What happened?
Halloween is apparently a time when the dead spirits can roam freely for one day. As such life for the Harmon family at the house they are desperately trying to sell seems more over-run with activity than ever. The ghostly twins are seen throwing eggs, and a dead gay couple return to argue and offer advice about changing the look of the place. At the end of the episode Ben’s dead ex-mistress even turns up knocking at the door!
Meanwhile the man in the gimp suit is constantly lurking around and, by the episode’s end, may have taken Violet away. Ben and Vivien are looking for her when they return home, having been at the hospital after an argument. Vivien had demanded that Ben leave but then had pains like her baby was kicking. When the nurse checked it on a monitor she collapsed, apparently shocked.
Moira was allowed freedom to go and visit her mother, and she turned off the machine keeping her alive. Her mother’s spirit told her to come with her, but a tearful Moira had to say that she was unable to. Elsewhere Addy had been given a mask and a dress to go trick or treating as a pretty girl, but then she ran into the road without looking and was hit by a car. A devastated Constance tried to drag her back to the house but eventually stopped and sobbed over the body.
Thoughts
Right. OK. It’s time to start asking some hard questions about this show, because it sure is starting to ask some seriously confusing questions of me. The first and most obvious question has to be: How many of the main cast members are ghosts? I mean, apart from the ‘ghosts of the week’ that show up (although I hope Zachary Quinto shows up again because his performance here was a delight) I know that Moira is a ghost. She’s a confirmed. Outside of the Harmon family (and, for now, I am assuming they aren’t dead and don’t know it because they are so free to come and go from the house) there’s Tate, Burns Man, Constance and Addy. Constance has aged since her flashback, but then Moira veers from old to young depending on who sees her so that’s no reliable marker. However, for now, I am going to believe she’s not a ghost.
Tate I am definitely not sure about. It seems crucial that he’s never away from the house. There’s the added suggestion that he’s also the figure in the gimp suit. The last part I am not so sure about – but him being a ghost makes sense. He’s had visions of himself in a gory state, so maybe that’s just his own appearance when he died that ‘haunts’ his psyche. Gimp suit man seems like a bigger mystery waiting to be unveiled.
Addy is confusing. There was some remark made this episode by Constance, about how she had looked after her for 35 years. I think it was 35 years, anyway. At first I didn’t think much of it, to be honest, I just sort of figured that Addy was much older than she looked (without sounding mean I’ll just say it’s difficult to tell how old people with Down’s Syndrome are) and that was her age. Mrs. Comet, however, seemed to believe this confirmed she’d been around longer than her age and so must be a ghost.
The ending was interesting in that regard. It was almost like she was a ghost that could be killed by virtue of it being Halloween and her able to move more freely. And yet Constance trying to drag her back to the house raised the suggestion that getting her there would allow her to ‘live’ again – as in surviving indefinitely – and to that end maybe she really was a ghost. This is uncharted territory for me, firstly in establishing if Addy is a ghost and now also contesting the idea of what happens to a ghost that ‘dies’!
You know, for now, I am going to assume that Addy wasn’t a ghost. That the remark about 35 years was how I interpreted it. And that Constance trying to drag the body back to the house was so that she could become a ghost in the event of her death. That’s what I think for now.
Burns Man is another that appears to be free to come and go wherever he pleases so I don’t believe he is a ghost. He does really want that thousand pounds very badly, though. He’s definitely a totally bizarre character, and now he’s taking a serious turn for the nasty all bets are off about what he’s capable of. I suspect Ben might just end up finding a way to placate him, but I am confident he won’t be off the scene for long no matter what happens.
The opening scene once again repeated the tradition of showing a piece of the house’s history where someone got killed, this time a gay couple that met a bad end at the hands of the man in the gimp suit. For the record, I think the man in the gimp suit is the grown form of the dead baby that was pieced together by the doctor. That was a grim backstory and no mistake, and it’s hard to imagine much worse than a kind of zombie-dismembered baby that grew up, and took to wearing a tight-fitting gimp suit (maybe it’s the only thing that keeps all the pieces tightly compact together!).
Ben and Violet’s relationship is in a bad way, though the baby becoming restless (and there’s no doubt that it’s not going to take nine months to pop out and it’s definitely not going to be a normal bouncing baby!) seemed to happen as a result of their argument and Ben being taken away. The suggestion is that Vivien must remain in the house and, furthermore, the family need to be there together otherwise it’s not a happy foetus.
I can’t help but wonder if the spirit of the mistress turning up might present Ben with the opportunity to confess one or two things to his wife that will, at least, stop her from thinking he’s cheating on her. That does seems like an awful lot of revelation to come this early in a show’s lifetime, but on this show anything goes and the thing is so busy rattling along with half a dozen other outlandish plotlines then it could take that kind of bombshell right in its stride.
