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"American Horror Story" -- "Spooky Little Girl": He's Gonna Want A Little More Bang For His Buck

By Joanna Robinson | Posted Under TV Reviews | Comments (43)

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Previously On “American Horror Story”…Tate was The Rubber Man Rapist. Tate also killed Quinto and Co. because they decided not to have a baby. Aaaaaaaand there goes the fledgling sympathy I had for him. The Murder House (specifically Nora Montgomery but also Hayden and, as it turns out, Constance) wants a baby, and Tate will do anything (including gimp rape) to make that happen. After some impressive gas lighting, Hayden lands Vivian and her shiny hair in the nuthouse for shooting Dan. If that’s crazy, I don’t want to be sane.

Things We Learned:

  • Joshua Malina (aka Dr. David Curan, DDS) is exactly as creepy as I’ve always suspected. Also? “Fill my cavity” is one of the unsexiest euphemisms I have ever heard.

  • The “AHS” crew delve into actual history with this Black Dahlia plot line. Also, the Joker-esque the slices at the edge of Mena Suvari’s mouth? That’s called “The Glasgow Smile.” Magnificently creepy.

  • Drunken, therapy painting Jessica Lange beats sober Lange every time.

  • The ghost of Hayden is shaping up to be the most menacing presence in the house. You can tell because of the excessive eyeliner. She bones Travis, The Dog Walking Lothario just to find out if ghosts and humans can, um, you know, get their swerve on. In case you missed the fact that Hayden is balls to the walls evil, they gave her a theme song: “Spooky Little Girl” by The Zombies.

  • Just when we’re hoping Dan will nailed for Hayden’s death, her ghost appears to exonerate him.

  • Mena Suvari’s Black Dahlia joins the ranks of females on this show who have thrown themselves at Dylan McDermott. Yes, writing staff, this show definitely needed another nympho ghost. Also, him? The man who plays drunken air guitar in front of his student? I just don’t get it. Suvari also gets a far superior theme song: Artie Shaw’s “Nightmare.” It swings.

  • Viv’s twins have different fathers. OH SNAP, THE GIMP-SUITED SH*T JUST HIT THE FAN.

  • Direct from the “Game Of Thrones” playbook we have a prolonged girl on girl sex scene for no real reason. Drink for every shot of a garter-clad thigh.

  • Matt Ross is killing it as Dr. Charles Montgomery. He and Nora are my favorite ghosts.

    Carnage:

  • Travis, the Dog Walking Lothario who unwisely asked an unstable young woman if she didn’t mind “finishing herself.” (Cause of Death: Hayden, with the knife, in the Murder Basement.)

  • Mena Suvari aka Elizabeth Short aka The Black Dahlia. (Cause of Death: Too much gas or too much unconscious humping?)

    Horror Cliche:

  • We’re not even being shy about it. According to Billy Dean Howard, The Craigslist Medium, this is most definitely The Anti-Christ we’re dealing with here. Complete with Pope anecdote.

    The Gist: I rather liked the interjection of actual history into the mythos of The Murder House. That was fun and not as heavy-handed as it might have been. However, the show is getting harder to watch because we are running out of sympathetic characters to root for. Despite being the victim here, Vivian’s hysterics make her impossible to root for. Violet sold her mom up the river last week and Tate, oh Tate. I stuck with you through that high school murder spree, but you raped a woman and killed some gays. You bastard. I think the only person I like at this point is the Heirloom Security Guard. And if I’m supposed to care about Dan Harmon’s evolution as a person, if I’m supposed to admire his strength in turning down all the ladies who were throwing themselves at him, well, they’ve got the wrong audience. I fear, with that final scene of nympho Moira turning into older Moira, that Dan’s “progress” is going to be the central thrust of this season. I’m unimpressed.









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    Comments

    You may have Community on your mind. The dad on AHS is Ben Harmon, no?

