| “ | You already know, you're not over me. | ” |
–Jake Fitzgerald to Brooke Maddox., Happy Birthday to Me | ||
Jake Fitzgerald was a recurring character who appeared in every episode up until his death on the MTV series Scream. He attended George Washington High School.
He is portrayed by Tom Maden.
Description
Jake is handsome, athletic, and wealthy man. He has a wicked sense of humor which can turn crass sometimes; he likes to play pranks, especially when he’s at a party and drinking too much, but it’s possible that one of his “pranks” went too far. He also teamed up with Emma, Brooke and Noah to save Will but ends up getting attacked and stabbed by The Lakewood Slasher but ends up surviving it. However, when Brooke reveals to him that Will is dead, he has a mental breakdown.
He is Lakewood’s resident lady-magnet. He was best friends with Will Belmont, and despite his always-changing line-up of ladies, he seems to constantly pine after notorious mean girl, Brooke Maddox as they have history having known each other years prior to some of the others.
Background
Early Life
Not much is known about Jake's early life, except that he was possibly born sometime in late 1998 to early 1999 to the affluent Fitzgeralds in Lakewood. He would grow up and attend the same public schools as his friends and classmates Emma Duval, Audrey Jensen, Noah Foster, and then new-student Riley Marra. He would form a best friend in Will Belmont either as young children in either elementary or middle school. Jake was also very outgoing as well as arrogant and rambunctious, having faked mono one time while as a teenager either his freshman or his sophomore year to get out of midterms.
Being part of the Popular Crowd, he was also acquainted with Nina Patterson and her ex, Tyler O'Neill, who had known about Will's dare by Nina to sleep with Emma that led for her to be misled into believing her and Will were each's genuine high school sweethearts. He also grew up having a crush on the Mayor's daughter, Brooke, even while knowing of her infatuation with their former English teacher, Seth Branson. He would also play basketball for the Lancers, the athletic team and mascot, either starting his freshman or sophomore year, while attending George Washington High School.
Jake, as part of a unbeknownst criminal infiltration within Nina, Tyler, and Will, unbeknownst to Emma, Brooke or Riley, used his shady dealings due to his wealth in order to get information and blackmail the Mayor, in order to help his friend, as well as being also aware of malware on his teacher Branson's school website, in order to spy, particularly to Nina.
The Second Lakewood Murders (2015-16)
Jake is shown as the supporting best friend of senior Will Belmont, and who is interested in the details which followed in the brutal murder of Nina Patterson and Tyler O'Neill, the latter unbeknownst to anyone, during his junior year in the last week of September 2015. Jake attends the vigil of Nina at Brooke's house, who would pull a prank on Noah Foster, a fellow classmate and Audrey Jensen's plus one, who Emma had invited, following prior to Nina's death, she had uploaded a video of Audrey making out with a girl in order to out her, which he distributed amongst sharing it online to the student body. He did so, due to Riley, a friend in his group, rejecting him offering her a beer who chose to be closer to Noah as the horror expert. He and another jock then placed Noah in the middle of the lake, on an empty platform, due to Wren Lake tradition, after Noah had passed out due to being drunk
Months after they survive the first murder spree, Jake and Brooke are still together. However, when Emma returns to Lakewood in "I Know What You Did Last Summer", they have an argument which leads to them breaking up. Later in the episode after Brooke leaves him, he quietly professes his love for her to himself. Jake goes off but is attacked by the Lakewood Slasher, later revealed as Kieran Wilcox. Later in the episode, he is kept imprisoned, chained up by a bear trap, and later killed by Kieran, who slashed open/gutted Jake with a scythe.
In "Happy Birthday to Me", his death is revealed to the public when his corpse falls from an open banner at his high school auditorium, with the blood splattering all over Brooke.
Appearances (18/24)
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Season 1 (10/10) |
Season 2 (8/14)
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Death
Monday, January 25th, 2016
Bye Bye, Birdie: Jake becomes the official first victim of the 2016 Lakewood Murders (whose death would be then referenced by Avery Collins in Season 3, similarly).
Shortly after Brooke broke up with him, Jake decided to go somewhere holding a gasoline can. Jake discovers a wind-up pig toy and walks towards it, only to step into a bear trap. Jake falls to the ground, screaming, only to see the the killer walking towards him. Then, the Lakewood Slasher knocks him unconscious with a red bat, and he wakes up in a barn. He sees a pick-axe in the corner near the barn doors with stick it notes attached to it, the notes reading: "What can you do with this, Boy Interrupted". He uses it to break the chain on the door, only for a car's headlights to turn on, and the Lakewood Slasher appearing and dragging him back into the barn. We then find Jake waking up again, this time hanging upside down. The killer emerges holding a scythe, Jake pleads and tries to defend himself via a table side sickle which he throws at the killer but misses, the scythe then bouncing across the ground near the killer's feet. Then, the Lakewood Slasher swings the scythe up and down upon his sternum to the upper part of his torso, spilling a large portion of his stomach and blood as he dies instantly.
