LINK: IT'S OFFICIAL, JESSICA LANGE BACK FOR SEASON 2!

I'm sure most of you are as excited as I am to hear this -- especially after Ms. Lange scored both a Golden Globe and a SAG award for her role as Constance... Ryan Murphy confirms she's coming back for season 2! While we don't know how big of a role she'll have, she'll be there!

"Murphy appeared on US show Watch What Happens Live on Monday February 6th as reported on The Huffington Post, where host Andy Cohen asked if Lange would make an appearence on Season 2 of American Horror Story, Murphy simply replied, "yes."" Read more here.

LINK: Jessica Lange Signed On For Season 2?! YAY!

Haven't confirmed this anywhere else yet, but this article from the Examiner.com discusses the current casting calls for Season 2 of AHS.

Apparently 2 or 3 familiar faces will be returning for Season 2, as completely different characters -- this article cites Jessica Lange as a definite! Apparently she confirmed this backstage last night at the Golden Globes -- woman wins a Golden Globe for her role, she better be signed on for season 2!

"Jessica Lange will be one of the familiar faces who will be seen in "American Horror Story" season 2. Met backstage at the 69th Annual Golden Globe Awards, the actress revealed she is signing up for the new chapter of the FX horror show. She stated that she will be playing an entirely new character. Two or three other season 1 actors will be returning for the for the second season as completely different characters, creatures, monsters, etc."

LINK: Jessica Lange Wins Golden Globe!!

source

AHS's own Jessica Lange won a Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television for her role as Constance.

Congrats, Jessica! You deserved it... Constance was one memorable character.

Tate & Infantata

If you haven't already read this post from after Episode 11, or this post from before Episode 11 -- go check them out. Be warned -- creepy pictures of the infantata follow.

So basically -- in the first article I talked about the infantata and what we've learned about it. In the second article, I analyzed the relationship between Nora, Thaddeus/infantata and Tate. I suggested that a story found on the youregoingtodieinthere.com website, written by a small child was about Tate. Someone commented on the post and felt that the timeline didn't exactly match up-- which at the time, I completely agreed with.

However, once I saw the spoiler still below, I knew I was right. Let's check it out, shall we?

source

source

Take a look at these two stills -- I'm definitely thinking that's young Constance. A lot of people online are theorizing that the young boy in the photo is actually Tate's son, rapidly growing or perhaps a fast-forward in time. I don't think we've ever had a fast-forward in time, only flashbacks, so I'm ruling that out. It looks to me like this is supposed to the younger Constance and the boy looks strikingly similar to the young Tate we met last week in a flashback. 

What do you think Tate or his offspring?

LINK: Golden Globe Nominations! UPDATED!

Check out this article on the Golden Globe Nominations.

American Horror Story was nominated for Best Drama Series, while the amazing Jessica Lange has been nominated for her role as Constance for Best Supporting Actress!

YAY. Glad to see Jessica Lange credited, as she really is just fabulous as Constance.

This article discusses Ryan Murphy's thoughts on the nominations, he even jokes he's bringing Rubber Man as his date! :)

RECAP ROUNDUP: EPISODE 11, BIRTH

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.

RECAP: Episode 10, Smoldering Children (Part 1: Larry & His Smoldering Family)

Let me just start out with, WOW. That episode was sort of mind-blowing; I read a few recaps this morning that say we didn't learn much in this episode and there were no shocking relevations -- did you watch the same episode as me? I thought this episode was chock-full of information, clues and revelations about the story outside of the twins.

Instead of going scene by scene, I'm going to go topic by topic in this episode and break into up into a few posts..

source

Let's talk Larry first since it seems the audience has said goodbye to him in this episode. I had assumed Tate's mass-murders were committed before Larry had moved into the house, but we learn at the very beginning of Smoldering Children that I was very wrong. Apparently, the real story goes: Larry was cheating on his wife with Constance, who had already lost the house and was living next door. He 'loved' her, she just wanted a way back into the house, according to Tate. Larry tells his wife that they need to get a divorce because there's another woman, so she sets herself and their two daughters on fire. Larry finds them, but it's too late.

