Welcome to the most confusing episode in AHS history. Last year at this time, we
had no idea that Season 2 of American
Horror Story would have a new storyline with new characters, so we went
into the finale thinking “What the hell? We’re going to have a Season 2 with
all dead characters?” But now we know each season will be that way, so surely
the second to last episode of this season will start giving us answers, right?
RIGHT?....
The episode opens in 1967, three years after Kit and Lana
entered the asylum. We are in Kit’s house now where the camera pans through
happy pictures of his unconventional family, followed by a shot of Kit lifting
an axe from someone/something and sitting down in a chair crying and covered in
blood. We then flash back to the events leading to this moment.
Kit Grace and Alma have their own Big Love thing going…living together and raising Alma and Kit’s
daughter, Julia and Kit and Grace’s son, Thomas. I miss Big
Love. And I miss Chloe Sevigny (RIP Shelley). Alma seems surprisingly okay with the fact
that Kit knocked up a certified axe murderer, and I realllllly wish we had been
there for that conversation. How did he explain it?
Kit: “Alma – you’re not dead! And you have a baby!”
Alma: “I’m back from outer space! And while I was getting
probed, you were having sex with a murderer on a baking table. And YOU have a
baby! Asshole.”
Kit: “Um, yeah. About that. Think we could all live
together? You’re obviously still the ‘First Wife.’”
Regardless of how it went down, Grace is hell bent on
reliving her abduction, struggling to remember the details and drawing pictures
almost obsessively of the aliens. She calls one of them her “doctor.” Grace
views her extraterrestrial experience as some sort of enlightenment – a life
changing event she is grateful for. Alma, on the other hand, wants Grace to
stop being so damn creepy because she is still terrorized by her own abduction.
Kit is passionate about the Civil Rights Movement and wants
his family to participate in the local march.
He goes on and on about this not really realizing that he may have
walked in on a family dispute. When they get ready for bed that evening, Alma
tells Kit that Grace’s obsession indicates that she is dwelling on the past because
she is unhappy in the present. She encourages him to spend more time with her.
He goes to Grace, and she explains that she’s making the drawings for the kids….that
they need to know where they came from. Grace is less concerned about past
memories of the alien abduction and more worried by her memories of the night
she murdered her Mother and Stepfather with an axe. Fair point. He begins to
give her some “special attention,” but they are interrupted by flickering
lights and loud noises. Could it be another invasion? No, just some hooligans
trying to set fire to their house. It happens. But Alma is inconsolable - she
is clearly terrified of seeing the little green men again.
When Grace confronts Alma on the tension in the house, Alma
tells her she is done with the alien talk. Alma compares the aliens to little
boys plucking wings off of butterflies. They performed senseless and cruel experiments
(paging Dr. Arden) that horrified her. Grace explains that their two children
are miracles and one day the aliens will come back for them - that the aliens
chose Kit because his mind is so open. She starts to describe how Kit has empathy for
all living things and how Alma is hiding herself away. “Is this how you want
Julia to grow up? Ashamed of who she is?!”Alma slaps her across the face and shuts
her up. She apologies as Kit walks in and Grace leaves the room.
That night Kit finds Grace in the living room drawing more
pictures. She tells Kit she loves him, loves Alma, and loves their miracle
babies. Grace also explains though that she does not want to live in isolation,
that the future is coming and locked doors and shut windows won’t keep it out.
Kit being so energized by the changes he hopes will come from the Civil Rights
Movement is captivated by Grace as she talks….right up until the moment Alma
puts an axe in Grace’s back. Twice. WHOA! The irony! Kit jumps on Alma as she is yelling “She
wanted to bring them back into our home! I couldn’t let her! We have to hide.” He checks on Grace, who has bled out at this
point, removes the axe from her back and sits on the chair. And this is where
we came in….
Jumping forward again to 1968, we visit Briarcliff now where
Judy is dominating a game of Candy Land. Pepper is now her right hand woman,
and the two seem to be running the joint… from the inmate standpoint anyway.
She can’t be bothered with the television reports that Dr. Martin Luther King
Jr. had been assassinated – she is too busy concentrating on Peppermint Stick
Forest. Enter Monsignor Timothy to deliver the news that he is leaving. He
tells Judy (newly named Betty Drake because Father Jackass faked her death)
that he has been appointed Cardinal of New York. He also notifies her that the
Catholic Church has released Briarcliff to the state to be used as an overflow facility.
Just like that, huh? Father Jackass then promises to get Judy out of the
asylum. “The cruelty ends here.” Really? Cruelty? He ARRANGED for Judy to be
confined in the asylum in the first place! She replies, “The cruelest thing of
all, Timothy, is false hope.” False hope indeed. He’s not going to set her
free.
As Judy revels in thoughts about her pending release, the
overflow inmates begin to arrive…including Alma. Bummer. One of the other inmates
is played by Frances Conroy and obviously is a dead ringer for the Angel of
Death. Judy tells her to stay away over and over again stating she’s “not ready.”
However, this woman legitimately does just seem to be a convict and wants to
dethrone Judy as the Queen Bee (or Queen of Candy Land – whichever works best).
