Mommy
The third episode of 'American Horror Story: Hotel', or 'Why Angela Bassett Should Be In Everything' illuminates some of the characters’ motivations and ups the bloodshed.
After a brief scene with Tristan fan-boying over March (he Googled the hotel founder and body-hiding expert), the two find out the new Cortez owner, Will Drake, and his friend Claudia – who, let’s be honest, is pretty much just Naomi Campbell playing Naomi Campbell – plan to completely redesign the hotel. Tristan assures March he won’t let the body-filled playground be destroyed. He’ll deal with it. Probably with a lot of stabbing and blood-licking.
AHS: Hotel Episode 1 Recap.
We are given a look into the mind of beleaguered wife Alex, who had previously been given little to do than be a beleaguered wife. Her voice-over reveals Holden’s birth caused an all-encompassing seismic change in her life. She had never bonded with anyone in the same way before or since, including her husband John – who she hands divorce papers to later in the ep – and daughter Scarlett. His disappearance shatters her, so when Scarlett says she has seen her brother at the hotel, Alex reacts badly until her daughter mentions Holden’s smell of lavender – which is exactly how she remembers him smelling when he was younger. She goes to the hotel and finds Holden, who gives one of the least enthusiastic deliveries of “Hi, mommy” in history.
Speaking of mothers, the maternal issues are in play at the Cortez. Iris sprints to Donavan as he walks into the hotel lobby; she’s been looking for apartments for them to live in together now that’s been dumped by the Countess. She is rebuffed by Donovan, who growls that she was a terrible mother. Almost every decision she made served to ruin him further, including the vegetarian cult she once joined – he had so much fiber in his diet that he would poop his pants at school, he hisses with equal parts hurt and rage suggesting she kill herself. Between the Countess and his mum, sure Donavan does have quite a way with the females in his life, doesn’t he?
He is knocked out while hunting LA drug addicts and wakes up in the mansion of Ramona Royale (Angela Bassett), a Blaxploitation actress out for vengeance on Countess Gaga. In a flashback, we see she was a B-list queen trying to break into mainstream parts. A meeting with a producer at the Cortez ends with her being found by the Countess. As with Tristan, it does not take long for the Countess to give Ramona and her ancient blood virus. We see the two in an elevator, but as we flash through the '80s, we see them start out hot-and-heavy and grow further and further apart emotionally as the years (and fashions) go by.
By '91, Romona meets and falls for rapper Prophet Moses. She gives him the virus (vampire power gets handed out as handily as stick of gum on this show), but the Countess murders his entourage and Mo'. Countess may eventually drop the playthings she turns, but she certainly doesn’t want them turning anyone else. Romana tells Donovan she wants revenge by getting to the Countess' brood of children, but she needs him to get her access into the hotel. He sighs. The Countess dumped, so she releases him.
In other events, Gabriel pops out of Naomi Campbell’s mattress, which he was sewn into by Sally in episode two. He tears her apart and apparently dies at the hospital. Will he not show up as a ghost, since he didn’t expire at the hotel? Naomi Campbell gets a small consolation prize by getting the night’s best line – "if this was hell, I’d be the one in that awful Zara knock-off you’re wearing."
Countess stops Tristan from seducing and slicing Will. She explains that she lost her fortune to an American con-man and former investment advisor and stockbroker, Bernie Madoff, who really did commit the largest financial fraud in the US. The irony of a quite-literal vampire with a history of seduction getting seduced out of her funds by a vampire of a different type is delicious. Regardless, she needs Drake to marry her so she can inherit his money. Then Tristan can paint him red.
Meanwhile, Donovan is convinced to open up to his mother by Liz Taylor, who continues to effortlessly be one of the most interesting characters on the show despite doing little besides standing behind a bar or a desk. C’mon, AHS! Let’s see the Liz Taylor origin story already!
Heeding her son’s earlier advice, Iris is looking to off this mortal coil, and Sally is happy to oblige, on one condition: "don’t haunt my halls, bitch." After enough drugs to off a marching band don’t kill Iris, Sally tries to finish the job with plastic. Donovan intervenes and tries to transfer not-vampire blood to his mum – although we’ve already seen how the Countess feels about her 'children' creating not-vampires of their own. Side note: Donovan’s vampire 'child' is his own mother; weird.
All in all, an interesting episode, although personally, there should have been a lot more Mr. March, and I wish Romona had been introduced earlier. This is a woman who gave up trying to advance her career for a doomed romance with The Countess, and is broken when her true love is murdered. She’s motivated, bloodthirsty and funny. In other words, this is very much the kind of character you want to see stick around.
Stay tuned for the Devil's Night...
