S02E02 Tricks and Treats (2012)

Review

"Bloody Face" is still tormenting the young couple in the now abandoned Briarcliff Asylum in the present, but back in 1964 things are heating up. Having discovered Lana Winters is keeping notes and has a perfect memory Sister Jude gets Doctor Arden to administer some electro shock therapy to scramble her memory. Doctor Arden is only too happy to oblige as we discover he has a sadistic streak a mile wide later in the episode. Meanwhile Grace has discovered a way out and wants Kit to join her in navigating the tunnels under the Asylum, surprisingly Lana stuffs that plan up as she believes Kit is "Bloody Face" and doesn't want him free to murder more women. This leads to some corporal punishment via the ever popular cane across the bare arse, though Kit manfully takes the blame for the escape attempt saving Grace.

In other Kit developments court appointed psychiatrist Dr. Oliver Thredson arrives to determine if Kit is fit to stand trial, he's not according to Doc Thredson but the Doctor is soon diverted by concerns for the treatment of inmates, noting some barbaric conditions and treatments. He's just in time to get involved with new patent Jed Potter who appears to be either off the planet clinically insane or possessed by a demon. The usual Exorcist shenanigans ensue with the patient eventually dying of cardiac arrest with the demonic entity apparently choosing Sister Mary Eunice (Lily Rabe) as its new improved meat suit.

Someone must have told Director Bradley Buecker it was awards season as he does one of the best scene transitions you could expect to see outside a Stanley Kubrick film. In the modern day "Bloody Face" is dealing to the young married couple who mistakenly entered his turf, like an abandoned lunatic asylum isn't going to be thwart with danger right? The scene ends with our masked psycho banging on a metal door trying to get at his second victim, which cuts straight back to 1962 and a group of chicks facing banging on the front door of an apartment. Turns out it's Trick or Treaters a day early, but could have been old "Bloody Face" right! Seems "Bloody Face" has been hard at work back in the sixties but is now safely behind Asylum bars or is he? Later, in what I took to be a homage to Friday the 13th Part II, Lana's lesbian lover - who signed the committal papers but is having second thoughts - discovers "Bloody Face" don't need no written invitation. Guess he doesn't care about the children and Lana is in for the long haul down Briarcliff. For mine an effective opening gambit, and are we talking Son of Bloody Face in the modern era?

Serial Killers, Space Aliens, Psychos, Demons, the whole tarot pack is being dealt

If last week's episode was off the planet, no pun intended given what could be an alien abduction, this week's instalment ups the ante on the total mayhem we're going to be grooving too during Asylum. The good Doctor Arden might have been getting his Island of Dr. Moreau on during the day but at night he is into some freaky deaky stuff with the opposite sex. We're talking bondage, chicks in nun outfits, and quite possibly a whole lot worse for those young ladies unfortunate enough to fall into his clutches. I for one am definitely pinning "Bloody Face" on Arthur Arden who is either donning the mask or in control of whoever does. Like Sister Jude he doesn't want Lana informing the great unwashed that all isn't as it should be at Briarcliff, in fact far from it on multiple levels.

And if that isn't enough to whet your appetite for destruction we have demonic possession entering the picture via the troubled bit part character Jed Potter whose dark passenger manages to defy the Christian legions but has to find a new abode as Jed's heart gives out during an exorcism. Hello Sister Mary Eunice who has been all strawberry and cream up to her new tenant taking up residence. A brief scene suggests the good Sister might be up to all sorts of shenanigans in coming weeks, I'm looking forward to Sister Jude discovering there's more under heaven and hell etc. Actually the whole Mary Eunice thing is handled with a great deal of style and not a small amount of winks at any Biblical scholars who might have tuned into the wrong channel. Mary is returning from feeding the beasts in the woods, can this show get any less layered? - when she is surprised by Doctor Arden who brings temptation in the form of a candy apple. The old snake in the wood, see where I'm going with this, tempts the Sister with forbidden fruit and naturally Mary takes a bite, opening her world to true evil and banishment from the garden, in a metaphoric sense. Got to love a show that has it's Christian fables covered and works off religious motifs. Don't worry if this isn't your jam the point isn't being hammered home in overlong fashion.

And to finish the deep dive we learn Sister Jude has a lot of passed indiscretions in the old baggage locker. Seems she didn't mind a bit of a drink or getting down and dirty with the odd Jazz musician! Apparently she still wears red knickers, information via demonic express, and has a thing for the good Monsignor Timothy Howard. Talk about your damaged goods, and the chick is in charge of deranged people! Now that can't possibly end in any good fashion, especially if the old snake in the grass starts dropping hints and suggestions.

Naturally the episode does move the overall plot arcs along, which could have easily fallen into the cracks with so much else happening. Lana is stuck in Briarcliff with her girlfriend's demise and has to look to her own abilities to escape the increasingly deranged establishment; she cocks it up big time when Grace and Kit launch their exit stage left attempt. Kit is also about to become a long term resident after the court appointed psychiatrist Doc Thredson reports he is clinical insane and not fit to stand trial. The whole alien abduction thing really didn't pass muster with the Doctor, though no doubt subsequent events might change that viewpoint.

There's a whole bunch of other character inhabiting our little microcosm of the damned who promise to add some flavour to the mix before season's end. Included are Pepper, a pin-head - oops probably not PC, who is certainly not working the full six pack, a nymphomaniac who highlights the rather distorted view of female sexuality that existed in the early 1960s, and a number of others who may or may not have prominence as the season unfolds. Once again we're talking a rich tapestry being woven here, I'm cool with that and am thus far able to keep up with the various threads being thrown my way.

So I'm really enjoying season two of American Horror Show and am grooving to the various plot developments and increasingly complex content. Not sure they can shoehorn much more in to be honest before fleshing out some of the current crop of horror tropes. Clearly Doctor Thredson, who embodies the then leading edge psychiatric principles which are outdated today, is on a collision course with Sister Jude. Doctor Arden can barely stand her, and has his own deep seated sexual issues which seem to revolve around Sister Mary Eunice, now that is going to get pretty juicy. The woods, where the wild things are, can't be left unexplored. Aliens versus demons might be on the cards. And in the more mundane world a psycho killer is on the loose, exactly who or what might he actually be! Anyone else think we're all in for a fun roller coaster of deranged entertainment, hell yeah, commit me for the entire season, this show rocks kids, get your Briarcliff on sooner rather than later.