    Posted by: methodpam at December 2, 2011 12:08 PM

    • Correction: it's *Ben* Harmon, unless the creator of Community suddenly become the star of the show.

    Posted by: JRD at December 2, 2011 12:11 PM

    I totally called that two-babies-two-fathers thing like two weeks ago.

    NAILED IT.

    Posted by: Anna von Beav at December 2, 2011 12:15 PM

    I must say that while Tate the character may be making us hate him, the actor playing him is totally killing it. He's amazing.

    Posted by: MM at December 2, 2011 12:20 PM

    I have trouble looking at Dylan McDermott's face and staying in the story... the man looks like a goblin.

    Yeah, I like Nora too. The character is interesting but I really enjoy that actress's work. Not enough to know her name, though.

    If Tate were played by anyone else, I doubt the character would have any fans. The high school massacre was more than enough to make us hate him but he's still one of my favorites. There aren't any nice people in this show so his psychosis doesn't really make him all that bad in comparison.

    Posted by: snapnhiss at December 2, 2011 12:26 PM

    I agree with MM. I'm losing all warm and fuzzy feelings I once had for Tate and his puppy dog eyes, but whoever is playing him is amazing. I don't think I've ever seen him in anything before, but he's an incredible actor (in this role at least) Guess I should quit being lazy and IMDB him.

    Posted by: lillie at December 2, 2011 12:28 PM

    I still find Viv very sympathetic. She was put in a horrible situation and is doing her best. She's got a lot of fight and vigor in her, but that will only take you so far in that crazy house.

    I, too, like Morrish Chestnut. I was afraid Ben was going to off him in that confrontation. I'm glad he's still around.

    I also still like Violet a lot. Even though she wasn't in this episode and did sell her moms up the creek, she's young, confused and think she knows more than she does. She's just a teenager is all.

    Ben has been a douchebag for a while now. His little sanctimonious speech to the sleeping/drugged out Viv really took the cake there. It was as if he'd been praying for the moment that he could finally turn the tables on her in an effort to say "You're no better than me!", even though the most obvious explanation was that Viv was telling the truth and had been raped, as opposed to whoring around. Problem is that Ben is so far gone, too, at this point he can't see that, though he did seem to come around near the end there with that rubber mask and finally seeing the maid as the old woman. That was a nice reveal/touch.

    Posted by: Forbiddendonut at December 2, 2011 12:37 PM

    Ok. Clearly this is his breakout role because IMDB tells me he's known for a bunch of crap I've never heard of. He and Jessica Lange are tied in my book for the two actors who have been delivering the best performances in this show. And I love Connie Britton, but God Vivian is getting on my nerves. Maybe she is supposed to, and if that's the case than Britton is playing it perfectly. If we are supposed to still be sympathetic to her character than Britton needs to tone down the crazy. A lot.

    Posted by: lillie at December 2, 2011 12:39 PM

    The pregnant ghost of Hayden got a ghost abortion from the ghost abortionist, right? THAT SHIT CRAY

    Posted by: Optimus Rhyme at December 2, 2011 12:44 PM

    Wait, you're rooting for live humans? You are on the wrong team.

    Posted by: seth at December 2, 2011 1:05 PM

    While I could have done without knowing what a "Glasgow Smile" is, I am extremely grateful that the Wikipedia link had no illustrations.

    Posted by: Mrs. Julien at December 2, 2011 1:14 PM

    I'm ashamed to admit I still have a few puppy dog feelings for Tate, although those will undoubtedly evaporate after the next episode, since it looked from the preview like he turned on Violet.

    I can't help it! It's the floppy hair and the Kurt Cobain sweater thing. Sometimes I think I'm emotionally stuck in 1994 too. Tate and I are perfect for each other!! Except for the whole mass-murder/rape/poker in the ass part.