Apparently after this 'little' incident, Constance moves into the house with Addie and Tate, who are both still well and alive. They are all sitting down to enjoy a wonderful 'family dinner' when Tate offers to say grace -- which launches him into a tyrade about being thankful for the stupid man that is blind and can't see that his mother is taking advantage of him, his father leaving the family when he was six and Tate wishing he could have come along, among many other things. Constance gets visibly upset, accusing Tate of not being appreciative of the gifts he was blessed with, unlike his other siblings. Addie remarks that she's excited to see Larry in a theater production, which sets Tate off -- he screams that she's a smart girl and should know that Larry killed their brother Beau. Wonder if Larry killed Beau before his family died in the house or after? Also, I wonder how much Larry knew about the house at this point -- he must have known at least some of the details of the ghosts of the house, given that he knows it now, and the day after this dinner he is burned by Tate...

Regardless, it seems like Larry was making a genuine attempt at creating a family for him and Constance in the Murder House, but had no idea when moving into the house what trouble Constance and the rest of her brood would cause for him. Sort of makes me think that Larry started out as a good person, and was somehow corrupted by either the house or Constance. There's an adulterous theme that runs through the house -- beginning with Hugo cheating on Constance with Moira, Larry cheating on his wife with Constance, Patrick cheating on Chad, Ben cheating on Viv... does the house have something to do with this? I'm going to say that it must in some way -- we know that both Viv and Chad feel like they're going crazy since moving into the house and remark that their partners are acting differently. Although Ben doesn't cheat on Viv specifically in the house, he does cheat on her in Boston when he goes to visit Hayden for the abortion while he is residing in the house. What is it about adultery? Why are each of our 'families' ruined by it? Does this tie to the fact that Nora and Charles Montgomery's relationship was broken in the house or that infatata was created there?

Back to Larry -- so we now know why he is burned the way he is. Tate seems to have stayed up all night after their 'family dinner' doing drugs and getting mad -- he sets off at 7am to Larry's job, storms into his office, throws gasoline on a half-paying attention Larry and sets him on fire. He then makes his way to school to do the things, we already known he did that faithful day. Larry goes into a burn ward after this, and I have to wonder what happened to the house? Did Constance get to stay there or did she have to move back to the next-best-thing-next-door?

Apparently Larry wasn't exactly the most stand-up guy after moving into the Murder House -- he cheated on his wife, watched her and their kids burn in a fire in the house, killed Hayden, lied to Ben, tried to set the house on fire in one of the Halloween episodes, disposed of Travis' body among many other things I'm sure we don't know about. Wonder what else Larry did that he is repenting for in jail right now?

The scene with Larry's children was wonderful -- Larry is in the basement looking for Travis' bloody jeans and the murder weapon in the wall when Travis appears, asking what he's doing. Travis asks for newspaper clippings so he could read about how famous he has become. Larry looks distracted: it seems like here his thought is to take the evidence and plant it to frame Constance for the murder, even though Hayden really comitted it. While talking to Travis, a young girl's voice calls him over -- we see two children, burned and smoldering playing tea time in the basement. Larry looks at them bewildered -- it's his children. His wife, Noreen, appears sporting a burnt look as well. We can infer that Larry has never seen his wife and kids in the house before, and is wondering why now? Noreen answers the question for him -- he's ready, he's on the cusp. Cusp of what? I'm not sure -- but I'm thinking it's the cusp of repenting for his sins.

Larry tells Noreen he's going to make Constance pay for what she did to their family, and Noreen tells him he broke his vows, not Constance and demands he prove he's sorry for what happened. Larry decides to go down to the police station and confess to murdering Travis.

Was Larry's only reason for confessing to repent for his sins against his own family and the Langdon family? Or was there a hint of wanting to protect Constance in there? In the scene in his apartment with Constance, it seems like Larry can't let go of the fact that Constance never loved him -- he didn't want to believe it when Tate told him in '83 and he doesn't want to believe it now. This carries throught to the last scene of the episode, when Constance visits him in prison to find out why he confessed. Larry explains his reasoning and says that he can deal with anything that comes his way if she just tells him she loves him, Constance ignores his request and leaves, with one of the iciest looks I've seen.

