My Review of Scream's 1x09: "The Dance"

Written by Jill E. Blotevogel
Directed by Ti West

Emma (re Kieran): "I can't believe he did this anymore than I can believe you killed Nina."
Audrey: "Then I guess we'll have to agree to disagree. You two have fun together."

With the finale less than a week away, I have to give the penultimate episode it's due. Not only did it spend a good time convincing most people that Seth Branson/Palmer was guilty of the murders but soon things were flipped over and the suspicion then fell on to Kieran after both Audrey and Noah discussed that he had a prior history with Nina.

I have to admit it was a solid enough twist and a good means of creating a little tension between Emma and Audrey as well as the former didn't want to believe that her boyfriend might be a killer. Then Piper did a little digging and it turned out that Kieran paid a little house call to Brandon's elderly mother as did Piper and Emma themselves in this episode.

I don't know if Kieran's the killer but I certainly don't think Branson is, even if the last scene of the episode resulted in a rather bloody escape from the cop shop while the sheriff was being held hostage by Ghostface as well. It's going to be interesting to see how many of the characters make it out of the last episode alive to be honest.

As for the rest of the episode - it mostly involved Jake putting his foot in it, Brooke giving Branson/Palmer the benefit of the doubt and various mentions of the many killed at different points. Set up wise, I do think they set the scene rather well for the final showdown between Emma and whoever the killer(s) may be though.

- Piper certainly had a little more fire to her in this episode than she's had all season.
- While I like the Pulp Fiction nod, it does seem a little old for the characters on this show.
- Maggie's getting a maternity test. I keep thinking her other kid is going to be Piper and not Seth.
- It's Halloween going by this episode.

A solid penultimate episode, "The Dance" certainly has everything set up nicely enough for the last showdown between Emma and Ghostface. I just hope the identity of the killer (or killers) is a good one though.

Rating: 7 out of 10