American Horror Story- Murder House- Episode 9- Spooky Little Girl

**This review contains spoilers**

Synopsis: In 1947, Dr. David Curan owns the Murder House. Dr. Curan treats his patients in the Murder House to provide a more convenient location for his surrounding neighbors. One day, an aspiring actress named Elizabeth Short (Mena Suvari) visits Dr. Curan. Elizabeth is obsessed with fame and the bright lights, and she needs dental work, but she’s low on cash, so Elizabeth offers sexual favors as a form of payment. A reluctant Dr. Curan sedates Elizabeth, and Dr. Curan rapes an unconscious Elizabeth.

But Elizabeth dies after an accidental overdose of nitrous oxide. Dr. Curan tries to dispose of Elizabeth’s body, but he’s having a lot of trouble alone, so the ghost of Dr. Charles Montgomery (Matt Ross) shows up to help. Charles uses a set of demented skills to dismember Elizabeth’s corpse, and Charles carves a permanent smile on Elizabeth’s face to end the procedure. After the discovery of Elizabeth’s mutilated body, Elizabeth receives “The Black Dahlia” as a nickname, and the story of Elizabeth’s unsolved murder dominates headlines throughout the US.   

In the modern world, Constance (Jessica Lange) and her young boyfriend, Travis Wanderley (Michael Graziadei) are stuck in a miserable relationship. Constance is still grieving over Addie’s (Jaime Brewer) death, but Travis is worried about his failing acting career.

A furious Constance scolds Travis for a lack of compassion, but Travis finds solace in Hayden (Kate Mara) during a late night walk with his dog. Travis starts a secret physical relationship with Hayden, but Constance suspects something fishy. Unbeknownst to Travis, Hayden is using him as an experiment. The experiment? Hayden is dead, but Hayden wants sexual intercourse with a living man. After a few nights with Travis, Hayden’s experiment is a success.

Ben (Dylan McDermott) moves into the house again, but Moira (Alexandra Breckenridge) is determined to ruin Ben’s life. A relentless Moira seduces Ben, and Ben runs into another problem with a new patient. Elizabeth Short shows up for therapy. Ben refuses Elizabeth as a patient at first, but Ben succumbs to Elizabeth’s needs for treatment.

To add to his growing list of problems, the doctor crushes Ben’s spirit with a shocking phone call about Vivien’s pregnancy. Ben is not the father of both twins, and after a persuasive chat with Hayden, Ben immediately suspects Luke (Morris Chestnut) as the second father.

Hayden’s sister, Marla surprises Ben with a detective, because Ben is the primary suspect in Hayden’s missing persons case. Hayden appears at the Murder House to kill any suspicions, but Hayden wants a relationship with Ben. With Vivien (Connie Britton) out of the way, Hayden believes in the chances for a happy life with Ben, and Ben lowers his guard to confide in Hayden after the doctor’s phone call.

Meanwhile, Constance visits Vivien in the sanatorium with some words of encouragement, and Constance believes Vivien’s story about the Rubber Man’s rape. At the house, Constance wants a one on one confrontation with Violet (Taissa Farmiga), because Constance suspects Violet as Travis’ lover, but Moira (Frances Conroy) denies Constance’s accusations.

Constance confronts Tate (Evan Peters) about the rumors of sexual intercourse with Vivien. Tate tells Constance the truth: Tate is the father of Vivien’s second twin. Constance unleashes her anger on Tate with a quick beating, and Constance learns the shocking truth from Billie Dean Howard (Sarah Paulson) about the consequences of Tate’s actions………

Review: Travis? I’ll admit, I dismissed Travis as a one night stand after Home Invasion, but he popped up again on Halloween Part I, and Murder House takes more time to explore Constance’s relationship with Travis here. Basically, Travis is this lazy (“I work two hours a day reading scripts!”) bum, and he’s holding on to this pipe dream of being a famous actor, and it’s hard to ignore the age difference between Constance and Travis (if I’m taking a wild guess, Travis is in his early or mid twenties).

