"The Top Best and Worst Episodes"
by
R. Tech

We're coming to the end of the third and final season, sadly. However, this is the perfect opportunity to reflect on what episodes will stand out in our minds once this epic has finished. The four part series finale is next and as sure as I am that'll hit this list (along with the pre-series finale, which had a brilliant ending, but for the sake of keeping things fair, I won't include it), I'd still like to go ahead and do this anyway and to also start up some discussion. So first, let's take a look at the episodes that were close to making the list, but not quite.

6 Honorable Mentions:
Pilot (Season 1, Episode 1) - It was the beginning and we get introduced to Roy and Niley. Well, for those who've read Scream 5 & 6, not so much but for the others new to the show, this was a good introductory episode. Looking back on it now, things were so shiny and happy and everyone was so innocent. Season 3? No freakin' way. Dark, violent, brooding and completely insane. The show's taken a complete 180 since than.

Secrets (Season 2, Episode 5) - Although this is the start of where episodes starting being in summary form, the very idea of this episode had quite a lot going on with it. We learn the truth about Jill's mother and then ofcourse, her nail in the coffin, not telling Jill about her father's suicide. Just those elements alone were enough to be a very intriguing episode but also thrown in is Robbie joining the dance club, which ultimately ends his and Niley's relationship.

Winter Formal (Season 2, Episode 7) - There is a crap load going on in this episode. We get a showdown between Gale and Niley and then Dewey finally busts Andy - - with a gimp, one of the funniest moments on the show. This is also the start of Robbie's "romance" with Solai since he skips out on Winter Formal so he can practice more. We also get a bit of Kirby and Roy romance but it ends quickly once Chelsea has her baby, which she admitted to Kirby in one of the most mature moments of the show in the episode prior, but unfortunately it's stillborn which is one of the most tearjerking scenes ever. Everything caps off nicely with Niley going fucking bonkers and burning down Andy's house for her suspicions that he killed Squirrely. It would've definitely hit the list if it was fully written.

Cabin Fever (Season 2, Episode 11) - In the most sexually charged episode, the kids head off to Colorado for Stab-a-Thon at a cabin. So what madness ensues? Yeesh... I would feel too dirty to even write it. However, this is where a good majority of the seeds for the season 2 finale are planted. Roy accidentally tells Trevor how to cheat, Charlie perfectly predicts how the Robbie situation will tear the group apart and Jill runs back into her ex, Patrick, which apparently results in her to get um... aroused enough to want to lose her virginity to Trevor after. Brilliant episode... just also... very, very, VERY dirty. I had to take a shower after that one.

Street Lights (Season 3, Episode 3) - My favorite opening puzzle piece with Niley discovering Marnie and Jenny's bodies, Street Lights is the undeniable beginning of the end with Trevor breaking up with Jill in the most crushing moment of the entire series that was so perfectly well written and really entered the psyche of what a break up could be like. In one of the episodes shining moments, Kirby cleans Jill off like a true friend while talking about how desensitized they've all become after death has been around them, which totally adds a new way to look at Scream 4 when they're just walking around like Jenny, Marnie and Olivia's deaths mean nothing. Not to give too many props to D, but that little aspect truly helps out one of the many areas Scream 4 was lacking in, especially since the first Scream found a way even through all the chaos to show remorse for it's fallen characters. Niley then practically guilt trips Jenny and Marnie to be friends with her IN the episode, a great way to really show the literal beginning and end of a friendship. Finishing off with the title episode's song, Jill sees first hand Trevor kissing Jenny while the lyrics echo out, "life's just not fair, life's just not fair." It's one of the most brilliantly written episodes, it's just unfortunate not a whole lot occurs in it or else this would've landed on the list.

Dancing in a Burning Room (Season 3, Episode 8) - Practically every episode from this point and on should make the list. This is the jump off point for Jill's crazy switch being flipped and pushed all the way into full throttle. We also get a tease of a Roy and Jill romance, something I honestly didn't see coming and it made perfect sense to fit in with the irony of the story (Roy is the only one who can save Jill but just as that could happen, she becomes a lost cause). But everything about this episode is great. The opening puzzle piece starts off exciting. The Kirby-Charlie starts up again in a cute kitchen scene. Then there's the montage to "Wouldn't It Be Nice" while Jenny finally gets her dream come true to be able to show off Trevor to everyone. On the flipside of the coin, it solidifies everything Jill feared. And not to sound too anti-Tess, but this is when she was finally taken out of the freakin' show for good. Everyone hated Tess. Her character never developed passed being a bi-polar nut who made Roy's life a living hell. Her role was supposed to be much more profound but I think keeping it this simple was a good choice because her departing felt so great when it happened. And then the totally insane freakout Jill has in the end with the entire room burning when she sees Trevor with Olivia. Sirens go off. The show blew up and went on a rampage from this moment forward."

