AHS Cult Episode 5: Holes

On tonight's episode of American Horror Story: Cult, we find out who the crazy clown killers are (a portion of them anyway) as Kai continues his quest for a City Council seat and Beverly grabs a hold of as much power she can get. There are some definitely twists and turns throughout this hour and some of this may feel like uncharted territory, but don't worry....Ally has enough teary/breathy/whiny breakdowns to keep you grounded. How are the big reveal moments thrown our way? Here's what went down in "Holes."

Whatever You're Looking For

The episode begins with Beverly showing Bob a segment she has taped that is sure to scare the shit out of viewers. Aside from all of the murders happening around town, Beverly also enlists Kai, who she calls a "local businessman taking his campaign to the streets" to give an interview and stir the pot even more. He mentions The Tommyknockers trucks, saying the government is trying to poison them and feeds into Beverly's theme of a neighborhood gripped in terror. Bob is not impressed. He says the crime rate is the lowest it's been in years and 911 calls have decreased. "Your story is full of holes...and how is it that you're always the first one on the scene?" Fair question, but Beverly isn't going to reveal her sources. Bob won't air the segment, calling it "fake news," and he also shuts down any notion of airing footage of Serena's death. Her parents are apparently suing the network for not protecting her. This conversation escalates, Bob tries to fire Beverly, Beverly tries to blackmail him using his sexual relationship with Serena, and both walk away from the meeting very unhappy. Still...no dice on the serial killer segment. 

Beverly brings this dissapointing news to a meeting at campaign headquarters, also known as Winter and Kai's house, where Kai is having a meeting with his loyal followers. In the room are Detective Jack Samuels, Gary, Harrison, Beverly, her cameraman R.J., and Winter. They are discussing some of the challenges Kai is having gaining voters and R.J. doesn't get why the City Council seat is so important. Kai slaps him pretty hard as Harrison notes that people just aren't scared enough. Beverly says it will stay that way until people see the clowns on TV. Kai suggests they kill Bob in a horrible, satanic way and make sure it is filmed and broadcast. Another follower enters the room at that moment. "You're late," he says...to IVY! Fucking IVY is in the clown posse! Cue the opening music. 

Don't Come Around Here No More

Ally is having another session with Dr. Vincent, telling him about a dream she had where she was tearing the skin on her throat open with her hands. There had been holes in her neck and bugs crawling around in this dream. Gross. When she woke up she realized she had scratched her neck up pretty bad and she's crying as she tells the story. Thank goodness Dr. Vincent's coral isn't on display. The holes in that thing might put Ally completely over the edge. Dr. Vincent tells Ally that her "holes" were created because she is worried she will fall into the darkness of her life. "Metaphorically the holes were created by everything that's happened." Yeah her life really does suck at the moment. Ally's visits with her son are supervised and awkward and she haaaaaates being in the house alone. Well, she describes it as both "alone" and "all by myself." She thought she would have police protection since, you know, her house was marked by a serial killer, but she's only seen 1 cop car in 3 days. Ally is also kicking herself for being tempted by Winter and doesn't see much hope for reconciling with Ivy. That bitch cancelled all of their credit cards, so all of Ally's money is sunk in the restaurant. Ally feels like Ivy may have planned this (ya think?) because of how she was able to shut everything down so quickly. Dr. Vincent asks if Ally had any idea the relationship was going south...

We flash back to September 2016, a couple of months before the election, where the ladies are at home and Ivy is holding papers and punching numbers on a calculator. Do people still do that? Ally approaches with the intention of having some sexy time, but Ivy is preoccupied with the financial hole they are digging themselves into with the restaurant. With the worst timing ever, Ally then pulls out a gift box for Ivy, whose immediate response is "whatever it is, we can't afford it." Ivy opens it though and it looks like...I don't know what it looks like...but I think it's a sex toy. Whatever it is, Ivy isn't interested and leaves the room. 

You Darken My Door

Operation kill Bob is in full affect and Ivy and Winter arrive at Bob's house together. During the car ride, Ivy is blowing off steam as she prepares for shit to get real. She says "I hate this country...what it's become. I hate my fucking wife for letting it happen. The only thing I love right now is my son and I will do whatever it takes to make the world a better place for him, even if it means burning it all down." Welp, here comes your first big test, kid. 

