S02E03 Nor'easter (2012)

Review

We open with "Bloody Face" doing his thing in the modern era to the hard pressed Leo and Teresa Morrison. The couple eventually get the drop on the masked psycho, apparently killing him, and make their bid for freedom. Unfortunately they run into two dudes dressed up as "Bloody Face", and well, it doesn't end all wine and roses for any of them. Back in the 1960s the Devil is loose at Briarcliff raising merry hell. Sister Mary Eunice is tormenting Sister Jude, sending her to the brink with Sister Jude's less than savoury past. Dr Arden also discovers Mary Eunice has a naughty side, which blows his funk about nuns. And to top it off our demonic possessed nun does away with "The Mexican" who recognises what now resides in the Bride of Christ.

Meanwhile, and this episode is simply jammed pack with story arcs, Dr. Oliver Thredson has come to the conclusion that Kit Walker isn't "Bloody Face" after finding the aftermath of the killer's work in dispatching Lana's girlfriend Wendy. Kit, Lana, Grace, and Shelley attempt to escape via the tunnels Lana discovered. Unfortunately they run across the remains of "The Mexican" and are freaked out by the creatures created by Dr. Arden's experiments gone wrong. Shelley falls into the clutches of Dr. Arden, and that definitely doesn't turn out well for her!

Have to admit I'm not quite sure how "Bloody Face" in the modern era ties into the shenanigans we have going down in the 1960s. Sure same killer, we think, in both time zones but are we overly interested in the modern dilapidated Briarcliff? There's enough meat on the bone in terms of script for the main time period to make the modern inclusions slightly redundant to be honest, though of course it might all end up tied with a blood red ribbon by season end. Still have this nagging suspicion that we might have a slight tad of surplus material going on down here.

Hey we don't have ghosts, whatcha doing AMS

Jessica Lange (Sister Jude) nails the requirement this week, talk about some class acting, Lange is knocking it out of the ballpark. She goes from the in control bad ass nun with attitude to coming apart at the seams effortlessly. You can believe Sister Jude is heading towards a complete breakdown with Sister Mary Eunice supplying the ammunition to help Sister Jude lose it all. Interestingly, and this could be a major conflict heading forward, Mary Eunice has definitely set up Sister Jude and Dr. Arden as rivals for control the asylum. Sister Jude hits the sauce this episode as well, which I found quite amusing when she introduced the Biblical movie that was meant to keep the inmates calm during a major storm. And what exactly did Sister Jude meet in the empty corridors of Briarcliff, one of Dr. Arden's test subjects or an alien or an hallucination? Shocker scene out of the jump scare bag of tricks horror delivers on. I could watch Jessica Lange read her grocery list to be honest, from here on in we're talking The Lange baby!

Speaking of Sister Mary Eunice, the saucy mink is simply going crazy at the asylum having a real good time. Besides sending Sister Jude off the deep end, talk about your psychological warfare, the demon within is tempting Dr. Arden which doesn't work too well for the lunatic physician, who takes it out on a statute of the virgin Mary and poor Shelley. Mary Eunice isn't above the odd piece of homicide and I'm expecting life expectancy at Briarcliff to drop off dramatically in coming weeks. Lily Rabe is doing her part to make the season rock on out, loved her pleasure during the movie when the Christians were about to be eaten by beasties, Rabe freaking nails it.

Also developing is a subplot that might see a blooming relationship between Lana and Dr. Oliver Thredson. He breaks all sorts of rules in trying to deliver a note from Lana to Wendy, only to discover foul play is afoot and Kit Walker could well be innocent. This probably won't help Kit get out of the asylum as his alien abduction story isn't going to do him any favours. Of course we may not be able to trust the good Doctor, this is American Horror Story after all and most everyone has something to hide and aren't exactly what they seem.

On the subject of the pesky aliens, Dr. Arden has a sort of surprise going down with the pieces of metal he removed from Kit's neck in the previous episode. The pieces have reknitted themselves and are going insectoid on the Doctor. Naturally this leads Dr. Arden to believe Kit is undercover for some shady Government organisation and is concerned he might be under investigation. Clearly something to hide there then, besides the nun fetish thing that threatens to get out of control, clearly the Doctor didn't simply decide one day to go Dr. Frankenstein on us.

As stated there are a zillion and one directions the show is currently heading down, so script wise it's a wee bit of a shambles at the moment, though no doubt things will start to resolve over the next few weeks. The atmosphere has been spot on through the first three episodes however, Briarcliff is eternally at dusk, the place looks grubby, and there's no colour seeping into cold barren interiors. There's a general chill in the air in this and previous episodes that should have horror fans bushy tailed and happy with season two.

Great episode and that last scene was a real shocker, Shelley clearly isn't going to make the final episode as Dr. Arden will need to clean house. Not quite sure where they are going with some of the content, for sure there are shots across the bow of racism, sexism, and religious orders running facilities, but this isn't weighing down our viewing pleasure. American Horror Show remains one of the best horror shows on television, tune into this episode to see why people are raving about it. Nor'easter certainly has me primed for the season, can't wait to see what craziness they throw at us next week. Full recommendation, get your hands on the entire season, this show rocks!