It still continues to impress, how it’s just so rapidly going at it full tilt. The one thing American Horror Story is not quite hitting the mark with is with the characters. It’s just such a stylised show, hyper-real, that the characters aren’t quite landing square. Vivien is faring the best, and remains the one I turn to as an emotional anchor. Ben is either sexually troubled and upset about it, or just stressed out by the number of secrets and pressures he is inundated with. Violet has a great fearless attitude, but we haven’t got beyond that so far. I can’t even gauge what it is she feels about Tate beyond someone to hang out with and be subjected to weird stuff, with a roll of the eyes and an insouciant walk away.
Don’t get me wrong, I like them – but I am watching them with a detached air. I am not living their experiences with them. I am watching them experience stuff.
Addy getting hit by the car was a brutal shock, mind. The image of her in the mask and costume, flat on the road with her limbs splayed awkwardly was a twisted vision. Trouble is with this show that everyone comes back so seeing a character get ‘killed off’ doesn’t quite contain the same level as shock value as other show’s might. Still, it contained a heck of an impact – lame pun intended. And Constance’s pernicious veering from horrible mother to all-caring sobbing wreck over her daughter’s body makes her a complicated, fascinating creation.
I am absolutely loving this show. The pace of it stops it being boring, and it still manages to generate really great moments of horror and what feel like overwhelming sequences that mark it out as quite unlike anything else I’ve seen on television. It’s got it’s issues with making its main characters relatable, but because it’s so entertaining as a compromise then the quality of the show wins the day. (That last statement always carries the caveat that its fast-pace and entertainment value is spot on now, but forever feels prone to wane or get old fast – let’s hope the show keeps dodging that seemingly inevitable eventuality.)
What was the best part?
The moment where the Burns Man was banging on the door, when Violet was home alone, with her father on the phone. . . it was just a moment of increasing intensity and madness that for a few seconds just threatened to feel totally overwhelming. And then there was that cool reveal of the Gimp Suit Man stood in the room behind her and that sealed off an already fraught situation just getting a whole lot worse.
What do I think will happen next?
Halloween night is set to play out, so that ought to bring some clarification over Addy’s fate. I am going to figure she is dead, but Constance’s reaction to it might allow better understanding about the nature of what it is to be dead, or die, around the house. Meanwhile Ben and Violet are surely to be concentrating on the hunt for Violet. No doubt she’ll turn up alive and well, and maybe Tate will have intervened along the way for that. I’d be amazed if it didn’t involve a trip to the basement! However, there’s the dead mistress for Ben to contend with, now. If he didn’t believe in ghosts already he most certainly will have to now, and if he confesses all to Vivien then she will, too.
Halloween is apparently a time when the dead spirits can roam freely for one day. As such life for the Harmon family at the house they are desperately trying to sell seems more over-run with activity than ever. The ghostly twins are seen throwing eggs, and a dead gay couple return to argue and offer advice about changing the look of the place. At the end of the episode Ben’s dead ex-mistress even turns up knocking at the door!
Meanwhile the man in the gimp suit is constantly lurking around and, by the episode’s end, may have taken Violet away. Ben and Vivien are looking for her when they return home, having been at the hospital after an argument. Vivien had demanded that Ben leave but then had pains like her baby was kicking. When the nurse checked it on a monitor she collapsed, apparently shocked.
Moira was allowed freedom to go and visit her mother, and she turned off the machine keeping her alive. Her mother’s spirit told her to come with her, but a tearful Moira had to say that she was unable to. Elsewhere Addy had been given a mask and a dress to go trick or treating as a pretty girl, but then she ran into the road without looking and was hit by a car. A devastated Constance tried to drag her back to the house but eventually stopped and sobbed over the body.
Thoughts
Right. OK. It’s time to start asking some hard questions about this show, because it sure is starting to ask some seriously confusing questions of me. The first and most obvious question has to be: How many of the main cast members are ghosts? I mean, apart from the ‘ghosts of the week’ that show up (although I hope Zachary Quinto shows up again because his performance here was a delight) I know that Moira is a ghost. She’s a confirmed. Outside of the Harmon family (and, for now, I am assuming they aren’t dead and don’t know it because they are so free to come and go from the house) there’s Tate, Burns Man, Constance and Addy. Constance has aged since her flashback, but then Moira veers from old to young depending on who sees her so that’s no reliable marker. However, for now, I am going to believe she’s not a ghost.
Tate I am definitely not sure about. It seems crucial that he’s never away from the house. There’s the added suggestion that he’s also the figure in the gimp suit. The last part I am not so sure about – but him being a ghost makes sense. He’s had visions of himself in a gory state, so maybe that’s just his own appearance when he died that ‘haunts’ his psyche. Gimp suit man seems like a bigger mystery waiting to be unveiled.
Addy is confusing. There was some remark made this episode by Constance, about how she had looked after her for 35 years. I think it was 35 years, anyway. At first I didn’t think much of it, to be honest, I just sort of figured that Addy was much older than she looked (without sounding mean I’ll just say it’s difficult to tell how old people with Down’s Syndrome are) and that was her age. Mrs. Comet, however, seemed to believe this confirmed she’d been around longer than her age and so must be a ghost.