Just before they enter Bob's house, Kai tells the group they will need to chant Latin words about Satan because "Latin is inherently scary." You know what else is scary? The image of Bob coming down the stairs in his underwear, wearing rubber gloves and sucking blood off of them. You read that right. He is making himself a bowl of ice cream when the clowns attack (makes sense to follow up rubbery blood with dessert).  Bob is scared of being murdered but not for the obvious reason. "No one will take care of it!" The Harrison clown and I both yell "what?!" at the same time. Bob tells them he has a gimp in the attic. Not sure what a gimp is? I had to look it up myself. In sexual terms, a gimp is someone with a fetish for wearing rubbery masks and suits who also enjoys being dominated. In this situation, Bob's gimp has hooks in his skin and likes to be suspended by chains from the ceiling. Neat. 

File Bob's gimp under "things I couldn't have guessed with 100 tries" in terms of Bob's hobbies. This is a plot twist that even throws off the clowns. They head up to the attic and see this poor dude hanging there, completely helpless. They remove their masks and try to figure out what to do next. Because the gimp is bound in a way that has him deaf and blind to his surroundings, R.J. suggests they let him go. Kai, who we now know is the clown with 3 faces, is SO not into that idea and plunges a knife into the gimp. The hooks tear through his skin and it's incredibly cruel. Ivy runs to the bathroom and throws up (don't blame her) and Winter follows her, but it's time for the main event. A couple of clowns drag Bob to the attic and he flips out when he sees the dead gimp. The group begins the Latin chants and R.J. holds up a cell phone to record what comes next. Some of the clowns take turns stabbing Bob, but Ivy's clown is not one of them. Just before Bob takes the final blow, Beverly lifts up her mask (off camera) so Bob knows she's part of the chaos. 

Beverly Hope is first on the scene to report on Bob's murder, and she shows cell phone footage that she received...via email...and the video holds nothing back. I'll be honest and say that if one of my local newscasters kept reporting on a string of unsolved murders and then showed me a video of creepy ass clowns stabbing the shit out of somebody, I would be terrified. Well played, Kai. Well played. 

Stop Walking Down My Street

The Butchery seems to get a lot of action after hours. Kai and Beverly are currently there having a cup of coffee and Kai mentions he is disappointed that Ivy didn't actively participate in Bob's slaughter. Beverly chalks it up to "first time jitters" and wants to talk about who she thinks are the real weak links in the group.

We flash back several weeks to the murder setup at Rosie and Roger's house. Meadow doesn't seem to be a ton of help and R.J. keeps bitching about how heavy the coffins are. After the terrified couple's fate is literally sealed, both R.J. and Meadow are having second thoughts about this situation. I assume now that Meadow caused her disappearance and it was not just some publicity stunt to scare the community. Bummer.

Speaking of Meadow's disappearance, Ally has taken up a new hobby - spying on her neighbors' homes with a telescope. She peeks in on the Wilton's house and sees Harrison outside with a shovel, dragging a very heavy looking duffel bag to the back yard. She sees him shortly thereafter in the living room smooching Detective Jack. Because we are more than half way through the episode and it's been almost 30 minutes since Ally cried, it's time for Ally to get scared and have a meltdown. I can't think of any other reason she would walk across the street to the Wilton's back yard knowing Harrison and Detective Jack are nearby. But she does...and she finds a hole...and Meadow is in it whispering "please help me." Ally, realizing NOW that Harrison and Detective Jack are nearby and she's super dumb for being there, runs home and calls 911. There is a high call volume and she's put on hold, so naturally she hangs up and calls Ivy, who is just as annoyed with Ally's whiny/crying voice as the rest of us. Ivy sounds like she might be genuinely surprised when she hears about Meadow and tells Ally to call 911. Meadow is now banging on the window though and begging Ally to let her in. "It's a sick cult and everyone is in it! The police, my husband, your babysitter, your WIFE!" Ally tells her the police are on their way (bullshit) and someone throws a sheet over Meadows's head and drags her away. Way to go, Ally. This was your chance to get some real answers and you fucked it up.

