Spanning the next several years, Kit, Jude, and Lana’s lives continue on, filled with success and horror.
**CONTENT WARNING: Descriptions of violence**
Synopsis
In 1967, a few years after the events at Briarcliff, Kit, Alma, and Grace have built a happy life together with their children. Or so it seems. Lately Grace has become obsessed with telling the toddlers of the aliens, viewing her abduction as a near religious experience since they brought her back from the dead. Alma disagrees, remembering her own abduction as a time of fear and torture that she wants to be rid of. Alma has tried to be accepting of Grace’s inclusion in their family, but Grace’s insistence on remembering the aliens increases the tension in their relationship. The fact that Grace was locked away for murdering her family does not help Alma trust her. Alma finally snaps and murders Grace with a hatchet, much to Kit’s distress.
In 1968, Jude plays a board game with Pepper and some other patients. Monsignor Timothy stops by to tell her that he’s been promoted to cardinal of New York, and Braircliff has been donated to the city for prison overflow. He promises to see to her release before he leaves. New inmates arrive, one of which is Alma, and Jude is given a new roommate who looks exactly like Shachath but acts like a regular prisoner. Jude is rattled and convinced that this is Shachath come for her. Jude ends up attacking her roommate, only to realize she’s not Shachath at all! Jude is sent to the new headmistress’ office, Dr. Crump, where she is shocked to learn that she cannot trust her own memory—it’s been two years since Cardinal Timothy left, and Pepper has been dead for quite some time.
In 1969, Lana attends a book signing for her new book, Maniac, which tells of her harrowing escape from Bloody Face and Braircliff. In the time since she got away, however, she’s become a sellout and a diva, and the story contains many embellishments and lies. Kit visits the book signing and they catch up over coffee, where it becomes clearer that Lana has chosen fame over justice for Briarcliff. She plans to write an expose on Leigh, who went on to kill seven nuns after his escape. Kit fills her in that Alma died while at Briarcliff when her heart unexpectedly stopped, and while retrieving her body, he saw Jude. Both Kit and Lana believed Jude to be dead. Kit tries to convince Lana to continue her goal of bringing Briarcliff down because Jude has officially gone crazy. Lana holds Jude responsible for everything she did at Briarcliff, conveniently forgetting Jude is the only reason she got away.
In the present, Johnny tracks down a signed copy of Lana’s book. One of the lies within it is that he died at birth. He plans to find Lana and shoot her, finishing Bloody Face’s work.
Kit, Alma, and Grace
While they don’t specifically answer my question from the last review, I’m assuming Grace really made an honest mistake when she thought Alma was dead, rather than lying intentionally. Grace just doesn’t seem to have a problem with Alma. I thought it was so interesting that Alma initially also seems to have no problem with Grace, either. In fact, she encourages Kit to be with Grace in an effort to distract her from her alien obsession. Of course, by the end it’s clear that she has never fully been okay with sharing her husband with an axe murderer who insists on dredging up the worst time of Alma’s life. I like how they portrayed Alma’s anxiety/PTSD, and while I certainly was not expecting her to abruptly murder Grace, I recognize the build up to it. I also like that the two women have different responses to their abductions. Alma was ripped from the safety of her own home and kept with the aliens for a long time, so of course she views the experience negatively, but Grace was literally brought back from the dead, so her interpretation was understandably different.
It’s interesting that Alma winds up in Braircliff as well … just when the Walkers think they’re done with the place. I hope they talk more about her death, because it was super sketchy and glossed over. Her heart just… stopped? She was in her twenties. That is super unusual. In any case, after being told twice before in the show that Alma was dead, this time it seems to be for real.
Jude
Or should I say Betty Drake, since Jude is “dead.” Wow, that was so crazy when we realize she’s losing her mind and memory. I wasn’t sure if her roommate really was Shachath in disguise or not, so when she suddenly looked absolutely nothing like her, it was jarring. Then we were right there with Jude, learning alongside her that two years passed in the time she thought was only a week. It was such a great way to put us in her shoes and make us feel her disorientation when things didn’t line up as we thought.
I like that Jude ended up befriending Pepper. Apparently Pepper wasn’t missing after all, so in the last episode, Lana must just not have known what happened to her. I suppose she never saw her when she was returned by the aliens.
Lana
Of all the surprises in this episode, the biggest was Lana’s complete change in personality. Just last episode I called her my hero because of how strong she was. Now, she’s gotten overly fond of hearing everyone else sing such praises of her that she’s become a fake and a jerk. It felt sadly realistic, though. People are often much more determined to make a difference while in the middle of their suffering, but after spending time free of their struggles, they tend to forget what was important to them at the time. All the same, I am astounded by all the blatant lies she put into her story, especially since it was pretty darn dramatic enough in the first place.
Now Johnny plans to avenge his father by killing Lana, so I’m guessing that’s what the show’s finale will be about. As much as it sucks that she became a sellout, I still don’t want her to get murdered.
Conclusion
While this episode didn’t have all the villains from throughout the season, I actually quite liked this episode. It was so interesting to see the aftermath of everything that happened, what became of the Walkers, Jude losing her grip on reality, and Lana losing touch with her core personality. I also thought it was interesting that they basically broke the episode into thirds, each 10-15 minute section following a different year and focusing on a different main character. I’ll be sad when this story is over, though I am so excited to see what my man Alfonso Gomez-Rejon brings to the finale.
Score: 8/10