What an episode! The second to last installment of the first season of American Horror Story, surely did not dissapoint this week. Check out the links below to the best recaps I've found on the web about last night's episode. Feel free to comment with your own additions!
AfterElton.com -- A nice clean recap of everything that happened in 'Birth' -- Brian Juergens injects his own humor and snide comments into this recap that's sure to make you crack a smile.
Washington Post Entertainment -- Another one of my weekly favorites-- Jen Chaney and Paul Williams raise a number of different questions stemming from last night's episode -- a good read for sure.
NJ.com -- This recap is a little different than we're used to -- writer James Queally offers his opinion of the show and what direction season 2 should go in.
WallStreetJournal -- A tidy little recap about the episode written by Gwen Orel, which insinuates at the end that Tate knows what he did.
A blog all about the best horror show on TV, American Horror Story -- complete with character analysis, research and dissection of the many clues.
Showing posts with label Dr. Montgomery. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dr. Montgomery. Show all posts
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Infantata, Thaddeus, Vampire-Frankenstein-Demon-Baby, Whatever You Want to Call The Thing in The Basement!
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| source |
"I love the infantata flashback. Love that his name is Thaddeus. Why is he bloodthirsty? Is that to keep him alive?
Yes. I think with any sort of horror show, you get what is the myth of that creature? And I think the approach we took to that is it’s sort of half-Frankenstein, half-Dracula. Left by himself in the house. Bloodthirsty. We’ve shown in other episodes where he’s been eating possums and bugs to sustain himself." (Source)
Ryan Murphy tells EW.com in an interview, quoted above, that the infantata is supposed to be half-frankenstein, half-dracula. Isn't Dr. Montgomery described by the tour operator as having a Frankentstein complex? Funny, considering he really did make a Frankenstein.. From what we learned in flashbacks, and from Tate -- it seems as thought the infantata is made up of more than just baby parts, but animal parts as well.
Side Note: I was reading the American Horror Story Wiki page on the infantata, which stated "After the pieces were returned to the Doctor Montgomery in jars, he lost his mind and attempted to sew his son back together, bringing Thaddeus back as the Infantata. For this, he told Nora he used "the beating heart of one of our girls", presumably referring to an almost fully developed fetus he removed from one of the patients." I was under the impression it was one of the girls, that was going there to receive his 'services.' What do you think?
Regardless, the infantata is most definitely a frankenstein old-apparently-baby, made up various different parts. We also know for sure, besides that Ryan Murphy tells us, that it feeds on blood. We see the dead possums in the house, as well as the twins presumably get killed by it in the pilot episode. I thought it was interesting that Dr. Montgomery was behind the Black Dahlia murders -- he tells the Dentist that he drains the blood for easy transportation, but what if he drained it to feed the infantata? Which leads me to wonder if any of the other ghosts in the house have a relationship with it besides Tate?
Brief backstory on the infantata to for the sake of it: Thaddeus was born to Charles and Nora Montgomery -- it seems Nora wanted very little to do with the baby while it was alive. Nevertheless, Nora and Dr. Montgomery weren't such great people and were operation a shady abortion business out of their basement, turns out one of the boyfriends found out and was pissed. He took baby Thaddeus one night declaring "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth" and returned him in jars full of baby pieces. Dr. Montgomery already had a habit of 'operating' on animals, putting bat wings on pigs and stuff, so he decided to put Thaddeus back together. He apparently used 'a heart from one of the girls' and brought 'it' back to life. He told a bewildered Nora there would be no funeral and sent her upstairs to see the baby. Only, the baby was no longer a normal baby. She tried to nurse it, and it apparently did not want milk, but blood instead -- judging by the claw marks on her chest. Nora then freaked and tried to kill it with a letter opener, of all things, but did not succeed -- it would not die. So now it hangs in the basement, feeding on whatever blood it can find.
The American Horror Story Wiki page tells us, as well as interviews with Ryan Murphy -- "Concerning Infantata's design, Ryan Murphy states that the mouth is based off of a leech mouth. The character's overall "look" is inspired by the genetic disease Progeria, and the character's clothing is inspired by one worn by the Lindbergh Baby."
Grossss --- so Progeria is basically this disease where you age way faster than you are supposed to, as well as in many cases have a disproportional head -- much smaller face than head. Back story on the Lindenbergh Baby courtesy of wikipedia: "The kidnapping of Charles Augustus Lindbergh, Jr., was the abduction of the son of aviator Charles Lindbergh and Anne Morrow Lindbergh. The toddler, 18 months old at the time, was abducted from his family home in East Amwell, New Jersey, near the town of Hopewell, New Jersey, on the evening of March 1, 1932. Over two months later, on May 12, 1932, his body was discovered a short distance from the Lindberghs' home. A medical examination determined that the cause of death was a massive skull fracture." Apparently after a long drawn out investigation and lengthy trial, newspaper columnist H L Mencken called the fiasco the 'biggest story since the Resurrection.' Interesting, I wonder if the infantata is really the antichrist -- I wonder if Billie is right about the Pope's box, just interpreting it wrong. The infantata was made of spirit and human if you think about it, right? Or am I just totally losing it?