TOP 10

10. Seven Devils: Part 2 (Season 3: Episode 13) - I'd include "You Are A Cinema: Part 1" but it moved too quickly for my tastes. However, I will mention the end while the song plays and Charlie falls in love with Jill as she's killing Freddy. It's beautiful... in a sick and twisted kind of way. Then she throws him off a fucking roof to put him in the hospital so they can get closer to their soon-to-be victim. It truly shows Jill's brilliant planning and manipulation skills, especially when she convinces Charlie that he enjoyed helping kill Freddy. She then sets him on his meds so he can "Hulk out" and he goes off to kill that "coma guy" once and for all. Then one of the most mind bending moments of the episode, Jill finds her own dead body in the hole she was buried in almost a year earlier. One could come up with a lot of theories as to why that is and for the first time, Woodsboro High offers up it's one and only mystical happening/mystery, "so is she alive or is she dead and if she's alive, what's in the grave and if she's dead, how is this all happening? !" Yeah, my head hurts too. I try not to think about it... but it's just too damn mistifying. It could be real, or fantasy, or a metaphor, or maybe the scene didn't even happen, or maybe it's a dream, or maybe it was someone else who looked like her showing that dead girls are still buried there all the time, or maybe Jill only imagined that the incident with Patrick happened last year (that's my favorite theory), or maybe she's at the wrong grave, or maybe the wrong woods entirely, or maybe it's Charlie's imagination, or maybe it's Freddy's "nightmare." There's a logical explanation, but I think D is having too much fun seeing people scratch their heads trying to figure it out to give the answer away. "I was dead once too," is probably my all time favorite Jill quote.

9. Another One Bites The Dust (Season 1, Episode 15) - This episode hits the list because of the jaw dropping ending with Patrick trying to rape Jill and admitting he wants Jenny also, which is the beginning of the fuel for Jill's hatred towards Jenny. Forget about Gale's guest appearance & the conception of Stab-A-Thon, the final 2 scenes were so perfect in understanding the beginning of Jill as a killer. The last scene with her talking to Jenny while bruised, bloody and in the darkness had readers in this for Jill's turn to the dark side finally go, "now we're getting somewhere!"

8. Boyfriend Number 1 (Season 1, Episode 4) - Jill gets her first boyfriend (& later on Season 2's crazy ex and Season 3's boytoy, Cory), Kirby figures out who's spreading lesbian rumors about her, Robbie and Niley share their first kiss, Roy and Kirby spend their first alone time together playing soccer and Olivia pisses Jill off enough to the point where she has her first flip out. I think this was honestly the point where I fell in love with the show. Before, events kinda just occurred but this is where a story started to formulate. It was hilarious, engaging and even had a "whoa!" moment at the end with Jill smashing shit around. Brilliant.

7. Pathetique: Part 1 & 2 (Season 3, Episode 4 & 5) - Starting off with one of the most hilarious conversations the show's ever had, Kirby and Olivia discuss Stab 5 and it's lesbian themes which is perfect foreshadowing into Kirby's eventual bisexual experimental flings. Taking a more interesting route in storytelling, the majority of the 2 part episode revolves around flashbacks being told by Jill, Roy and Jenny. This is also the epic moment Jill first puts on the Ghostface costume to do some sneaking around and terrorizing to Jenny and it explains one of the mysteries as to why she thought it was Trevor was messing with her on the phone in the beginning of Scream 4.

6. Rat in a Cage (Season 2, Episode 1) - Starting off with the opening scene that flash forwards to who we don't know is Patrick on a stretcher on prom night, season 2 got off to a great and emotional start. Extending the only plot that advanced from season 1's finale, we witness the birth of Kirby's change after Prichard's death and Chelsea trying to hide the fact she's pregnant with his baby. And who can forget Marnie joining the main cast and ofcourse, Jill's first time meeting Trevor? There's also some great Roy talking to Marnie and Kirby scenes, as well as Olivia's new friendship with the rest of the gang. It ends with the uber creepy next door neighbor of Robbie's, Andy, luring in kids to his house; a plot development we later learn has to do more with Mr. Leeds than Andy himself.

5. This is Halloween (Season 1, Episode 9) - At the time, Freddy killing Chelsea in the short film showed at the beginning was kinda silly. Now, in retrospect, the fact that Freddy is apart of the murderous duo in season 3 seems totally fitting. Other than that, we get some really great drama this episode with the intense car crash which ultimately results in Niley losing her memory and shows off Roy's heroic attitude. Also, one of the main reasons Jill will eventually want to kill Olivia being that Olivia reveals to the entire school that Jill is related to Sidney. This also results to Jill taking out the bra stuffing in Olivia's bra the next episode which is great but doesn't have enough events to be included on this list.

4. Bloodlines (Season 1, Episode 19) - In my opinion, better than the season finale, "Bulletproof," this episode gave readers the chance to finally see Jill and Sidney interact. It's also the beginning of where we learn that Kate is the crazy one and not Jill's father. Another plus is the surprise ending where the shooter kills the Prom Leader and had everyone's jaws to the floor with WH's first outright violent scene but unfortunately, the build was better than the action packed but not enough plot development finale.

