GENERAL INFO:
Creators: Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk
Producers: 20th Century Fox
Channel: FX
Starring: Jessica Lange, James Cromwell, Sara Paulson, Zachary Quinto, Lily Rabe; ft. Joseph Fiennes
TV Rating: MA SLV
Genre: television, horror, drama, insane asylum, serial killer, possession
Scare score: B-
Rating: A
Plot overview: Now kidnapped by Bloody Face, Lana (Paulson) learns about the motives behind the serial killer's rampage and psychosis. A small girl (Nikki Hanh) arrives at Briarcliff albeit briefly, and she is inspired by the quirky Sister Mary Eunice (Rabe), claiming to be the devil, to act on her evil instincts. Sister Mary Eunice further eavesdrops into Sister Jude's (Lange) business even after she is informed of her official transfer from the Monsignor (Fiennes) and confronts Dr. Arden (Cromwell) about his real identity. The dangerous relationship behind the Monsignor's desires for progress and Dr. Arden's experiments is further revealed.
Another great episode with a lot more uncomfortable, satisfying terror. I was really pleased with the acting all around, even with the young Miss Hanh, who I was expecting to dislike since I am usually critical of child actors. I am starting to dislike the Monsignor more and more, but Fiennes is doing a pretty commendable job acting as a pious man with a guilty conscience. Also, the whole bit of the "possessed Sister Mary Eunice" needs to become something bigger than a quirky and evil nun - and soon. She can't keep getting away with all the bad things she does without anyone being suspicious. It's just getting weird and repetitive.
A bravo and a brava are in order for Quinto and Paulson, respectively. I am not the biggest fan of Quinto, and some of his sassy attitude in this episode was reminiscent of last season's Chad - but this episode gave him more freedom as an actor to explore the fun and also challenging realms of psychosis. I think it's easy to say he channeled quite a bit of Psycho's Norman Bates, informing Lana in a rather gruesome, incestuous way that "a mother is a boy's best friend." I'm still feeling good about Paulson given her situation, and maybe we'll even see a happy ending here. Although that is rather unlikely.
Final critique: At this point, the ball is really rolling in the season and the episodes are more satisfying than mysterious. There is still a lot to find out, a lot of problems to resolve, and even more danger to come. I, for one, am very excited.
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