    Posted by: MM at December 2, 2011 1:22 PM

    Wouldn't Hayden already know about the viability of human-on-spirit humping because of Tate participating in Vivien's pregnancy? (This is more a question than a complaint -- as complex as these plots are becoming, they could just make Hayden a homicidal nympho and leave it at that.) Or do the ghosts not know everything that the other ghosts are up to?

    Posted by: Van68 at December 2, 2011 1:25 PM

    This genre show benefits from the very thing that The Walking Dead suffers from: interesting characters. This is what I love(d) about David Lynch's stuff. They don't have to all be sympathetic or make sense. They just need to be interesting. If nothing else, I will come back and watch Lange chew up the scenery every goddamned week. That line to her boyfriend about "the last guy to raise a hand to me got a fight, and he was a man!" was killer.

    Posted by: gunnertec at December 2, 2011 1:27 PM

    Jessica Lange doesn't just chew up the scenery. She chews it up, mixes it with her own saliva and creates a cocoon of awesomeness that she builds around every scene she is in and then burns down with her nervous, shaking, chain-smoked cigarettes! It's glorious!

    If I'm ever a crazy old lady, I want to be a crazy old lady like her.

    Posted by: ZombieNurse at December 2, 2011 1:55 PM

    I'm still not completely clear on what Tate knows and doesn't know. Is he just the totally malevolent bad guy in lying to Violet about not realizing he's a ghost, not remembering the kids he killed, etc.? It would seem that's where we're going with this, and that's what that early basement scene when he turned into some sort of demon and attacked Violet's friend made me think. You sympathizers would get eaten alive by him in those emo sweaters if you were living in that house.

    Posted by: DarthCorleone at December 2, 2011 2:01 PM

    Tate is a helluva character and I agree, the actor is outstanding.

    Posted by: Nadine at December 2, 2011 2:18 PM

    It would seem that's where we're going with this, and that's what that early basement scene when he turned into some sort of demon and attacked Violet's friend made me think.

    I am still not sure what happened in that scene, which is still the scariest/eeriest scene of the show so far.

    I didn't think Tate so much as turned into that demon thing as that demon thing sort of appeared/supplanted him. For some reason, I also think that demon thing was the "re-made" baby boy of the first couple all growns'd up.

    Not sure why I think that though.

    Posted by: Forbiddendonut at December 2, 2011 2:19 PM

    Theory time! Who else thinks Violet is TOTALLY a ghost? They are a bit heavy-handed with the foreshadowing (Tate wearing the rubber man suit before the reveal) so I think it's entirely possible that Violet really did OD on those pills and Tate stuffed her body in a vent (See: SCENES FROM NEXT WEEK'S EP!) because he didn't want her to know she was dead. That would explain her not being seen outside of the house for the past few episodes and not going to school. Remember? She was even stopped before she and her mom could get off the property last week. And it's not like her self-absorbed, assface parents would notice a minor detail such as, oh, their daughter being dead.

    I think the next cold open death is going to read 2011 and it's going to be Violet's death. I think the thing she is upset about in the next ep isn't finding out her boyfriend is her unborn siblings babydaddy, but that she's a ghost and bound to the house. Right??

    Posted by: Stacey at December 2, 2011 2:21 PM

    Oh, and if Violet was bound to the house, that would answer the $1 million dollar question of "Why don't they eventually leave?"

    Posted by: Stacey at December 2, 2011 2:23 PM

    Mrs Julien, have you watched Sons of Anarchy? Tommy Flanagan aka Chibs has a real Glasgow grin from being attacked and disfigured.

    Posted by: snapnhiss at December 2, 2011 2:23 PM

    Yeah but getting eaten alive by Tate in his emo sweater doesn't necessarily sound like a bad thing to me...

    Posted by: Lillie at December 2, 2011 2:24 PM

    I also think that demon thing was the "re-made" baby boy of the first couple all growns'd up.

    I think that too. I think the doctor used some kind of black magic to reanimate the kid, made it evil, and somehow opened a door to hell/the devil/etc. (Sorry, last comment!)

