If loving you is wrong, dear “Scream Queens,” then I don’t want to be right.
How did it all start?
The series is directed by Ryan Murphy who also created shows like Glee etc. Surely this director has been one of the best to analyze and portray the life of an American teenager with all the sororities, mean girls and high school class system. Where Glee was a very joyful show, Scream Queens on the other hand seem to be very satirical and dark.
“Scream Queens” says it all!
The title seems very apt for the series as the very first thing you notice about this series is a bunch of high society girls shouting at the top of their lungs. It very beautifully captures the essence of the show that is both high and mighty with glimpses of horror.
The deep dark red devil secrets:
During a KKT party in the ’90s, in which TLC’s “Waterfalls” was (and always will be) the current jam, a group of selfish Kappa sisters come across a shocking discovery: a sister who had given birth in the bathtub. But instead of wasting time comforting their sister after she had given birth, the ladies of KKT leave her in the bathtub to go dance. When they come back to check on her, she’s dead. At least the baby was A-OK. Scene end! What happened to the baby, what they did to the body, all these questions race in your mind.
What is it all about?
It follows blonde-haired, black-hearted sorority fascist Chanel No. 1 (Emma Roberts), who’s been forced by the university’s Dean Munsch (Jamie Lee Curtis) to open Kappa House to all students — even “fatties and ethnics,” as Chanel calls them — while a devil-masked killer knocks off pledges and Kappa sisters alike. The pilot flashes back and forth between 1994, when a sorority girl died mysteriously at Kappa House. Emma Roberts has three other channels who follow her around, Channel 2,3 and 5 and channel 4 is dead.
The Queens and their subjects! (Characters)
This is my favorite part of the show as the characters are perfect for the role. Emma Roberts. Her character is devilishly nasty, homophobic and racist; and to portray that character, the show may toe the line of tastelessness for some. For others, this will only help paint Chanel as the bitchy villain who is certainly easy to hate.
The most interesting characters are the misfit pledges: Grace, her black roommate Zayday (Keke Palmer), a deaf woman named Tiffany (Whitney Meyer), the neck-braced Hester (Lea Michelle), the lesbian “Predatory Lez” (Jeanna Han), and Jennifer (Breezy Eslin), a “candle vlogger” who reviews candles on YouTube. These women get all the best one-liners, and they also serve up the smartest meta-commentary about race, gender, sexuality, and class, which might make you assume that the show sides with these so-called losers.
Lea Michele is shedding her “Glee” image in a role that’s perfectly creepy and macabre.
Nick Jonas steals the episode, a closeted frat brother who’s got a total boner for his best friend Chad — and he’s hiding a seemingly dark agenda. Chanel’s group of preppy, couture-clad is instantly memorable, from Ariana Grande’s daft Chanel #2 to Billie Lourd’s hilarious #3. (“Don’t look so excited,” she tells a Kappa Kappa Tau pledge hopeful while handing her a drink. “It’s not diet.”)
Parts that made me go colon space capital D “: D”
If you are a girly girl and love drama this is the thing for you. From sorority drama to boy girl things it has each and everything.
When it specifically targets younger generations on that front, it feels fresh. Chanel agrees to accept a gay pledge at Kappa House not because she’s compassionate but because she loves positive publicity and knows the move will light up social media. When local news reporters descend upon Dean Munsch, questioning her about the devil-mask killer, tearful students lurk in the background, taking selfies and giving faux-devastated interviews about a victim they’ve never even met. “I’ve got news for you, self-involved junior,” the Dean thinks to herself. “Just because you know a guy who was in a class with the dead girl’s roommate does not mean that it could have been you.”
The whole time I watched Scream Queen’s two-hour premiere, I was either laughing out loud, or feeling guilty for laughing out loud. Why did I find it hilarious when the beautiful, popular Chanel No. 2 (played by the beautiful, popular Ariana Grande) succumbed to a violent end while texting with the killer, the girl gets stabbed in the HEAD and yet still has enough in her to finish her tweet. Now, that’s dedication.
The parts that made me close my eyes!
Scream Queens isn’t for everyone. Some will find it too sadistic or too campy or unfairly dismissive of millennials. But for me, its critique extends to viewers of all ages. The plan is simple: she’ll pretend to “get mad” at Ms. Bean and dunk her head into the deep fryer as punishment. But the fryer won’t actually be on, of course. Yeah, that didn’t go according to plan. Instead, Chanel got mad at Ms. Bean for real and dunked her head into the fryer without realizing it was on. Cut to a horrific scene in which Mr. Bean emerges from the grease and proceeds to PEEL HER FACE OFF. These kinds of disgusting scenes make you regret watching the show, accuse the story line is no game of thrones that will make us tolerate the gross parts.
To watch or not to watch:
This show is surely very different from what we have been watching all these years as it is dark-dark comedy but something about it makes it interesting. The story line is not that great but the writers have tried hard to keep the suspense alive by creating twists every minute. It will not appeal to a lot of people as it is not light hearted or fun but people who have loved shows like Gossip girls in the past will love it.
So if you are a girly girl and would love to see some drama in your life, watch it but don’t keep your hopes very high.
