Earl Grey and Zayday heighten their romance (FOX)

Tonight was a packed night for "Scream Queens" – Nick Jonas made his return as Boone, ghost stories were told, and the Red Devil killed three vital characters. While this episode did peel back the layers on the murder mystery, it once again felt like a disappointing filler episode. 

Boone is walking around campus in disguise as Joaquin Phoenix, talking on the phone to the Red Devil about getting rid of Gigi (Nasim Pedrad). Just as he is ending the call, his fake beard falls off and he runs into Chanel #3 (Billie Lourd). She immediately recognizes him; Boone is about to come clean when #3 declares that he has to be a ghost who has come back to get revenge on her for not letting him "gay pledge" Kappa. Boone decides to play along, and #3 screams in terror before running off.

Back at Kappa, Chanel (Emma Roberts) gathers up her minions to announce that they now have to pack up everything and evacuate Wallace. She happily reveals that Chad (Glen Powell) has given her the famous Radwell silver turkey wishbone necklace as an invitation to their famed Thanksgiving dinner next week. Chanel is thrilled because she is sure that this means that Chad will propose to her by Christmas. Hester (Lea Michele) is very disturbed by this information and later shows up at the Dickie Dollar Scholars house to confront Chad. She demands to know why he won’t take her to Thanksgiving dinner, and Chad reveals that even though they had sex, he is definitely not interested in her. Undeterred, Hester plots to worm her way into Chad’s life.

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The Chanel’s and Denise (Niecy Nash) are packing up their luxurious wardrobes when #3 has a breakdown and reveals that Boone is a ghost. Denise decides that this is the perfect time to tell several ghost stories. Most of them are absolutely ludicrous, but then she tells a crazy tale of how there is a Japanese ghost who will kill you based on toilet paper choices, as it doesn’t matter if you chose red or blue. Later, Denise goes to the Kappa bathroom where she finds red and blue toilet paper choices. She is spooked out but doesn’t have time to make a decision, as the Red Devil peaks over the stall and jumps down on top of her. The Red Devil and Denise have a crazy struggle that she is barely able to escape from, running to the Chanel’s for help. She locks them in Chanel’s room and demands that someone tell another scary story so that she won’t be scared anymore. Hester tells a tale of a sorority sister in the 1950s who accidentally drove into an abandoned town and was told that there was a serial killer in her backseat. Chanel #5 (Abigail Breslin) freaks out and immediately packs to leave Kappa.

Chad is packing his stuff up at Dickie Dollar Scholars when Boone enters his room. He is still playing his role as a ghost and reveals to Chad that he wants to take Zayday (Keke Palmer) on a date so he can be “re-incarnated.” Chad encourages him to do so but lets him know that Earl Grey (Lucien Laviscount) is dating Zayday. Back at Kappa, Earl is helping Zayday pack and they begin to passionately kiss. However, he decides to run back to his room at DDS to grab a bunch of romantic material so that he and Zayday can be “properly” intimate. Not even 30 seconds after he leaves, Boone climbs into Zayday’s room through the window with a bouquet of roses. He tries his ghost act on her, but she sees through it and calls him out, just as Grace (Skyler Samuels) enters the room and is shocked at his presence. Zayday figures out that Boone was the one who kidnapped her, as he has a fork stabbing mark on his hand. In their fury, Zayday and Grace accidentally push him out of the window. However, Boone isn’t dead. As Earl Grey is walking back to Kappa, the Red Devil appears behind him and fatally stabs him in the back. Before he dies, the Red Devil takes off his mask, revealing himself as Boone. 

Meanwhile, #5 has left Kappa house and hears on the radio that an all-points bulletin is out for Boone. She stops at a gas station, where a truck driver approaches her and says he saw someone with a Red Devil costume in the back of her car - very similar to the ghost story that Hester told earlier. She doesn’t believe him...until the Red Devil shows up and stabs the truck driver to death with a machete. Screaming, #5 jumps into her car and hightails it back to Kappa house. She is busy recounting her story to a not-caring Chanel and the others when Hester appears, looking crazed and having put her neckbrace back on. She begins to rant about how she was always bullied for having scoliosis and wanted to take revenge on rich girls who made fun of her. She then screams that she is pregnant – with Chad’s baby. Horrified, Chanel confronts Chad, who admits that he did have sex with Hester and decides to take responsibility as the father…meaning Chanel has been de-invited to Thanksgiving dinner. Chanel is infuriated and threatens to kill Chad if he doesn’t make things right, which scares him because he realizes that Chanel is possibly THE killer. Chanel goes back to Kappa and plays nice with #3 and #5, enlisting them to help her kill off Hester.

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Meanwhile, Detective Chisholm (Jim Klock) and a “ghost squad” are at Kappa to try and "figure out " Earl Grey's murder. Zayday and Grace reach their breaking point and scream at Dean Munsch (Jamie Lee Curtis), ripping her to pieces for not doing enough to stop the murders. Surprisingly, Munsch couldn’t agree more with them – she makes it clear to Detective Chisholm that she is going to get him fired from the case and will reveal to everyone that they had a love affair. Munsch tries to make amends with Zayday and Grace by letting them know that Sophia Doyle apparently “woke up” before she officially died and gave birth to another baby – a boy. 

Boone and the Red Devil confront Gigi (FOX)

Boone meets up with the Red Devil, complaining about Gigi before she shows up. The two of them get into a vicious argument, with Gigi ranting at him about disobeying her orders and calling him worthless. Boone then goes off about how he was unhappily raised in a mental institution and that he and the unmasked Red Devil have followed all of Gigi's crazy rules. We then find out that he meticulously planned how he was going to fake his death, pretended to be gay, went undercover as a member of the Dickie Dollar Scholars, and was the Red Devil who swung the chainsaw at Gigi so that suspicion could be taken off of her. The Red Devil and Boone corner Gigi, but right as we think Gigi is about to be killed, the Red Devil fatally stabs Boone in the chest, killing him…for good. Gigi is relieved, telling the Red Devil in a chilling tone, “You were always smarter than your brother.”

Finally, the Chanel’s corner Hester in Chanel’s room and trick her into eating foods and drinking alcohol that will prove she is not pregnant. She refuses to take the pregnancy tests they shove in her face and finally admits that she is not pregnant. She only lied because she wanted revenge on Chanel and was jealous. She storms out, but Chanel chases her and seems to deeply apologize to her about the cruel treatement she has inflicted on her. Hester believes her, but then Chanel gets a dark look in her eyes and makes it clear that her apology isn’t even close to real. She pushes Hester down the long flight of stairs, where she falls, breaks her neck, and dies. Satisfied, Chanel turns to her minions to help her put Hester’s body in the meat locker.

This episode could have been great – it really could have. Nick Jonas was definitely the best part of it, and I wish he had been on the show more. He’s hilarious and can surprisingly act very well. However, even he couldn’t save a series that clearly cannot move the plot forward at a good pace. Scream Queens is at the point where it’s dragging on…and on…and on. There are too many wild plot twists, and the even more frustrating thing is that the surprises aren’t even good. The usage of telling ghost stories throughout this episode wasn’t even interesting because the stories were just completely ridiculous. We have two more episodes until the two-hour season finale, and even getting to that feels like walking through quicksand. Scream Queens originally had so much promise and flair, but the guessing game of trying to figure out the killer’s identity has unfortunately become a chore.

Reach Staff Reporter Adrianne Ramsey here.