    Posted by: Stacey at December 2, 2011 2:26 PM

    Yeah, I theorized there was some sort of malevolent spirit playing puppetmaster with the ghosts, and that might still be the case. As the show has proceeded, though, it seems more and more that these ghosts have distinct agendas and loyalties. Tate very well might have been possessed in that demon scene, but he is the one that wanted to lure her into the basement in the first place, and based on these last two episodes we see that he doesn't have the integrity that he seemed to have when he first started wooing Violet.

    Posted by: DarthCorleone at December 2, 2011 2:50 PM

    There's been a lot of back and forth about whether Violet is dead already, and I think Ryan Murphy definitely wants us to wonder. To me, the strongest argument that she is actually still alive is that Tate seemed genuinely worried about the possibility of her being taken away from the house, like when Hayden tells him that Vivian bought tickets for them to go to Florida.

    Tate can eat me any time. SWEATER OPTIONAL.

    yeah, I said it.

    Posted by: MM at December 2, 2011 3:16 PM

    Dr. GhostBortionist did Frankenstein their ghost baby, who did die in the house. So, yeah, demon infantata thing is most likely that. It had the teeth, in that episode where it attacked Violet's friend, which it used to shred the shit out of Nora when she tried to breast-feed it.

    Posted by: Anna von Beav at December 2, 2011 3:16 PM

    And I'd totally do Tate. Ghost Sweater Tate, Gimp Suit Tate, Skeleton Face Tate, ANY OF THE TATES.

    Posted by: Anna von Beav at December 2, 2011 3:18 PM

    Side Note: I wish I'd saved all the episodes on my DVR to watch during the hiatus. *sigh*

    Posted by: Anna von Beav at December 2, 2011 3:23 PM

    AvB, shall we have a support group for the slightly more seasoned ladies who inappropriately love the teenage-y emo-looking boys?

    Tuesday evenings in the church basement, coffee and cookies served?

    PS The actor playing Tate is like 24, so technically NOT ILLEGAL.

    Posted by: MM at December 2, 2011 3:32 PM

    Yes. Yes.

    And YEEESSSSSSS.

    Posted by: Anna von Beav at December 2, 2011 3:41 PM

    Hooray!

    Also, I have seen some comments (not here) about Violet being a little bitch for not standing up for her mother, telling the truth, etc...


    Clearly those people have never been a recently deflowered teenage girl. Of course she's going to side with the boy!! Or even just being a teenager in general - teenagers do stupid shit!! They can't help it.

    Posted by: MM at December 2, 2011 3:46 PM

    I read a theory on another site that Tate may have dissociative identity disorder. Maybe that's why sometimes he seems so genuinely sweet and unaware he's dead, and the next minute he's a cold-eyed murdering type. They also had another theory that there were actually twins--good and evil. Constance did say she had 4 children, after all, and only 3 have been seen.... But she did say only one was a perfect physical specimen (or however she put it) so that makes the twin theory pretty shaky. Thoughts?

    Posted by: pickled tink at December 2, 2011 4:02 PM

    Ill join your Tate group. In 1994, my 16 year old self would've been ALL OVER that shit. Even now, it's not an unreasonable age difference.

    Posted by: Lillie at December 2, 2011 4:17 PM

    There's been a lot of back and forth about whether Violet is dead already...

    Oops! I guess I didn't read the comments last week.

    Also, Tate did seem genuinely worried/upset about Violet being taken away from the house -- however, his concern may have also stemmed from the fact that he didn't want her finding out she was a ghost the hard way. Either way I think we'll know one way or the other after next week's ep.

    Posted by: Stacey at December 2, 2011 4:25 PM

    AvB, shall we have a support group for the slightly more seasoned ladies who inappropriately love the teenage-y emo-looking boys?
    Tuesday evenings in the church basement, coffee and cookies served?

    I'll bring deviled eggs.

