No one likes a theme episode quite like Ryan Murphy, and this week, we got the beginnings of our killers exhibited in nearly every scene, so the episode is titled appropriately. However, before the episode ended, I was far more concerned about the futures of monsters, and in particular, the one who is torturing Jenna Dewan Tatum.But let's not get ahead of ourselves, as there's lots to go over and discuss. First, let's focus on the creepy "I guess they're going there" mother issues of Dr. Oliver Thredson. In true pop psychology fashion, we learn that his predisposition for murdering women of a certain age is because that's the age his mother was when she abandoned him. Thredson began to stalk and murder women who were his mother's age, and in an effort to feel close to them, he began cutting off and wearing their skin (that gagging feeling you're getting reading that is what I felt for a good chunk of that story-I may have to have a bucket nearby to get through the rest of the season). Thredson is convinced that Lana will be his new mother, and starts calling her "mommy" and acting as if he is her son. Toward the end of the episode, after a brief (too brief-I love Evan Peters) call from Kit, he catches Lana trying to escape and almost murders her, but then she tricks him into believing that she is indeed his mother, and the scene ends with her breast-feeding him (you did not read that incorrectly).
My problem with this, aside from the obvious grossed out part (which I'll get over-AHS pushes envelopes, and that's what we love about it, even when we're shielding our eyes with an afghan), is that if Thredson is so smart as to be able to cover all of his tracks, and then to be able to create this soundproof layer, wouldn't he be able to tell that Lana is trying to placate him? I mean, I get the whole "people hear what they want to hear" sort of angle, but the fairly cogent man we saw in the first five episodes doesn't yet mesh with the oblivious monster we saw last night. Is it because he trusts Lana, whom he assumes to be his mother? And why didn't we see him more doting on her in the past then? All of this at some point will hopefully be explained, but for now, I'll put a pin in it and move on to the demon child and the devil nun.
Yes, in a week that mostly focused on the men of the show (sans Kit), we got our closest look at the woman claiming to be the devil, and her young protege. I say claiming this week, because for the first time I'm slightly questioning just who is living in Sister Mary Eunice. Maybe it was a slip of the tongue or some evil trickery, but if she is indeed the devil, the comment about how there "is no God," would make no sense, as the devil most definitely is aware of God's existence, he just clearly isn't much of a fan. The scene where she gave the stock, creepy child (seriously-can't some writer come up with a non-Omen type child as the serial killer in a movie?) the knife, you knew that the mother wasn't going to make it through the episode. Though Murphy claimed that most of the answers would be solved by now, this episode left more questions surrounding Sister Mary Eunice than what got answered-what is her end game here? Is she simply a Mad Hatter, trying to cause chaos wherever she can? Or does she have a specific target (or soul) in mind (presumably Dr. Arden or Sister Jude)?
Joseph Fiennes' Monsignor, who has been absent for the bulk of the series despite getting second billing, finally deigned to show up and advance his story line, but with it, in true J.J. Abrams fashion (I know he's not the producer, but this next move was classic Abrams), we found out less with his mild reveal (that he was unaware of Dr. Arden's work on people like Shelley) than we discovered we didn't know (the reluctance with which the Monsignor didn't want to expose Dr. Arden reveals that Dr. Arden has some information about the Monsignor, but what?). Either way, the Monsignor felt compelled to hide this piece of information (anyone got a guess of what it is?) enough to eliminate Sister Jude, sending her to Pittsburgh to work with wayward girls, rather than expose Arden.
All of this character development led to one of our briefest Jessica Lange episodes, as she had little to do except discover that the Nazi hunter, who confirmed that Dr. Arden was indeed Hans Gruber, had been murdered, and I think she has enough evidence to know that it was Sister Mary Eunice. Where she (and the story) goes from here is anyone's guess, but I have to admit my heart skipped with glee with what I believe was Frances Conroy in the trailer for next week's episode (As the Angel of Death, perhaps?).
Finally, I will appropriately end with the final moments of the episode. In addition to the questions mentioned above, the series still hasn't revealed perhaps the biggest question mark of them all (aside from why the hell aliens are included in an already bursting series of plots)-how is Bloody Face still active nearly fifty years after all of the events at Briarcliff? And did anyone else think that voice sounded suspiciously like Dylan McDermott's? From the looks of that last cut away, we are about to find out!
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