The first part of the American Horror Story: Asylum two-parter, “I Am Anne Frank” was simply brutal visually and emotionally as pasts were revealed, futures were called into question, and sh*t got even more weirder than before. A new resident came to Briarcliff and brought with her a whole bag of trouble for the increasingly sadistic Dr. Arden, while Lana and Kit tried to make sense of their futures with help from Dr. Thredson and Grace, respectively. I will be slightly surprised if this episode didn’t wig viewers out physically and/or mentally.
Sister Jude, the Literary Great and the Perverted Nazi
In the middle of the night, Sister Jude welcomes a new female patient into Briarcliff who was sent there after stabbing two men with a bottle at a bar for some anti-Semantic remarks shouted at her. When Sister Jude asked the woman if she had lost anyone in the war, the woman began to hum a haunting tune, which I know holds some sort of significance, but it went completely over my head at the moment. Meanwhile, Dr. Arden had seriously done a number on Shelly after amputating her legs last week. Now her face looked as if she was in mid-Rasper transformation and Dr. Arden was about to deliver her a dose of something that would make her live forever. Dear God, no!
The next day as the new patient was in the commons area, Dr. Arden entered the room and the woman went completely ballistic. After nearly attacking the psychotic doctor, the woman declared Arden was a Nazi and asked him if he remembered her, because she was Anne Frank! Cuckoo for Coco-Puffs? Or actually the real deal?
Next, Sister Jude conversed with the alleged Anne Frank, who knew that the world thinks she’s dead, which she wanted to keep that way since her diary made the world aware of what happened during the Holocaust. She also described Dr. Arden as Hans Gruber, a SS Nazi soldier who did horrible things to the females and children of the concentration camps that would make them sick once they returned to their bunkers. Once Anne finished her story, Sister Jude made it clear she didn’t believe a word of it, because she didn’t think the woman sitting in front of her was Anne Frank. This was when Anne Frank revealed her concentration camp tattoo with a number on it, proving her story and giving Sister Jude enough ammo to take down Dr. Arden. At least for now.
After hearing that two detectives had stopped by the asylum to speak to Dr. Arden, Sister Jude nonchalantly barged into Arden’s meeting with the detectives as if she and the sick guy were besties. The detectives asked Sister Jude if she could comment on Dr. Arden’s character since he was accused by the prostitute from episode two of attacking her and possessing inappropriate photos and Nazi memorabilia. Bingo! We have a match! The detectives also asked Sister Jude if she thought Kit Walker would have skill to surgically skin and behead someone. To be a fly on the wall of Sister Jude’s brain at that moment…
Sister Jude met with Monsignor Timothy to talk about Dr. Arden’s war crimes and past, but the Monsignor is not happy about his prized nun still digging for dirt on Dr. Arden’s name. 
As Sister Jude tried to plead her case about Arden being bad news, the Monsignor hit her where it hurt when he revealed he’s aware of Sister Jude drinking again. He suggested that maybe that’s the true reason for Jude’s behavior and sent her off to “pray and reflect on it.” However once Sister Jude left, Monsignor Timothy called Dr. Arden (who was in the middle of torturing Shelly again) to warn him about people getting suspicious and to clean up after himself. Uh Oh…
Sister Jude met up with who I believe was Briarcliff’s Mother Superior, who gave Sister Jude some sage advice and a contact who can help her find out just who Dr. Arden really is. Sister Jude didn’t want to go against the man who saved her, but the Mother Superior begged to differ, and felt that Jude should what she thought was best for Briarcliff and herself.
At the end of the episode, Dr. Arden took Anne from her room to his dungeon and began to taunt and smack her around a bit. He still maintained that he never was at the concentration camps and that Anne Frank died a long time ago. After a bit of a struggle, Anne surprised Dr. Arden with a gun, which she used to shoot her nemesis in the leg. Once that happened, a noise came from another room, prompting Anne to ask what it was. After roughing up Arden a bit more, Anne got a key from the sick guy to open the room to only find a seriously deformed Shelly, begging for Anne to kill her after what Arden did to her. Lord, I cannot wait till next week!
What You Are? Or What You Think You Are?
While Sister Jude as playing Nazi Hunter with Anne Frank, Kit and Grace got a little closer this week. Grace noticed a new cut on Kit’s face that Dr. Arden produced while trying to find the alien probe. Kit asked Grace if she still believed his story, to which Grace answered it didn’t matter if she did or not. Kit disagreed, asserting that their stories are their identities in Briarcliff. Grace then revealed her story to Kit, which involved her being framed for the murders of her father and stepmother by her stepsister, who plotted to put Grace in Briarcliff so she could take over the family farm with her lover.