She even stabs one of the other prisoners for continuing to take his medication.
Clearly he did not respect her authority. The Angel look-a-like ends up as Judy’s
roommate and tries to get friendly with her. When she leans in to give her a
kiss as she sleeps, Judy thinks it’s the kiss of death and beats the crap out
of her. However, as the security guards arrive and turn the lights on, Judy’s
roommate isn’t the Angel of Death (or Frances Conroy at all). It’s just some
unattractive, and perhaps unhygienic, pissed off woman instead. What?
It gets better. Judy now sits in a straight jacket in her
former office where Dr. Miranda Crump is trying to bring her to her senses. She
informs Judy that she’s been through five roommates in the past 2 months, which
doesn’t add up for her considering she just spoke with the Monsignor the Monday before. Dr.
Crump then tells Judy that Cardinal Timothy Howard moved to New York two and a half
years ago and that Pepper has been dead since 1966. WHAT?!? So Judy’s just
bonkers?
Side note: Jessica Lange did NOT with the Golden Globe for
Best Supporting Actress. She lost to Julianne Moore. Here’s hoping the voters
get it right at the upcoming Screen Actors Guild Awards because she is stellar at playing crazy.
Now at this point I’m thinking: why is Briarcliff still
running? Did Lana give up after she found out Judy was “dead?” Well, it seems
Lana had other priorities after giving birth to the son of Bloody Face. When we
catch up with her, she is at her own book signing and she has become quite the
celebrity. Lana reads a passage from Maniac:
One Woman’s Story of Survival but it seems as though she has embellished a
bit. She imagines Thredson standing up in the bookstore and calling her out on
the details. An imaginary Wendy pipes up as well, blasting Lana for calling her
a roommate. Granted, most “true stories” are not completely accurate accounts
of the events that occurred, but Lana’s attitude is starting to put her back to
Stupid Lana status.
As she signs books, Kit surprises her. She is happy to see
him and gives her condolences regarding Grace. Stupid Lana explains that she has just been too
busy to contact him. Kit begins to tell her about the asylum, Grace, Alma,
etc. but Stupid Lana goes back to bragging about her book and the movie rights to her book.
She also goes on to talk about her next book which will be about Lee Emerson,
our Bad Santa. I was wondering what happened to him. He apparently killed seven
nuns before he was caught again. Stupid Lana wants to call her new book Santa and the Seven Nuns. Whew. She is
just so full of herself right now. Kit has had enough. He yells at her for not
taking down Briarcliff and not saving Sister Jude. “You were going to be a
reporter, not a cheap celebrity.” Stupid Lana explains that people change, that
she’s made a life for herself, that she found a voice…blah, blah, blah. Then
Kit tells her Sister Jude is still alive.
How does he know this? Kit tells Stupid Lana he visited Alma
at Briarcliff to bring her art projects from the kids. Security at Briarcliff,
by the way, was worse than ever. In one corner a man ripped off his catheter and
played with it….in another two inmates had sex. I never thought I would long
for the days of Security Guard Frank. Couldn’t Kit just take Alma out through
the death chute? This seems a little ridiculous. No matter though – Alma is
dead. “Her heart just stopped.” Kit stood by her bedside and apologized for
failing her, Grace and the kids. Whoa. Wait. Alma’s heart just stopped? And we’re
good with that? No outrage? No “THEY MURDERED MY WIFE!” How are we okay with
her heart just stopping one day. American
Horror Story, you are starting to piss me off.
When Kit was on his way out of the asylum that day, he
ventured into the common room where he found Sister Jude. She was watching “The
Flying Nun” on the television and rocking back and forth in her seat. She tells
Kit the TV show is based on her life saying, “she stole my hat.” This gives me
a giggle. Judy then tells Kit. “I don’t need the hat. I can fly without it. One
of these days, I’m going to fly my ass right out of here.” Bonkers.
Stupid Lana tells Kit she is sorry for all that has happened
to both him and Jude but there’s nothing she can do about Briarcliff. She even goes
so far as to say that every bed in that place, Sister Jude made. Stupid Lana
then goes back to her book signing, and I hate her.
Our episode ends in the present day with Johnny Morgan
tracking down one of the last autographed copies of Maniac at a bookstore that is going out of business. The owner does
not want to give the book up, saying it was her mother’s and had inspired her
mother to leave her abusive husband. Johnny claims to be Lana Winters’ son, but
the book store owner tells him the son of Bloody Face died shortly after birth
and he can’t have the book. He then gives her a convincing argument:
"When I see her,
I am going to greet her with a polite 'Hello, Miss Winters. Do you know who I
am?' And she'll shake her head in ignorance. And then I’ll present her with
this book of lies. And then I’ll say, 'I'm in your book! Except I didn't die. I'm
the piece of trash you threw away 48 years ago. I’m your son.' And when she
fully understands who it is standing in front of her, I’ll take out my handgun,
point it at her face, and pull the trigger. And finally, I will have completed
my father's work. But first: I'm going to need that book!"
Not surprisingly, the owner hands the book over.
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