So what have we learned about Larry? Well, he didn't kill his family, he still loves Constance, he got his burns in a very metaphorical way from Tate, and he seems like he used to be a good guy before the powers of the house got to him. Which, in earlier episodes when he's stalking Ben -- he explains that he can relate to feeling 'weird' and strange happenings since moving into the house.

I thought it was interesting that Travis calls Larry's daughters, sweet girls, just a little 'needy' -- why needy?

I'm sort of sad to see Larry go, he was a really interesting character. I also think it's sort of comedic that for a character to be 'killed off' on this show -- they need to be sent to prison out of state, haha. I don't think this is the last we will hear about Larry -- we've seen a fair share of foul play come from Larry and I can't help but think those aren't all of the crimes he committed...

What do you think?

Total sidenote: Do you think Tate knew about the powers of the house before he killed Larry? Is that why he made it a point to attempt to murder him OUTSIDE the house?

LINK: Constance's Fashion

Kind of interesting article about Constance's costume designer, found here, and how her style plays into her role, character and air of mystery surrounding her.

Interesting Note:
"In a recent episode, Constance was painting very dark images as part of a back story and Karvonides found a dress from Tahari that perfectly matched the background of one of her paintings."
(Source)

I'm pretty sure that dark image was an Eve type figure with a devil looking character, perhaps holding an apple? I'm trying to find a still on google, with no such luck. Have one? Comment with it!

Interesting nonetheless, how Constance is purposely dressed to convey a certain 'moment' -- including the print of her fabric -- "chaotic" symbolizing her feeling like her life is falling apart when she thinks the house will be demolished.

Definitely a good read!

LINK: Sneak Peek of Episode 10 - Kind of Spoiler

Check out why Constance gets questioned by the police in the upcoming episode here.

Can't say I didnd't see that one coming....

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! --

Constance's Family Tree

Thought it would be interesting to break down what we know about the former Madame of the house and her relationships with the characters we have met thus far.

We learned in an early episode that Constance has four children -- she explained that three had down syndrome, but one was born okay, but she lost him to other things.

Tate -- Son, Ghost. We can assume that maybe he is the normal one lost to other things, but with this show, who knows! Tate is also the father of Viv's unborn twins and Violet's boyfriend. There has got to be a ton to this relationship that we haven't learned yet -- Tate references his mother as a ****sucker in the pilot episode and frequently mentions his mommy issues. Constance waves to him standing in a window of the house when she passes by in an earlier episode and she is ignored. In episode 7, Constance comes to find him after his session with Ben and Tate really gives her the cold shoulder, explaining they are really getting to the root of his problems -- his mother.

Beau -- Son, Ghost. Beau is the big kid we met in the attic in episode 8 who was killed by Larry the Fire Guy.

Addie -- Daughter, Passed on. Addie was in her mid-30's when she was hit by a car on Halloween. Constance seemed to torture Addie with the fact that she was ugly (cue the mirror filled closet!) and a handful, but yet seemed so tortured by her death. Constance alluded to some strange things during the Halloween episode when she finds Addie in the kitchen reading with her boytoy.

Viv -- Next door neighbor and feeder of all things raw. Gross.

Moira -- Her former housekeeper that she caught having relations with her husband and shot in the eye.

Ben -- Next door neighbor and mother of one his patients -- now we know that Ben actually had someone to call in the episode where he tells Tate he can no longer treat him!

Hugo -- Husband?, Ghost. Was this Constance's husband for sure? Didn't Tate say that his father left when he was young? Was Hugo not Tate's father?