Constance and Travis have a weird love-hate relationship. One minute, Constance rips Travis’ head off, but Constance asks Travis to be a father (i.e. stealing one of Vivien’s twins) after another big argument? Of course, Travis rejects Constance’s offer, because he’s not ready yet, and Travis wants to focus on his acting career. As usual, Constance belittles Travis again, and Travis shares another intimate moment with Hayden to blow off some steam.

But Travis runs into a big problem after another quick fix session with Hayden. Hayden is upset, because Ben kicked her to the curb (more on that later). Hayden is desperately seeking companionship, but Travis’ feelings for Hayden are limited to viewing Hayden as a sex object or a sense of temporary relief. Naturally, Travis’ “Okay, I’m done. See ya later!” attitude upsets Hayden, so Hayden murders Travis.

As a ghost, Travis returns (remember, if you die at the Murder House, you‘re trapped on the property forever as a ghost) to the Murder House, and Hayden is stuck in a troubling dilemma, because she’s clinging to a slim chance of starting a life with Ben. But if the police find Travis’ body, Ben will go to jail, or he’ll move away to escape the heat. Oddly enough, Charles shows up to cut Travis’ body into pieces, and Charles uses The Black Dahlia blueprint to dismember Travis’ corpse. Still, Hayden needs to move the body, but the ghosts can’t leave the property.

Enter Larry Harvey (Denis O’Hare) to solve the problem. Remember, Larry owes Hayden a favor, because you know, Larry is the one, who murdered Hayden. So Larry dumps Travis’ corpse in an open field (again, all of this is similar to what happened with Elizabeth) next to a basketball court.

Hayden and the younger version of Moira attack Ben with a full-court press in this episode. Moira pulls out all the stops to seduce Ben, but a resilient Ben stands his ground, and Ben fights his urges to succumb to Moira’s advances. Moira uses Elizabeth to lure Ben into her world of seduction, but Ben vehemently refuses Moira’s offer. To end Moira’s attacks, Ben fires Moira, and he asks Elizabeth to leave, and Ben drops Elizabeth from his list of patients. Moira’s threats for a lawsuit, if Ben fires her? Ben doesn’t care anymore, and he’d rather take his chances in court, because he’s sick and tired of Moira bullying him.

And there’s a twist to the end of the Moira VS Ben saga. As Moira leaves the house, the young Moira transforms in to the older version of Moira (Frances Conroy).  You have to assume Ben finally passed all of Moira’s tests, so she revealed her true form. Also, Moira knew any chances of Ben cracking under the pressure flew out the window. Ben was focused on Vivien 100%, so Moira threw in the towel for her mission to seduce Ben, and the look of shock on McDermott’s face for seeing the older Moira is perfect.

There’s a sense of calming closure to the end of Ben and Moira’s relationship, because Ben endured Moira’s advances without any mishaps, and Moira appreciated Ben’s honesty. The end to the Hayden/Ben saga? That’s another story. The timing is right, and the stage is perfect for Hayden to swoop in and steal Ben. Vivien is in the hospital, Violet resents Ben, and Ben shares a few beers with Hayden, because Ben needs someone to talk to. Hayden tells Ben the relationship and the affair was “written in the stars,” but Ben refuses Hayden’s final push to capture his heart. Instead, Ben fires back, and he tells Hayden he doesn’t love her, and Ben “used” Hayden as a temporary fix during a rough setback (the miscarriage) in his marriage with Vivien.

Hayden is a psychopath. You’ll see Hayden’s dark side in full force here (i.e. murdering Travis), and Hayden is the one, who devised the “We need to trap Vivien in the asylum, so I can have Ben all to myself” plan, but I have to admit, I could feel a little bit of sympathy for Hayden here. Why? Because she’s this lonely person, who’s more than willing to pour her heart and soul into someone else, but Hayden’s partners never reciprocate her feelings. Instead, they use her (i.e. Travis), and when they’re done, the users throw Hayden in the dumpster like a piece of trash. Hell, Ben openly admitted to using Hayden. And kudos to Kate Mara for selling the moment with a believable look of devastation, and a few tears.

Hayden’s sister Marla? Eh, I can’t say too much about her. Marla makes one appearance during the scene with the missing persons detective at the house. You can tell there’s some bad blood between Hayden and Marla, because Hayden is tired of loaning Marla money, and that’s about it.

