Maybe it’s a nod to the approximately fifty ads for Zombieland: Double Tap that played throughout tonight’s episode, but with a little help from Satan, the dead were rising at Camp Redwood tonight. And some of them were happier about it than others.
Donna (the psychologist formerly known as not-Rita) got a somewhat sympathetic backstory, though not quite sympathetic enough for Mr. Jingles to mercy kill her. Jingles’ sudden lucidity in the face of knowing not only had he been imprisoned for years for a crime he did not commit, but he had actually become a mass murderer at least partly based on that information was, if not necessarily completely sensical, at the very least interesting. It played off the essential question of the episode, are killers born or made, nicely, if more soberly than say, Xavier turning Mr. Jingles into a human pincushion with his Robin Hood skills (side note: wouldn’t it be a little dangerous to put actual archery into your rendition of Robin Hood if you’re doing dinner theater)?
Of course, while that might be the driving force, the thesis of this week’s episode, the greatest question it gifted its audience, possibly the best question offered by any episode of AHS, is if you lose your virginity to a ghost, does it count? Of course, virginity is a social construct, and a ghost that has the capacity to have sex with a human is obviously a pretty special ghost, but the question remains. The moment before Brooke realized she had just slept with Casper was almost sweet, and a nice breather between blood baths. It was a reminder AHS could use more pauses.
The most interesting murder (name of the next big true-crime podcast?) of the evening was definitely the demise of poor, poor Chet, who was already suffering a massive stab wound when Margaret rowed him out for a little soul-saving with a side of murder. To add more injury to injury the ex-jock was pummeled, had his ear cut off while he was entirely conscious, and then was dragged to the bottom of the lake after Margaret crushed the fingers that were so desperately holding on to the edge of the boat. It’s hard to call something overkill on a show where almost every character has been nearly killed before they finally bit it, but his trip to a watery grave is definitely a contender for the biggest overkill of the week.
As dawn breaks and the bus of campers finally descended on Brooke getting really, really into what was a murder of self-defense, there’s a reminder of another scary aspect of a killing spree in 1984 — no forensics. It’s hard to believe with Mr. Jingles having just escaped from the mental hospital and several of the deceased missing their ears that all the carnage will be pinned on Brooke, but with Margaret, one of the only other living witness to the night’s events, seemingly intent on blaming her, she’ll likely be charged with at least a few murders.
There’s almost no time spent with Brooke post-arrest, which seems to point to her breaking point being a one-off rather than a turning point that transforms her from meek aspiring nobody to a bloodthirsty overalls enthusiast. Her character still hasn’t really developed past a tragic figure, though the reveal that her murderous fiancé was once her grade school rival who turned the whole class against her until she dumbed herself down was painfully sad. Her desire to be nobody doesn’t seem to jell perfectly with getting to know herself after not knowing who she is for so many years, but you can’t expect complete self-actualization from a person just trying to escape one or more crazed killers.
With a new day and a new reality (the somehow resurrected dead are stuck at the camp, but willing and able to murder anyone who dares drop-in) opens up a whole lot of new possibilities for this season with only a few episodes left.
Next week is AHS’ 100th episode. Though the teaser did give a retrospective of the last eight seasons, there’s nothing that suggests any crossovers in the near future. But, could it really be a 100th episode celebration without at least a cameo from Sarah Paulson? She’d make such a great outraged mother, demanding a refund and money for a psychiatrist to treat her would-be camper traumatized by Brooke’s manic stabbing.
Stray observations
- Even reanimated corpses brought to life by Satan himself know about seatbelt safety.
- That EMT takes the fact Ray has no blood pressure in stride. Does she think they cover a lack of pulse in the living in med school, but not paramedic training?
- Those kids are definitely never going to drink the bug juice, no matter where they go to camp next.
- Brooke tosses that boom box like it’s an iPod shuffle. Those things were heavy!
- Possibly the biggest mystery of the episode is who put Ray’s head in the fridge. And did they predict finding it there would give Brooke TV’s worst post-coitus reckoning since Buffy?
- Those are some jaded cops and detectives to be so unfazed by the headless bodies, body-less heads, and general carnage next to all the canoes and supplies for friendship bracelets. It seems unlikely that they were all around the last time the camp was the site of mass murder, so is it just growing up around the stories that’s enough to make them act like a stack of body bags is no big deal?
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I think AHS goes to the “trapped vengeful spirit” plot a little too often: Murder House, Coven, Hotel, Apocalypse, Roanoke, and now this. I get that’s an easy way to have your gory death but still get to keep the actor around but it gets repetitive.
In their defense, Coven wasn’t trapped vengeful spirits, it was witches having the ability to bring the dead back to life. At least, since they decided to tie all the seasons together, they’ve kept the rules for the ghosts consistent.