Anyway, I've heard we get a reveal concerning the infantata tonight, so look forward to a Part 2 of this post... :) I'll update what we know about it as well as explore the infantata's relationship with Tate.
Thursday, December 1, 2011
RECAP: EPISODE 9 "SPOOKY LITTLE GIRL" (PART 1)
An old school yellow cab pulls up on a residential block. Black pumps step on the sidewalk and a beautiful woman steps out; she looks up at none other than the Murder House. She's there to Dr. David Curan, a dentist new to her and to the rest of us. She's dressed all in black with a white dhalia highlighted in her shiny black hair. It's 1947.
They enter his office and she explains that she hears he helps girls without a lot of money, she makes an advance for a mutual unofficial arrangement, putting a mask on her, Dr. Curan says "Just breathe."
-- Cut To Credits --
Well, at least we didn't have to wait to see Mena Suaveri in the episode. We cut back to present day: Ben walks into the bedroom where Moira is making the bed. He asks her to make a sandwich for Violet and she just starts talking... and he just starts looking. She tells him that she misses Viv, they became close, makes a few advances at him in between.
"Don't worry your secret's safe."
"What secret?" Ben replies, bewildered.
"The way you look at me, the way you fantasize about me. You have a diseased mind, Ben, must be why you become a therapist."
They go back and forth taking shots at eachother, Ben gets loud and Moira walks away to make Violet's sandwich, muttering "It's only a matter of time, the mind is unwilling but flesh is weak." (I think!)
We cut Constance (so glad to see her again) painting in her kitchen. Ironically enough it's looks like a demon thing, maybe the devil, with an apple and a naked woman, presumably Eve. Her young beau comes in and she starts talking to him like he's absolute garbage-- meanwhile she's committing an ultimate crime: smoking his last cigarette. He elects to run down to the store to grab a carton (chain-smokers?!) with the dog -- on his way he runs into a very clever Hayden.
She's hanging on the fence of the house as he walks by and strikes up on a conversation. Hayden suggests that the lady next door seems a little old for him and is a royal b*tch, he suggests they should run away together.
They have a grand old time -- Hayden gives him some advie on his relationship with Constance -- leave her alone for a bit and she'll miss ya, basically. He says he's in love, then asks her story, how she lives there -- Hayden confesses she doesn't yet, but she will soon be moving in -- her and Dr. Harmon are in love.
The next morning presumably, there's a ring at the doorbell. Ben goes to answer it -- apparently it's Hayden's sister and the missing person's police officer, that Ben creepily recognizes. Anyone else seeing a pattern here? Hm? Hm?
They start harassing him -- bringing up things like how Ben was digging around the time Hayden went missing on her master plan to move to LA and get him to take care of her and their baby. Ben's starting to sweat, when to his surprise, Hayden walks in and acts like the world is just peachy keen.
Cut to Hayden cleaning up after guests like a good wanna-be wife, when Ben walks in declaring she has ten seconds to give him some answers. Hayden plays apologetic -- saying she was a crazy hormonal pregnant bitch when she came here last. But she's always been there for him, and she had the abortion -- just so he doesn't have to worry about it anymore. Right. What an actress of a ghost!
Cut to the woman from the opening scene, obviously the Black Dahlia, in Ben's office, unexpectedly. He's insisting she needs an appointment, she sits on the couch and starts talking about a dream that she can't wake up from. Ben makes her an appointment for the next day, and she offers herself as payment -- Ben has a vision that he succumbs to her, but then snaps out of it when his phone rings. It's the OBGYN, she declares that she doesn't want to have to tell him and not Viv, but the twins have two different fathers.
WOW. Rubber Man and Ben?
Ok, I just needed to acknowledge that, as I guessed something crazy like that was coming, but what a twist. And what are the consequences of this? Is this evil baby of Tate's going to eat Ben's good baby or something? Creepy.
Now, I want to note that the during their little 'session' -- the woman tells Ben her name is Elizabeth Short -- doesn't that ring a bell to him with her appearnace and all?
Anyway, our next scene is with Moira and Constance -- Constance is convinced it was Violet that fooled around with her beau and dog-walker, Travis the other night, but Moira insists that Violet wouldn't do that. Afterall, she's 'in love' with Tate. Moira then spills the beans that Viv is pregnant with two different men's babies and declares Violet won't believe in love so more when she finds out the truth about that.
