AHS Hotel, episode 4, Devil’s Night

Tonight marks the famed “Halloween” episode of American Horror story.  My favorite Halloween episodes were seasons one and two.  Lily Rabe returns as infamous serial killer Aileen Wuornus.  (Charlize Theron portrayed Aileen in 2003’s Monster, which earned her an Oscar.) It will be interesting to see how Lily Rabe will play the mean prostitute who was executed for murdering seven “johns.”

The episode opens with a man entering the Hotel Cortez wearing sunglasses and a black leather jacket.  He approaches Liz at reception and is warmly greeted as “Richard Ramirez.” (The Night Stalker!) Liz leads him to his room and Richard laments the fact Charles Manson won’t be joining them for “Devil’s Night” as he is still alive.  Liz tells Richard, “The master has left some treats on the pillow.”

Ramirez enters the occupied room, and proceeds to bash the sleeping man’s head in. The woman next to him screams and he makes her “Swear to Satan” that she won’t scream.  The woman complies, and then screams again as she runs down the hall into the arms of Patrick March. The woman yells, “There is a killer behind me!” March calmly replies, “And in front of you, Richard, finish her off!”  March and Ramirez have a good laugh over the slain tourists who couldn’t get a room at the Marriot.

John phones his daughter Scarlett.  She informs him she’s not so interested in Halloween this year and would rather stay at her grandmother’s and bake.  John agrees.  Has Scarlett been traumatized by meeting her vampire brother?  John admits things are weird at the moment.  As he hangs up he notices blood dripping on his “murder board.”  He follows the source upstairs to room 76 to find a distraught Ms. Evers aggressively scrubbing blood out of some sheets.

Ms. Ever’s is remembering a Halloween of her time, making a simple ghost costume for her son and going trick-or-treating.  Even in those days, Ms. Evers was quite the chatterbox and she becomes distracted speaking to another mom dressed as Marie Antoinette.  When Ms. Ever’s realizes her son is gone, it’s too late.  The boy in the ghost costume stares out the back window of a car.

John knocks on Ms. Ever’s door, interrupting her memory.  She confesses she’s busy and it’s a hard time for her because she lost her son on Halloween.  John asks if her son died.  She replies, “Not right away. I didn’t see him, it was my fault!”  She cries and asks for John to pour her a sherry.  John empathizes, recalling the loss of Holden. He says, “It feels like a walking nightmare!” Ms. Ever’s continues her story; the killer took her son to a ranch.  All that was found was a bloody costume and bones. She was never sure if it was her son. (These murders are known as the Wineville Chicken Coop Murders, which were depicted in the movie Changeling starring Angelina Jolie.) As she concludes her tale, she says she knew her and John were kindred spirits.  She asks him to call her Hazel.  Abruptly she switches back to manic self and shoos John out of the room so she can prepare for the night’s party.

Alex holds Holden’s hand and brings him back to the family home.  The dog barks at him.  She explains they got the dog because his sister was so lonely.  She proceeds to examine the boy.  His core temperature is seventy-five degrees, yet he doesn’t feel cold.  Holden complains of thirst and Alex goes to get him some juice, one glass of orange and one apple. (Illustrating she doesn’t know what her son likes!)  When she returns what she sees causes her to drop the glasses.  Holden has killed the dog to drink his blood.  He tells his mom, “I don’t feel good, I want my mommy.”  Alex says she’s his mother but Holden continues, “I want my other mommy!”

At the police headquarters, John learns from Detective Hahn that the blood found on Gabriel was not his. This gives the detectives another possible homicide without a body.  John asks about the story he heard from Ms. Ever’s. Hahn confirms those murders took place nearly eighty-five years ago and made the town so infamous, it changed its name. (The Wineville murders occurred between 1926-1928 and the killer Gordon Northcott was suspected of murdering up to fifty boys but was convicted and executed for the murder of five. Wineville’s name was changed to Mira Loma in 1930.)

Alex takes her son back to the hotel as Liz watches from the reception desk.  The boy leads Alex to the white room with the coffins and proceeds to lie down in his. The Countess sneaks up behind Alex, “I’m sure you have a lot of questions, I have answers!”

