[For Scream Queens‘ “Thanksgiving” or any other recaps on Fetchland, assume the presence of possible spoilers.]
FOX Summary:
Thanksgiving Chad takes Chanel home for Thanksgiving, where she meets his family; another person dies.
The “Thanksgiving” episode opens on a bright note when Chanel tells Chad his worries are over. He doesn’t have to marry Hester after all. She’s dead now, thanks to Chanel. He says that’s totally hot and they need to go have sex by the body… a perfectly normal response in the world of Scream Queens where everybody always seems like the potential killer. They go to the meat locker to check out her hot dead bod but then Hester’s not there. Thus big trouble in Chad and Chanel’s tiny brain town begins.
Meanwhile at Gigi’s unrealistically chic apartment she preps for Thanksgiving with the Red Devil at her side. This Red Devil’s the one that had to kill Boone (their own brother) in the last episode. Gigi thanks them yet again for taking Boone out and saving her. Then she give her Red Devil buddy a quail she made them for Thanksgiving before they need to go out and do her bidding to kill again. Gigi says the Red Devil is the closest thing she has to family as she hands the, the electric knife to cut into the tiny quail body. Ominous music and lighting suggests that it’s not just going to be that quail and two million turkeys having a terrible Thanksgiving this year.
Chanel No. 3 goes home for Thanksgiving and it’s disappointing for her right from the start. Her family is the Swanson family, as in Swanson family dinners and that’s what they eat for turkey day… on TV trays in front of the TV. It’s all so appropriately dysfunctional and freakish that it starts to feel like a real Thanksgiving. Chanel No. 3 has a hissy fit because nobody has asked her about how several of her sort-of-friends have been killed back at school. She leaves in a huff. When she arrives back at the Kappa house Chanel No. 3 finds Dean Munsch making a turkey and they decide to celebrate Thanksgiving together with, turkey, the rest of the peeps in Kappa house, and charades.
Wes calls Grace and finds out she ended up not going to Zayday’s for Thanksgiving after all. Instead they’re staying at Kappa with Dean Munsch, No. 3, and whomever else is around. So, now Wes will be joining them as well. While waiting for the turkey to burn they play the fun game of who could the Red Devil be? Right off the bat, Dean Munsch accuses No. 3. Grace says she thinks the babies from the bathtub are the killers and since No. 3 is Charles Manson’s daughter adopted by the Swanson family she can’t possibly also be one of the bathtub babies. No. 3 then retorts that she believes Dean Munsch is the Red Devil killer. Then Chanel No. 5 shows up at the Kappa house just in time to hear No 3’s argument about how Dean Munsch is a murderer. Grace and Zayday seem to agree and both make equitable arguments. This includes the unsurprising fact that Dean Munsch isn’t actually allergic to bologna and thus could very well have killed her ex husband after all. Why the writers chose to waste our time with this fact we already knew, I’m not sure but maybe it was to try to distract from the incredibly unrealistic notion that Wes would accuse Grace of being the killer – especially without at least talking to her privately about it first.
That’s what happens next when Wes offers theory, accusing his own daughter, Grace. This, of course, results in every person exchanging shocked glances across the extravagantly long Kappa Thanksgiving table. Wes actually has some good arguments for Grace being the killer but then he claims he was just spitballing and making sure it wasn’t her. He’s so relieved to hear her “reasons” for the suspicious behavior he mentions. Hey, Wes, in the future maybe ask her about these kinda things without several snarky witnesses watching. Seems like the least you could do for your own daughter. At this point Pete barges inw ith a box of “evidence” and interrupts their killer pow wow to say he actually knows who the killer is and Wes is right, it’s not Grace. It’s Wes! Pete then tells his Wes-is-the-killer story to a spellbound crowd of Kappas… Including DNA evidence that Wes is Boone’s father. Wes is surprised to hear this about Boone but also says hey it could be possible because it was the 90s so nobody was wearing condoms in those days. After this eye-opening and pretty hilarious convo Grace takes Wes aside in private and tells him she believes that he’s not the killer and will stand beside him. Nobody is going to the police with any of the info about anybody, she promises.
Next we see Chanel and Chad at the Radwell Thanksgiving where everyone is thankful for being rich and fancy. Chanel gets a little competitive with them about how special and old money her family is but the Radwell’s are impenetrable in their insistence of superiority. In fact, as they go around the table every member of the Radwell family takes a turn to brag about their amazing lives and thus how incredibly grateful. Until suddenly a surprise guest shows up – Hester! She’s braced to the gills, dressed to impress, and worst of all… alive. But Hester doesn’t fool anybody with her false claim of Chad-related pregnancy and sits down at the table, abashed in EPIC FAIL.
Chad’s father then offers Chanel $50K to disappear and says her ostrich feather dress means she’s trash no matter how much money she claims her family has. Meanwhile Chad shows off his aspic to Hester and then Chanel interrupts to yell at him about his dad’s offer. Chad says maybe Chanel should take it because, after all she said Hester was dead… so obviously she’s some kind of liar… and thus not right for Chad. But Chanel stays and then they all play for the a horrific, humiliating round of Pictionary in which the Radwell’s nitpick Hester with a mocking so cruel even Chanel is offended. She becomes protetctive of her sorority sister and indignant. So, Chanel then rips those Radwell’s all new ones. “No woman in her right mind would want to be part of this family,” she declares. Then she and Hester leave together, united in a sisterhood bond so tight it could only be shared by the exes of the same lame boyfriend. After this the two storylines unite when Chanel and Hester join the Kappa House for Thanksgiving dinner.
When the turkey is about to come out the Dean asks Wes if Gigi will be joining them and he says he has no idea where she is. Then Chad joins them (just cause he wants more turkey) at the long Kappa table. So, they’re all seated together for the big reveal. Chanel pulls the silver dome off the main course tray and they all shriek at once Scream Queens style when instead of a turkey as their entree they’re presented with Gigi’s dead grey head.
After all this hooplah and alleged evidence it’s starting to seem like maybe Pete’s actually the killer. At the Kappa Thanksgiving Killer Accusathon everybody except Zayday and Pete got accused, though Zayday has certainly already held plenty of the blame in previous episodes. Also there’s the issue of his timing. Pete always shows up late to everything but somehow still knows what’s going on. And he could totally be Boone’s bro. If you think back to the early episodes we know that Pete conveniently happens to own the red devil suit – remember? And who has more motivation to buddy up like a puppy dog to Grace, the girl who’s investigating? That way he can stay close to the evidence, adding and editing as he likes to help throw off the scent from his stabby murdering self.
On another note, we really missed Denise in this episode! Please bring back our favorite former security guard. She brings a delightful levity to the show that was absent this week, especially with the nasty battle axe bitches we experienced in Chad’s family gathering this week. Com back, Denise! It’s not the same without you on Scream Queens.
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