The ending was interesting in that regard. It was almost like she was a ghost that could be killed by virtue of it being Halloween and her able to move more freely. And yet Constance trying to drag her back to the house raised the suggestion that getting her there would allow her to ‘live’ again – as in surviving indefinitely – and to that end maybe she really was a ghost. This is uncharted territory for me, firstly in establishing if Addy is a ghost and now also contesting the idea of what happens to a ghost that ‘dies’!
You know, for now, I am going to assume that Addy wasn’t a ghost. That the remark about 35 years was how I interpreted it. And that Constance trying to drag the body back to the house was so that she could become a ghost in the event of her death. That’s what I think for now.
Burns Man is another that appears to be free to come and go wherever he pleases so I don’t believe he is a ghost. He does really want that thousand pounds very badly, though. He’s definitely a totally bizarre character, and now he’s taking a serious turn for the nasty all bets are off about what he’s capable of. I suspect Ben might just end up finding a way to placate him, but I am confident he won’t be off the scene for long no matter what happens.
The opening scene once again repeated the tradition of showing a piece of the house’s history where someone got killed, this time a gay couple that met a bad end at the hands of the man in the gimp suit. For the record, I think the man in the gimp suit is the grown form of the dead baby that was pieced together by the doctor. That was a grim backstory and no mistake, and it’s hard to imagine much worse than a kind of zombie-dismembered baby that grew up, and took to wearing a tight-fitting gimp suit (maybe it’s the only thing that keeps all the pieces tightly compact together!).
Ben and Violet’s relationship is in a bad way, though the baby becoming restless (and there’s no doubt that it’s not going to take nine months to pop out and it’s definitely not going to be a normal bouncing baby!) seemed to happen as a result of their argument and Ben being taken away. The suggestion is that Vivien must remain in the house and, furthermore, the family need to be there together otherwise it’s not a happy foetus.
I can’t help but wonder if the spirit of the mistress turning up might present Ben with the opportunity to confess one or two things to his wife that will, at least, stop her from thinking he’s cheating on her. That does seems like an awful lot of revelation to come this early in a show’s lifetime, but on this show anything goes and the thing is so busy rattling along with half a dozen other outlandish plotlines then it could take that kind of bombshell right in its stride.
It still continues to impress, how it’s just so rapidly going at it full tilt. The one thing American Horror Story is not quite hitting the mark with is with the characters. It’s just such a stylised show, hyper-real, that the characters aren’t quite landing square. Vivien is faring the best, and remains the one I turn to as an emotional anchor. Ben is either sexually troubled and upset about it, or just stressed out by the number of secrets and pressures he is inundated with. Violet has a great fearless attitude, but we haven’t got beyond that so far. I can’t even gauge what it is she feels about Tate beyond someone to hang out with and be subjected to weird stuff, with a roll of the eyes and an insouciant walk away.
Don’t get me wrong, I like them – but I am watching them with a detached air. I am not living their experiences with them. I am watching them experience stuff.
Addy getting hit by the car was a brutal shock, mind. The image of her in the mask and costume, flat on the road with her limbs splayed awkwardly was a twisted vision. Trouble is with this show that everyone comes back so seeing a character get ‘killed off’ doesn’t quite contain the same level as shock value as other show’s might. Still, it contained a heck of an impact – lame pun intended. And Constance’s pernicious veering from horrible mother to all-caring sobbing wreck over her daughter’s body makes her a complicated, fascinating creation.
I am absolutely loving this show. The pace of it stops it being boring, and it still manages to generate really great moments of horror and what feel like overwhelming sequences that mark it out as quite unlike anything else I’ve seen on television. It’s got it’s issues with making its main characters relatable, but because it’s so entertaining as a compromise then the quality of the show wins the day. (That last statement always carries the caveat that its fast-pace and entertainment value is spot on now, but forever feels prone to wane or get old fast – let’s hope the show keeps dodging that seemingly inevitable eventuality.)
What was the best part?
The moment where the Burns Man was banging on the door, when Violet was home alone, with her father on the phone. . . it was just a moment of increasing intensity and madness that for a few seconds just threatened to feel totally overwhelming. And then there was that cool reveal of the Gimp Suit Man stood in the room behind her and that sealed off an already fraught situation just getting a whole lot worse.
What do I think will happen next?
Halloween night is set to play out, so that ought to bring some clarification over Addy’s fate. I am going to figure she is dead, but Constance’s reaction to it might allow better understanding about the nature of what it is to be dead, or die, around the house. Meanwhile Ben and Violet are surely to be concentrating on the hunt for Violet. No doubt she’ll turn up alive and well, and maybe Tate will have intervened along the way for that. I’d be amazed if it didn’t involve a trip to the basement! However, there’s the dead mistress for Ben to contend with, now. If he didn’t believe in ghosts already he most certainly will have to now, and if he confesses all to Vivien then she will, too.
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