Back in the Countess’s room, the vampire begins to explain.  She assures Alex her purpose was to save Holden from “neglect” and the life he would have lived due to that neglect.  Alex bristles at this suggestion, but the Countess points to John as being the neglectful parent. (He was on the phone when Holden was abducted.)  She continues to tell Alex what her son has become. “I know you’re a doctor, so I’ll put this in terms you understand, your son has contracted an ancient virus which has given him health, vitality and everlasting life.”

Alex is horrified and pulls out a gun demanding the Countess “Change him back!”  The Countess states that is impossible but she could also become like him.  Alex tells her she will summon the police.  At this moment, Tristan interrupts the discussion and punches Alex in the face!  He is concerned Alex will alert the authorities but the Countess assures him, “She won’t risk losing her one true love!”  Confused, Tristan asks, “Are you banging her too!” Oh Tristan, you adorable shallow homophobic vampire model!

John heads to the lobby bar tended by Liz.  She mocks his non-alcoholic choices. John states his soon to be ex-wife doesn’t think he is an alcoholic, but rather a control freak!  John orders a double martini much to Liz’s approval.  “That’s my boy, surrender to the illusion!”

A woman makes her way to the bar, swaying to the Natalie Merchant’s “Carnival.” (Aileen W. apparently loved the song and it was used in the movie Monster.) She tells Liz proudly this is her thirteenth year coming to the hotel’s “Devil’s Night.”  John stares at her bewildered, “Do I know you?” Aileen laughs and retorts, “Did you ever pick up a hooker on I-95 in Florida?”  Liz warns Aileen John is a cop.  Aileen shouts, “I’m the greatest female serial killer of all time!”  John assumes she is dressed as Aileen for Halloween and has a “great costume.”

Aileen begins to rave how people had taken advantage of her since she was a little girl.  The seven men she killed were killed because they “took things that didn’t belong to them!”  John calls her on this lie, stating the men she killed weren’t violent. This enrages Aileen more and she says, “I knew who those men were that day!”  She boasts, “You don’t know screwing until you’ve spent an hour with a bat-shit crazy whore!”  John asks her to come up to his room. (WHAT?) Liz cautions John, “You’re too drunk to see how ugly she is!”  But the two leave for room sixty-four.

Once inside, Aileen punches John and pulls a gun on him.  She turns to John saying, “Look at me, does this look like a costume? Welcome to Devil’s Night at the Hotel Cortez!”  The pair struggle and John ends up handcuffing her to a chair. Aileen manages to break the chair and John forces her into the bathroom and handcuffs her to the pedestal sink.  He grabs her wallet and her driver’s license confirms she is Aileen Wuornos.

John rushes down to the lobby’s reception desk.  Liz is incensed he’s trying to sneak a peak at the guest book.  He’s able to see Aileen’s name before the logbook is shut. He asks, “What is Devil’s Night?” Liz laughs, “That’s when all the real ghouls come to play!”  Liz notices John’s name is on the list and hands him a formal invitation.

John returns to his room but it’s empty, just as Liz predicted.  On the bed is a garment bag with a note, “Knock ‘em dead! Love Liz.”

John uses the elevator to travel to March’s floor looking dapper in his tux.  He meets Ramirez.  Aileen offers him an apology for their earlier encounter.  March shows John to his seat at the strange dinner party.  Absinthe is poured and March introduces himself.  John is bewildered, “March from eighty-five years ago?”  March quips, “Here the impossible is possible!” A man enters dressed all in black wearing a hood over his head. (The Zodiac killer!) Ramirez mocks Zodiac for his disguise and for his self-given nickname.

The other party guests are introduced, John Wayne Gacy, Jeffery Dahmer, Aileen and Richard Ramirez.  John and viewers recognize these names as some of the most infamous American serial killers.  John asks if they are actors playing some sort of sick joke on him.  Mr. March chides John, “You are blind, you have no vision!” Ramirez encourages John to listen to the “master.”

March continues, “Murder is one part perspiration and ten part preparation.”  March brags about his “chutes and ladders” in his murderous hotel.  Gacy states he came to the hotel in his late teens and March taught him the art of murder.  March says Gacy could have been much more prolific if he followed his method. (Gacy killed thirty-three, mostly teenage boys.) John attempts to leave and is handcuffed by Gacy and the Zodiac killer holds a gun on John.