    Man, I don't even care whether Tate turns out to be ebil.* I would get Jerce all over that boy.

    *My theory? Currently, it's that there are somehow two Tates--either Tate is (was) actually twins, or Tate is a split personality.

    Posted by: Jerce at December 2, 2011 4:47 PM

    I love deviled eggs. (Wait, do I see what you did there?)

    Also, re: Violet dead or alive, when I said speculation was rampant, I didn't mean in previous Pajiba comments, I meant in the world at large, apparently. Ryan Murphy did an interview with EW where he talks about how rampant the Violet dead or alive speculation is, how he loves it, and how it will be definitively answered in the next episode.

    Posted by: MM at December 2, 2011 4:51 PM

    Oooooooh thanks! Gonna go look for that video now!

    Posted by: Stacey at December 2, 2011 4:54 PM

    EW Interview here

    Interview is also interesting because THIS IS A POSSIBLE SPOILER SO QUIT READING SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER

    Ryan Murphy says, cageily, regarding the whole Anti-Christ/Pope thing, that *Billy Dean* the dimestore psychic believes that, but that doesn't mean it's "true" and going to happen in the show.

    Posted by: MM at December 2, 2011 5:05 PM

    "Jessica Lange doesn't just chew up the scenery. She chews it up, mixes it with her own saliva and creates a cocoon of awesomeness that she builds around every scene she is in and then burns down with her nervous, shaking, chain-smoked cigarettes! It's glorious!"

    A to the men, A to the men. She is FANTASTIC and that episode without her was torture.

    Do you think there's possibly a child abuse angle with her? I noticed that Tate really cowered when she attacked him. I mean, it's obvious that it was a fucked-up house, but I'm wondering if more will come of that.

    Posted by: samantha t at December 5, 2011 3:31 PM

    So glad this show is still getting love from 'Jibans. I'm loving it every. single. week.

    Adding to the "Violet is a ghost" theory: I had forgotten about the OD scene, but there's one other dropped thread of a scene from Halloween Pt. 2 that might be a part of the answer as well.

    So remember how the episode started with Burned Guy banging on the door, yelling about his money, and Violet on the phone with her dad (Ben)? They continued the scene past where it ended in the previous episode, showing Violet hanging up and backing away from the door. And right before the scene changed, it showed her back past an open doorway, where stood Rubber Man...end scene. Now that we know that Tate is Rubber Man, and that he's obsessed with Violet, he easily could have killed her, stashed her in the basement or in a wall crawlspace, and never told her the truth about what happened to her/what she is now.

    Posted by: JustBill at December 5, 2011 4:59 PM

    I DVR this show and finally watched the episode last night. The scene where Hayden steps in to save Ben's ass really pissed me off, Ben really deserves some comeuppance from someone other than Viv. But what really bugs me is that Hayden's own sister just accepts this and walks away. If it were my sister and I had already gone to that much trouble to find her, I would have at least insisted that I could take her out of the house for a few hours without Ben to be entirely sure she was safe.
    Really not liking this whole focus on Hayden lately. I've always looked at her as a dumb girl with dumb girl dreams, and I have a hard time seeing her having the run of the Murder House. She is putting all the ghosts at risk by being so brazen about who she reveals herself to. She's an emotional and spiritual child and I'd like to see the ghosts put her in her place.

    @gunnertec that "and he was a man" speech was indeed some fine acting as well as being one of the most sadistic putdowns in TV history.

    PS: I really liked Adelaide. I wish they hadn't killed her off so soon.

    Also...I went home for lunch today and flipped past "The Young and the Restless"...and dog-walking lothario was on it!

    Posted by: dagnabbit at December 6, 2011 5:54 PM

    I must say that while Tate the character may be making us hate him, the actor playing him is totally killing it. He's amazing.
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    Posted by: kengao at December 7, 2011 12:09 AM

    I still find Viv very sympathetic.

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    Posted by: kengao at December 7, 2011 12:52 AM