FOX’s Scream Queens
Season 1, Episode 12: “Dorkus”
Directed by Bradley Buecker
Written by Brad Falchuk/Ian Brennan/Ryan Murphy

* For a review of the previous episode, “Black Friday” – click here
* For a review of the finale, “The Final Girl(s)” – click here

Starting at the end of “Black Friday“, Pete (Diego Boneta) reveals to Grace (Skyler Samuels) his role in everything happening. When Pete found Boone (Nick Jonas) out to be the Red Devil Killer, he thought it made sense that the Kappa House sorority were pure evil, everything that was wrong with society even. So Pete believes “the Kappas, the Chanels“, all that is the evil here; not the Red Devil. He compares the 100+ deaths at the sorority since the ’70s to the 8 or so at the Devil has taken. No big deal, right?
We get to see a bunch of scenes where Pete recounts which victims were by his hand. First, there’s Rodger, “or Dodger, I don‘t know – I get ‘em all mixed up,” says Pete. Yet even though crazy Pete is now confessing all this to Grace, there’s still the other Red Devil Killer. We haven’t yet figured that part of it all out. But there is a lot of good revisiting of scenes, plus Grace chastises Pete for being a murderer AND a douche, quoting Nietzsche like a dummy. Then there’s also the fact Pete was the one that actually killed Boone, not the supposed twin sister.
Pete goes back and tells Grace about his encounter with Chanel Oberlin (Emma Roberts). She reveals her darkest fantasy, or so she says, involving Clan of the Cave Bear, pulling Pete into a humiliation scenario where Chanel #3 & #5 (Billie Lourd/Abigail Breslin) watch him act just like a caveman, face and body point and all. Rough, and hilarious.
But Grace doesn’t want any part of Pete or his confession: “If you want me to stay, you‘re gonna have to kill me.” Pete has more information, though. The identity of the other killer; one of Grace’s sisters. Is it #3, who claimed Charles Manson was her birth father? The oft-tortured #5? It couldn’t be Chanel #1, could it? Before Pete can reveal who the “other baby in the bathtub” was, the Red Devil Killer appears from the closet, stabbing Pete who can only croak: “Run.” Grace and the other Red Devil wrestle awhile, before Grace gets knocked the hell out.

More great voice-over from Emma Roberts, as Chanel #1 struts her stuff down the sidewalk at campus. This is where we get the Delta Gamma parody from Chanel. Even better, the stylized sequence we get with the letter itself is AMAZING! Everyone from #3, #5, to Zayday (Keke Palmer) reads the letter on their phone, while we simultaneously get to watch/hear Chanel # 1 type the whole thing out. One of my favourite scenes out of the entire first season. It has all the venom and hilarity of the original letter it is satirizing. The whole thing has to do with Chanel #1 ending up alone at the pool with Dean Munsch (Jamie Lee Curtis), looking like an idiot with a bunch of chains. I couldn’t get enough of this sequence, it was so well done. Even more than that, I think we can count Ms. Oberlin out of the running for the other Red Devil Killer. Personally I can’t see her being the other killer. Especially seeing as how the other killer brought the missive she wrote to the world. And the plot thickens.

Chanel #1: “You can all SUCK IT!”

Chanel decides to kill herself, “like Cleopatra“. Zayday finds her on her bed with a deadly snake, supposedly, in a box. Turns out it’s just a garden snake in a knitted sweater half its body length. But Zayday sort of talks her down. They have a heartfelt chat about being nice, and not saying “the first horrible thing that pops into your head all the time”. Funny at times, sweet in others. I really love Zayday’s character; Keke Palmer is talented and has a ton of charisma, perfect for this role.
Then out of nowhere, the Red Devil Killer shows up, bumbling and acting like an idiot. When Zayday knocks him out, there’s a strange anonymous guy under the mask. Downstairs, Hester (Lea Michele) is also rambling, talking about a woman with scars on her face saying something like “Dork“. Not hard to tell: Melanie Dorkus (Brianne Howey) is somewhere lurking about.
Our anonymous guy in the Red Devil costume reveals he’s a pizza delivery guy. The real Devil wrapped his waist in dynamite. When the timer finally counts down and all the girls run away, it blows the pizza guy to bits. Pretty awesome and nasty scene, too. Afterwards, we see Chanel trying her hardest to turn a corner, planning an “apology tour“.

Over at her dad’s place, Grace sits for a drink with Wes (Oliver Hudson). He’s another great character who is pretty damn hilarious. This whole conversation at the start was a crack-up. Even further, they have a bit of a serious chat about trust, life. And then more conversation on the Red Devil Killer. Wes suggests “lie detectors” and “waterboarding“. Grace has other plans.
When Cathy Munsch arrives home, she finds her place littered with lit candles. Then upstairs on the bed, Wes is stretched out with a rose, a couple petals on the bed, in nothing but his underwear; in the background, Heart’s “Crazy on You” plays. Wes even switches over to some “Listen to Your Heart” by Roxette, pouncing on Munsch, as Zayday and Grace sneak about in the background.

The Chanels go to see Melanie Dorkus, except for #6, Ms. Hester. Instead, she stays back at Kappa. She rifles through all sorts of drawers in Chanel #1’s massive walk-in closet, sauntering around smelling shoes and touching dresses. Such a weirdo.
At the same time, Grace and Zayday try researching the other Kappa House ladies. They need to find out information pertaining to who might be the other killer, looking through the courses they’ve taken, their families, et cetera. Nice little reference to Sweet Valley High by Francine Pascal, too.
After some wild sex, Wes and Dean Munsch lay in bed as she smokes a joint. Then he rolls over and claims it was the best sex of his life. This whole bit made me laugh super hard, in the greatest way. But it ends with Wes wanting a relationship, and Munsch claiming they need Grace to “go away“, at least for a little while.

Wes: “I never knew sex could be like that. I mean, at first I was like, ‘Wow, she‘s being really loud. Are the neighbours gonna call the police?‘ And then I was like, ‘Wow, now I‘m being really loud! Why am I screaming so much? They‘re definitely gonna call the police!‘ And then I just stunned at how flexible you are. I thought you had to be a gymnast to get both feet behind your head.”

At the Dorkus residence, Chanel #1 & #3 are there to visit Melanie. Except they start things off comparing her to Freddy, Jason Voorhees, and even the Toxic Avenger and Rocky Dennis from Mask. Plus, #3 is in the background filming the apologize. Then #1 pulls out a pair of scissors trying to stab Melanie to death, claiming she’s the killer with all sorts of half-baked evidence. But Grace and Zayday show up to help stop Chanel; they say Hester is the Red Devil Killer.
Only #5 is lurking around Kappa House when the others return. She mysteriously earlier took off because of a Tinder swipe, or so she said. Maybe she was alerted to the fact someone was looking into the information of each of the Kappa girls? Perhaps #5 is the other baby from the bathtub.
The girls all find Hester in the walk-in closet, a high heel driven into her eye socket. She points at #5, shaking, saying: “Red Devil.”
Is it true?

Wait for the final episode, “The Final Girl(s)“. Let’s find out together.