Once in a while, Ryan Murphy achieves one or two milestones on his shows. It’s either launching new talent into stardom – like David Corenswet as the charming Jack Costello in Hollywood and Glen Powell as the douchey Chad Radwell in Scream Queens – or teaming up with iconic actresses that end up delivering career-defining performances – like Jessica Lange or Kathy Bates in American Horror Story. Part of the second phenomenon is none other than Jamie Lee Curtis in Scream Queens as well.
With its unique mix of over-the-top acting, clever dialogue, and stellar talent, Scream Queens quickly became a cult classic for spooky season. And though the show has many highlights, like Niecy Nash’s hilarious clumsy cop Denise Hemphill, Curtis ends up stealing the show with her wicked portrayal of Cathy Munsch. Even when she isn’t the villain of the story, Cathy doesn’t make life any easier for the Chanels. In this short-lived series, the Oscar-winner delivered camp, humor, sensuality, and thrills, making it one of her best performances ever.
Cathy Munsch Was Worse Than the Red Devil in ‘Scream Queens’ Season 1
The first season of Scream Queens follows the lives of the privileged students of Wallace University, particularly the Chanels from Kappa Kappa Tau sorority. Their perfect life comes crashing down when a mysterious masked killer, the Red Devil, wreaks havoc on the campus, and all of them have to be on the lookout to avoid getting murdered. Cathy Munsch, as the Dean of Wallace University, is in charge of the fates of these students. But, as fate would have it, she is on the lookout for herself only.
Dean Munsch is hypocritical when it comes to handling this dire situation. Concerned only about the school, she goes out of her way to keep the campus open, even when bodies keep piling up. Well, in her defense, they aren’t exactly piling up. All of them are being hidden by the Red Devil, so she hangs on to this technicality. By this standard, Dean Munsch is even worse than the killer. Endangering the students’ life for the sake of her professional reputation is cruel. But Curtis makes the most of it in a wildly hilarious way, turning Dean Munsch into an appealing antagonist to the Chanels.
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Cathy’s Journey Takes Her and The Chanels to Unexpected Places in Season 2 of ‘Scream Queens’
For its sophomore season, Scream Queens manages to spin out of its college setting into a refurbished creepy hospital. The mastermind behind this? Well, Curtis’ Cathy Munsch herself. After succeeding in bringing down the fraternity/sorority system, Cathy’s career takes a 180-degree turn by opening C.U.R.E., a center dedicated to curing incurable diseases. Since she needs toxic relationships to sustain herself – and to keep labor cheap for the hospital – she hires her worst enemies, Zayday Williams (Keke Palmer) and the Chanels, to run it.
Throughout the season, Munsch and the Chanels become frenemies, proving she doesn’t really hate them – she just seeks to fill her emotional void whichever way possible. A new masked killer, the horrific Green Meanie, eventually starts stalking the hospital. Cathy’s sneaky and selfish ways show up again when she realizes the killing spree is giving them publicity, keeping the hospital open for the avalanche of patients (and future victims) that this brings. If this plot seems nonsensical, it’s because it is. But that’s the magic of Scream Queens’ camp, and Curtis is an essential part of achieving this.
Curtis Crafted a Wickedly Delicious Character in ‘Scream Queens’ Cathy Munsch
With only two seasons, Curtis crafted this whacky but stoic character in the most appealing of ways. Contrary to what one would expect of the head of a prestige university, Cathy’s sex drive made her irresistible to the men she should’ve avoided getting intimate with. A police detective, the father of a student, and a student himself were only some of her conquests. Cathy also became one of the main suspects behind the killer’s identity during Scream Queens’ first season. But she never flinched or caved in. Whereas she cared greatly for how she was perceived professionally, her disregard for her personal reputation is perhaps her greater strength.
Curtis’ Cathy wasn’t the main focus of Scream Queens, but she still was the show’s pillar. A figure of authority that makes everything worse instead of helping, made her the most useless ally, basically one of the many antagonists the Chanels had to face. Playing against Emma Roberts, Billie Lourd, Abigail Breslin, and Lea Michele, Curtis overturned her Halloween final girl/hero role. This is the greatest highlight of her 2010s career, for who better to go against them than THE scream queen herself? It makes you wish she had crossed over with Jane Lynch’s Sue Sylvester from Glee and had them torment the youth for life.
With Cathy Munsch, Curtis understood the assignment of this cynical and enticing character and delivered exceeding expectations. So, thank you, Ryan Murphy, for bringing this iconic Hollywood actress into the bonkers mix of Scream Queens. It brought out her best comedic abilities that we’ll hopefully see again in Freakier Friday.
All episodes of Scream Queens are available to stream on Hulu in the U.S.
