It’s time for American Horror Story to take a short break until 2016, so let’s see what the last episode of 2015 had to offer with “She Gets Revenge.”
Note: This review is coming a little over a week late, and I apologize. I was on a trip when this one originally aired, but things should be back to normal when American Horror Story returns in a couple of weeks.
The episode opens as Liz Taylor laments the nature of hotels today, delighting in the fact that, on occasion, the Hotel Cortez can still bring (sometimes morbid) joy to those that need it. Disheartened by what’s happened lately, Liz considers committing suicide, but is swayed by Iris’s gentle reminder that dying with unfinished business in the Cortez will force them to stay there for all of eternity. Because of this, the two compatriots decide to deal with everything together. This has been one of the most interesting relationships that has formed on the show this season, and it’s exciting to see even more of it as we head toward the end of the season.
Liz’s unfinished business deals with an estranged son, so the hotel’s spirits are recruited to help correct the situation. While this is going on, Sally advises John, now fully committed to his “calling” on how to finish his task. He fulfills the ninth commandment killing with ears, and there is only one more left before he’ll finally be free. John, though, wants to reunite with Alex, and he convinces March to help him out. Evan Peters again shines in this role, and he’ll probably be the thing that I miss the most about Hotel once this season’s over. John and Alex, as messed up as ever, start working together to fix the problem Alex made by turning the child on Halloween before The Countess retaliates by killing both Alex and Holden. As interesting as John’s story has been to me (despite its predictability), he and Alex have become entirely loathsome people (which, in ways, helps their characters’ role in the overall story), and I’m glad that they recognize this fact on-screen.
In order to keep their respective lovers to themselves, Donovan murders Rudy as Elizabeth, in turn, murder’s Rudy’s mistress. The Countess’s relationship with Donovan has become much more complex over the course of the season that we were led to believe in the premiere, and it’s helped to keep what could have been a bland story from becoming stale. Lady Gaga has been much better this season than many critics have given her credit for, and her position as twisted jilted lover has been a welcome turn for what could have simply been a character of evil.
“She Gets Revenge” continues on in a way that progresses the story in a huge way, but, for some reason that I can’t really explain, something about it feels off. Major, major things happened here, but not all of it felt like it should have been where things were leading. I’m not giving up hope after one weaker episode, though, because this story has managed to have way more momentum than any season so far, but I hope that the January return of American Horror Story: Hotel does a bit of needed course correction. Based on the preview for the next episode, it looks like that may be the case, thankfully.
What did you think of “She Gets Revenge”? Do you think Hotel can sustain its current momentum as we move to the finale? Let us know your thoughts in the comments down below!
[Photo credit: Prashant Gupta/FX]
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