Aileen also praises Mr. March’s tutorial skills stating he was the first man who ever respected her.  Dahmer complains he’s hungry adding, “I don’t eat salad!”  Ramirez moves to put on a record, Lou Reed’s “Sweet Jane.”  March announces he has an “amuse bouche” for Dahmer. (Amuse bouche is French for mouth entertainment, a bite sized appetizer.) A half naked longhaired young man is brought to Dahmer.

Dahmer strokes his victims hair, whispering, “I want to control them, make them part of me. But it never worked, they always died like ten minutes later.” Dahmer takes out a power drill and starts drilling into the young man’s head.  John makes a grab for the Zodiac’s gun and fires off a shot that injures no one.  Dahmer turns to John and says, “Don’t you get it, we are already dead!” Aileen and Ramirez dance slowly.

March continues to lecture on his specialty. “In order to be a great killer, you need to understand people. Get inside their heads.  I didn’t expect he (Dahmer) would take it literally!” Laughter fills the room.

In front of the hotel, Sally watches costumed Halloween revelers walk down the street.  A man in a business suit comes up to her.  They both mock the adult revelers, “Halloween is for losers!” Sally asks him “What’s your idea of fun?”  He smiles, “Whatever your selling!’

Dahmer draws up an old-fashioned looking syringe and uses it inject the young man’s skull. “I’ve made a zombie!”  March is mad at John’s lack of enthusiasm about the night’s festivities.  March praises his guests for being infamous killers about which books and movies have been made.  Gacy brags, “Johnny Depp likes my paintings!” March announces dessert.

Sally brings in the businessman; “He’s flying high on an eight-ball of China White!” Sally confirms with March he is her “payment” for a year of living at the hotel.  March passes out knives to his guests.  Gacy is wearing garish clown make-up. (He enjoyed dressing up as Pogo the Clown, eck!)  March announces, “The sacrifice bonds us together for eternity!”  The crowd starts stabbing the man, as John yells, “NO!”

When John comes to, he finds himself alone with Sally.  She comforts him stating he mush have hallucinating due to the martini and Absinthe.  Sally assures him she is real.  John recalls how Sally disappeared on him before near the elevator.  Sally calls herself his protector and takes him back his room.

The Countess appears in shocking red outfit to meet Alex.  The doctor has made her decision, “I can’t lose my boy again!”  The Countess warns her the process will be painful and she may feel like she’s dying.  The vampire cuts her chest with her knifed silver glove and Alex drinks her blood.  The Countess assures her, “You’ll be reunited with your son for all eternity!”  Alex lies with her head on the Countess’s lap, not moving.

This episode was quite creepy with the inclusion of the real serial killers and their stories that continue to haunt us.  John seems to realize he’s slipping into an alternate universe living at the Hotel Cortez.  Iris was missing from the episode, how would she take to her new life as a vampire? Angela Bassett returns next week to attempt to extract revenge on the Countess.  Reality seems far away from the creatures that inhabit the Hotel.

Fargo Episode 3 Myth of Sisyphus

The battle lines have been drawn, between law enforcement, the Kansas City syndicate and the Gearhardt family.  Add in the hapless Blomquist’s and their entry into the criminal world and it is a recipe for disaster. (Just add some ground Rye, I mean beef!)

The episode opens on a frozen empty highway.  In the forest nearby, Hanzee strokes a white rabbit.  He has a flashback to his youth when a magician (who resembles Joe Bulo) pulled a white rabbit out of hat.  We are shown a montage of Peggy and Ed and the various characters preparing for their day, as upbeat music plays sung in a native language.  Hanzee approaches the Gearhardt compound; the rabbit’s neck is broken…

Floyd sits with some of Otto’s business partners.  Otto is present, but he is unable to speak or walk and it’s unclear if he is aware of his surroundings.  Floyd tells the men about the Kansas City offer.  Bear and Dodd are present but at odds regarding Floyd’s legitimacy as the new boss of the family.  Dodd is firmly against the K.C. offer, asserting, “This is OUR business.” Floyd pleads for calm, realistically assessing that the Gearhardt’s are a small family business who is unlikely to defeat the K.C. group by force.  Dodd wants to hit the group hard. Floyd asserts, “I’m not afraid of a war but only as a last resort and on our terms.”  The visitors agree the safest path is to be defensive but “We’ll cut their noses off if they attack.”

