Ben begins disassociating, causing gaps in his memory. Vivien tries to sell the house, but learns that it is the big finale of a horror tour.
**CONTENT WARNING: Mentions of attempted rape, murder, botched experiments**
Synopsis
Staying on pattern, this episode again opens with a flashback. This time we see young Moira as a maid being harassed by a man revealed to be Constance’s husband. He attempts to rape her, but Constance catches them and murders both of them (shooting Moira through the eye, which explains why one eye of her ghost is clouded).
Vivien is angry with Ben for lying to her about their finances. They can’t afford to move, so she brings the realtor back and threatens to sue her if she doesn’t sell the house and recoup everything they’ve spent. Vivien soon learns that the house is a star of a horror bus tour and takes a ride on the tour to find out more for herself. The tour guide tells the origin of the house back in 1922, built by a doctor for his wife and baby, before he became a deranged addict. The wife, unsatisfied with their wealth, basically turned the basement into a black market abortion clinic.
After the tour, Vivien has some spotting and fears for the baby, but the doctor assures her nothing is wrong. However, she also tries to convince Vivien not to move houses, as Violet also does later. A woman shows up at the house who Vivien believes to be a prospective buyer and tries to impress, but we recognize as the doctor’s wife from 1922, who has a bullet hole in the back of her head, unseen by Vivien.
Ben has several episodes of disassociation, finding himself often standing in his yard with no memory of recent events. He has issues with Moira throwing herself at him and then denying it to make him look bad, but is unable to have her fired. He suspects she has been drugging him, causing the blackouts. He also is hounded by the burned man who learns of his issues with Hayden and the baby. Hayden shows up unexpectedly, revealing that she didn’t go through with the abortion and expects him to assist in raising the baby. Ben leads her out of the house to discuss it, but the burned man suddenly appears and whacks Hayden with a shovel until she dies. Ben freaks out, but the man explains that he’s solved all Ben’s problems, so long as they bury the body (and proceeds to blackmail him for $1000 for his “help”). They dig a hole in the spot where Ben kept waking unexpectedly and find a skeleton there, clearly Moira’s. They bury Hayden on top of her and cover the hole with cement and a gazebo. Constance smugly tells Moira that she’s now stuck here forever.
The House and Its Ghosts
Now we know where the house began. I imagine the crazed experiments of the doctor and the secretive abortions probably played into why the house became a source of evil and a black hole for ghosts. There has always been a significance to the basement, as though it was a heart of the haunting, which makes sense with all the disturbing things taking place in there from the beginning. Fun fact, the music cue during that scene is actually from Bram Stoker’s Dracula, during the scene where he becomes a vampire. Anyway, now the doctor’s wife has shown up, so that’s a new ghost for the list. In life she was cold and greedy, but her ghost seems sorrowful and guilty. Maybe she’s come to see the error of her ways since her death. She’s played by Lily Rabe, who becomes a major player in later seasons. Like Jessica Lange, she has such wonderful presence in her delivery that stands in contrast to the awful character. I kinda love the fact that two bad people are played by amazing actresses. You love and hate them at the same time.
We also see Moira’s death story, although I’m a little confused now how she is able to appear like an old woman when she never aged past her twenties. Since Constance taunted her about being stuck here forever, I’m wondering if she could have been freed if her body was moved off the property. But then, I would imagine the two victims of the home invasion in the last episode probably weren’t buried there and they are still ghosts within the house, so who knows. Constance’s husband also died here, right next to Moira, but we’ve yet to see him, so I’m not sure if he’s a ghost too or not. Hayden obviously will become one. Ugh, I hate Hayden. Not looking forward to seeing ghost Hayden, stuck in this house forever.
The Family
Ben is a mess. Vivien keeps telling him how important trust is and that he better not lie to her again. Not only did he already lie about visiting his ex-mistress, he lied about their finances, and now he’s covering up a murder. I appreciate that Vivien is trying to give him another chance, but she could do much better than him. Or on her own. I feel like she’s going to wind up paying because of his problems, now that she’s basically stuck in the house. There wasn’t much Violet content in this episode.
Constance and Moira
Like I mentioned above, Constance is awful. She murdered a poor woman who was literally in the process of being raped and has blamed her for it for decades, constantly shooting barbs at her and making her more miserable. Moira really wanted nothing to do with Constance’s husband, but now she has to be tormented even though she was the victim all around. Although, I still have no idea why she’s so brash about seducing Ben, especially now that we’ve seen her backstory. Maybe she’s just trying to prove all men are dogs or something. I’m not really sure. I hope there is an explanation and that this isn’t some random, pointless plot line. I’m also not sure why she would drug him, and if that’s connected to the seduction or not.
Conclusion
I like that the show progressively introduces new ghosts from various eras. I hope we see more of Lily Rabe’s ghost and find out how she died. The family started on a rocky note and are getting ever more disconnected. I just want to know more about some of the motivations of characters like Moira and Constance because right now some of their actions don’t make sense. Looks like the next two episodes are a Halloween two-parter, which I recall being pretty significant though I can’t remember why. Looking forward to finding out.
Score: 6/10