American Horror Story dips into the real-world past with “Spooky Little Girl,” we learn the American Horror Story re-telling of the Black Dahlia, as Ben (Dylan McDermott) realizes his wife Vivien (Connie Britton) may have been telling the truth before being institutionalized, and Constance learns the truth behind Vivien’s unborn twins. In case you missed out on last week’s “Rubber Man,” we’ve got all the ghostly twists and turns to hold you over until the next terrifying episode!
Of course, if you’re too frightened to watch tonight’s action for yourself, read on for our American Horror Story recap of “Spooky Little Girl’!
In 1947, a taxi pulls up to our favorite house, and out steps a young woman draped in all black and all smiles, with a dahlia in her hair, named Elizabeth Short (Mena Suvari). She arrives seeking Dr. David Curan, a dentist, but confesses she has no money for any of the treatments, only that she’d heard he accepts ‘other’methods of payment. He begrudgingly agrees, and slips a gas mask on her. Sometime later, a woman strolls a nearby park with her young daughter, only to stumble upon Elizabeth’s body, cut in two and given a Glasgow smile!
Back in good old 2011, the younger incarnation of Moira (Alexa Breckinridge) makes a bed, as Ben enters asking her to make a sandwich for Violet. Moira of course takes every opportunity to seduce the psychiatrist with a committed wife, but he sternly refuses, despite her taunts. Next door, Constance drunkenly paints as her young boyfriend Travis enters, having walked her dogs. She berates his manhood and career in her state, and sends the boy out for more cigarettes, when the ghostly Hayden (Kate Mara) greets and seduces him on his way. When he assures her he won’t tell Constance, she invites him to, claiming she’ll be moving into the house soon as Ben’s new love, and only slept with him to see if she could seduce someone living.
The next day, Hayden’s sister and a police officer arrive at the home, enough time having passed for Hayden to be considered a missing person. They know of Hayden’s pregnancy, and her visit to Ben in California but as Ben denies knowledge of her whereabouts Hayden herself appears, assuring her sister and the police of her good health! Once alone with Ben, Hayden apologizes and insists she deserves whatever anger he can throw at her, and that she indeed went through with her abortion.
The Black Dahlia herself, Elizabeth Short appears to schedule therapy with Ben, believing something terrible will happen to her for her wicked ways of seducing men for a big break, but confesses once more she can’t pay for treatment. She offers herself to Ben, but while tempted he rejects her advances. A buzzing phone interrupts their meeting, as hospital examinations of Vivien have revealed that one of the unborn twins shares a different father from Ben, a rare medical phenomenon.
The older Moira cleans, when Constance arrives to accuse Violet of sleeping with her boyfriend Travis, but Moira says Violet only has eyes for Tate, who she knows to be the father of one of Vivien’s unborn twins! Distraught, Constance finds Tate in the basement, and slaps her child silly when he confirms the truth that he’d slept with the wife of a man who could finally help him with his issues. What could this mean?
Upstairs, Ben walks in on the young Moira fooling around with Elizabeth Short, who invites him to join. He once again refuses, telling Elizabeth to leave and Moira she’s fired. When Elizabeth laments their plan not working, Hayden appears to tell her she’s being used, and amidst her tearful desires for fame Hayden informs the wayward spirit of her fame as the Black Dahlia. Once the doctor put her under in 1947, he had his way with her, and failed to revive her from the gas. Panicked, he took the body downstairs, where the ghost of Dr. Charles Montgomery appeared, and elected to slice up the body and give her a Glasgow smile to avoid looking sad. In the present, Elizabeth realizes she ‘really did become somebody.’
Ben goes to visit Vivien in the hospital, in restraints for having attacked an orderly. Once alone, Ben taunts his poor wife that he’ll never help her out of the hospital given the lies and betrayal he believes her to have put on the family. Flashing back to some years earlier, Ben remembers one of his first nights out drinking with Hayden, and their very first flirtations. As he remembers from his backyard gazebo, Hayden appears once more, and Ben apologizes for using her in a dark time. However, despite her belief that their love was written in the stars, Ben insists he doesn’t and never did love Hayden. She steals one last kiss by asking for a hug, and leaves Ben with the knowledge that she saw security guard Luke (Morris Chestnut) leaving the house early one morning.
Travis comes to visit Constance, and she profusely apologizes for her earlier behavior. She then reveals her desire to marry her young suitor and even bring a child into their home, though Travis insists he isn’t ready. Constance changes her tone to insult the man’s Hollywood dreams, and even warns that the last man to strike her came to an unpleasant end. Travis seeks comfort in Hayden once more, equally in need of some satisfaction, until his talk of going back to Constance angers her, and Hayden violently stabs Travis to death! Travis’spirit quickly appears over his own body, along with Elizabeth and Dr. Montgomery, but rather than pin the murder on Ben, Hayden has Montgomery dismember the body, and enilists Larry Harvey (Denis O’Hare) to transport the body to be found in public.
Constance visits Vivien in her cell, assuring that she believes and intends to be there for the institutionalized woman, while Vivien notes her rapidly growing fetuses and ravenous appetite. Vivien quickly presses Constance to leaves her alone, confessing she believes herself to have been raped, but insists Constance keep that silent to save her credibility, and earn her release. Back home, Ben uses a false alarm to call Luke to the scene, who flatly denies having had an affair with Vivien, and also confesses to ‘shooting blanks.’
Shaken, Ben realizes he may have falsely doubted his wife, and while examining the Rubber Man suit, Moira makes further advances. He presses her for details of what she’s seen with Vivien around the house, and admits he’s made a mistake in doubting her attack. She congratulates Ben for starting to see things as they are, and reverts to her Old Moira visage as she leaves him in stunned silence.
Constance’s medium Billie Dean meets with her once more to answer questions of what might happen if a spirit impregnated a living woman. Billie refers her to the story of the ‘Pox,’or Pope’s box, where every new pope is given the key to a box containing a secret, revealing the precise nature of the Antichrist. A child conceived of human and spirit is the essence of evil, a perversion of the immaculate conception. And if the devil uses a human womb for his spawn, he’s gonna want some bang for his buck.
Will American Horror Story really bring about the end of the world? What did you think about the episode? Join us next week for an all-new episode of American Horror Story on FX!