Mike Mulligan and Joe meet for lunch.  Joe gives him advice on how to keep one’s hair looking sharp with hard or soft water by using “Agree.”  Equipped with hygiene tips, Mike laments he has no new information on the Gearhardt’s.  Joe is blasé, “We might have to kill them all, the market will decide.” Mike suspects Rye had something to do with the murder of the judge and is on the run. Joe looks at that as an opportunity. They can use Rye to bargain with his mother. (Of course, they don’t know he’s being baked into a meatloaf somewhere!)

Back in Luverne, Minnesota, Lou drives in his cruiser. He receives a call from Hank; they have identified a print from the gun at the Waffle Hut as belonging to Rye.  Lou is on his way to Fargo and asks Hank to tell his wife he’ll be home late.

At the Fargo courthouse, Lou meets Ben Schmitt.  Lou mentions he is investigating a case involving the Gearhardt family.  Schmitt fills Lou in on the Gearhardt family history.  They started during Prohibition, with Dieter Gearhardt moving alcohol. He was murdered in ’51 with nineteen shots to the head!  Otto then took over the business. Schmitt compares Otto to Hitler.  Lou mentions the Kansas City men who were acting suspicious around the crime scene.  Schmitt seems shaken, and says Lou has a FUBAR situation on his hands.  Schmitt grimly advises Lou to “Confess to the crime yourself!” rather then mix with the Gearhardt’s and the Kansas City syndicate.  

At the Gearhardt compound, Hanzee grills Dodd’s daughter Simone about Rye’s possible whereabouts.  She is coy and notes there is a place she likes to go to smoke weed and take boys.  Hanzee disapproves of attitude and drug use.  He commands her to show him the place.

At the station, Hank looks at photos of the Waffle Hut crime scene. The white shoe sits prominently on his desk. A “wanted” poster has been made for Rye Gearhardt.

Peggy works sweeping at the beauty parlor as Betsy chats and gets her haircut.  Betsy is unsure whether she’ll loose her hair with her chemotherapy and debates just shaving her head.  Peggy tells Constance she has decided to go to the seminar but hasn’t asked Ed for permission.  The women giggle as Hank arrives, asking if he can post the “wanted” poster in the salon window.  Betsy tells her father her theory that the killer walked into the road and was hit by a car. (Explaining the shoe in the tree.)  Constance turns to Peggy and is about to mention her recent “accident with the deer.”  Peggy abruptly stops her boss from completing her thought and offers cheerfully, “That doesn’t make sense!”  Hank pauses to consider Betsy’s theory.  He agrees with Peggy, “You just don’t drive home with a Gearhardt in your windshield and go home and start supper!”  (Even though that’s EXACTLY what happened, oh, these guys are so close to the truth it’s frustrating!) Betsy advises her father to look for a damaged car.

Peggy hurries across the street to Bud’s butcher shop to give Ed an update on the Rye situation.  Peggy tells his employer there is a “family emergency” and Ed needs to leave right away.  Peggy explains to Ed, “They know about the hit-and-run!” and urges him to deal with their damaged car immediately.  Ed has his usual “deer in headlights” look as he hears the news.  The couple sees the “Wanted” poster in the window of the beauty salon.  Ed turns a whiter shade of pale.

Young Molly watches a movie titled “Operation Eagle’s Nest” in the living room. Could this be a reference to Otto Gearhardt, whom Schmitt compared to Hitler? Molly’s grandfather Hank fought the Germans in World War ll, now he’s up against German’s again in the form of the Gearhardt crime family.

As Lou waits in the courthouse, he spies a suspicious man near the murdered judge’s office.  Schmitt and Lou follow the man to his car. (A blue Gremlin!) The men ask for his identification and learn he is Skip Sprang, the owner of the typewriter shop in town. Skip seems anxious as he explains he was at the courthouse regarding some back taxes he owes.  He is confident in the store’s “grand re-opening” noting that typewriters aren’t “just for women anymore.” Even in the seventies, this seems like a crazy thing to say.