What about Vivien? Well, Ben knows the truth about the twins now, so Ben visits Vivien in the asylum, but it’s not a peaceful visit. Ben rips Vivien a new one, with accusations of hypocrisy and Ben scolds Vivien for a holier than thou attitude. I alluded to this in my review for Halloween Part 2, and Ben doesn’t know about Vivien’s affair with a married man. Anyway, Ben leaves the asylum, because he’s disgusted with Vivien, but Ben changes his tune, when he returns to the house.

Ben intentionally triggers a false alarm for a “man to man” talk with Luke, because Ben suspects (with some help from Hayden) Luke as the second father for the twins. But there’s one big problem with Ben’s theory: Luke is sterile. After the confrontation with Luke, Ben finds the Rubber Man’s mask (keep in mind, Ben doesn’t know Tate is the Rubber Man), and Ben believes in the possibility of Vivien’s rape. Ben is stuck in a state of shock, because he believes someone raped Vivien, and he knows he made a crucial mistake.

Constance visits Vivien in the asylum, and Constance offers her support as a friend. Vivien tells Constance the truth about the rape, and Constance promises secrecy after Vivien’s admission. So if Vivien is telling the truth, why is she determined to keep everything a secret with Constance? Because Vivien wants to leave the asylum, so she needs the doctors to believe Tate’s attack was nothing more than a bad dream.

Towards the end, Billie Dean Howard paints a disastrous picture for Tate’s actions. According to a prophecy reserved for The Pope’s eyes, if a baby from a living human (Vivien) and a ghost (Tate) is born into the world, the child is the Antichrist, and his arrival is the first sign of the apocalypse.

It’s an uneasy and eerie cliffhanger. After Billie Dean’s foreboding words, they pull the plug. No cut scenes, no reaction from Constance, no shots of Vivien in the asylum. Nothing. What’s the solution? Can they stop the impending reign of terror? How does Vivien feel about all of this? Keep in mind Vivien doesn’t know about the prophecy or the Antichrist. So many tantalizing unanswered questions for the next episode, and the prophecy is another monumental hurdle for Ben and Vivien.

Murder House offers another conspiracy theory for The Black Dahlia murder mystery, and Murder House mirrors the events for the real life discovery of Elizabeth‘s body. Mena Suvari brings a nostalgic presence to the Elizabeth character, and the sight of Short’s dismembered corpse is genuinely horrifying. The sub-plot for Elizabeth is low on the totem pole for prominent storylines in this episode, but Elizabeth’s story is one of the more memorable flashbacks during American Horror Story’s first season.

Spooky Little Girl is another satisfying episode, and you can feel the build towards the finale here. They closed Ben’s chapters with Hayden and Moira, because it’s all about the twins, the prophecy, and Vivien giving birth now. Will Ben and Vivien fight back against the evil forces at the house? Do they stand a chance in a seemingly unwinnable fight? Spooky Little Girl is better than a run-of-the-mill episode, and I’ll give this one an extra bump for a pair of stand out performances from Kate Mara and Dylan McDermott, and another superb cliffhanger.

Rating: 9/10

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American Horror Story- Murder House- Episode 8- Rubber Man

**This review contains spoilers**

Synopsis: The clock is ticking with six months on the calendar for the big move, and The Harmons are still piecing everything together, while Marcy (Christine Estabrook) puts the finishing touches on the deal. Chad (Zachary Quinto) and his boyfriend, Patrick (Teddy Sears) are the current residents at Murder House. A depressed and frustrated Chad struggles to find a spark to fix the intimacy issues in the relationship. 

The solution? Chad visits a local BDSM shop to purchase a full body latex suit. Chad tries to seduce Patrick with some help from the suit, but Patrick rejects Chad’s advances. A disgusted Chad scolds Patrick for his cold and uncaring attitude, and Patrick crushes Chad’s hopes for bringing a baby into their lives.

Chad throws the latex suit in the trash, but a stranger picks it up. Who is the stranger? It’s Tate (Evan Peters). Tate wears the latex suit, and as the Rubber Man, Tate murders Chad and Patrick. To complicate the situation, Nora (Lily Rabe) is having a lot of trouble accepting her death, and she misses her baby boy. Tate steps in to help Nora with one promise: Tate will find a way to give Nora a newborn baby.