Constance rushes down to the basement, calling out to Tate -- who appears looking quite timid this time around. Constance asks if what's she's heard is true. I thought it was interesting that Constance says they finally have someone to help him - how does Constance think Ben's therapy is going to help Tate cross over? It's hard for me to believe that Tate doesn't come to grips with the fact that he's a ghost, how else does he think he gets away with the things that he does? Appearing in a flash, for instance.
Also, I thought that the house held all of the souls that died there, or are we not being told something? Why else would Constance have told Violet she needed her help in getting Tate to 'cross over'? It seems like Moira is pretty with it though and understands what the deal, why can't she cross over? Or Beau? Why is he just a tortured soul in the house? Maybe Hayden doesn't have it all figured it, because Constance seems hell-bent on this issue of freeing Tate.
Could be that it's not to free Tate of the house, but free Tate of his violence actually. Anyway, back to the recap.
Upstairs, Ben walks in on Miss Short and Moira getting kinky -- they ask if he wants to join, Ben is drawn to them, has a mini-fantasy about it and then demands they leave. Moira retorts, Ben fires her and walks out. The Black Dahlia starts crying and exclaims, "You told me this was what he wanted!" and that she needed the help. Hayden appears: "She's using you."
Hayden sits down to chat. She explains that her selfish dreams about coming famous will never come true. We see a softer side of Hayden, ask if she knows who she is -- Elizabeth Short. Hayden starts to explain that she is famous -- we cut back to 1947.
Dr. Curan is having some fun with a passed out, now dahlia-less girl. He takes the mask off her, to begin the dental procedure (way to pretend to be a good guy!) and realizes that she's unresponsive. He panics and brings her down to the basement and man startles him -- who just so happens to be none other than Charles Montgomery. He assures him he will take care of it and goes to work.
He ends up cutting the body in half, and draining it of blood for easy, traceless transporting. Apparently, he also thought her face looked so sad, so he gave her a creepy, creepy smile. Cut back to present day, Beth is saddened that she was found naked and dead. Hayden comforts her with the fact that she was on the covers of newspapers for 2 months. Beth realizes that she finally did become famous.
Next we join Ben on a visit to the insane asylum. We learn from a nurse that Viv had be restrained because she attacked one of the workers after he offered the theory that the rubber man rapist was a sexual fantasy. Ben walks in and Viv seems overly enthused. Not. She won't even look at him, when he goes off on this tyrade about how everything was a sham this whole time and she played him out worse than he did her. Blah Blah Blah. I thought it was a low blow how he started the monologue, "You're probably thinking 'Thank God' he's here to get me out of this terrible place -- it's like hell."
Speaking of their were a ton of Catholic references in this episode -- including Ben's reference to Viv being in hell here. As well as Constance's weird painting -- more on that in a separate post.
-- End Part 1 of the Recap, my fingers are tired! --
They enter his office and she explains that she hears he helps girls without a lot of money, she makes an advance for a mutual unofficial arrangement, putting a mask on her, Dr. Curan says "Just breathe."
-- Cut To Credits --
Well, at least we didn't have to wait to see Mena Suaveri in the episode. We cut back to present day: Ben walks into the bedroom where Moira is making the bed. He asks her to make a sandwich for Violet and she just starts talking... and he just starts looking. She tells him that she misses Viv, they became close, makes a few advances at him in between.
"Don't worry your secret's safe."
"What secret?" Ben replies, bewildered.
"The way you look at me, the way you fantasize about me. You have a diseased mind, Ben, must be why you become a therapist."
They go back and forth taking shots at eachother, Ben gets loud and Moira walks away to make Violet's sandwich, muttering "It's only a matter of time, the mind is unwilling but flesh is weak." (I think!)
We cut Constance (so glad to see her again) painting in her kitchen. Ironically enough it's looks like a demon thing, maybe the devil, with an apple and a naked woman, presumably Eve. Her young beau comes in and she starts talking to him like he's absolute garbage-- meanwhile she's committing an ultimate crime: smoking his last cigarette. He elects to run down to the store to grab a carton (chain-smokers?!) with the dog -- on his way he runs into a very clever Hayden.
She's hanging on the fence of the house as he walks by and strikes up on a conversation. Hayden suggests that the lady next door seems a little old for him and is a royal b*tch, he suggests they should run away together.
They have a grand old time -- Hayden gives him some advie on his relationship with Constance -- leave her alone for a bit and she'll miss ya, basically. He says he's in love, then asks her story, how she lives there -- Hayden confesses she doesn't yet, but she will soon be moving in -- her and Dr. Harmon are in love.