Schmitt asks Skip again why he was at Judge Mundt’s office.  Skip gives an incoherent answer alluding to spaceships and alien encounters.  The men give up questioning Skip but agree he’s a “mighty squirrely fellow.”  Schmitt seems reluctant to further question or consider the strange man.

Skip goes to an apartment building and knocks on number thirteen.  Simone answers the door and teases him about being so lonely.  Skip explains he’s there to pay money he owed Rye.  Simone infers he must be the “new partner” Rye mentioned. Hanzee emerges from behind the door.  Skip becomes more agitated, stating he doesn’t have the money he owes, but will, very soon.  Simone pretends to be puzzled, “So you’ve come hear to pay my uncle but you don’t have any money?”  She comment’s on Skip’s American flag tie, grabbing it playfully and says, “Let’s have some fun!”

Peggy and Ed drive their damaged car on an abandoned road.  She says, “You’re a real paladin!” (One of the legendary twelve peers of Charlemagne’s court) Ed obviously doesn’t understand and responds he’s her husband and he’d do anything for her.  She calls him her “knight.”  Peggy has a plan, something she saw her alcoholic uncle do numerous times.  They will crash the car in a lone accident and have the insurance record to provide an “alibi” for the vehicle.  Ed seems really nervous and it takes him two tries to obtain the “correct” accident.  The tow truck arrives; the couple rides the city bus back into town in silence.

In the Gearhardt’s kitchen, Charlie and Bear ponder the offer from Kansas City.  Bear wonders if they could sell half their interests.  Charlie observes, “They don’t seem like the kind of people who want half a car!”  Bear cautions his son to stay out of the family business and continue his education.  It’s clear he fears for his son with a pending dispute with the Kansas group.  Floyd agrees with Bear that Charlie should stay in school.

Lou and Schmitt arrive together to the Gearhardt headquarters.  The yard is full of armed men standing guard.  Schmitt says, “It’s not too late to go to the movies!” As the men get out of the car, the guards ask for Schmitt and Lou’s weapon prior to entering the house.  Lou refuses to hand over his weapon.  Floyd comes out the front door and acknowledges she knows the Schmitt family.  Lou states they are investigating the Waffle Hut murders including the judge from Fargo.  Bear comes out to support his mother. 

When Schmitt mentions Rye, the henchmen point their guns at the outsiders.  Lou pleads for calm, but then hotheaded Dodd arrives and threatens Schmitt once he mentions they have Rye’s fingerprints on the gun. (Tipping off the Gearhardt’s to what evidence they have against Rye, not kosher.)  Lou interrupts, telling Dodd, “You’re dancing with the wrong girl, I was the one who found the gun!”  Dodd is even more insulted, given the challenge and homosexual overture of Lou’s statement.  Lou stands firm, “In Minnesota, if a police officer asks you to talk, you talk!”  Lou presses on, asking if Dodd knows Mike Milligan or the Kitchen brothers.

Charlie comes out to interrupt the tense scene.  He has a urgent message from Hanzee for Dodd, telling him to meet them at the “dig.”  The tension dissipates and the guns are lowered.  Floyd asks the outsiders to leave and without a warrant they must.  In the car, Lou expresses frustration.  Schmitt doesn’t want to “dance” with the Gearhardt’s and states it will be impossible to get a judge to write a warrant.  Lou wants to go and check out the typewriter store.  Schmitt leaves Lou alone on this mission.

As Lou comes to the defunct shop, he notices the lock has been removed from the door.  He walks in the filthy abandoned shop quiet except for the sound of distant typing coming from the back room.  A Kitchen brother comes out from the back, Lou stops him from reaching a gun propped up against the wall.  Mike and his brother soon join him.  Lou, having heard the description of the men from Hank, deduces it’s “Mike Milligan and the Kitchen Brothers.”  Mike grins, “Sounds like a prog rock band!”  The brothers now have their guns on Lou.  As usual, Mike does the talking.  Lou asks him about Skip’s whereabouts.  Mike says he’d pay Lou for that information.  Lou responds, “ At your mother’s house, I think going in the back door!” (Wow, Lou just threw down a “your momma” joke with guns pointed at him!)  Mike just laughs, “I like you. Yesterday I met a sheriff and I liked him too!”  Lou theorizes that was his father-in-law and states people from Minnesota are friendly.  Mike disagrees, saying they are unfriendly, but so polite about it!  Lou backs up and says he’s going to leave.  Mike quotes Nixon, “Peace with honor.”  Mike informs Lou, “We’ll go, we’ve seen all we need to see.”  Mike and the brothers walk out, he turns to Lou once more and says a more famous Nixon quote, “I am not a crook!” (Complete with double victory sign). Another bizarre standoff ends.