Relationships
Family
Allies
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Enemies
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Quotes
- "Who can resist a murder selfie?"
- "You weep for the Jake."
- "Welcome home girl interrupted!"
- "Screw you, stupid lock!" (when trying to escape from the barn)
- "You already know, you are not over me."
Trivia
- He attended George Washington High School before his death.
- Jake, as a high school athlete (basketball), and his death, would make him the
- He was Brooke's boyfriend before being killed by the Lakewood Slasher.
- Jake and Will's relationship as male best friends, and criminals (despite neither being the Lakewood Slasher) would be a nod to Scream (1996), and the first and second Ghostface killers, Billy Loomis and Stu Macher.
- Jake as the silly, rambunctious and tall best friend is a nod to Stu, while Will as Emma's boyfriend is a nod to Billy being the ex-boyfriend of the franchise's heroine, Sidney Prescott.
- He is found by his former girlfriend Brooke Maddox, in tradition that the franchise keeps for the second partner to find the other (much like in Scream 4 where Jenny found Marnie dead, as well as Casey Becker seeing and finding Steven Orth dead in Scream, as well as Nina Patterson finding Tyler O'Neill (his decapitated head) in Season 1) with the differences being how they are discovered, as the mentioned are found in privacy while the latter happens in public (would be later referenced in the first episode of Season 3, “The Deadfast Club”).
- Jake is officially the first male character (fourth technically, after Steven Orth in Scream, Phil Stevens in Scream 2, Cotton Weary in Scream 3) that is seen onscreen to be killed off in the opening of this season and in the TV series (unlike Tyler O’Niell, the only similarity is being found by their partners).
- Jake's death is an inverse homage to the death of Derek Feldman from Scream 2, due to the fact that Jake died before he was dropped down from the stage (whom was rolled inside a banner, which was pulled down) in front of his ex-girlfriend Brooke Maddox, similar to Derek being lowered from the Windsor College theatre in front of his then-girlfriend, Sidney Prescott.
- Jake's death also pays an inverse homage to Maureen Evans from the opening of Scream 2, as well. Despite already being dead when he fell down from the banner he was rolled in, his death would be loosely referenced in-universe 7 years later by Anika Kayoko's death in Scream VI, which sees her falling down to her death as well due to Ghostface, witnessed helplessly by her partner, Mindy Meeks-Martin.
- Unlike the other victims, Anika's death took place outside, but similar in how each victim was killed at night (Jake's death at night, before being dropped in front of Brooke next at school, at the assembly during the day).
- Despite this, each are similar in that both male characters, and Anika's, deaths were attested and discovered by their female partners, two in the present (Sidney to Derek, Mindy to Anika) and one afterwards in past-tense knowledge (Brooke).
- Both male characters' deaths (one present, one posthumously) took place at an educational institution which both were former students of (and ungraduated) prior to their deaths (Jake's at his high school, while Derek & Maureen from his college).
- Unlike Jake, Derek was lowered down on the stage, alive, only tied up crucified via a cross for a ploy after then being killed via gunshot in the chest, by his former friend, Mickey Altieri ( like Jake being killed with a scythe, which eviscerated him also on his chest, by Kieran Wilcox, although unlike Derek, Jake wasn't aware or revealed of his former friend's killer identity).
- The differences being how Jake's death after being dropped down in his reveal at the George Washington High School auditorium stage, was witnessed (unbeknownst to anyone he had died earlier on, except later on only by the Lakewood Five) by multiple people in the audience, while Derek's death was only witnessed by Sidney alone, with nobody being in the theatre's audience (due to the fact each male's death occurred during different times of the day, as Derek's death took place at night (like Maureen), while Jake's was during the school day).
- Similar to Maureen, Jake's death and thus his reveal, each occurred while on stage during an event (Jake's during the naming of the pageants in "Happy Birthday to Me", while Maureen's during the opening of the film during a sneak peek of Stab), albeit different on how each died and were killed (as Derek and Maureen died in the moment, albeit Maureen made her way while Derek was placed on a cross lowered to the theatre stage and each's different locations; while Jake was killed days prior but similar to both film characters, died at night, in an inside location), whose deaths were both revealed to the public (however Maureen's death was slowly reacted, while Jake's reaction was instantaneous ).
- Seeing as Anika's death was outside after falling down in an alley in between two apartments in New York City, she would be third victim after Maureen and Jake's whose death was also public.
- Unlike the other victims, Anika's death took place outside, but similar in how each victim was killed at night (Jake's death at night, before being dropped in front of Brooke next at school, at the assembly during the day).