Larry -- Previous lovers? Alive. Larry and Constance's relationship is an interesting one that we definitely are going to find out more about. It seems as though Larry was in love with Constance beginning in 1994, I'm assuming after Tate's massacre -- Constance was living next door and Larry fell in love with her and broke things off with his wife. After killing Beau, Constance's son, as she demanded. Larry's family is in a room filled with flames -- however, we haven't met their ghosts yet -- which suggests they may have not died in the house. Denis O'Hare alludes to this in an interview found here.

"I wanted to talk about the first basement scene where Larry tells Constance that he loves her, and she says to him, 'Look what you did to yourself, look at what the house did to you.' And then he responds, 'The house didn't do this to me, you did this to me.' So she seems a little disgusted, and he sort of seems to blame her for his physical condition. Can you share with us more details about what this is all about?

Denis O'Hare: All I'll tell you is all will be revealed in, I guess it's Episode 9. There's an explanation of that, and I would be irresponsible if I said anything more. I love their evolving relationship, and I love the information we get. There's some great stuff in Episode 9 that comes out. We call it nine, sorry, that would be your ten, I think. But there's some great information that comes out about Constance's' life with Larry and Larry's attempts to become part of the family, which are sad and disturbing."

Seems as though the upcoming episode is going to tell us alot about Constance -- what she knows about the powers of the house, which I think will be telling on how she may have used/abused it.

LINK: Interview with Denis O'Hare (Larry)

This is a great article on Movieweb.com -- an interview with Denis O'Hare. Check it out here.

I pulled a few really interesting tidbits out -- I especially loved the whole section where he talks about the process of getting his makeup on.


"In your opinion, what kind of release or redemption do you feel that Larry is ultimately looking for?

Denis O'Hare: You know, in upcoming episodes it's played out a little more. On a prosaic level he's looking to expiate his guilt. But what does that mean is that he's going to pay for his crimes or does it mean he's going to finally be held accountable and judged, I suppose, is one. But in a metaphorical sense, I think he's looking for meaning. Why have I gone through this? Why have I experienced this pain and suffering? Why have I not been allowed to reach happiness? And I think what he wants is resolution in the form of an answer, and that answer can be an action or it can be a message. I think all the characters in American Horror Story, which is why I love it, are looking for some sense of meaning, and also it's their form of happiness. If you think about Tate and Violet, if you think about even Vivien and Ben, their marriage, they're-people are struggling to find sense in what is a crumbling marriage. So I think for Larry it's a similar thing. He's looking for, sort of, a way of out of what he considers to be a hellish existence."

Seems like alot of the characters on AHS are just looking for a meaning -- meaning in a variety of different things, but meaning nonetheless.


"Denis O'Hare: I would love to have had a scene with Larry running lines with Ben in the apartment for The Odd Couple and giving each other notes. I think that would've been fantastic. And I would love to see Larry's photo session with the photographer who's saying, 'Okay, chin down. Okay, a little more to the right. Okay, that's nice. Hold that.' I think that'd be terrific. You know, they write me beautiful comic stuff. There was a great scene last night when I was coming to the open house with Marcy, the realtor, and Vivien, and I just love the fact that they give me this nice little comic stuff. "
Would LOVE to see a bit more comedy in the episodes -- although they already do a good job of inserting some great little lines in the dialogue that make you snort or giggle, think it would be a nice sweet and sour mix. What do you think?


"I wanted to talk about the first basement scene where Larry tells Constance that he loves her, and she says to him, 'Look what you did to yourself, look at what the house did to you.' And then he responds, 'The house didn't do this to me, you did this to me.' So she seems a little disgusted, and he sort of seems to blame her for his physical condition. Can you share with us more details about what this is all about?

Denis O'Hare: All I'll tell you is all will be revealed in, I guess it's Episode 9. There's an explanation of that, and I would be irresponsible if I said anything more. I love their evolving relationship, and I love the information we get. There's some great stuff in Episode 9 that comes out. We call it nine, sorry, that would be your ten, I think. But there's some great information that comes out about Constance's' life with Larry and Larry's attempts to become part of the family, which are sad and disturbing." Can't wait to learn more about this relationship -- my hunch is that Constance threw Larry into the fireplace. :)

Check out the rest of the article, it's a great read!