Lou goes to an auto body shop, looking for “hit-and-run” damaged cars.  A mechanic speaks to him about U.F.O.’s two nights past and strange happenings.  The man theorizes they are benevolent but are the cause of many “strange happenings.” Lou looks bewildered, but agrees there is something very strange going on in the area.

Peggy and Ed ride the bus silently home. She tells him, “I think it worked.” Ed looks nervous, “How can you be sure?” Peggy just smiles, “It worked!”

Lou finally heads home to find Hank and his wife in the living room working on a puzzle.  He tells the older man about his “High Noon” day including the Gearhardt’s and “Mike and the bathroom brothers!”

Dodd arrives at the “dig” to find Simone and Hanzee. He chides his daughter for wearing revealing clothes and smoking. He shoves her angrily into his truck as she alludes to the fact he’s sexually attracted to her.

Dodd questions Skip about Rye, stating he knows Skip put Rye up to murdering the judge. Dodd partially strangles Skip as the terrified man pleads ignorance. Hanzee asks Skip to “get in the hole.”  It resembles a grave.  A dump trunk is poised to cover Skip in the hole with gravel.  Skip pleads with the men to give him two days to find Rye and talk to Mike Milligan. Dodd orders the gravel dumped, burying the typewriter salesman alive.

Dodd instructs Hanzee, “Drive to Minnesota, get my brother, and kill anyone who gets in your way!”  Skip’s flag tie sticks out of the gravel.

The episode was titled “The Myth of Sisyphus.”  There are a few characters that may be faced with a Sisyphian type punishment due to their rampant egos.  Dodd is on a collision coarse with the Kansas City syndicate.  Lou is stepping on everyone’s toes in his desire to solve the Waffle Hut murders.  Peggy definitely thinks she has gotten away with murder.  Joe and Mike are curious cats who don’t seem to worry about anyone standing in the way of their orders to acquire the Gearhardt’s business.  What tangled webs being spun both by amateurs and experienced criminals.

AHS Hotel, Episode 3, Mommy

Three hours into the new season and we’ve been treated to ghosts, vampires and serial killers both alive and dead.  The “sane” are quickly losing their minds the more time they spend in the crimson halls of Hotel Cortez.

Tristan wanders down the “time loop” floor looking for Mr. March.  The air is filled with dust motes and Tristan baits the ghost by saying, “I know who you are, you were the greatest serial killer in history!”  Mr. March appears, a bit shocked at Tristan’s knowledge of his life story. Tristan explains, “I Googled you!”  Mr. March explains, “That sounds obscene!”  (Indeed!)  The young man explains to the ghost how he’s found “killing is awesome!” and he hopes to learn the hotel’s secrets for consuming its victims.  Mr. March is proud of his hotel and shows him the “black closet.”

Drake speaks to fashion editor Claudia about his plans to remodel the bizarrely built hotel. (Maybe akin to the Winchester Mystery House?)  They come upon Tristan and ask him to leave the hotel.  Mr. March and Ms. Evers look annoyed at these living people who would destroy their hotel.  Tristan assures the ghosts, “I’ve got this!”  He is excited kill again after the death of the “lumberjack” hipster last week.

The scene shifts to Alex, whom we see treating the measles kid.  She notes her bad childhood as the reason she became a pediatrian.  The child is on his way to the hospital with fever and pneumonia.  Alex recalls the birth of Holden, and how she loved him even more then her husband John.  She remembers how his newborn skin smelled like lavender.  She felt guilty she was unable to love her daughter as much. Alex recalls the awful day she lost Holden and how her hope died over the years. She’s simply surviving now.  There is a flashback to John finding Alex in the bathtub with her wrists slit.  She’s moved on, but just to a state of numbness.

