Episode seven of American Horror Story: Hotel, Flicker, goes a long way toward answering questions, but I’m not sure they were questions I was asking. Sure, I suppose it’s interesting to learn how The Countess became a vampire, but the series is so consistent with its flashbacks to the past each week that the stories of the present barely exist. At some point it needs to move forward, but it’s going to have to decide where it’s going.
I’m not sure how to react to The Countess’s “origin story.” On one hand, it cleverly weaves historical facts into fictional events, but on the other, it’s pretty ridiculous. It would have us believe that silent film star/matinee idol Rudolph Valentino was a vampire turned by director F.W. Murnau, who discovered real creatures (not as horrible-looking as actor Max Shreck) and a rare blood virus while making his classic film, Nosferatu.
In 1925 Hollywood, Elizabeth Johnson (Lady Gaga) is a struggling actress smitten by Valentino. If you were disappointed that Finn Wittrock’s character, Tristan, was killed at the end of the last episode, don’t be. The actor returns to play Valentino, welcoming Elizabeth into a three-way relationship with his wife, Natacha (Alexandra Daddario). For some inexplicable reason, the press thinks they’re divorced; it’s something about the only way they could be together.
Valentino meets Murnau on a press junket for The Son of the Sheik (1926). “It was a seduction,” Valentino says of Murnau, “but carnality was not his game. He wished to preserve me.” Murnau shares his “dark gift” with Valentino and Natacha. Valentino tells this story to Elizabeth in front of his burial site, his death being another myth perpetuated by the media. He’d still be breaking hearts today if not for James Patrick March (Evan Peters)…
March overhears them talking and witnesses Elizabeth’s obvious infatuation of Valentino. Since she is now his wife, this upsets him and he traps Valentino and Natacha in a section of the hotel where, unable to feed, they will grow old and ugly, but apparently still live forever. Elizabeth never knows this, until present day when Will Drake’s (Cheyenne Jackson) crew tears into the section during their renovation of the Hotel Cortez.
When the modern day Countess discovers the hidden space, Iris (Kathy Bates) comments that she’s never seen her scared before. At that time, neither one knows why she’s scared. However, when she tells March that she’s going to marry Drake, he tells her what he did. “My god,” The Countess gasps. “Yes, your god,” replies March, “That’s who was bricked into the wall of the palace I built for you.”
Actually, the origin story stops just short of revealing the specifics of Elizabeth’s transformation. We could assume that Valentino did it in the throes of passion. Or, was it March? In either case, we learn quite a bit about her character. In 1925, when Valentino tells her that he sees more for her than being an actress, she replies, “Greater than being immortal? Because that’s what it means to be up on that screen.” So, she wants to live forever.
We also learn that she has always had an inclination toward evil. Of March, she says, “I was drawn to the darkness I felt within him.” When she catches him tearing apart a hobo, March asks her, “You disapprove?” She replies, “I do. Next time I want to watch.” Whether or not we are left to imagine Elizabeth’s transformation into a vampire, we now understand why she probably experienced it willingly.
In present day, the one progressing thread seems to be John Lowe (Wes Bentley) and his obsession with the “Ten Commandments Killer.” At the beginning of the episode, before all the flashbacks begin, he’s checked himself into a mental institution. He claims to need professional help, but when he mysteriously says, “I feel I’m exactly where I need to be,” we know he’s there for another reason.
It turns out this is where the suspect in the case is being held: one of The Countess’s children (1986 flashback) named, “Ren.” Lowe refuses to believe that she murdered all those people, even though she confesses to him repeatedly. As modern day Valentino and Natacha walk out of the hotel, young and hot again after feeding on Marcy (Christine Estabrook, boo-hoo) and a room of cowboy hunks, Lowe and Ren break out of the institution.
He’s convinced that she’s leading him to the “man” who is responsible and made her watch him commit all those crimes. After what happens next, though, we’re left wondering: is there really one man who’s responsible? Was she referring to March? I don’t think so; he couldn’t have left the hotel. Or did Lowe simply infer that there was someone else because he couldn’t face the fact that Ren was a monster?
I’ve been pretty hard on this season of American Horror Story, but I have to admit that this episode left me with some intriguing questions. I did not have those questions going into the episode, so I’ll consider this an improvement. Also, I’ll give it the benefit of the doubt, as I’ve done so many times before, and declare that I kind of like the revisionist history. First serial killers, now movie stars… I think it’s trying to convince us that all this is real.