In the present, a shaken Vivien (Connie Britton) is losing control. Vivien’s sightings of a dead Nora are dismissed as paranoid delusions, but Moira (Frances Conroy) emerges as a believer and a support system for Vivien. Violet (Taissa Farmiga) is still bitter towards Ben (Dylan McDermott), and Violet blames Ben for her mother’s catastrophic nervous breakdown.

Vivien is haunted by a series of ghostly sightings, and Hayden (Kate Mara) is determined to destroy everything in Vivien’s life. With Tate’s help as the Rubber Man, Hayden devises a plan with a reluctant Nora: The Rubber Man will haunt and torment Vivien, pushing her to the edge. And when Vivien finally snaps, Ben will be forced to commit Vivien to the “loony bin.”

As a patient in an insane asylum, Vivien will be labeled as an unfit mother, and to complete Hayden’s plan, Hayden will take one of the twins to replace her dead child with Ben, and Nora will take the other child to replace Thaddeus. Luke (Morris Chestnut) is on a short list of allies to protect Vivien, and Vivien is running out of time and options, as Hayden executes her master plan. Does Vivien have enough to endure Hayden’s taunting? Or will Vivien crack under the pressure?

Review: Tate as the Rubber Man? It’s not a complete shock, because the foreshadowing is too obvious in the first half of the season. At first, AHS: Murder House wanted the audience to believe Tate was just using the latex suit to scare and play pranks on Violet. Now, there’s no more guessing, hints, or different candidates. Tate is the Rubber Man, no questions asked. Tate is the one, who impregnated Vivien on the pilot episode, and now we have an official nickname for the man in the latex suit.

Chad and Patrick‘s deaths? Yeah, the murder-suicide was a set up, with Tate leading the way. He murdered Chad and Patrick……but Moira (the older Moira) helped Tate plan the murder-suicide. Moira had the inside scoop for Chad and Patrick’s active social lives, so to kill any suspicions, Moira gave Tate a gun to complete the set up.

Why did Tate murder Chad and Patrick? Because Tate wanted to help Nora in her quest for another child. Chad and Patrick had plans for a baby, but Patrick’s infidelity ruined their relationship, and Patrick crushed any hopes for a child. With Chad and Patrick dead, Nora could wait on a new family to move in, and Tate could focus on their possible plans for another child. Creepy, creepy stuff.

Vivien is hanging on by a thread in this episode, and she finally snaps, when Hayden pushes her. Vivien reaches a breaking point with the house and Hayden’s games, and after the warning from Moira, Vivien makes the decision to leave the house with Violet in the middle of the night. But Violet and Vivien run into a surprise inside the car outside. Remember the three whack jobs (including one of Ben’s patients) from Home Invasion (Episode 2)? They reappear in the car as ghoulish figures to haunt Vivien and Violet. Frightened, Vivien and Violet retreat to the house for safety.

Ben returns to play the role of a protector, but Vivien is not interested in Ben rejoining the family as a helping hand. Vivien tells her story to the police, but they have trouble believing Vivien’s story, because the maniacs from Home Invasion are dead or missing. In reality, we know Tate (with some help from Constance’s cupcake) murdered the trio.

One day, Vivien fakes an illness to distract Marcy, and Vivien steals Marcy’s gun. At night, Hayden and Tate double-team Vivien in her room with another round of scare tactics. Hayden taunts Vivien (i.e. smashing Vivien‘s panic button for Luke), and Tate (as the Rubber Man) tries to force himself on Vivien. Out of panic and fear, Vivien grabs the gun, and she shoots the first person, who walks through the door of her bedroom. Unfortunately, the wounded victim is Ben.

Luke arrives on the scene, but he’s too late. Vivien pleads her case to the police, but they can’t find any signs of forced entry. The police, Ben, and Luke have a hard time buying into Vivien’s story, and Ben is out of options. To ensure Vivien and Violet’s safety, Ben commits Vivien to an insane asylum, but a stunned Vivien is relieved to leave the house. 

Wait a minute. Vivien is not the only one, who witnessed the ghoulish versions of the maniacs from Home Invasion. Violet is the second witness, so Violet should’ve told the truth to protect her mother, right? Well, Violet was about to tell Ben the truth, but Tate stopped her.