Alex is present in family therapy session.  Both parents are concerned about the Scarlett’s “fantasy” about her brother living in the Hotel.  She describes the room with Nintendo and jellybeans and it does sound like a child’s vision of heaven.  Alex is angry with her daughter stating she is trying to hurt her with this fantasy.  Scarlett mentions Holden smelled like lavender and it takes Alex aback.  Maybe, the girl is telling the truth?

Claudia is attempting to talk on the phone in her room, but the hotel is a “dead zone.”  She washes her face and catches a glimpse of a white face in the toilet bowl.  A shadow passes behind her.  She shrugs off these images and goes to lie down on the bed. Out of the mattress, Gabriel’s hands come up through the mattress and stab her! (Beat Tristan to her demise!)

Detective Hahn and John survey another homicide scene.  This time the victims are gossip bloggers at some office building.  John immediately connects the scene with the “Ten Commandment” murders, siting “Thou shall not bear false witness.”  The female victim has a nail through her tongue to literally keep her tongue from wagging.

John runs through the lobby and finds Gabriel bloodied and begging for help.  Is he really still alive?

Upstairs in the penthouse, Will Drake is surprised by Tristan.  Tristan boasts about his criminal past including a short stent in prison for burglary.  Drake is bewildered by the model’s appearance and is puzzled by the disappearance of his facial scar. Tristan apologizes for his erratic behavior at the fashion show and claims he’s clean and sober now.  Tristan comes on strong, flirting with the new owner.  As the sexual tension rises between them, Tristan removes a knife, ready for his next kill. Luckily for the Drake, the Countess appears in the doorway and signals for her young protégé to stop.  He obeys, leaving the aroused Drake bewildered by their encounter.

Gabriel is rushed to the emergency room.  He makes a puzzlingly confession to John, “I didn’t mean to kill her, but that junkie whore!” (Sally)  John tries to press the man for more information but he loses consciousness and dies. Is this the last we see of Gabriel or will he return to pop out of another mattress?

John returns to the hotel to find Ms. Evers and Sally.  Sally is explaining the fashion editor has “checked out.”  John asks her if she knows anything about the man who just died at St. Vincent’s.  She asks, “Why are you wasting time on junkies, it’s not like we’re breaking one of the Ten Commandments!” John is shocked and counters, “What about ‘Thou shall not kill’!”  Sally explains that commandment is misunderstood, it’s really “Thou shall not murder.”  Adding, killing can be righteous.

John accuses Sally of sending him the mysterious text and of being behind the Commandment Murders.

John cuffs Sally and she resists him by kissing him and crying.  Behind John, the creature is seen for an instant.  Sally purrs, “Can’t you see, you and I were meant to be?”  Suddenly, John is alone in the elevator.  Does Sally merely represent the desire for drugs? (In John’s case, alcohol?)

Iris is working in reception and calls out to her son.  She’s been looking for a new place they can share, maybe the Santa Monica apartment where they arrested Whitey Bulger?  Donovan states there is no way in hell he’d live with her.  Iris counters she knew “the snake” (Countess) would tire of him eventually.  Donovan rails against his mother for leaving his father and making him eat so much fiber he pooped his pants at school.  (I find this hilarious!)  Iris defends her actions were done out of love for him.  Donovan calls her pathetic and adds she should kill herself! Ah, family!

Under a freeway, Donovan feeds on a young blonde junkie.  He leaves her, strolling through a homeless camp until he comes across an attractive woman standing near a car with the hood up.  He inquires if she’s having car trouble and needs assistance, his knife at the ready.   She turns and tases him and loads him into her trunk! Welcome to Hotel, Angela Bassett!

John waits at the elevator for his wife Alex.  They meet at the bar, tended as usual by the huffy Liz Taylor.  Liz serves John a ginger ale and Alex suggests that he may want something stronger.  John is upset, “Why would you say that?”  Alex slides an envelope towards him containing divorce paperwork.   John pleads they need to stay together for Scarlett.  Alex explains they are better apart, and it’s not his fault but the person who took their son.  John cries and begs her to stay.  He feels he’s going crazy, seeing things. (Just ghosts and vampires!)

