Ryan Murphy has created so many shows by this point that it’s next to impossible to keep up. From Glee to American Horror Story to The Politician to Pose and so many more. However, there’s a chance that his most underrated piece of work is Scream Queens.
The series blended elements of his previous projects and even reused some cast members. Scream Queens was a horror/slasher comedy with memorable characters. It ran for two seasons and was canceled, though Murphy has teased working on a third season earlier this year. In the event that it returns, that makes it a good time to look back at the best of the series.
Lovin The D (Season 2, Episode 9) – 8.1
Season two saw the series shift its focus to putting the main characters to work at a hospital rather than being in school. “Lovin The D” was aptly titled as it saw The Chanels get excited at the arrival of their television idol, Dr. Scarlett Lovin (Brooke Shields) to the hospital.
This also saw a big moment as the three Green Meanies of Wes, Cassidy, and Ingrid had a meeting with Hester (Lea Michele) to put their biggest plan into motion. Ultimately, this installment marked the end for Wes, who died when he fell into a tub of hot oil.
Mommie Dearest (Season 1, Episode 8) – 8.1
Although a lot of the main cast returned for the second season, it’s easy to forget some of the talented individuals who were only part of the inaugural season. That includes Skyler Samuels, who played Grace Gardner. Her main focus to this point was on the bathtub baby mystery.
The whole thing led to a moment in “Mommie Dearest” where she was given the shocking truth regarding her mother. This episode saw Denise (Niecy Nash) become Kappa Kappa Tau’s house mother and Dean Munsch (Jamie Lee Curtis) struggle with being targeted by the Red Devil.
Haunted House (Season 1, Episode 4) – 8.1
A good way to ensure that your horror-comedy series will deliver a strong episode is to have it centered around a haunted house. It’s just ripe with great ideas and Scream Queens made the most of it when Zayday (Keke Palmer) organized one for charity.
There were two major highlights of this installment. The first was Chanel Oberlin (Emma Roberts) explaining what “Chanel-O-Ween” was in a great montage. The other came right at the very end. That’s when it was revealed that “The Hag of Shady Lane” was actually Gigi (Nasim Pedrad).
Blood Drive (Season 2, Episode 6) – 8.2
It was impossible not to love Chanel #3 (Billie Lourd). She was always a treat, mostly thanks to how strange she was. At the start of “Blood Drive,” she explained that she recycled the blood from the Green Meanie’s victims in an attempt to give them a “second life,” which is a very Chanel #3 thing to do.
The hospital was dealing with a blood shortage, so they organized a blood drive to help with that. During that time, the Green Meanie was seen without their mask for the first time, revealing it was Dr. Cassidy Cascade (Taylor Lautner).
Handidates (Season 2, Episode 3) – 8.2
This early into season two, the mystery behind the Green Meanie was still at large. Dean Munsch was determined to find out the identity, which led her to investigate Hester as well as Lynn Johnstone, who was the only survivor from the Halloween massacre of 1986.
The rivalry grew between Chad Radwell (Glen Powell) and Dr. Brock Holt (John Stamos) over Chanel’s relationship with each of them. A desperate Chad even proposed to her. Relationship drama surfaced elsewhere as well as Cassidy revealed to Chanel #3 that he had died years ago and had been brought back to life.
Seven Minutes In Hell (Season 1, Episode 6) – 8.2
A play on the seven minutes in heaven game, “Seven Minutes in Hell” saw the Kappa Kappa Tau house in turmoil. A tie in the vote for sorority president led Chanel to give the position to Zayday, who threw a slumber party to celebrate. However, they soon found that they were locked inside.
The Dickie Dollar Scholars arrived to help but soon found some of their members murdered. There was a surprising reveal was that Chanel #3’s father was actually Charles Manson. She also had to deal with her complicated feelings for Sam (Jeanna Han), who ultimately was killed.
Halloween Blues (Season 2, Episode 4) – 8.3
You can almost guarantee that a Halloween episode is going to be a blast with this show. This installment picked up following the death of Chad Radwell, with the folks at the C.U.R.E. Institute trying to find his killer. Hester came up with a plan but used it to escape custody.
Chanel-O-Ween was celebrated again, though it didn’t go nearly as well. A bunch of people were also poisoned while bobbing for apples, which acted as a distraction, allowing the Green Meanie to do dastardly things, including stabbing Chanel #5 (Abigail Breslin).
Ghost Stories (Season 1, Episode 9) – 8.3
The aforementioned “Mommie Dearest” episode concluded with the shocking return of Boone (Nick Jonas). He went after Gigi while also trying to seduce Zayday. It led to a showdown between Boone and Earl Grey (Lucien Laviscount) where Boone stabbed him.
Alas, Boone was officially killed off in this episode. The “Ghost Stories” title comes from Denise’s poor idea to tell spooky tales in an effort to calm the nerves of the girls. The other main plot saw Hester lie about being pregnant to get Chad to invite her to Thanksgiving, which led Chanel to push her down the stairs.
Dorkus (Season 1, Episode 12) – 8.5
The penultimate edition of the first season, “Dorkus” opened with Pete (Diego Boneta) revealing to Grace that he had a hand in the Red Devil kills just moments after she lost her virginity to him. His revelation led to him being killed. Meanwhile, Chanel struggled with her image after an e-mail went viral.
She even considered suicide but instead attempted to reform herself by visiting Melanie Dorkus (Brianne Howey), with who she had a violent past. Everyone suspected Hester as the killer, only to find her with a stiletto heel jabbed into her eye socket by Chanel #5, giving audiences something shocking heading into the finale.
Thanksgiving (Season 1, Episode 10) – 8.5
One of the highlights of the first season was how ridiculous Chad Radwell was. How do you improve on that? You debut his family, including the hilariously named Brad (Chad Michael Murray), Tad (Alan Thicke), and Thad (Patrick Schwarzenegger) Radwell at a Thanksgiving dinner.
Chanel thought she murdered Hester, only to find the body missing as she had only broken her back. Chanel #3 returned from her family Thanksgiving to join the sorority house for their plans. Things went downhill when they found Gigi’s severed head on the platter instead of food.