Later during a session with Dr. Thredson, Kit listened to the psychiatrist’s explanation of how he felt Kit was not crazy, but wasn’t evil either. In fact, Thredson blamed society for bringing Kit to do the atrocious acts on those poor and innocent women for not being able to live with his wife due to the color of her skin. Excuse me, what?!? Then the sad part about this was that Kit bought all of it! WTF?!
After his session, Kit angrily took his frustration out on some dough when Grace walked in. After Kit announced his newfound doubts, Grace said that self-doubt is a surefire trait of a crazy person, which confused Kit even further. After being asked by Kit if she thought he was a killer, Grace simply replied that she didn’t care what he was. She would be with him regardless. That was all the both of them needed to know before they started screwing on the bakery table. The pastries will never taste the same again…
In the midst of their quick tryst, a guard found them and turned them into Sisters Jude and Mary Eunice. Sister Jude ordered for the both of them to be separated since they have gotten way too buddy buddy with each other. After Sister Jude is called away and Grace taken off to solitary confinement, Sister Mary Eunice/The Demon warned Kit of Grace’s true nature before putting his new lover’s criminal file on the desk for him to read.
Once Kit is put in a confinement cell across from her’s, Grace as shocked to know that Kit found out about what really happened the night of her parent’s death. It wasn’t her sister’s lover who did the hacking, but it was Grace herself! Turns out that her father was getting too comfortable touching her at night and Grace simply snapped one night and brutally murdered both of her parents. After telling her tale, Grace asked Kit if what she did repulsed him. He said no and that he actually admired her. Hmm…
At the end of the episode, Kit met with Sister Jude to help him seek forgiveness from God for the crimes he couldn’t remember committing, but felt God had to know he did. His pleas touched Sister Jude, who also had visions of killing the little girl that night while Kit bore his soul to her.
Determined To Make A Difference
Knowing that Lana escaped with Kit and Grace the night of the nor’easter, Dr. Thredson spoke with the reporter about her escape, declaring it the right thing to do since she doesn’t belong at Briarcliff. He then offered to help “cure” Lana of her lesbian desires so they could get her released from Briarcliff, which can’t really keep her if she’s deemed cured by Dr. Thredson’s results. Despite Lana arguing that there is no cure to her “illness,” Dr. Thredson gave her a week, which is when his work at Briarcliff will be officially over, to change her mind.
After having a dream sequence that showcased Lana being a savior for the abused and mistreated patients of Briarcliff and receiving notoriety for her bravery of exposing Briarcliff’s true face, Lana changed her mind and began her treatments with the good doctor, which involved a serum that made Lana sick at the thought of imagery or prompts that aroused her. Dr. Thredson used photos of scantly clad women to incite Lana, who would in turn puke in bucket once aroused. However, it took an extra dose for Lana to react negatively once the last photo was revealed to be one of Wendy, which Thredson swiped from Lana and Wendy’s house when he visited.
Once Lana was doing well with the aversion therapy, Dr. Thredson decided that it was time for Lana’s ‘conversion therapy,’ which consisted of Lana touching the body of Daniel, another patient in the asylum who said he would be glad to aid Lana in her endeavors. The scene was pretty weird as Lana tearfully touched Daniel’s body/penis while masturbating at the same time as Dr. Thredson watched and coached her on. 
By the pained and disgusted look on Lana’s face, you would have thought Thredson was a physical therapist trying to get Lana to walk after a tragic accident. Despite Lana’s best efforts to converge, Dr. Thredson concluded that the therapy was just not working. Duh!
Later after apologizing for putting her through a practice he didn’t believe in himself, Thredson gave Lana the photo of Wendy for her to keep, but she was scared it would be taken from her as contraband. The psychiatrist then shocked Lana by declaring how she was coming with him when he leaves Briarcliff that Friday one way or another.
Other Moments To Note
– So did Monsignor Timothy know about Dr. Arden’s barbarous past? Or his barbarous present?
– Shelly is now a Rasper and I don’t know how I feel about that at the moment. Wait, yeah I do: PISSED!
– It’s clear now that we cannot trust anyone’s flashbacks anymore, which raises my suspicions about Dr. Thredson and his visit to Lana and Wendy’s house. Maybe he’s Bloody Face?
– As people already know, The Bloody Face Murders scream of the Ed Gein killings in the 1950s, which had me wondering if Murphy and Falchuk were going to tie those murders in with this year’s story, ala last year’s Black Dahlia set up. With that said, the locations of Gein’s murders and the fictional Briarcliff are far, far apart, yet eerily similar to the point where anyone could have made that assumption. Although, I wouldn’t have ever in a million years thought that the two would use Anne Frank as a character in their story. Wonder if her inclusion will upset a lot of people?
– Tonight we didn’t get much Sister Mary Eunice, which is a travesty and needs to rectified next week.
What did you think about tonight’s episode of American Horror Story: Asylum? Do you buy the new girl’s story that she’s Anne Frank?
Photo Credit: FX
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