The next morning presumably, there's a ring at the doorbell. Ben goes to answer it -- apparently it's Hayden's sister and the missing person's police officer, that Ben creepily recognizes. Anyone else seeing a pattern here? Hm? Hm?
They start harassing him -- bringing up things like how Ben was digging around the time Hayden went missing on her master plan to move to LA and get him to take care of her and their baby. Ben's starting to sweat, when to his surprise, Hayden walks in and acts like the world is just peachy keen.
Cut to Hayden cleaning up after guests like a good wanna-be wife, when Ben walks in declaring she has ten seconds to give him some answers. Hayden plays apologetic -- saying she was a crazy hormonal pregnant bitch when she came here last. But she's always been there for him, and she had the abortion -- just so he doesn't have to worry about it anymore. Right. What an actress of a ghost!
Cut to the woman from the opening scene, obviously the Black Dahlia, in Ben's office, unexpectedly. He's insisting she needs an appointment, she sits on the couch and starts talking about a dream that she can't wake up from. Ben makes her an appointment for the next day, and she offers herself as payment -- Ben has a vision that he succumbs to her, but then snaps out of it when his phone rings. It's the OBGYN, she declares that she doesn't want to have to tell him and not Viv, but the twins have two different fathers.
WOW. Rubber Man and Ben?
Ok, I just needed to acknowledge that, as I guessed something crazy like that was coming, but what a twist. And what are the consequences of this? Is this evil baby of Tate's going to eat Ben's good baby or something? Creepy.
Now, I want to note that the during their little 'session' -- the woman tells Ben her name is Elizabeth Short -- doesn't that ring a bell to him with her appearnace and all?
Anyway, our next scene is with Moira and Constance -- Constance is convinced it was Violet that fooled around with her beau and dog-walker, Travis the other night, but Moira insists that Violet wouldn't do that. Afterall, she's 'in love' with Tate. Moira then spills the beans that Viv is pregnant with two different men's babies and declares Violet won't believe in love so more when she finds out the truth about that.
Constance rushes down to the basement, calling out to Tate -- who appears looking quite timid this time around. Constance asks if what's she's heard is true. I thought it was interesting that Constance says they finally have someone to help him - how does Constance think Ben's therapy is going to help Tate cross over? It's hard for me to believe that Tate doesn't come to grips with the fact that he's a ghost, how else does he think he gets away with the things that he does? Appearing in a flash, for instance.
Also, I thought that the house held all of the souls that died there, or are we not being told something? Why else would Constance have told Violet she needed her help in getting Tate to 'cross over'? It seems like Moira is pretty with it though and understands what the deal, why can't she cross over? Or Beau? Why is he just a tortured soul in the house? Maybe Hayden doesn't have it all figured it, because Constance seems hell-bent on this issue of freeing Tate.
Could be that it's not to free Tate of the house, but free Tate of his violence actually. Anyway, back to the recap.
Upstairs, Ben walks in on Miss Short and Moira getting kinky -- they ask if he wants to join, Ben is drawn to them, has a mini-fantasy about it and then demands they leave. Moira retorts, Ben fires her and walks out. The Black Dahlia starts crying and exclaims, "You told me this was what he wanted!" and that she needed the help. Hayden appears: "She's using you."
Hayden sits down to chat. She explains that her selfish dreams about coming famous will never come true. We see a softer side of Hayden, ask if she knows who she is -- Elizabeth Short. Hayden starts to explain that she is famous -- we cut back to 1947.
Dr. Curan is having some fun with a passed out, now dahlia-less girl. He takes the mask off her, to begin the dental procedure (way to pretend to be a good guy!) and realizes that she's unresponsive. He panics and brings her down to the basement and man startles him -- who just so happens to be none other than Charles Montgomery. He assures him he will take care of it and goes to work.
He ends up cutting the body in half, and draining it of blood for easy, traceless transporting. Apparently, he also thought her face looked so sad, so he gave her a creepy, creepy smile. Cut back to present day, Beth is saddened that she was found naked and dead. Hayden comforts her with the fact that she was on the covers of newspapers for 2 months. Beth realizes that she finally did become famous.
Next we join Ben on a visit to the insane asylum. We learn from a nurse that Viv had be restrained because she attacked one of the workers after he offered the theory that the rubber man rapist was a sexual fantasy. Ben walks in and Viv seems overly enthused. Not. She won't even look at him, when he goes off on this tyrade about how everything was a sham this whole time and she played him out worse than he did her. Blah Blah Blah. I thought it was a low blow how he started the monologue, "You're probably thinking 'Thank God' he's here to get me out of this terrible place -- it's like hell."
Speaking of their were a ton of Catholic references in this episode -- including Ben's reference to Viv being in hell here. As well as Constance's weird painting -- more on that in a separate post.
-- End Part 1 of the Recap, my fingers are tired! --
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