"Devil's Night"
Original Airdate: October 28, 2015
So there are a few things to discuss about this week’s Hotel. One is a little less pleasant than the other, so let’s knock that out first: this episode was a little insensitive. James March is based on H.H. Holmes, considered America’s first serial killer, who built a hotel in Chicago for the purposes of committing multiple murders. Ryan Murphy’s refusal to acknowledge Holmes as a basis for March’s character is clunky, and it stands out even more given the events of this episode, where real serial killers all claimed to be disciples of March.
From a historical angle, I could understand using H.H. Holmes as a “founding” figure in terms of American serial killers, but the fact that James March is fictional makes it pretty distasteful. Further, this rewriting of history came off as fairly disrespectful to the victims of these serial killers and their families — especially when you show Jeffrey Dahmer actually killing another victim on screen as a gift from March. Nothing about it was fun, and it felt more like Murphy trying to show off as much as possible.
The other large discussion point with this episode, which is
a little less socially and morally heavy, is how American Horror Story does their Halloween episodes. As someone
with a year-long countdown to Halloween on their phone, it’s a very big deal to
me, and Halloween episodes tend to be pretty high on my re-watch list. I prefer
the shove-it-in-your-face, include-as-many-references-as-we-can style Halloween
episodes. But AHS has generally
always been subtle about theirs, which is understandable considering the whole series is a horror fest. But this episode specifically takes place on the night
before Halloween (here called "Devil’s Night," though where I’m from we call it "Mischief Night") and focuses on the satanic connotations with the night
before Halloween (which are all extremely fictitious), which makes it a little
less fun. Overall I can’t complain too much about it as a Halloween episode
except that it just wasn’t super interesting and kind of harped on a muted
aspect of the Halloween tradition.
Now, on the with show...
The episode begins with a man checking into the hotel as a
special guest of March’s (Anthony Ruivivar), claiming to have died in 1993. Liz
Taylor welcomes him and directs him to an occupied room where he brutally
murders a sleeping man before chasing the fleeing wife down the hall and right
into March, who welcomes him before they head off to kill the wife. It turns
out the man is Richard Ramirez, so that’s probably not great for the residents
of the hotel.
Lowe wakes up to a phone call from his daughter and offers
to take her shopping for a Halloween costume but she rebuffs him. After hanging
up, Lowe finds blood leaking through his ceiling. He goes to investigate and
finds a maid, who’s busy scrubbing bloody sheets that she can’t seem to get
clean. She flashes back to Halloween in the 1920s when her son was kidnapped while
she was talking with a neighbor. She speaks with Lowe for a time, revealing her
son was murdered, and Lowe seems to commiserate with her before she abruptly
leaves.
Alex brings Holden home and notices his vitals don’t seem to
make sense. While getting him juice, as he said he was “thirsty,” he attacks
and kills the family dog, drinking its blood and claiming he wants his “mommy.” At work, Lowe is shocked to discover that the maid’s story of her lost son took
place in the 20s, and considers that it could be connected to the serial
killer he’s currently investigating. Alex returns Holden to the hotel where he
climbs into his glass coffin. Then Elizabeth appears, ready to answer Alex’s
questions: Holden has been infected with “an ancient virus,” and after
repeating the explanation she gave Duffy a few episodes ago, she reveals that
she takes children to protect them. She offers to turn Alex as well so she can
be with her son, but Alex refuses.
At the hotel bar, Lowe considers the possibility that he’s not
an alcoholic and orders a double martini. He encounters a woman he believes to
be dressed up as Aileen Wuornos (Lily Rabe), and he quickly develops some
intense alcohol goggles in her direction. They go up to her room where she ties
him up and insists she is the real Aileen Wuornos. He fights back and handcuffs
her to the sink, confirming from her drivers’ license she is, in fact, Wuornos.
He goes to the lobby to use the phone, but finds it dead. He also discovers an
invitation to join March’s dinner party, though it’s not really made clear why.
At the party, Lowe quickly runs into Wuornos, who apologizes
for their previous altercation. Also present are Jeffrey Dahmer (Seth Gabel),
John Wayne Gacy (John Carroll Lynch), Ramirez, and a masked Zodiac Killer. After
a round of absinthe, it’s revealed the serial killers at the table were all
protégés of March (again, insensitive) and they gather every year the night
before Halloween to pay homage to him, referring to him as “the master.” They
go back and forth reveling in pride over the murders they’ve committed, and
then they produce a male victim, gifting him to Dahmer. In the midst of all of
this, Sally reels in a man from outside who mistakes her for a drug dealer.
After getting him high, she delivers him to March’s party as “dessert.” The
killers all grab a knife and mercilessly stab the man to death.
Suddenly, we jump to Lowe waking up alone on the floor in an
empty party room. Then Sally appears, cleverly asking Lowe if he’s been
drinking. She tells him he hallucinated the whole event, then helps him up and
back to his room, claiming to be his protector. The party carries on with March
and his guests, while elsewhere in the hotel, Elizabeth turns Alex.
American Horror Story airs every Wednesday at 10 PM on FX.
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