Why? Because Tate didn’t want to lose Violet. If Violet confessed to sightings of dead people, she would join her mother in the asylum, so Tate convinced Violet to tell a lie to Ben and the second group of police (Violet told the truth to the first group of cops. Yeah, I know. Weird) officers. But you can see the look of heartbreak on Violet’s face during a talk with Ben, because Violet feels the guilt.

There’s a lot to digest in this episode. It’s not a big shock, but we finally know the identity of the Rubber Man, and Violet is an x-factor in all of this. How is she going to react, when she finds out the love of her life impregnated her mother? Will Violet forgive Tate? Or will Violet launch a mission to stop Tate’s plans for Nora’s new baby?

And what about Vivien? Will she succumb to a life inside an asylum? Or will she fight back to reclaim her family, her home, and her life? If I’m using this episode as a measuring stick, you have to believe in the chances of Vivien throwing in the towel. It’s hard to ignore the defeated look on her face towards the end, and the odds are stacked against her, because Ben threatened legal action to stop Vivien’s plans of a move to Florida without Ben.

Hayden is hell-bent on destroying Vivien’s life, and she’s not walking away without a victory. And how do you fight someone, who’s dead? The dilemma with the twins raises a lot of questions, because Ben and Violet are unaware of Tate’s plans with Nora and Hayden. And Vivien can’t use the asylum as a safe house for the twins, because Ben stepping in and taking the twins back to the house is a foregone conclusion.

To add to that, you have the elephant in the room with Tate’s latex suit. Vivien found the mask laying around the house (another scare trick from Hayden), and Vivien tries to jog Ben’s memory with a reminder of the wild night….but Ben was downstairs, when Tate was wearing the suit.

Rubber Man ties up the loose ends for Chad and Patrick’s story (they never showed the full “murder-suicide” in Halloween Part I. They only showed the attack on Chad), they give you an inside look for the downfall of the relationship between the two, and they show a detailed flashback for the origins of Tate’s suit. You’ll see a good amount of spooky moments in Rubber Man (the flickering lights during an attack from Hayden, the sight of the three nutcases from Home Invasion in the backseat of the car, etc.), and it’s hard to ignore the earth shattering vibe in this episode. Ben forces his way back into the house, Vivien is gone, Tate is working with Hayden, and Hayden is holding a seemingly insurmountable lead in the feud with Vivien.

Murder House is on a roll towards the march to the finale, and Rubber Man ends with a plethora of intriguing and through provoking unanswered questions. Also, Violet missed two weeks of school, but they never provide a proper explanation for the absences. They just lead you in the direction of Violet being the rebellious spoiled brat, and that’s it.

Oh, and one more thing. I’m glad Vivien FINALLY made the decision to leave the house before something bad happens. There’s some time left before the end of the season, so Ben, Vivien, and Violet are not in the clear yet, but it’s refreshing to see a character with enough common sense to make a move before they hit the point of no return for a haunted house.

I’ve seen my fair share of horror movies, shows, and horror themed material over the years, and oblivious protagonists, who wait too long to leave a HAUNTED house really annoy me. Yes, we see ghosts, dead people are walking around,  someone in the family is possessed, and we’re pretty sure the evil forces in the house are the main reason for a series of strange incidents and injuries, but let’s wait it out until the end to be 100% sure. You know, when there’s no possible chance of an escape, and someone in the family dies, because they had to sacrifice themselves to save the group. Ugh.    

Rating: 8/10


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American Horror Story- Murder House- Episode 6- Piggy Piggy

**This review contains spoilers**

Synopsis: In 1994, Tate Langdon (Evan Peters) walks into Westfield High School with a set of guns. Tate goes on a vicious shooting spree with no mercy, as the entire school desperately seeks shelter. In the library, Tate corners five students. Stephanie Boggs (Alessandra Torresani), Kevin Gedman (Jordan David), Amir Stanley (Alexander Nimetz), Kyle Greenwell (Brando Eaton), and Chloe Stapleton (Ashley Rickards) beg for their lives in the library, but Tate murders everyone after a series of pleas for mercy, failed attempts at reasoning with Tate, and one act of defiance from Kyle.

