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I can’t believe we’re at the penultimate episode of American Horror Story‘s ninth season. Ninth season = nine episodes? It’s the shortest season yet with the other eight producing anywhere from 10 to 13 episodes. Some may argue the season should have ended already but I’m enjoying the heck out of it. Perhaps because I’m old enough to have been there for the whole 1980s slasher craze and seeing most of those movies released in the early part of the decade, having reached the age of 17 when I could go to an R-rated movie unaccompanied (and still getting carded every Friday at the same theater by the same lady in the box office).
So the early part of this season did a great job of aping those movies from Friday the 13th to Sleepaway Camp and putting its own spin on things, then changing it all up with a time shift in the sixth episode, and turning Camp Redwood into a haunted killing ground where even the ghosts can die over and over again. Now, there are some plot holes to contend with — Does Richard Ramirez get to roam freely because he’s in league with the Devil even though he died at the camp? Where are the spirits of Bertie, the porn producer and real Nurse Rita? — but an 80s slasher movie was not known for its logic.
But now there are several forces converging on Camp Redwood for Margaret Booth’s rock concert. One band that will play there for eternity is Kajagoogoo, having been murdered by Ramirez in the previous episode (and discovered rehearsing for the concert by Courtney as he disposed of their dismembered bodies), but Margaret is hoping that all the bands playing the concert will become permanent residents … except Billy Idol at Richard’s request. No one can touch Billy Idol! And that is now her plan: bring as many serial killers to the camp as she can to slaughter everyone and turn the place into a destination for ghost hunters who enjoy 80s music. And thanks to Richard, she’s got a new addition to the group, the now thumbless Bruce who wants to get his numbers even higher than Richard’s.
Standing in the way of all that is, of course, Benjamin Richter who did the noble thing of killing himself to remain at the camp to keep Richard from escaping but may have just signed his own son’s death sentence by not being able to leave now. Richard was quite happy to rub that little fact in Benjamin’s face, telling him that he’s now free to go to Alaska and finish the job he started with Ben’s wife. And Benjamin almost has his chance to finish off Richard until Margaret shoots him in the head. And to add insult to injury, Ben is then held captive by Montana and friends, determined to make him suffer for killing all of them (well, Brooke killed Montana in self-defense). Benjamin tries to find some humanity inside Montana by telling them about his son, but Xavier and the others tie him up and take him to the dock where they inflict enough harm on him to let him slowly bleed out, rolling him into a rowboat to die in the middle of the lake. As he’s dying, Ben sees Montana on the lake shore and … a deformed body leaps up from the lake and pulls him in.
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Okay, this was an obvious reference to the ending of the original Friday the 13th but does it have more meaning? Since the first episode, the counselors and others have encountered the 1970 camp counselor, the guy that got hit by the van in the first episode. They’ve never given him a name on the show but on IMDB his name is listed as Jonas Shevoore. It doesn’t take much to figure out that’s an anagram of Jason Voorhees. So was that Jonas who pulled Benjamin into the lake? Or was it his brother Bobby? Because when Ben regained his consciousness, he was in a slightly different place, one more serene and there were his mother and little brother. Lavinia tells him he did the best he could and made the ultimate sacrifice for his son. He tells her that he lost his Bobby but she shows him that he found theirs, Benjamin brought him back to her and for that she is eternally grateful. She says the past will haunt him forever if he lets it, but they are a family now in this place and he can find peace. And with that Ben goes to play with his little brother once again. This was a lovely scene beautifully acted by John Carroll Lynch and Lily Rabe, and it still brings a little tear to my eye.
There was also a nice scene between Montana and Trevor that started out with some humor, grew some heart but ended in a bit if tragedy. Trevor expressed his love for Montana basically because she embodies everything he loves about the early 1980s, things that are almost non-existent in 1989, and he wants to be with her forever. But to do that he’d have to die. Montana was really touched that anyone would be willing to die for her, but she tells him she’s rotten to the core, revealing that Richard is her ex-boyfriend. Trevor seems shocked by that news but Montana takes it as revulsion, and even after he assures her he’s ready to die to be with her she berates him and tells him she never wants to see him again. It was sad to see Montana not understanding her own self-worth and sending away the one person who truly valued her, living or dead.
Brooke and Donna found themselves in a bit of a pickle while having breakfast at a diner. A reporter from the National Enquirer, Stacey Phillips, pretended not to recognize Brooke but then showed up at their hotel room knowing exactly who they both were. She’s been studying serial killers for some time and actually paid the warden of the prison some big bucks for the tape of Brooke’s ‘execution’, then realizing it was Donna who carried out the operation. Fearing Stacey would expose them, Brooke made her an offer: they’d take her to Camp Redwood, show her where everything went down, and she could use all that material in her book as long as she didn’t reveal her sources until after publication. Stacey said if the delivered on the goods, she’d buy them one way tickets to Paris.
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Brooke and Donna did show Stacey where Brooke had been captured in the rope snare — and Stacey almost didn’t seem to believe them — and Brooke’s next stop on the tour was where Donna had tied her up … with the plan to kill Stacey (and with Margaret, Trevor and all the others running around camp, it’s amazing they never ran into anyone else). But before she could do the deed, Donna stopped her, telling Brooke she is not a killer. Even though she killed Montana. In self-defense. Donna tells Brooke that they have one purpose, one act of revenge that will wash away every shitty thing they’ve done, leaving them both as the ‘final girls’ (one little note here — this is still 1989 and the term ‘final girl’, in reference to the lone female who always survived an 80s slasher film, was not coined until 1992 by Carol J. Clover in her book Men, Women and Chainsaws: Gender and the Modern Horror Film).
Unfortunately, Stacey ran right into the trio of Richard, Bruce and Margaret. She offers to not write about them but Richard hates writers so he stabs her and then Bruce does the same, thrilled by Margaret’s plan to just kill people. It’ll get his numbers up. But Margaret says that is not a plan because it has no purpose. That’s when she reveals her plan to give people a place where they can connect with the artists they love, just as places like Jim Morrison’s grave, the Dakota, and Graceland have done. Camp Redwood will become a mecca for 80s music memoriam and Margaret plans to make a fortune. But, do we really think she’ll get away with it? My guess is she’ll be stuck there getting killed on a daily basis by everyone she killed.
And next week is the season finale with a surprise return from Finn Wittrock. We were also promised before the season began that Sarah Paulson would also be making a cameo. I’m betting she’ll show up at the end as Billie Dean Howard to cleanse Camp Redwood and set all the spirits free.
What did you think of this episode? Sound off in the comments below!
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