American Horror Story: Tricks and Treats (#2.2)

For many of us (okay, for me), AHS was an odd replacement for our weekly Lost fixations, but it occasionally works.  I mean, there's a lot of intrigue over mistaken identities, who will get their comeuppance, and what hidden meanings are behind the different books, music, and pop culture references that are flung around in the show.  The comparison stops there (Lost, for those who loved it, was also about the power of hope, redemption, love, and forgiveness, and was on a different level than AHS), but no matter-they both seem to fill the same void, so I'm going with that.

The reason I bring up Lost is that AHS sure is setting up exactly what we don't know rather early this season.  For starters, the identity of Bloody Face (spoilers, oh the spoilers to come) which was obviously hinted at last night to be Dr. Arden (James Cromwell), but I think that seems like too easy of an answer.  There's no doubt that he's very creepy, and I have a suspicion we'll see the prostitute that he was trying to bind and gag later on in the season either as a future victim or a future patient at the hospital, but I think that Ryan Murphy would probably have gone with someone else as the Bloody Face-one of the aliens, perhaps, or maybe even Joseph Fiennes (it would be the ultimate kicker if Evan Peters, probably the least likely suspect since he's the one who is being accused of it since Episode 1, turned out to actually be Bloody Face).  Either way, I'm not buying that they gave us such an easy answer so early on in the show's run.

Overall, Wednesday's (I'll try not to be so late in the future) episode was a fun ride for me, though.  All of the performers seem to be having a blast, in particular Peters, Jessica Lange, and Sarah Paulson.  Peters, who gave an incredible performance last year, continues to do great work with a character that isn't as flashy as Tate Langdon.  Kit Walker remains a complicated character-I'm not buying that he's totally innocent or without any sin here (on these shows, no one ever is), but even if he isn't, his woefully abused character is an interesting commentary on how quickly we jump to accuse people of guilt.

Sarah Paulson's Lana Banana (god love Jessica Lange) knows a thing or two about that-the way that she was willing to sacrifice her own freedom because she thought he was the killer-I think that decision is going to come back to haunt her later in the season.  Though it looks like from next week's previews that another escape is being planned, my gut instinct is that for Lana, that may have been her one chance to escape the asylum.  Her motives remain a bit of a mystery-was she simply too good hearted to let a man she assumes is a murderer run free, or was it something greedier, like she suddenly realized if she wanted that Pulitzer Prize, she'd need to stay in the asylum a bit longer?  Either way, that was an interesting way for Murphy to stop cold the first (of likely several) escape plans.

It'd be foolish not to at least mention the main attraction on the show, though, Ms. Jessica Lange, and here, the way that she interacts with a patient possessed by a demon.  Of course, in a true Lost-like metaphor, we learned little about the actual demon in the unfortunate young man's body (except I think it seems pretty real, and that Lily Rabe will be the next host, which should be great fun for those of us who wanted her to stretch her acting legs a bit more after last season), and learned a great deal about Sister Jude's personal demons.  She was, to put it as gentlemanly of terms as possible, a "loose" woman, and we saw that when she was crooning at a bar (shades of Sweet Dreams, Lange's Oscar-nominated performance in 1985-OVP to the rescue!) and got rejected by a man who didn't want to bring her home.  On her drunken drive home, we see her strike a young girl with her car, presumably killing her.  I'm guessing that this is when she finds god, though I'm curious to see how (this can't possibly be an if) this comes back to haunt her.  We also got to see some of Sister Jude's humanity-this isn't a Constance Langdon sort of cold woman, despite what her demeanor may suggest.  I am starting to think that, in an odd twist compared to last season, this season's heros may end up being Evan Peters and Jessica Lange-could be wrong, but that would be an odd wink at last season's legions of fans.

But now I'll turn it over to you, as I have to get ready for a day at the movies-what were your thoughts on "Tricks and Treats?"  We didn't have time to get to Zachary Quinto, so have at his mysteriously noble psychiatrist in the comments.  And so far, are you more a fan of Briarcliff or the Murder House?