Tate returns to the Harmon’s future home with his mother, Constance (Jessica Lange), but a SWAT team invades the house. The SWAT team forces Tate into a surrender at gunpoint, but Tate reaches for a gun under his pillow at the last second. Tate tries to pull the trigger, but the SWAT team murders Tate, leaving a distraught Constance to grieve over her dead son in the hallway.

In the modern world, Constance introduces Violet (Taissa Farmiga) to a medium named Billie Dean Howard (Sarah Paulson). Constance and Billie have a plan, but they need Violet’s help. Tate is dead, but Tate is oblivious and he refuses to accept his place in the afterlife, and Ben (Dylan McDermott) couldn’t help Tate. Constance paid for the sessions with Ben to help Tate cope with his death, but Tate’s obsession with Violet complicated the patient/doctor relationship, so Violet is Constance’s last resort. The plan? Violet needs to convince Tate to cross over into the afterlife, and accept his death with no questions asked.

Meanwhile, Ben is living alone, and he’s trying to help a new patient named Derek (Eric Stonestreet). Derek can’t shake his fears for urban legends, and the “Piggy Man” urban legend is ruining Derek’s life. The Piggy Man was a butcher from Chicago in 1893. He wore a mask made of flesh from a pig’s face, but the Piggy Man suffered a gruesome death one day after an accident in his peg pen. According to the legend, whoever speaks the Piggy Man’s name repeatedly, while standing in front of a mirror will unleash the Piggy Man’s wrath. In the end, the Piggy Man will return to the living world, and murder the victim, who speaks his name.

Vivien (Connie Britton) opens up to Luke (Morris Chestnut) about the split  from Ben, and Luke shares a story about his problems with infidelity and his ex-wife to help Vivien. Money is a big problem in the Harmon household, so Vivien tries to fire Moira (Frances Conroy), but Moira refuses Vivien’s demand.

Instead, Moira will work for free, because she won’t leave a pregnant mother alone without a man in the house to take care of her. Together, Constance and Moira continuously feed Vivien a series of strange meals for a raw meats only diet to help the baby with Moira as the cook. Vivien is trying to move on after life with Ben, but she wants some answers from the ultrasound technician, who fainted on Halloween night during Vivien’s emergency trip to the hospital………

Review: Murder House opens the door to reveal more details about Tate’s past here. Now we know Tate is the one, who murdered the group of five from Halloween night, and Constance reaches out to Violet for help, but there’s one big problem: Violet is afraid of Tate.

Violet uses her computer to research the details behind the shooting, and Violet questions a teacher, who was paralyzed by Tate in the shooting. Violet is clearly shaken up and disturbed after the personal investigation. At first, Violet gravitated towards Tate, because she was attracted to the loner and the misunderstood outcast. Now? Violet sees a cold-blooded murder.

Although, Violet’s faith in Tate is restored after a failed suicide attempt. Violet is having trouble sleeping, so Leah (Shelby Young, the bully from the pilot)  offers Violet some pills for the problem. But a distraught Violet pops one too many pills. Luckily, Tate was in the house (Violet was alone), and Tate rescues an unconscious Violet.

Vivien hits a few bumps in the road during the early stages of her life without Ben. She’s lonely, but Luke is a reliable support system for security, and he’s around, if Vivien needs someone to talk to. Constance and Moira? There’s something fishy about the mission to “help” Vivien. All the raw meat meals, Moira choosing to work for free, and Constance’s perky attitude? Yeah, something’s not right, and you have to believe Constance and others are working to together to complete some kind of diabolical plan for Vivien’s baby.

Remember the ultrasound technician? She quit her job at the hospital, because the image from Vivien’s visit is still haunting her, but she agrees to meet Vivien at a church (it’s the only place, where she feels safe from Vivien). So why is she afraid of Vivien and her baby? The ultrasound technician spotted something evil in Vivien’s womb. The ultrasound technician recalls sightings of hooves from a small demonic figure. Vivien dismisses the technician’s sightings, and the technician scolds Vivien with foreboding warnings after the talk.

