Scream, S1 E7- In the Trenches

It’s the episode all of us Scream fans have been waiting for; okay, more like cringing for. This episode, 1.07: “In the Trenches”, has been promoted heavily as the episode Lakewood loses another resident. Boy, does it not disappoint.

We pick up in the abandoned garage with Piper. She has a huge bloody gash on her head (thanks Killer) and Will is nowhere in sight. Not even 5 minutes in, and you already know this episode will be a doozy.

Kieran: “So like we dating or nah?”
Emma: “That depends on if you live to see Season 2.”

Meanwhile, the Duval household is in much higher spirits. Maggie (Daisy) Duval is sprucing up some of her well-known and loved sausage with kale meal for their mother/daughter date with the Sheriff and Kieran later that evening. Sure, Emma tells her Mom that she and Kieran are just friends, but the kiss they later sneak in before school says otherwise.

At school, Noah is stoked to find out that Audrey is free and away from the cops! Sorry Noah, your “Free Audrey” T-Shirts had nothing to do with it. Noah relays to her that Seth Branson’s fingerprint IDs didn’t come up with anything suspicious. All the more reason for “The Bicurious and the Virgin” to continue their investigation.

Even though she’s not a high school student, Piper has no problem getting into the school to talk to Emma, moments later. Let’s applaud Piper for bleeding out of the head and still looking awesome. She takes the entire Scream Team (except Noah and Audrey, who are probably off doing their own investigating) to the abandoned garage, now that everyone is in the know about the Killer and their antics. In big spray painted letters a wall says, “No Cops Emma.” If the gang didn’t know anything now, Em really had to explain a few things then. After a phone call from both the Killer and a kidnapped Will, it’s clear Emma has to put her Final Girl skills to the test.

Noah: “Why would I even help Will? Why would you?”
Emma: “So he doesn’t die.”

Emma goes to Noah to try and get some of his phone tracking advice. It isn’t until Emma states the severity of the situation (how Will is at a very high chance of dying and everything), that he actually gets it and cooperates. With Audrey busy taking the midterm she missed from her time held captive in jail, Emma and Noah set off on their own to track down Will. Well, with a little help from Jake and Brooke.

Noah tracks Will’s phone to an abandoned bowling alley that *gasp* is later revealed as where Brandon James used to work. Judging from the looks of the place alone, it appears the Killer’s been watching one too many Saw movies.

“Who’s up for a quick game while we wait for the Killer to randomly show up?”

Stepping away from my usual recap telling of the episode, I would like to mention what I really enjoyed most about “In the Trenches”. For starters, while the gang is inside the bowling alley, every single character is accused as a suspect. The writers have toyed with the idea that “no one’s safe” (in both being killed or being the killer) before, but not so rapidly or to this degree.

For instance when Noah, Emma, Jake, and Brooke split into pairs, Jake confides in Brooke how the killers are usually someone no one would suspect. Though Jake: I would like to add that Noah knows quite a bit of horror movie/serial killer knowledge, thus someone has to suspect him just a little bit. If we’re going to go with Jake’s logic, Brooke should be on the top of everyone’s list. The only shady thing she’s done throughout the series is know how to make a killer knife stick.

Eventually the gang find Will. He’s severely out of it, but alive. I can’t say the same for Jake. Kidding, the dude only gets stabbed (keyword: only). Emma almost loses her Final Girl status by getting stabbed herself by the wild!Killer that suddenly appears. But thanks to Noah calling Audrey, who immediately heads to the Duval residence, Sheriff Clark actually saves the day for once. The Killer has fled and everyone is safe and in each other’s loving and sobbing arms. For now.

Em, you’re going to need two things.
1) Some really good bleach to remove those blood stains.
2) A whole lot of counseling (RIP WILL)

I couldn’t end this recap/review without discussing the highly talked about and mentioned death scene. Just when you think everyone in Lakewood is safe, you’re horribly mistaken.

Emma thinks she’s going to cheer up a bedridden Will with a good ol’ movie night. Wrong. So wrong. She receives a call from who she thinks is Will when she arrives at his place. Nope, it’s the Killer using a voice app. Frantic, Emma runs into Will’s backyard to find him taped and bound to a chair connected to what looks to be a rototiller of some kind (correct me if I’m wrong). All Emma can think to do is run towards him to try and save him, but that’s the exact opposite of what occurs. By stepping towards him, she trips a wire causing the Saw-like trap to actually start up. Before we know it the machine has cut him in half (I repeat: IN HALF) and Emma is splattered with Will’s insides. Gross doesn’t even begin to cover it.

What did everyone think of those last two gruesome minutes? I have to applaud Scream and MTV for outdoing themselves. We wanted death scenes, and we got one. Oh, and did anyone notice that Will had used the exact machine that would be his demise in an earlier episode? Foreshadowing perhaps? And officially, everyone can cross Will Belmont off their suspect lists.

R.I.P. Will Belmont.

Lakewood Body Count

Tyler O’Neill
Nina Patterson
Rachel Murray
Riley Marra
Will Belmont

Kelly’s Killer Suspects

Piper Shaw: Sure, you got knocked in the head and told Emma about the abandoned garage. Maybe that was the point this whole time?
Kieran Wilcox
Seth Branson: Please, tell me more information about your possibly shady past.
Audrey Jensen: I continue to love you with all my heart, but I find it highly suspicious that you were “taking a midterm” while everyone was investigating the bowling alley.
Noah Foster: I have to put his name down. He has all this information about serial killers/horror films. And like Jake said, no one would suspect him.

There are only 3 episodes left this season, and things are not slowing down in the slightest.
MTV released a mid-season trailer for the remaining episodes, and Emma is no more miss nice girl.

The trailer can be viewed below.

Emma Duval: I hereby give you the name “Survivor Girl”.