3. Blue Moon (Season 3, Episode 11) - An entirely Jill and Charlie episode (they're the only two characters to speak in the story's present, aside from the opening puzzle piece and a flashback). Surely, this is what fans of the show were waiting for and it did not disappoint. The slow seduction from the first episode of the season to now finally comes to a climax (no pun intended) when Jill coerces Charlie into helping her by lending out sexual favors. It really puts us into Charlie's mind set and motives into the entire thing. It also helps us clue in to how Charlie reacts to his meds a bit more and we also get to see his own advice for Roy being used on Jill for his sticky situation ("if they're crazy, just act even crazier right back"). The final moments are by far the most disturbing of the entire series, with a dead person just brutally murdered in the room while they have passionate sex for the first time on the stairs. Consider my jaw officially on the floor for that one.

2. Back to Black: Part 1 & 2 (Season 3, Episode 9 & 10) - This double part episode was the single most insane thing I had ever read. It rivals "Monster" on chaos in a single episode. Jill's kills in experimenting how to murder people in a timely manner were jaw droppingly shocking. This is the point the show became so twisted that it almost felt wrong to be reading further. The material is depraved and immoral. The warning at the beginning of the chapter is there with well reason as there were times that even I didn't know if I could keep reading because I'd get this horrible feeling in my gut. It was DISTURBING but in a good way. It never crossed any weird "Human Centipede" boundaries or anything. It was good, ol' fashioned built up angst being let loose. My favorite scene is when Jill murders the Bank Teller. It was kind of nature's way of saying, "not every kill is going to be easy." Which probably put things in perspective for Jill into realizing she may need some help (ahem, Charlie). The scene was intense and suspensful, and the way it ends is even more eye opening. One of the best written scenes EVER.

1. MONSTER (Season 2, Episode 16) - One of the few episodes that left me shaking after reading, Monster was a slow burn that blew up in it's middle 2 parts and was absolutely insane even after the dust settled (fly landing on Jill's eyeball with the Psycho quoute = creepy). But what I loved most was how everything the previous seasons had set up came to a explosive clash in such an epic way that I still can't even understand how it was organized. The drama was at an all time high (I still get teary eyed for Niley when Robbie finally admits the truth), the horror finally came to the forefront (Jill's first kills are gritty, brutal, heartbreaking and shocking all rolled in one), and the surprises were left and right (Chelsea killing Katherine nearly made me shit my pants when she took off the mask). If there's one single episode that stands out as this show's high point, it was definitely this.

On the flip side, here's a few episodes I DIDN'T care about:
An Education (Season 1, Episode 5) There's some funny bits here but ultimately, it feels like a useless episode when seen in the grand scheme of things. I dig the scene first introducing Dr. Pryce. I dig the scene with Niley trying to tell people about the kiss with Robbie. I even dig Roy's story about how he saw Stephie and Kirby being all lesbian-ish together. But does any of it really matter, like, 5 episodes later? I'm more of a fan of the episodes with big impact, if you can tell. This episode's only redeeming value is it's pretty funny but that's it.

The Help (Season 2, Episode 2) This episode has a high point, with Jenny and Jill coming head to head over Trevor, but everything else seems like it's leading somewhere instead of getting somewhere. These episodes are needed so we can have awesome episodes where everything ignites, but this one felt too normal for my tastes. It also hints at some Roy-Trevor rivalry that'll come a bit later down the road but it's not an aspect I'm fully in love with.

411 (Season 2, Episode 6) Okay, this has such a GREAT scene in it with Chelsea telling Kirby that Prichard is the father but what about everything else? There isn't much of anything else, actually. There's maybe 2 other scenes in this episode and it's done. By purely being short with little punch, I have to put it on the list for one of the more lame episodes.

If I Could Be Like That (Season 3, Episode 6) Starts off with a good premise by being a documentary but then midway through it goes back to the regular story. It was interesting but seemed a bit far fetched, even for a crazy show like this. And then the story it goes to is merely just bringing up new plot points that have way more interesting pay offs in later episodes.

What about you? What are your top 3/5/10 episodes? And least favorites?

Guys, BillyBobD here. Maybe there was a misunderstanding about the reviews thing. The point of bringing up the count was so the other inbetween chapters that come up before the series finale could get some love. So I'll make it more simple...

Get the previous chapters, this chapter and the next 3 chapters coming up to a certain amount of reviews before the series finale comes! The next chapters are... a Tumbling with Niley, a Mr. Leeds History Test and the Pre-Finale Q&A. Here's the amount needed for each chapter...

Marnie's Blog: Entry 420 - 8 reviews (currently at 5)
Jill's Kill List: Version 03 - 8 reviews (currently at 5)
More of Robbie's Status Updates - 8 reviews (currently at 6)
Top Best and Worst Episodes - 5 reviews
Tumbling with Niley: Archive April 2011 - 4 reviews
Mr. Leeds' History Test - 4 reviews
Pre-Finale Q&A - 5 reviews

This should bring the total to 346 reviews. And you will therefore get Part 1 and Part 2 of the series finale in one go (the requirement was 345)!

The amount for part 3 and part 4 will be changed though (in order to make sure 1 & 2 get reviews as well). I will tell you the amount for those when the first 2 parts of the finale are posted!