X

Join or Sign In

Sign in to customize your TV listings

Continue with Facebook Continue with email

By joining TV Guide, you agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy.

American Horror Story: Hotel: Why John and Alex Lowe Will Never Be the Same

Read our recap of "Devil's Night"

unnamed.jpg
Sadie Gennis

It's Devil's Night at the Hotel Cortez, which means those who aren't familiar with real-life serial killers might have found themselves a tad out of the loop during the first part of American Horror Story: Hotel's two-part Halloween special.

The first to arrive for the especially killer episode was none other than the Night Stalker, Richard Ramirez. As we previously reported, Ramirez was a Satanist serial killer in the '80s who stayed at the Cortez's real-life inspiration, Los Angeles' Cecil Hotel, while committing his dozen-plus murders.

The real-life inspirations for American Horror Story: Hotel

The next to arrive is exactly is this season has been waiting for: Lily Rabe, who almost makes you forget about the gaping, Jessica Lange-sized hole cursing this season. Rabe shows up to the Cortez's bar playing notorious serial killer Aileen Wuornos, who successfully picks up John Lowe (Wes Bentley) before attempting to add him to her victims.

Following this disturbing incident, John gets his official invitation to Mr. March's (Evan Peters) elite event, Devil's Night, which also includes John Wayne Gacy (John Carroll Lynch), Jeffrey Dahmer (Seth Gabel) and the Zodiac killer. Yet even faced with a table of serial killers, John still believes the dinner is a prank and not a gathering of those who worship at the altar of Mr. March's murderous ways.

Unfortunately, almost as soon as John realizes how dire of a situation he's in, he discovers there's no way out. Handcuffed to his chair by Gacy, John grabs a gun and attempts to stop Dahmer from taking another life by shooting him, only to realize all the Devil's Night attendees are impervious to mortal foibles. Meanwhile, Wuornos and the Night Stalker grind on each other and make this show worth watching.

Throughout the ordeal, Mr. March hints towards seeing something within John that implies he will join their kind. So is John the 10 Commandments Killer? Is this some sort of Fight Club scenario, wherein John doesn't even realize he is the 10 Commandments Killer? Is he going to become some other killer? Who the @$%& knows at this point. We're only a few episodes into this season, and there's still a whole lot of craziness to come.

Speaking of craziness, Sally (Sarah Paulson) shows up at Devil's Night with a drug addict she'd picked up off the street to literally serve to the serial killers, who simultaneously stab the man to death. But as soon as the knives go in, the ghosts disappear and Sally tells John he was merely hallucinating. She even goes so far as to claim she's John's "protector," but we aren't exactly buying that.

How American Horror Story: Hotel might finally explain the Infantata

The episode also explains Ms. Evers' (Mare Winningham) obsession with her crisp white sheets. You see, it all dates back to Halloween 1925 when her son Albert was kidnapped by Gordon Northcott, who added Evers' son to his collection of boys he kept, molested and murdered at his California chicken ranch. Though the police never recovered Albert's body, they did manage to find the bloody white sheet that Ms. Evers had draped over Albert prior to his kidnapping to serve as a cheap Halloween costume. She's never forgiven herself for the shoddy costume and taking her eyes off Albert to this very day, which is why she's so diligent when it comes to keeping the Cortez's linens so spotless.

After Ms. Evers confides her guilt to John (Wes Bentley) - since he, too, blames himself for the loss of his son - the detective quickly discovers that Ms. Evers' woes took place 90 years ago. This revelation, combined with his Devil's Night experience, is sure to make a believer out of the previously down-to-earth detective.

Meanwhile, the Countess (Lady Gaga) explains Holden's virus to Alex (Chloe Sevigny), who decides to accept the offer to turn in exchange for eternity with her son and servitude to the glamorous blood-sucker.

Yeah, that's not going to end well.

What did you think of this week's American Horror Story: Hotel?