I may be misremembering but wasn’t The Axeman in Coven an actual ghost that they accidentally let loose?
He was a ghost they on purpose let loose.
Based on an actual serial killer who murdered people who didn’t like jazz (The Axeman of New Orleans)
Completely agreed. It really lessens the stakes for these characters and just seems now like a cliche the show is always going to go to.
Does Brooke want Antichrists? Because that’s how you get Antichrists.
If you can’t leave the camp since you are dead such as Ray, how come Ramirez and Mr Jingles could?Anyway, my favourite moment was “It’s your fault my future is in radio.”
I think they were able to leave because Satan resurrected them. Everyone else seems to be more ghost-like.
They made a freak with Satan.
“You’re the reason I’ll never be on the cover of TV Guide” is about to replace “maybe I’ll go to St Petersburg where they have real caramel corn” as my favorite line from AHS.
“Next week is AHS’ 100th episode. Though the teaser did give a retrospective of the last eight seasons, there’s nothing that suggests any crossovers in the near future.”Um…no? Pretty sure Ramirez and Jingles are headed to Hotel Cortez, the teaser shows the former attacking a woman in a corridor that looks pretty familiar… Not to mention the fact the real Night Stalker used the Cecil Hotel (the inspiration for the Cortez) as a base. Also, now the new Redwood massacre is public knowledge, you know there are going to be reporters swarming to the camp…perfect opportunity to have Lana Winters drop in!
You’re right. I love that idea! OMG we’re getting to the fun part where we see our old favorites!
Yeah the Cortez was def in there….man what if Evan was lying and we get a March cameo
Ok so the murderers were revived from the dead from Satan and get to leave the grounds, but the counselors are “ghosts” who can’t leave? I’m confused by the rules there … are you only a ghost if you killed someone or did something shitty? Does this mean Chet will also be a ghost or does the poor boy just die?
I was confused by the rules, but you justified it by splitting up summoned by Satan and ghosts.
I guess that depends on whether or not the lake is officially a part of the campgrounds or not. Ghosts have to obey property lines and zoning laws
And will Trevor and his giant dong get to come back as two separate ghosts?
As far as I can tell in AHS lore ghosts can only stay in the place of their demise once dead (although the exact boundary seems to vary place to place) except for Halloween when they can travel freely.Exceptions seem to come to pass via witchcraft or in this case direct intervention from satan himself. We know eventually Richard Ramirez ends up as a regular ghost kickin’ it in hotel Cortez every Halloween so I guess in this case satan decided to keep him around for a bit longer…
The real tragedy here is that only other time we’ve seen this character he had zero interest in helping or staying with anyone, including Brooke. So much so that the reviewer commented on it. So for some reason we’ve been deprived of a hilarious kill of the week where his ghost comes back only to ditch everyone and get killed immediately.
If Murder House taught me anything, it’s that hot ghost sex will most definitely result in Satan’s baby.
The poor actor who plays Chet! That *was* a really long boat scene, I bet he was cold as fuck.
Sadly, Trevor has not been resurrected or shown up as a ghost. MORE TREVOR.
I was thinking the same thing about Trevor. Ray missed an episode or two before his ghost returned, so I imagine Trevor could reappear, too.
I was thinking Trevor was the only person who hasn’t killed anyone yet, but I guess he did get that one Mr. Jingles lookalike. Even so, he started off kind of sleazy but emerged from the massacre as the only decent human being at Camp Redwood.
“The poor actor who plays Chet! That *was* a really long boat scene, I bet he was cold as fuck.”
I mean you do know that’s Olympic skier Gus Kenworthy, right? He should be used to the cold by now (granted, he wears more clothing when skiing…)
I did not know that, and I find it delightful! It makes me like him more.
There are five episodes left in this season, not three, right? Wikipedia shows only eight episodes overall, but the TV schedule shows the usual 10 episodes.
Pretty sure it’s 10, Wikipedia doesn’t always have the full list of episodes until a series has finished so I’d trust other sources first
You know, I’ve been watching this on my DVR, not live, and when last week’s recording ended, I actually thought to myself, “holy shit, they did it. AHS had a perfect season, tied it up with a bow and ended it at exactly the right moment. I can’t believe it finally happened!” Guess my DVR didn’t record next week’s teaser. 🤦🏻♀️I would be a thousand percent fine with ending the season here. I know 5 episodes is hardly a “season” of anything, even notoriously tight British TV, but this just felt like such a perfect ending.
The original plan was 10 episodes, but a few days ago they announced that they have changed the plan to 9 total episodes. That leaves 4 remaining.
