Halloween

**"Halloween"** is the first part of the special Halloween installment, which was set following the events of When a Stranger Calls. It is the thirteenth episode of Season 2 and the twenty-third episode of the series overall. It aired on October 18, 2016, as part one of a two-hour Halloween Special.

## Plot

Five months after Kieran's arrest, the new killer slasher murders him and a security guard in the courthouse. The remaining Lakewood survivors who are now Seniors are shocked by his murder and, with Halloween being one year since Piper's unmasking, they decide to take a vacation from Lakewood and travel to Shallow Grove Island. There, Stavo, Noah (now published authors, having written a book about the murders of their friends) and their book editor Jeremy plan to research Anna Hobbs - a girl who supposedly killed her mother, brother, and the man having an affair with her mother, Reginald Whitman - in the hopes of writing a new book. Emma meets Alex Whitten, a descendant of the man killed by Anna, and the two take a romantic interest in each other. After a party, Stavo hits on a woman named Billie to make Brooke jealous. Billie and a store clerk named Sid are murdered by someone wearing an Anna Hobbs mask and wielding shears. Jeremy disappears after the party. Emma finds Billie's corpse when the killer calls her using the Lakewood Slasher's voice, gloating she will never be rid of him.

## Summary

The episode opens with Kieran's trial, in which he is found guilty and sentenced to ten life terms consecutively by the disgusted judge, one for each of his victims. Two prison guards then escort Kieran to his cell, where they taunt Kieran about his failure. Inside the cell, after one of the guards leaves, Kieran notices the new killer in the air vents above him, who jumps out of the vent and snaps the other guard's neck, killing him, much to Kieran's surprise. The killer then takes the guard's keys, lets Kieran out of the cell and confronts him. Kieran asks the killer who he/she is; the killer responds by slashing Kieran's throat. Kieran desperately crawls toward the guard's corpse, hoping to get his gun, but the killer stabs Kieran in the back of the neck, then twists the knife, killing him.

Back in Lakewood, Maggie and Emma talk about talk about Emma's future and suggests that she goes to college. During the discussion, Brooke arrives and informs them of Kieran and the guard's murders, much to their surprise. Noah and Gustavo are approached by their editor, Jeremy Blair, who informs them that their book has been a success, and that they owe him a second. Gustavo suggests that the story be about a mass murderer named Anna Hobbs, who went completely insane one Halloween night back in the 1930s and murdered her parents, as well as the Whitten family whom they worked for.

Gustavo and Jeremy convince a reluctant Noah, who has writer's block due to his survivor's guilt, to set foot on Shallow Grove island, where the murders happened, and research why Anna went insane. Emma, who has been hounded by the press all day, decides to come with them to get a break from Lakewood, along with Audrey. Audrey's new girlfriend, Gina, has to stay behind to due work at the Zenith theater. Gustavo, Jeremy, and the Lakewood Four arrive at the island in an airplane. The only other person who lives on the island is an heir named Alex Whitten, who is off the grid according to Gustavo.

Brooke invites Gustavo to New York, as that's where Brooke wants to go to college at, but Gustavo believes she doesn't want him there and leaves. Jeremy, Gustavo and Noah go to a store that has Anna's killer costume and take a look around. The clerk, Sid, suggests that they talk to the caretaker at the murder house, Billie, to get information. Meanwhile, an another store, Alex introduces himself to Emma and Audrey.

Sid hears a noise in his store and discovers that the glass on the Anna Hobbs suit is broken. He is then surprised by someone with Anna's garden shears, who stabs and murders Sid with it when he attempts to call for help. Audrey tells Brooke and Emma that Gina has not been answering her calls, which is unusual, but ultimately decides it's fine. Emma talks to Alex again, who quickly become friends and offers to have her tomorrow at the boat.

