TV Recap: AMERICAN HORROR STORY: HOTEL Episode 504, ‘Devil’s Night’

Alyse Wax recaps last night’s episode of AMERICAN HORROR STORY.

John wakes to a phone call from Scarlett, asking if she can stay with her grandmother longer. John agrees; he is distracted by blood dripping down the walls. Heading upstairs to investigate, he finds Ms. Evers. She is out of sorts, a little mad, remembering her son, who was killed in 1925. They commiserate over their missing children. 

Evers took her son, Albert, trick-or-treating. She didn’t have time to make him a real costume, so he went as a ghost, a costume he hated. While Evers chats with another mother, Albert is kidnapped and falls victim to the Wineville Chicken Coop Murderer. Evers doesn’t really know exactly what happened to her son. When the cops raided the place, there was only one living boy there. All they found of Albert was a bloody ghost costume. She suddenly remembers she has much to do to prepare for the master’s “autumnal banquet” and scampers off. Later, at the police department, John discovers the Wineville Chicken Coop Murders took place in 1925 – and Miss Evers looks exactly as she did 90 years ago.

The “autumnal banquet” Miss Evers speaks of is an annual gathering of Mr. March’s murder students. Aileen Wuornos, John Wayne Gacy, Jeffrey Dahmer, Richard Ramirez, and the Zodiac Killer are all in attendance. When Aileen picks him up at the hotel bar, he is too drunk to figure out she isn’t wearing a costume, and doesn’t care about the consequences. She tries to kill him and he fights back, handcuffing her before going down to complain to Liz Taylor. Liz fills him in  on Devil’s Night and gives him his invite to the party. Back in his room, Aileen is gone, but a tuxedo has been left for him.

John attends the banquet with trepidation. He promises he is just there to arrest Aileen; no one seems too concerned. The group shares in some absinthe, and March introduces himself and his diners. John thinks this is a trick, but the killers all reminisce about how they came to find March as their mentor. Most stumbled upon him while passing through town. March was the first man to treat Aileen with respect; Gacy could have had a higher body count if he had really listened to him; he taught Ramirez to kill indiscriminately. 

Ms. Evers serves dinner. Dahmer is offended that he is given a salad, so she brings him an amuse bouche: a scared young man. Dahmer proceeds to drill into his brain and pour in some acid, so he has a mindless zombie who will never leave him. Despite being handcuffed to the chair, and being drugged, John fires his gun at the madmen. He clips Dahmer, who doesn’t even flinch. “Don’t you get that we’re already dead?” March sees his collection of deviants as the definition of American success. They have made their marks on history; their stories will live on forever. 

Now it is time for dessert. Sally brings in an obnoxious businessman she picked up on the street. After dosing him with a high ball, he was easily led into the murderer’s ball. This will, apparently, buy Sally a year of “being left alone.” Ms. Evers presents a tray of knives; everyone chooses one, then they go into a frenzy stabbing the drugged businessman.

John starts screaming in a panic. But everyone is gone. He is left in the room, dark and empty, with Sally trying to calm him down. She swears he is hallucinating, and promises she is real, she is his protector, and she isn’t going anywhere.

Meanwhile, Alex has brought Holden home. Jasper, the dog, barks at him like crazy. Alex thinks it is because he doesn’t know Holden. He is distant, awkward. He wants the drapes drawn and his temperature is only 75.5. She hugs him; he is thirsty. Alex goes to get him some juice. By the time she returns, she finds Holden bloody, crouching over Jasper’s corpse. “I don’t feel good. I need my mommy,” he says pitifully. Alex points out that she is his mommy. “My other mommy.”

With few choices, Alex returns to the Hotel Cortez with Holden. He rushes ahead and climbs straight into his coffin. Elizabeth is waiting for Alex. “You must have a lot of questions. I have a lot of answers.” She takes Alex back to her room and promises that she saved Holden; she saved all her children from what she saw as neglect. Elizabeth describes what Holden has as an “ancient virus, a blood disorder.” Alex pulls a gun, demanding she change him back. Elizabeth isn’t scared of the gun and informs her there is no cure. She offers to turn Alex, reuniting her with her true love. All she asks is for her undying loyalty. Alex promises to go to the police and tries to leave. As she does, Tristan appears and punches her. Elizabeth tells him to let her go.

As the episode comes to a close, Alex returns to Elizabeth. She cannot lose her boy again and is ready to be transformed. Elizabeth promises the transition will not be easy, and that she must surrender completely, allow herself to be ripped apart, ravaged. “You will feel like you are dying.” She feeds Alex, and the transformation begins.

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