Anyone else think that Donna/Rita’s dad was a riff on the Grim Sleeper (given the polaroids all over the wall)?
First thought too.
Let’s just rename this year’s series “Camp Hotel Redwood Murder House” and get it over with. I’m enjoying the campy (no pun intended) vibe of “1984″, but once again we’re retreading the same “trapped spirit” plot device. All AHS series had a likable hokey charm to them, but there was at least some horror and suspense. Not the case this year.
They’re not zombies or “resurrected”, they’re ghosts.
I guess we got to the Pivot of the season? Great episode, really digging this season. So Tuvok is a time-traveling Vulcan serial killer? Trippy. Nice to see that actor again.
curious if Chet survived. Seemed like there was more to his story that Margaret was hinting at and he’s not included with the ghosts at the camp in next weeks episode.
here’s a reminder of another scary aspect of a killing spree in 1984 — no forensics.What are you talking about? Of course there were forensics in 1984. And if you mean DNA testing, it actually BEGAN in 1984 (although it was very primitive and not always accepted in court.) However there is still a huge mountain of forensic evidence that would have to be accounted for that couldn’t possibly be pinned on Brooke. The lack of her fingerprints on several weapons alone would likely rule her out as a culprit for some crimes. The bruises she received while duking it out with Montana would jibe with a self-defense claim. She had only just arrived there that day, so she never would have had time to set up all the death traps – including a six-foot-deep pit of spikes – that the police are bound to find. And she could easily account for her whereabouts before arriving there. Even Margaret’s self-inflicted knife wound could be easily found out by examining the depth and angle of the wound, determining that it was self-inflicted.
Ghosts have sex all the time in this universe. It’s nothing special.
I think the first few seasons were the best, and probably always will be. There are only a few that I actually disliked, and that includes ‘Cult’. That said, while I didn’t enjoy Cody Fern in ‘Apocalypse’, I love him in ‘1984′! I’m glad they gave him something more to work with than moody antichrist.
He showed he could really act in Versace–which I think was his first Murphy/Falchuk project. I’m just gonna go with that he was badly miscast on Apocalypse (it was a badly written role, as well…)
“YOU’RE THE REASON I’LL NEVER BE ON THE COVER OF TV GUIDE!!!!”
I feel like I’m admitting a deep, dark secret, but I loved Murder House, Coven, and Hotel and have been holding out for something that was fun and kept my attention since then. I’m LOVING this season. Cody Fern was so bad in Apocalypse but is so good here and it makes me want to see more of him, Billie Lourde and Leslie Grossman are as delightful as always, John Carroll Lynch is typically great, and Angelica Ross is one of the most beautiful people I’ve ever seen. This season is great!
(Admission #2: I was wildly attracted to Matthew Morrison’s Trevor and miss him deeply — RIP and bang me in my dreams, xoxo, etc.).
Cody Fern first entered the Ryan Murphy/Brad Falchuk team in American Crime Story, The Assassination of Versace (or whatever the long title of that was) where he was very good as one of the victims with one key spotlight episode.
Donna hasn’t been killed (yet), right? Unless I missed a scene, I think she was last seen being chased by Xavier, who later shows up to kill Jingles. So in theory at least, she could tell the police Brooke wasn’t the killer
Except she definitely killed Montana. Although she could argue self-defense.
Having the crime scene of an 80’s slasher movie be haunted by those who died there would make it really crowed, extremely quick. Freddy and Jason are notorious for their high kill rates. It would be like a mosh pit at a summer concert festival.
So did Jingles actually accept Satan to become reborn or is he like… faking it? Because right before he died he seemed to have a pretty big redemption arc realizing he’s not actually a killer.
AHS writing isn’t exactly consistent. Donna/Rita didn’t seem to care too much about letting a killer loose until the writers needed her to.
I presume the idea is that he figured he’d throw his hat in with satan so he can be resurrected and kill Margaret booth…
I expected to find a “That’s not how sphygmomanometers work!” post but I guess I’ll have to do it myself.That’s not how sphygmomanometers work! They would register a pressure because the cuff builds up the pressure, it just wouldn’t register the jump in pressure as the pulse beats because there isn’t one.
No ones going to point out that the arrow scene was a direct reference to the original Friday the 13th?
Also no mention of Rodriguez and Jingles going to LA?
i’m disappointed with this season, it’s been too hard to keep track of everyone running around in the dark & it’s “everyone’s a ghost” again. the art direction seems nonexistent. maybe b/c i’m not a big fan of slasher movies to begin with (outside of the classics). there’s just too much going on here & no style.
The past 5 episodes have been really shit. Roll on the 100th episode. Peters and Paulson need to show up in that. AHS needs to end after S10.