Scream Queens pilot reaction: is the bathtub baby the devil?

The opening episode of Scream Queens (2015), starring Emma Roberts, Jamie Lee Curtis and Lea Michele, was my first time with the show, and my verdict is simple: "this show is so unhinged." I went in knowing nothing about it, and I came out excited to keep going. I believe the premiere plays as a two-parter, running about an hour and a half.

Scream Queens wears its Ryan Murphy roots openly

Right from the cold open, with a sorority girl giving birth in a bathtub during a party and being left to bleed out, I could tell this came from the same people who made Glee and American Horror Story. By the end I described it as if those two shows had a baby, and the baby turned into the devil.

I also noticed early on that "this cast is loaded." I recognized Keke Palmer as Zayday, Lea Michele, and Nick Jonas, who was always my favorite Jonas, and I asked myself whether that was Glen Powell. When Gigi Caldwell showed up, I recognized the actress from SNL.

My theory: the devil is the baby

The bathtub baby stuck with me. Once the killer started cutting through Kappa Kappa Tau, I landed on a theory that the baby from that opening party is the devil. Even when another suspect looked suspicious late in the episode, I held firm: maybe it's not him, but I still think the devil is the baby.

Mean to men, and plenty of horror logic to yell at

"I love how mean the show is to men." When Chad Radwell announced he was a psychology major about to break things down, I called it the most Chad thing I have ever heard in my life. When one of the girls rattled off ideas for grinding down a body, I said she should date Chad, since they share many of the same hobbies.

Nobody seemed bothered after seeing Chanel push Miss Bean's face into the deep fryer. When the girls decided to head upstairs toward the killer, I said this is why you don't survive any horror movies. Denise Hemphill, on the other hand, is someone I would trust.

Small moments that hit home

One song in the episode took me straight back to high school. My best friend and I would sit in my garage in my stick shift Bug, which I couldn't drive yet, and scream sing songs, and this one was near the top of the playlist. Later, on bad days, we'd take my car and drive around screaming it, along with Jar of Hearts.

The scene where Ariana is typing back and forth with the masked killer reminded me of a book I read called Lights Out, where the masked man and the girl, I'm pretty sure, texted back and forth through Snapchat so she couldn't hear his voice. A 90s outfit reminded me of Pitch Perfect, and I had to question frogurt, because I always called it froyo.

Verdict on the Scream Queens premiere

The episode ends on a cliffhanger, with the plot thickening and a break into the mortuary, and I found that exciting. It's a good one. Good show, and I'm excited to get back to it.