, but it’s the best one they’ve got.
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The Kappa Who Went Nuts
Grace goes to see her dad and discovers that Wes and Pete have been investigating Gigi. Pete assumed that the Hag of Shady Lane would had to have been the fourth Kappa sister in the bathroom in 1995; the sister who took the babies. This means she would have to be one of the two remaining names on the list he took from the dean’s office.
Pete cross-checked the names with the intake forms from the mental institution and came up with Jess Meyer. The psychiatrist’s report states that Gigi/Jess suffered a mental breakdown after her sister committed suicide just a few months prior. Pete believes Gigi’s sister, Amy, is the one who took the babies, but the pressure of looking after them and the guilt of the cover-up led her to take her own life.
Sooooo, Gigi took on the job of raising the twins and turning them into killers so she could exact revenge on the Kappas.
Pete leaves to work on his story, and Grace questions how Wes is doing given that his most recent girlfriend was a lunatic. Yes, Gigi was a liar who spent 20 years raising and training murderers, but Wes liked her.
Grace decides that now is the ideal time to have the sex talk with her dad. Wes realizes that his particular situation is a bit extreme when it comes to consequences of having sex too young or without giving it much thought, so he simply advises Grace to wait if she doesn’t think she’s ready.
The Dean Who Wouldn’t Die
Meanwhile, Dean Munsch appears to be immortal. The Kappas take her to a spa and encourage her to try a cryosauna. After Munsch steps into the tube, the girls turn the temp to 200 degrees below zero, expecting to find a “Bitch-sicle” after 10 minutes, but even though Munsch resembles Jack Nicholson at the end of The Shining, she’s alive.
Chanel’s next plan involves drowning the dean in the campus pool. But she finds herself alone with the dean and a bag of chains when the other girls become involved in some drama while shopping for panties.
The Kappa Who Wants to Have Sex
Grace pops by Pete’s dorm room and see that he’s packed his bags. Pete isn’t who he seems to be. He received a phone call that could possibly implicate him in the Red Devil killings or be another red herring. At this point, who really cares?
Grace is feeling amorous and she’s ready to give Pete her V-card. Why wouldn’t she? Virgins are always duped in horror movies.
Grace goes on and on about what a great guy Pete is, and he decides not to go where no man has gone before. Grace is embarrassed and confused, questioning why Pete would reject her, and he tells Grace that her first time shouldn’t be with a murderer. Insert ominous music here.
The two-hour season 1 finale of Scream Queens airs Tuesday, December 8 at 8pm on FOX.
(Image courtesy of FOX)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
Jennifer has worked as a freelance writer in the entertainment field since 2012. In addition to currently writing feature articles for Screen Rant, Jennifer has contributed content ranging from recaps to listicles to reviews for BuddyTV, PopMatters, TVRage, TVOvermind, and Tell-Tale TV. Links to some of Jennifer’s reviews can be found on Rotten Tomatoes.