The Countess works her charm on Drake.  She asks, “What if I told you Will Drake had to die?”  Of course, he thinks she means in the artistic sense.  He confesses the move west hasn’t been the inspiration he’d hoped.  Just yesterday he sketched Bermuda shorts with marijuana leaf pattern! (I’ll take any comic relief this show can give!)  The Countess tells him he needs to burn so he can rise again as a phoenix. Drake is bewildered by his attraction to her since he’s gay.  Tristan interrupts the romantic moment.  “Call you later, by the way, you’re hard!” declares the Countess.

Once alone, Tristan confronts the Countess for moving in on his “prey.”  The Countess explains she WAS rich but lost all her money investing with Bernie Madoff. Her plan is to marry the new owner then, “Take him for every penny he’s worth!” They both laugh at the prospect of this scheme.

Alex accompanies her distraught husband back to room sixty-four.  She looks at his “crazy conspiracy” board regarding the murders.  Alex gives him some sleeping pills as he apologies to her for what happened to Holden.  They begin to kiss and embrace and John says passionately, “Let’s have another baby!”  Alex pulls away flustered and exits down the hall.  She waits impatiently for the elevator then turns to find the stairs.  A bloodied Claudia stands before her asking, “Is this hell? If it is, I would be the one wearing that horrible Zara knock-off!”  (Cattiness in the afterlife, charming!)  Alex runs away and sees Holden at the end of the hall with his head down.  She approaches him and he looks up at her and says, “Hi Mommy!”

In Iris’s room, Sally is fixing a needle to help her kill herself.   Sally thinks she is being too kind; she should push her out the window as Iris did to her twenty years before.  Iris blubbers she’s not lovable and she doesn’t want to live if her son hates her.  Sally makes Iris promise, “Not to haunt my hallways, bitch!”  Iris expresses her desire to be wholly and simply dead.

Donovan wakes in an opulent room, restrained and on a dialysis type of machine. Ramona (Angela Bassett) chastises him for feeding on too many junkies.  Donavon asks, “Who are you?”  She scoffs, “The question is, who WAS I?”

Ramona recounts her life as an actress like Foxy Brown who starred in a series of “B-movies” in the mid-seventies.  She wanted more money and better roles.  One night she was having a drink with a producer when she met the Countess at the Hotel.  She was instantly drawn to the Countess’s charisma and they became lovers and she was made a vampire.  They had a passionate and mutually beneficial relationship, which lasted for decades. 

Finally, Ramona met up and coming rapper Prophet Moses.  (A contempary of Tupac!)  Ramona fell desperately in love with Mo and decided to turn him into a vampire.  The Countess reacted by shooting Mo in the head, and killing his entire production crew.  “She took the one thing I cared about!  So I want to take what she cares about, those babies she’s made!”  She explains she needs Donavon as way of destroying her enemy from within.  Donavon confesses, “She dumped me last Tuesday!”  Livid, Ramona yells at him to leave.

Donavon returns to the Hotel to find Liz who snaps, “I thought you left us for good!” He admits he had no place to go.  Liz isn’t letting him sulk in pity, stating how lucky he is to have eternal good looks and be an actor.  She tells him no matter where he goes or how long he lives, he will never know love like his mother’s.

Meanwhile, Iris has yet to succumb to the heroin.  Sally is upset, and places a plastic bag over her head and secures it with a belt.  The bag rises and falls as Sally waits nearby, smoking in a chair.

Donavon knocks on the door.  Sally calls to him, “She’s resting!”  Donavon bursts in and sees what she has done.  He screams, “She can’t be dead!” In a moment of desperation, he cuts himself and places his bleeding wrist up to his mother’s mouth. Sally cries, “Now there is some twisted poetic justice!”

What will next week bring?  Will Donavon and vampire mom conspire together to defeat the Countess?  Will Alex follow her son to his lair and learn what he has become?  What is the next Commandment murder?  What is Ramona’s next play since she can’t use Donavon? I continue to be impressed by this season. I believe Lily Rabe will be in the next episode as mysterious at the Hotel continue…