Jeremy, Noah and Gustavo find Billie and convince her to come over tonight so that she can tell them the story on Anna. Gustavo privately confesses to Noah that he plans to make Brooke jealous with Billie. In the bushes, someone who is wearing the Anna Hobbs costume, watches them secretly. Billie tells the gang the story of Anna, who had once tried to set her teacher on fire and drown a Whitten child in a well. She says that Anna was driving by pure evil into insanity.

In a flashback, Billie explains that Anna's mother was sleeping with a man named Reginald Whitten, who she attempted to convince to put Anna in a psychiatric institution. She didn't notice that Anna overheard their planning. This finally caused Anna to snap and after her family went asleep, she put on her costume, consisting of a sack mask. First, she murdered her mother with her weapon, garden shears, then her brother, then the Whitten family (including Reginald), before committing suicide with her own shears.

Jeremy, who is the person in the costume, jumps out of the bushes to play a prank on the survivors, intending to make the legend more real for Noah to help him get over his writer's block; he is promptly kicked to the ground by Emma, who had jujitsu lessons. The gang berate Jeremy for pulling a prank on survivors of multiple killing sprees, causing him to leave after taking a drink. Billie departs with Gustavo by her side, when they arrive at the Whitten mansion, Billie leans in to land a kiss on Gustavo, to which he backs away and tells her he can't because of Brooke. Gustavo then leaves Billie, then Sid's murderer, who is wearing the Anna Hobbs costume, stabs her in the stomach with the shears, then shoves her through the wooden door, ultimately killing her.

The following morning, Emma and Alex reunite on his boat, where Alex reveals that he lost both his parents in a plane crash when he was 15. Gustavo apologizes Brooke for inviting Billie over and gives her an appointment in a spa motel, explaining that he felt like Brooke didn't want to be with him. Brooke explains that it isn't true and she wants to be with him; the two then begin kissing. At the house where Billie was murdered, Gustavo, Audrey and Noah discover the bloody shears and blood on the front door, to which Audrey says "Halloween decorations, right? Please someone tell me these are Halloween decorations." That's when Gustavo says that the blood in the doorway is real, to that Audrey calls the police to investigate.

The sheriff arrives and states that it could be a prank. Gustavo, Audrey, and Noah also mention that nobody has seen or heard from Jeremy since his prank last night. The Sheriff of Shallow Grove, Carpenter, comes to investigate and puts out an APB on Jeremy (and on Billie) upon learning that he is missing. Carpenter also orders the gang to remain on the island until the situation is resolved. Then it starts to rain. When Emma goes inside the house they are staying at that same night, she is called by the killer, who tells her to turn on her back porch lights; she discovers Billie's corpse outside.

Sheriff Carpenter decides to head to where the Lakewood teens are staying. On his way over, Carpenter discovers a fishing net covering something up on the road; he lifts it up and discovers Sid's corpse. Before he can call for backup, he hears a noise in the nearby bushes, distracting him and allowing the killer to decapitate him with the shears. Brooke, who is getting scared, suggests that Kieran's killer is on the island to get revenge on them.

Audrey is certain that Jeremy is the killer and is trying to create a new murder spree. Outside, Audrey discovers that Gina is on the island, who came to surprise Audrey and has found Carpenter's severed head. The teens go to Alex's home to ask for his help on getting off the island.

## Trivia

* Noah mentioned there are 11 murder houses in Lakewood, included:
	+ Nina's House - Nina Patterson
	+ Rachel's House - Rachel Murray
	+ Lakewood Police Department - Riley Marra/Deputy Clifton Roberts
	+ Will's farm - Will Belmont
	+ Anderson house (Maggie's old home) - Sheriff Clark Hudson
	+ Brooke's House - Grayson Pfeiffer
	+ Brandon's farmhouse - Jake Fitzgerald/Quinn Maddox
	+ Crescent Palms Motel - Eddie Hayes
	+ Abandoned Wren Lake house - Seth Branson
	+ Blessed sister's children home - Haley Meyers/Eli Hudson
	+ Prison - Prison Guard/Kieran Wilcox