One of the biggest issues I’m having with American Horror Story is separating what we know from what the characters know. The layers of revelations continue to peel away and it’s becoming more and more difficult to keep track of who’s aware of what.
Your regularly scheduled recapper Nick had technical difficulties last night so I’m filling in for him for this week's AHS recap!
“After all these years, Moira, I have finally come to appreciate your talent.”
Sex and violence were plentiful in “Open House” as the Harmon’s hosted and open house, drawing in two potential buyers, one of which we already knew. An Armenian man, whose nationality only seemed relevant enough to mention when Moira coyly brought up the size of Persian men’s packages, showed an interest in buying the house. He didn’t care when Vivien told him about the violent history of the place. His intention was to level the place and use the land for apartments.
Moira, under the impression that the potential buyer was going to put in a swimming pool, which would inevitably lead him to finding her bones (and probably a whole bunch of other bones including Hayden’s), attempted to seduce the man. She did a fine job too, offering suggestions for a sex swing room, and persuading him further by other oral methods.
The Armenian seemed set to buy the place and couldn’t be talked out of it by Constance. It’s doubtful that making him a sandwich would have swayed him, either. Constance took another approach in handling the situation, by getting Larry to suffocate the man in the basement of the house, only after Moira bit off the man’s penis. I’m assuming she bit it off. They didn’t actually show it, but judging by the sound effects and the way he screamed, something really bad happened to it. RIP Armenian man. On Constance’s orders, Larry presumably took the man off property before he died all the way, so we probably won’t be seeing him again.
Scary Larry
As for the other buyer, that was Larry, whom Vivien apparently hasn’t met yet. Larry showed up at the open house and creeped out the real estate agent, who produced a gun that she keeps on hand to ward off potential minority men who might want to ravage her on the kitchen island.
Ben confronted Larry when he found out he came for a tour of the house. As it turns out, Larry didn’t kill his whole family. He only told Ben that to scare him. In truth, Larry’s wife burned the house and their children after Larry told her he was leaving her to be with Constance. He told Ben the house is the only place he can ever be happy with “her” again. I’m assuming he means Constance.
Meet the Montgomery’s
Vivien returned to the murder tour and we learned what happened to the Montgomerys. After the death of their baby and Nora constantly making her husband Charles feel bad about himself, Charles produced a Frankenbaby, using the heart of one of “their girls.” Nora seemed temporarily pleased by the results and as she later explained to Charles, tried to nurse the baby. Judging by the blood all over the front of her shirt, the breastfeeding didn’t work out so well. Nora ended up shooting her crazed husband and then shooting herself.
Here’s the interesting thing, Nora said she tried to kill the baby with a letter opener but it just “clung to life.” Does that mean it was still alive when she killed herself and her husband? If so, what happened to it? We never actually got to see the frankenbaby, but I’m pretty sure we heard it hiss when Nora was looking into the crib.
Later, Vivien saw a photo of the original owners and realized she’d seen Nora at the house once. Apparently, she’s just realizing she’s seeing ghosts. It seems like she should have been more aware of that situation previously, but I guess, not counting the sex-encounters with the rubber man, who made an appearance tonight when Vivien was enjoying some “alone time” (speaking of which, who was that other guy who showed up during the fantasy?), I guess she hasn’t actually had a lot of face-to-face time with the spirits.
Go away
Speaking of not knowing what’s going on, Tate still seems comfortably oblivious to his situation. In fact, it looks like he’s doing better than ever, as he told Ben he’s not having nearly as many visions, and he spoke to Violet about things being better since they moved to town. Violet, on the other hand, is cutting herself. But Tate made her promise to stop that. Seeing as she seems easily influenced by him, as teens in love so often are, it seems likely she’ll end that habit. In the meantime, her depression hasn't gone unnoticed by her parents, despite their other distractions.
Violet is starting to see more ghosts in the house, including the mysterious attic-dweller “Bo,” whom we learned Constance had Larry kill years ago. Tate told Violet she just has to tell them to go away and they will. So far, that seems to be working.
On the subject of Bo, what’s the deal with him? And who is Constance’ “new Bo”? Or is it beau, as in boyfriend? We do know she likes the younger men...
Over all, the episode offered some interesting turns. Mostly, I appreciated that they addressed the fact that there would be buyers for a house like that, even if they knew the history of the place. But we learned that there are people who are unwilling to let the house go. Larry and Constance’s emotional ties to the place are already proving to be a real problem for the Harmons.
One last thing, Vivien is having twins and the doctor says everything looks healthy. No hooves? We'll see about that. In the meantime, next week's episode is titled "Rubber Man," which could mean we'll get some answers as to who the potential daddy to Vivien's babies are. Or maybe he's just the father of one and Ben is the father of the other. Twisty!