Ivy arrives at campaign headquarters for another group meeting and asks Harrison about Meadow. He's super busy flirting with Detective Jack and just casually says "she's with a friend." Winter joins them and tells the group Kai went up 10 points in the polls after the clown video aired. You would think Kai would be happy to hear his chances in City Council have skyrocketed, but he isn't. "I feel resistance. I feel dissension in the ranks. If we're going to win, we can't close our eyes to the problem. We need to be strong and vigilant and ruthless!" He then says they will take care of a problem right now, and everyone heads to be basement/pinky swear room to find R.J. gagged and bound to a chair. Uh oh. He is terrified when Kai calls him an anchor that will bring the rest of the group down. Kai takes out a nail gun and Ivy asks him not to kill the cameraman. Kai indicates that Ivy can make up for her disappearing act at Bob's by putting a nail in R.J.'s head. Sensing that she might be the next weak link, Ivy complies and the nail gun is passed from person to person. Poor R.J. has several nails in his head and face before Kai finally shoots one into his medulla oblongata and puts him out of his misery. Just before dealing the final blow, Kai says "Good night, sweet prince. And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest." Interesting that Kai would choose the final words in Hamlet here. Hamlet himself spends most of the play viewed as a crazy person while he is trying to get everyone to see the truth...there is some shady shit going on in Denmark. Hamlet has very few loyal friends, and because this is a Shakespearean tragedy (spoiler alert), pretty much everyone dies. When Hamlet is taking his final breath, his most dedicated friend Horatio speaks those same words Kai just whispered to R.J.

I've Given Up

Kai and Beverly sit down for a round of the pinky game, but this time Beverly is the one asking the questions. She wants to know who Kai really is, where his parents are, and how he got to be so...passionate. "Secrets make you weak," she tells him. 

We flash back 3 years to see Kai's dad angrily trying to get himself from his wheelchair into one of those stairwell contraptions for handicapped folks. He had been a silver tongued lawyer at one point, but then he was in a motorcycle accident that turned him into a "grade A cocksucker." He makes his way downstairs and gives Kai a bunch of shit about his degree in Religious Studies. Winter is at away at Vassar so I assume she's more of the golden child during this time. Anyway, mom puts dinner on the table and dad flings it across the room. Asshole. Completely out of nowhere, he then accuses mom of cheating on him and grabs her pretty damn hard by the arm as he screams at her. He's a total dick. 

Later that evening Kai is in the basement on his laptop when he hears gunshots. He sprints to his parents' room and sees that mom shot dad. Mom then tearfully says, "it's the only way out" before killing herself in front of Kai. Jesus. Unsure of what to do next, Kai calls his brother and in walks....Dr. Vincent! Holy shit. Did NOT see that one coming. Kai's big brother doesn't even bat an eye. He's more worried about the government taking all of the money dad received from his accident settlement, so he doesn't want anyone to know what happened. He instead suggests they put the bodies on the bed, cover them with lye, then padlock the door. "It will be like a mausoleum." Gross. Kai thinks this plan is disrespectful, but he does a pinky swear with his brother (interesting) and goes along with it. Kai does not tell Winter what happened until she comes home for Thanksgiving break. Apparently she never calls home unless she needs money anyway, so when Kai mentions the settlement money, Winter agrees to keep her mouth shut. So 3 years later mom and dad are still hanging out in the bedroom and Kai visits them from time to time. At one point he tells his very, very decaying mother that he's going to be someone someday and make her proud. 

The episode ends with Kai having a total emotional breakdown as he finishes telling Beverly the story. Am I the only one who thinks Beverly gained a lot of ground this week? We had a lot of big reveals this episode but I think Beverly turning the tables on Kai in his own game...a game he uses to gain power over people...is the biggest takeaway. Yes, Ivy participating in R.J.'s demise was surprising, as were Bob's extracurricular activities, and I let out a super loud "whaaaaaaaaaaat?!?" when Dr. Vincent was revealed to be the third Anderson sibling....but Beverly is the one who planted the seed about R.J. being the weakest and Beverly was the biggest star of the Bob murder tape. I smell a real power play coming and I wonder what the fallout will be. Is Ivy going to continue to tow the line now that she knows what Kai is capable of? Will Ally do something useful and take a real shot at saving Meadow? I'm pretty sure Meadow is dead now but perhaps she is, in fact, "with a friend." Who is Oz's replacement babysitter now that his previous babysitter is too busy in cult-land to be an awful caregiver? And onto the most obvious questions - did mom and dad Anderson not have any friends or additional family? They've been decomposing in their bedroom for 3 years and there's no one out there that would have reported them missing? Mom didn't have a job, or a book club, or bingo nights? I think in an episode called "Holes," that's the biggest one so far. Maybe we will get some additional information on the Anderson family in the coming weeks, but in the meantime, I am going to focus on trying to unsee Bob's gimp.