We learn of the origin of many monsters—Bloody Face, Dr. Arden and his creatures, plus a new young serial killer.
**CONTENT WARNING: Descriptions of violence/body horror, disturbing photos**
Synopsis
In present day, Bloody Face anonymously calls the police to come to Briarcliff to find the bodies of the imposter Bloody Faces.
In the sixties, Lana wakes in a rough remake of her bedroom, but her ankle is chained to the bed. Thredson cooks her breakfast and explains why he became Bloody Face. His mother abandoned him when she was 33, leaving him to be raised in an orphanage filled with discipline while lacking in love and physical contact. He knew he was mentally different from his peers, which drove him to become a psychiatrist. During his medical schooling, he encountered the corpse of a 33 year old woman, which awakened him to the idea that his whole life, he’s been missing his mother’s touch. She was the first body he skinned, to feel that skin contact, but she had already been embalmed so her skin was cold and stiff. Since then, he’s been finding 33 year old women, kidnapping them, and skinning them alive so that their skin is still warm when he starts. Lana quickly jumps on the task of pretending to be his new mom in hopes of placating him so he doesn’t kill her. He leaves the room when Kit calls Thredson from jail to ask why he broke his promise to leave Kit in Briarcliff, if he followed Thredson’s therapy advice. While alone, Lana almost manages to break one of the chain links, but Thredson returns and catches her. He thinks she wants to abandon him just like his mother and straps down her arms, too. He further reveals why he targeted her—he saw her once before she was in Briarcliff. She was talking to someone while waiting for a press opportunity following Kit’s initial arrest, and he was attracted to her spark of life. At this press meeting, she had also mentioned how Bloody Face didn’t start out as a monster, but once was a baby crying for his mother. Thredson thought she would finally be someone who understands him. Lana lays on the mother act thick and seems to have stopped him from killing her… for now.
Sister Jude meets with the mother who is worried about her young daughter named Jenny. Jenny has always been a stoic old soul, even as a baby. Her only friend recently was murdered, and the mother suspects Jenny did it then lied about some mysterious attacker to cover it up. Sister Jude turns her away because they don’t have a children’s ward here, but the mother ditches Jenny anyway when she leaves. Sister Mary Eunice watches over Jenny until they can figure out what to do with her, and tells her she knows Jenny killed her friend and applauds her for it. She tells Jenny to never let anyway take away the part of her that’s special, and hints that she should learn to defend herself. Sister Jude convinces the mother to pick Jenny up, but later we see that Jenny murders her mother and her two siblings, then tells the same lie about the attacking stranger to the police.
Monsignor Timothy Howard is called in to a hospital to do last rights for a deformed person found at a nearby school. He’s surprised to recognize her as Shelley, realizing what Dr. Arden has been doing in his lab. A couple years earlier, he met Dr. Arden while preparing Briarcliff during a transition from a TB ward into to an asylum. Dr. Arden worked at the ward and lamented that he would no longer be able to continue his research into boosting immune systems to withstand such diseases, so Monsignor Timothy offered him the job at Briarcliff with the understanding that he would continue the research with some of the patients as “volunteers.” Monsignor Timothy strangles Shelley with his rosary and confronts Dr. Arden over the feeling that this wasn’t what the two of them had agreed on. He intends to expose Dr. Arden, but Dr. Arden points out that if he does, everything else that happens in Briarcliff will come to light, also. Instead, he convinces him to fire Sister Jude.
Sister Jude gets a call from Sam, the man investigating the claim that Dr. Arden was a Nazi. He’s found evidence that Dr. Arden really is Hans Gruper, a Nazi scientist at Auschwitz, after all. He just needs Sister Jude to get a fingerprint sample from Arden to prove it. Sister Jude learns she’s being fired, but is determined to take Arden down with her. She obtains his fingerprints by offering him a toast for winning their rivalry. She takes the glass with the fingerprints to Sam, but Sister Mary Eunice has gotten there first, murdered Sam, and taken all his research. With his dying breath, Sam tells Sister Jude that one of her nuns did this. Sister Mary Eunice gives Dr. Arden the evidence, except for a little she’s holding on to just in case he thinks of double crossing her. She promises to take care of everything, so long as he trusts her with his whole heart.
