The Man Behind the Mask

The Man Behind the Mask
Season 3, Episode 3
Air date	July 9, 2019
Written by	Benjamin Raab Deric A. Hughes
Directed by	Darren Grant
Episode Guide
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"The Man Behind the Mask" is the third episode of the third season of the television series, Scream. It premiered on VH1 on July 9, 2019.

Plot

On Halloween night, Ghostface lures the Deadfast Club out of the city to the suburbs. Tricks rather than treats ensue, leaving the group bloodied and battered. When put to another test, each member of the group must choose who they trust the most.

Summary

Following the last episodes end, Deion is walking home and Liv runs into him and tells him she's sorry. The two later proceed to have sex. The next morning as Deion's waking up Liv, it appears she has been killed and stabbed. As Deion runs to find help, he is stabbed by Ghostface which turns out to be his brother Marcus (older and with a wound on his head from Hook Man) who stabs Deion and opens his ribcage in anger for abandoning him. Deion proceeds to awake, meaning everything was just a nightmare.

It's now Halloween day, which also marks the anniversary of Marcus's death, Jamal has conflicts with his father and with Deion. Deion receives a call from Ghostface that warns him about Shane's death, and also, the serial killer convinces him to go alone to the place where Marcus died, to "know the truth."

Deion borrows Liv's car, which with the help of the rest of the group, traces him to an out-of-town gas station. Amir decides to go with Deion and Liv to the location marked by Ghostface after getting into an argument with Beth but before Liv punctures the tires of Kym's car to keep her, Manny and Beth away from danger she would later admit.

However, Kym thinks a bunch of rude truck drivers did this as revenge because she insulted them earlier to defend Manny. At the location marked by Ghostface, Amir waits in the car while Liv and Deion meet with Luther, the ex-guerrilla Hook Man and owner of the old junkyard where Marcus was attacked. Luther claims that, that night he only hurt Marcus, who ran scared and hid in an unknown location, and only a few months later, he found him dead in a trunk of an abandoned car there, and buried him in an improvised grave.

At the station, Kym and Manny have a fight, which results in Kym trying to return alone to the city in her car, only to be chased by the same group of truck drivers who make her lose control of the car and crash inside a cornfield. Meanwhile, Deion and Luther are pursued by Ghostface in the junkyard, where Ghostface ultimately kills Luther by being chained inside a car crusher.

Liv looks for Amir, who comes running to the cornfield where Beth is. Manny, who went ahead to look for Kym, is attacked by Ghostface, and hides inside Kym's car where she has fled from. However, he gets stuck in there, and Ghostface sets fire to the car blowing Manny and the car up. The episode ends with Amir and Beth watching Kym in tears over Manny's death, while Deion and Kym listen on the phone, horrified. Later, a traumatized Liv tells Deion by telephone her suspicions that the killer is someone in the group.

Cast

Main Cast

• RJ Cyler as Deion Elliot
• Jessica Sula as Liv Reynolds
• Keke Palmer as Kym
• Giorgia Whigham as Beth
• Tyga as Jamal Elliot
• C.J. Wallace as Amir Ayoub

Recurring Cast

• Roger L. Jackson as Ghostface ^(Voice) 
• William Scharpf as Ghostface ^(Costume)
• Giullian Yao Gioiello as Manny
• Mary J. Blige as Sherry Elliot
• Diesel Madkins as Earl Elliot
• Tony Todd as Hook Man
• Kathleen Hogan as Mrs. Pell
• Jaden Robinson as Marcus Elliot

Notes

• The title of this episode is most likely a reference to rock musician Alice Cooper's song "He's Back (The Man Behind The Mask)", which was featured in the 1986 slasher horror film, Friday The 13th Part VI: Jason Lives.
• Deion's nightmare sequence can be see very much similar to Sidney's nightmare sequence in Scream 3 (which is also referenced in Season 2 during the fourth episode Happy Birthday to Me)
• Manny's death is one of the many deaths in/or near automobiles in the franchise
• Manny's death pays homage to Tom Prinze from Scream 3 , due to the fact that they were not executed by their killers but via fire/combustion set by them respectively.

Body Count

• Hook Man
• Manny