- Jake's death also pays an inverse homage to Maureen Evans from the opening of Scream 2, as well. Despite already being dead when he fell down from the banner he was rolled in, his death would be loosely referenced in-universe 7 years later by Anika Kayoko's death in Scream VI, which sees her falling down to her death as well due to Ghostface, witnessed helplessly by her partner, Mindy Meeks-Martin.
- This makes him only the first male character, however, seeing as Maureen Prescott was actually the first person (the OG victim and first female) to be murdered, although off-screen, by what was to come prior to the events of the original Scream and thus the entire franchise.
- He is also the third character to die and be found dead in public in the franchise, the first being Randy Meeks, the second being Rebecca Walters, and the fourth being Avery Collins from Season 3.
- His death (despite having died in the opening) and being found by someone in public is an homage to that of Kenny Brown, Maureen Evans, Randy Meeks, Angelina Tyler, Jennifer Jolie, and Olivia Morris from the films, while also more specifically pays an homage to Rebecca Walters’s death from Scream 4.
- However, he is the first, in that he is solo and is killed with nobody else, thus breaking the tradition of having two people be killed off in each opening in the franchise, making him the first and only onscreen single victim to be killed off in the entire history of the Scream franchise.
- Jake is the only recurring character to appear and be credited in all ten episodes in the first season.
- Piper appears in all ten as well but appears in the pilot as the Lakewood Slasher and isn't credited.
- Both Jake and Randy Meeks are the first characters who survived their previous killing sprees, to be killed off by the new killers.
- Jake along with Miguel Acosta is only recurring characters to appear in all episodes during they debut seasons. However, until Miguel, Jake have appeared in every single episode of season 1, while Miguel missed Halloween special which is counted as part of second season.
- Jake shares similarities with Stu Macher. Jake's not the killer like Stu, but his comedic style is similar, and he was dating Brooke, who is similar to Tatum Riley. He also resembles him as he accompanied Will in blackmailing Brooke's father, much like how Billy and Stu kidnapped Sidney's father intending to frame him.
- Jake and Will had secretly been watching Nina Patterson on her webcam without her knowing, until her death.
- Will told Jake to delete the cyber videos they recorded off of Nina's webcam which he deleted at the end of Season 1.
- Jake was one of the members of the Lakewood Six; he was ranked sixth by Gustavo Acosta.
- In the Season 2 premiere, "I Know What You Did Last Summer", Jake was killed by the Lakewood Slasher who used a scythe to slice him open at a barn, becoming the first member of the Lakewood Six to die.
- Jake is the first to be killed by the new killer in Season 2.
- Although being marketed as joining the main cast in Season 2, he was killed off in the season 2 premiere.
- Jake's body was found in a storage unit by Audrey in "Psycho".
- Jake appeared as a hallucination to Brooke in "Happy Birthday to Me".
- In the same episode, his disemboweled corpse was thrown to the ground from the banner at the auditorium in George Washington High School with his blood falling on Brooke.
- It was revealed in "Jeepers Creepers" that Jake was willing to pay Seth Branson 10,000 dollars for him to leave Lakewood before he died.
- It is unknown where Jake found this money since all his credit cards were blocked by his parents. Although Branson said that Jake told him he got it from Quinn Maddox, Brooke dismissed it as a lie.
- In "The Vanishing", the killer showed Emma and Audrey a recording of his death.
- In "Heavenly Creatures", Brooke saw a video of his death on her computer.
- He has the same last name as the lead actress, Willa Fitzgerald.
- Jake is shown to know a little Spanish, but it is unknown if one of his parents has Latin or Spanish roots. Jake's actor, Tom Maden's heritage includes Irish, French, Belgian, Portuguese, African-Caribbean, African American, English, German. However, if Jake does have Latin or Spanish Roots, he would be the first in the TV Series.
- The first official Latino characters on the TV series is Deputy Haverland. Next would be the father son duo, Miguel and Gustavo Acosta.
- The first official Latino character in the franchise is Dawnie in Scream 2, as Marisol Nichols, the actress who portrayed Dawnie, has Mexican roots.
- Next would be the Carpenter sisters, Samantha and Tara, from Scream (2022). Jenna Ortega (Tara) has Mexican and Puerto Rican roots while Melissa Barrera (Sam) is Mexican.
- Along with Will Belmont and Seth Branson, they are the only supporting characters in the franchise to be viciously attacked by the killer and not be killed right away.
- The only two victims in the franchise to be tortured before being killed at a later time.
- He is the first and only known victim to be attacked with a bear trap.
- He is the first and only known victim to be killed with a scythe.
- He is the first and only known victim in the series to be hung upside down when he is killed.
- Other victims have been hung when they were killed, and Rachel Murray's neck was wrapped with a nose and she fell to her death.