Back in the present day, the police find the bodies of the three imposters and Leo, but not Teresa. She’s been kidnapped by Bloody Face to be his newest “mommy.”
Bloody Face and Lana
Zachary Quinto can be so creepy when he wants! The explanation for the origin of Bloody Face is disturbing but it makes sense with what they’ve established so far. I know it’s not easy for Lana to fight through her fear and try to appease him, but she’s doing well so far. It’s not making this much easier, though, especially since his whole obsession is with affectionate physical touch, and she is already uncomfortable touching men. At least we now know for sure that he was aware of Lana before he attacked Wendy. It was simply to his coincidental benefit that Lana wound up locked in Briarcliff with Kit. Come to think of it, Thredson’s first complaint to Sister Jude was about the electrotherapy he saw her using on Lana. He was probably extra incensed because he didn’t want Lana’s spark of life to be tarnished. Still, he attacked Wendy before seeing Lana there, so I wonder if he went to the house to spy on Lana and instead found out Wendy had turned her over to Briarcliff. Maybe he attacked Wendy partially because he was angry with her for betraying Lana like that.
One thing I’m a little confused about is the present day content. That sounded like Zachary Quinto’s voice during the anonymous phone call, but he would be around 80 years old at this time. With all of the supernatural things that have already happened, I wonder if something will happen to him before this is all over that will keep him this age. Maybe he’s a ghost. I wouldn’t put it past the show. And it’s not like they haven’t turned Zachary Quinto into a ghost before.
The Staff
At least Monsignor Timothy finally knows that Sister Jude was right all along, and he didn’t actually know how messed up Dr. Arden’s experiments were when he was covering for him. But he’s still forced to side with Dr. Arden over Sister Jude anyway. It blows my mind that everyone fully acknowledges how bad it would be if the public knows about what happens in Briarcliff, yet none of them ever actually seem to feel guilty about it or try to change their operating procedures. Anyway, I can’t believe he murdered Shelley with his rosary. I think he was putting her out of her misery, but for a Monsignor to take a life with his own rosary is pretty messed up.
Dr. Arden has already been starting to grow concerned about the change in Sister Mary Eunice, but he actually seems a little afraid of her now. Sister Jude may be on to her now as well, since as far as I can tell, Sister Mary Eunice is the only one who fits the description Sam gave.
As problematic as Sister Jude has shown herself to be throughout the season, I find myself feeling bad for her at the prospect of getting fired by the man she idolizes. It’s rather impressive that the show has managed to bring up such feelings of compassion towards someone they’ve also shown to be pretty awful herself. I think they’ve done a good job at humanizing her. Yes, she’s very flawed, but she also has understandable struggles and values. Not to say I forgive her of anything she’s done, but maybe she still has a shot at redemption.
The Patients
We didn’t really see the patients this episode, though to be fair most of the main ones aren’t even there anymore and we still are following Lana. Kit is in jail now, and good lord, how dense can you be wasting your only phone call on the guy who betrayed you and tricked you into confessing for the police? We didn’t see Grace at all, so I hope she’s doing okay after her abduction.
The Origins of Monstrosity
This episode has the most fitting name. We learn of Bloody Face’s origins while concurrently seeing the process start anew with Jenny. She was even abandoned by her mother, just like he was. Along with that, we also touch on Dr. Arden’s past, some of which we already knew, but this time illuminating the origins of how he became the current mad doctor of Briarcliff. In fact, we could say it shows the origins of Monsignor Timothy’s corruption as well, since he was an innocent priest when he met Dr. Arden and now he’s a knowing accomplice. This episode really revolves around this theme so perfectly encapsulated in the title.
Conclusion
This was a great episode. They masterfully explored the theme and even made me realize that I don’t totally hate Sister Jude anymore. They’ve kept up with some of the filmmaking tricks introduced in the last episode, which is good to see. Also, I’m relieved to see how well thought out these storylines have become. One of my biggest gripes about season one was the fact that many of the storylines had minor inconsistencies or aspects that simply didn’t make sense. Here, everything so far has come around in a fulfilling and understandable way. It has renewed my trust in this series.
Score: 9/10