American Horror Story: Hotel :: Chutes and Ladders

Suzanne Tenner/FX

The new season of American Horror Story is underway, and after a premiere episode full of exposition and introductions to most of the main characters, the second episode finally answered some questions about The Countess (Lady Gaga), Donovan (Matt Bomer), and the Hotel Cortez itself.

Now if you know anything about past seasons of the show, you know there are many references to other popular (or not so popular) horror films. Some folks watching the first episode of the season seemed to be unsure of who or what The Countess and Donovan are. Their introduction screamed a callback to the 1980s stylish vampire flick The Hunger, so anyone familiar with that knew they were vampires before it was confirmed in the second episode. (And if you didn’t get it then, the use of “The Flower Duet” in episode two was a solid confirmation.)

So, we know The Countess and Donovan have been together for a few years now, since he ODed in the hotel, and we know Kathy Bates is playing his mother Iris, who is now stuck working the front desk just so she can catch a glimpse of her son every now and then (and the reason he overdosed, we learned, was so he could get away from her so he’s none too pleased that The Countess has him stuck in the same hotel with her). We also know that Hypodermic Sally (Sarah Paulson) is a ghost, having been pushed out of a window back in the 90s by Iris after supplying Donovan with the drugs that took his life. She is one spirit you don’t want to mess with.

And we know a little more about John Lowe, the now sober detective who has taken up residence in the hotel after discovering someone lured him to a crime scene by spoofing his wife’s cell phone number. Lowe has been grieving since the disappearance of his son a few years earlier, and now he feels its in his family’s best interest that he move out until the crime is solved. But he may have stumbled into more than he bargained for.

This week, we learned the entire history of the hotel courtesy of Iris, whom Lowe was about to arrest on some flimsy charges. Iris agreed to spill the beans about the hotel if he let her go, so they sat at the bar (tended by the ever-present Liz Taylor [Denis O’Hare]) in a scene very reminiscent of one in The Shining … and if you haven’t connected this hotel to the Overlook with its winding corridors, spooky hallway children, and signature carpet pattern, then you’re not paying attention (or haven’t seen The Shining).

Iris reveals that the hotel was built by disturbed oil mogul James March, purposefully with hallways that seem to go nowhere, secret passageways and trap doors. Why? Because the man was a serial killer, and what better way to dispose of a body than behind a wall or down a chute. Once the LAPD caught on to March’s crimes, he knew there was only one way out and he took his faithful maid Miss Evers (whom is still around cleaning sheets) with him to the great beyond. During the black and white flashbacks, we also saw the back of Mrs. March’s head but not her face. Could that platinum blonde hair belong to The Countess (who was born in 1904, she claims)?

Suzanne Tenner/FX

Lowe isn’t sure what to make of Iris’ story, but he begins to link the crimes of March to several recent murders and realizes they all bear some connection to the Ten Commandments (which now explains the show’s opening title sequence). Later, when planning a day out with his daughter, Lowe and Scarlett are invited to sit in on a fashion show taking place in the lobby to highlight new hotel owner Will Drake’s (Cheyenne Jackson) upcoming line. It’s here we meet model Tristan Duffy (Finn Wittrock) whom The Countess takes an immediate shine to, much to Donovan’s dismay. In fact, Donovan attempts to kill Tristan before The Countess intervenes, taking him back to their suite where she turns him and promptly throws Donovan out, setting up a rivalry between the two that is bound to end violently.

During the fashion show, Scarlett sneaks off with Drake’s son, where he shows her the unused swimming pool. Well, unused in the sense that it has no water in it, but it does contain four small glass coffins. Scarlett recognizes one of the children as her brother, so she sneaks back to the hotel one day, finds the hidden game room, and sees her brother, believed to be dead. Except he hasn’t aged since the last time she saw him, and when attempting to take a selfie with him, he tries to bite her in the neck, scaring her back home where he parents have been frantically trying to locate her with the help of the police. She tells them about seeing her brother and they think she’s lying. When presented with the picture, the image of the boy is just a blur but is it enough for Lowe to believe the visions he’s already seen of the boy in the hallways more than just a hallucination?

American Horror Story hasn’t been as dark as this season is since season two’s “Asylum,” and many viewers who began to take notice of the show with “Coven” and “Freak Show” are a bit underwhelmed and disturbed by some of the show’s imagery so far. Particularly a gruesome rape scene featuring New Girl‘s Max Greenfield as a druggie who meets a horrific fate. Many have asked why this scene had to be included in the first episode — and it’s still unclear if it was just his reaction to the drugs or a real manifestation of some evil in the hotel, considering Sally was present as well — and it did seem to be a bit much. But the show’s co-creator Ryan Murphy has defended the scene by pointing out that this season is very much about the horrors of addiction. We’ve seen what drug addiction has done to Donovan and Sally, Lowe is fighting alcohol addiction, March was addicted to murder, and The Countess is addicted to the hedonistic lifestyle that comes with being immortal. Scenes like the one with Greenfield may be hard to watch, but if it gets the message across that the cost of getting high is one that’s much too high a price to pay, then so be it. It should be uncomfortable to watch.

American Horror Story: Hotel isn’t the “light romp” that “Coven” was and it’s more extreme than “Freak Show,” but while I was unsure of how I felt about it after the first episode, the second episode drew me in more with the hotel’s backstory, The Countess’ recounting of her life (including a fabulous look at the 1970s when she was the Queen of Disco, riding a horse onto the dancefloor in what appeared to be the hotel), and the discovery of Lowe’s missing son. And there was some humor injected into the proceedings, however dark it may have been. I’m now hooked and intrigued by what is yet to come.