Wait. A woman, who’s possibly carrying a demonic baby? The pregnant mother developing a taste for raw meat? And a kooky (Constance) neighbor, who’s trying to lend a helping hand with a secret agenda for the evil baby? The similarities to Rosemary’s Baby in this one episode are almost impossible to ignore, and the doctor is an ideal candidate to add to the list of suspects. Sorry, but she’s too cheery, and she’s dismissing all of Vivien’s concerns as harmless hiccups? But I’ll say this, the only big difference (for now) is the husband (Ben) is not apart of the scheme to help his career.

The Piggy Piggy stuff? It’s a sinister twist for the Bloody Mary folklore legend, but don’t get your hopes up for something special. A robber murders Derek after a “face your fears” mirror test from Ben, and if I’m using this episode as a measuring stick, it’s safe to say the Piggy Piggy storyline is a one and done deal.

Piggy Piggy is another solid episode for American Horror Story’s first season, and it’s nice to see a debut appearance  from Sarah Paulson here. From what I remember, Paulson’s role is limited in the first season, but she’s a mainstay for American Horror Story, and Paulson’s characters receive prominent roles in season 2 (Asylum) and season 3 (Coven).

The flashback for Tate’s backstory is genuinely dark and disturbing, and Violet and Tate’s relationship is put to the test after Violet learns the truth about Tate’s past. Ben? He’s on the outside looking in for the first time in years. There’s a scene with Ben, and he’s walking by the house. From the outside, an exiled Ben watches Vivien and Luke share a friendly chat, and you can clearly see a happy Vivien. And Vivien’s not in the mood for forgiveness, because she’s “disgusted” with Ben and his relationship with Hayden.  

What’s going on with Vivien and her baby? I find it hard to believe Moira and Constance are trying to help Vivien with the hopes of a positive outcome. They’re taking advantage of a vulnerable and lonely woman, who’s desperate for companionship, and hopefully we’ll learn more about the stranger in the latex suit, because there’s a GOOD chance he’s the father of Vivien’s baby (remember the pilot episode).

Rating: 7/10

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Identity Thief (2013)

Sandy Patterson (Jason Bateman) travels to Winter Park, Florida to confront and apprehend the woman, who stole his identity. Diana (Melissa McCarthy) is a professional con-artist, and she won’t go down without a fight. Eventually, Sandy is a able to convince Diana to return to his job in Colorado, and give a statement to his boss, that will undoubtedly clear Sandy’s name.

But along the away, Sandy and Diana must outrun two gangsters, who are ordered to kill Diana on sight. Marisol (Genesis Rodriguez) and Julian (Tip Harris or T.I.) are determined to carry out the orders from their boss Paolo, and kill Sandy, if he gets in the way. And a vindictive bounty hunter named Skiptracer (Robert Patrick) is tracking Diana. So Diana and Sandy must work together for survival, and Sandy has to keep his plan to expose Diana to the cops a secret.

Jason Bateman and Melissa McCarthy share some good chemistry together, as polar opposites. As usual, Bateman is the uptight nerd, who plays by the rules, and McCarthy is the obnoxious and loud-mouthed thief, who will do anything, and stoop to every low level imaginable to steal more money from the next victim. Robert Patrick is okay as the typical redneck bounty hunter, and T.I. brought a few chuckles out of me, as the goofball hitman. Genesis Rodriguez was supposed to be a delightful psycho, but as usual, Rodriguez’s good looks triumphed over her acting skills, or lack there of.

Bateman and McCarthy are good for a handful of funny moments, but Identity Thief really didn’t do anything for me overall. The laughs are inconsistent, and the mushy moments were damn near unbearable for me. Diana is picked on for being an outcast throughout this film, so of course you’ll see a bunch of tear jerking “be proud of, who you are” scenes. Yeah, I understand the point behind the self-acceptance messages, but Identity Thief takes everything too far.

Identity Thief could’ve been a better comedy film, but it’s barely average. Melissa McCarthy has found a niche, as the rambunctious fat woman. Her routine works well, when she’s paired with a nerdy and uptight character (Kristen Wiig in Bridesmaids, Bateman in Identity Thief, and from looking at the trailers, Sandra Bullock in The Heat), and McCarthy’s shtick is hot now, there’s no denying it.

Final Rating: 5/10