"She Wants Revenge"
Original Airdate: December 9, 2015
Anyway. This week finally put an end to the massive amounts
of exposition and backstory we’ve been getting (except for a fifteen minute
venture into Ramona’s past) and finally turned focus back to the present. Lowe
is nowhere to be seen in this episode (not that I’m complaining), which
revolves around the Game of Thrones-style
love triangles (squares? Pentagons? Who knows, I stopped keeping count) between
the Countess and her several lovers. This is one aspect of the show that I
like: seeing the vampires’ strained interpersonal relationships and how they
intertwine with the secrets of the hotel. It’s more interesting than the
ill-conceived serial killer plot, and Gaga carries her role as the person
standing in the middle of this web. But unfortunately, I know this won’t remain
the show’s focus moving forward.
The show did hit a good note during a quick discussion of
Drake’s sexuality. Not unlike the excellent exchange about Liz Taylor’s gender
identity, Drake tells his son he’s bisexual, but knows that to many people,
it’s a “dirty word..” So rather than deal with miscommunication or misunderstandings,
he instead tells people he’s gay. We’ve had plenty of gay characters on Ryan
Murphy shows (and across TV), but blatant bisexual characters are hard to come
by (the biggest example for me was Buffy’s
Willow who was deeply in love with her boyfriend for years before falling in
love with a woman, at which point she referred to herself as strictly gay).
Drake’s comments quickly prove there is room to be more open-minded and
accepting of less clear-cut sexual identities.
The only lament I have here is that it had to happen on a
Ryan Murphy show. But, here’s what happened this week...
The episode opens with Elizabeth distraught about her aging heart
and lack of control as she examines the hole in the wall, which held her former
lovers. She then vows to “not be ruled.” Later she and Drake disagree on
wedding plans, but she ultimately convinces him to have a small wedding. Liz
Taylor refuses to help Elizabeth with the wedding, and she continues her inner
monologue, now lamenting her loss of friends and betrayals she’s endured. She
then goes to a motel where Valentino is hiding out, and resumes her physical
relationship with Donovan, who asks for a monogamous relationship. She agrees,
then informs him of her plan to kill Drake after the wedding.
Later, Iris greets guests who claim to have a reservation
under the name “Stormcock” and intend on making a porn film. Iris, in her own
inner monologue (because everyone gets one now, apparently), notes that several filmmakers have used the Hotel Cortez as a set, and now that she is a
vampire she plans on stopping it. She arrives at the room and murders the
cameraman and actors. Donovan finds the bodies being drained and congratulates
his mother, who warns him the Countess is angry about her son getting loose and
might be aware of their plans with Ramona. Donovan insists she stay quiet and
allow the plan to unfold.
Drake is getting his son ready for the wedding, and during
their aforementioned conversation about Drake’s sexuality, he mentions that
he’s happy the Countess understands and accepts him. Miss Evers arrives and warns
Drake against marrying Elizabeth before admitting that she was in love with
March before he married Elizabeth. Drake dismisses her. Elsewhere, Elizabeth is
meeting with a contractor to help build an archive in the hole in the wall
before March arrives, claiming to be her silent partner, and insists the
contractor can get the job done in her tight time-frame of 24 hours. Elizabeth,
however, is enraged by his presence and orders him to leave.
Donovan drags the male porn star to Ramona who berates him,
though he insists he’s been “newly motivated” by his overwhelming desire for
her and inability to satisfy the “craving.” He reveals he drugged Elizabeth’s
drink but is unwilling to kill her himself and Ramona agrees to do it herself.
While they’re draining the porn star, Ramona reveals her bloodlust for the
Countess was the result of loneliness and anger after being left by Elizabeth
and a failed attempt to rescue her father from Alzheimer’s.
That night, Alex watches as a pizza deliveryman is let in at
a house. She follows him and finds a pile of dead bodies, on which a group of
newly turned vampire children from the hospital are feeding. Alex insists they
follow her to the hotel for safety but they reject the offer. Meanwhile, The
Countess is passed out in her suite, thanks to Donovan, as Ramona approaches
her with a knife. However, Elizabeth wakes and Donovan tazes Ramona. Donovan
reveals he and Elizabeth planned to lock up their enemies as Iris bemoans his
attachment to her and his impending heartbreak in the process. Later, Elizabeth
and Valentino discuss their options while Natacha takes to modernity. Elizabeth
suggests they use Drake’s money to create a bastion of their own in the Cortez,
and then invites Natacha out for a girl’s night at the hotel. As she leaves,
Donovan spots her.
And then it’s time for her wedding, which goes remarkably
without incident. While Elizabeth gets changed so they can leave for their
honeymoon, Drake gets a drink at the bar. March offers him a drink in
congratulations before revealing that the Countess has her own hidden son. He confronts his wife, but she grows angry at
his insults so she knocks him out and deposits him in the same room as Ramona.
When Drake eventually wakes up, he frees Ramona before searching for a way out,
ultimately realizing the chamber is soundproof and doorless. Ramona attacks him
to feed as Elizabeth watches through a camera.
Check back for the final episode before the winter break!
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