S09.E08: Rest in Pieces

[jewel21]

A deadly trio emerges, hell-bent on unleashing a new era at Camp Redwood. Our former counselors desperately try to keep history from repeating itself.

Airdate: 11.06.2019

[Chaos Theory]

This season continues to be one of my favorites.  I really enjoyed Brooke and Donna and the reporter.  I really thought Brooke might go through with killing the reporter but Donna stopping her fits with her character and doing it to the Rocky theme song was fun.   I really liked her lines about darkness.  I might be paraphrasing "We all have darkness inside of us.  It only grows if we feed it."  

I also really liked Montana and Trevor and the song "I want to know what love is" playing in the background. I guess they both figured it out because Trevor wanted to kill himself but Montana made the sacrifice by not letting him.

The final battle between Margarete, Ramirez and the Hitchhiker killing all the 80 bands (Not Billy Idol even the Night Stalker Has Standards) is a good way to go into the finale the final battle.  

Best line by Margaret  (about Ramierez)  "We have a mutual admiration and a deep sexual attraction."  

[WaltersHair]

Was that a Mary Kay pink car? Oops. it is.Talk about MLM crap.

I like the actor who plays Ramirez, but it's causing me terrible inner conflict. Thumbless is just cheesy.

The last concert at Camp Redwood. I expect bleeding trees. And Billy Idol. If they don't show Billy I"m going to send them that scene from St. Elmo's fire with Billy's big head and neon earring in catatonic Demi Moore's apartment.

[farmgal4]

4 minutes ago, WaltersHair said:

Was that a Mary Kay pink car? Oops. it is.Talk about MLM crap.

I like the actor who plays Ramirez, but it's causing me terrible inner conflict. Thumbless is just cheesy.

The last concert at Camp Redwood. I expect bleeding trees. And Billy Idol. If they don't show Billy I"m going to send them that scene from St. Elmo's fire with Billy's big head and neon earring in catatonic Demi Moore's apartment.

I know a couple of women who have/had MK vehicles, and they’re not that pink.  That car tonight was straight up PeptoBismol pink.

Tonight’s episode was great IMO, but I’m confused by the final scene.  

[WaltersHair]

Quote

I know a couple of women who have/had MK vehicles, and they’re not that pink.  That car tonight was straight up PeptoBismol pink.

I remember those. I'd say powder pink or baby pink and they were Cadillacs too, weren't they? Giant gas hogs.

[LoveLeigh]

Next week is the finale? This was the most idiotic season of this series. What was the point of any of it? I do not see the "fun" and the homage to the 80s was not enough to carry this crap and the music I can listen to on YouTube. 

I have watched other seasons that had more original and interesting plots and the stories were not just developed around constant murders. 

This was real amateurish crap and judging from the fact that I am the 5th person to post here after this episode aired, it seems many viewers just stopped watching this pile of manure. 

Edited November 7, 2019 by DakotaLavender

[Female83]

I like that

Spoiler

Mr Jingles mom forgave him and that he was reunited with her and his brother. 

[phoenix780]

They borrowed the end of a classic slasher film. I appreciated that. 

That's about all I feel like they gave me to think about. I'm eager for the finale now, not because I'm disappointed with the season, but because after this episode I'm left wanting more. Binge watching stuff may have ruined me, though. I'm no longer used to having to wait. 

[RalyWilmy]

7 hours ago, WaltersHair said:

I like the actor who plays Ramirez, but it's causing me terrible inner conflict.

So much inner conflict, lol.

[sashayshante]

4 hours ago, DakotaLavender said:

Next week is the finale? This was the most idiotic season of this series. What was the point of any of it? I do not see the "fun" and the homage to the 80s was not enough to carry this crap and the music I can listen to on YouTube. 

I have watched other seasons that had more original and interesting plots and the stories were not just developed around constant murders. 

This was real amateurish crap and judging from the fact that I am the 5th person to post here after this episode aired, it seems many viewers just stopped watching this pile of manure. 

It's not just that it's dumb. It's messy. They obviously had no story, or at least one so thin they could have told it in 5 episodes. They crammed a bunch of extraneous plots into the story to stretch it out ie Dylan McDermott's useless character and The Enquirer reporter. They threw in stuff that ultimately did nothing to advance the story or was particularly relevant ie Ray's history of killing a pledge (Side note: Why isn't Deron Horton in the main credits when he's had more of a story than Chet?) Jingles decapitated, tried to burn alive and slaughtered a bunch of people but we're supposed to care about him because I don't quite understand why. Montana and Trevor have a sudden nonsensical love story because he went down on her once. Only certain people killed at the camp are featured, and it's not the people that were actually interesting like Bertie, Blake or the real Rita. Margaret is a cartoon villian. Montana is all over the place and we're suddenly supposed to care about her.

But we're suppose to love it because, SlAsHeR FiLmS.

Good to see Finn Wittrock in preview for finale, but I already know the ending is going to make no sense and be thrown together.

[WednesdayAddams]

Where is Bertie? Will the finale be longer than an hour? I feel like they can't wrap it all up with the crazy amount of commercials. I too, don't feel bad or like Jingles. I mean this season was fun and I'm not left with nearly as many questions as seasons passed, but Jingles is a killer after all, and I couldn't care less if his Mother forgave him or not, or that his life at Blockbuster was ruined.

[Robert Lynch]

In Patrick Star's voice: Who are you, people??!!?

[darkestboy]

Now we've got everyone at this camp, let the final bloodbath begin.

Donna bringing Brooke up to speed on that trope. Maybe both of them will make it out of the season alive, maybe neither. Maybe it's a final boy rather than girl, right?

Benjamin got the nice family reunion at the end but his plan with Ramirez really did fail though.

Loved the Brooke/Donna team up, less keen on Margaret/Ramirez/Bruce. The last character feels like a pointless addition this late in the game.

Montana and Trevor's story had some interesting beats but the show has struggled with Ray, Chet and Xavier post death though.

Courtney having to get rid of those bodies, poor guy deserves a raise if he gets out of there alive, 8/10

[SimoneS]

I really enjoyed that episode. Donna and Brooke make a great team. I laughed at Donna saying that people with her complexion go first. I hope she makes it out alive anyway. I think she has redeemed herself by freeing Brooke, going with her back to the camp, and then stopping Brooke from tapping into the evil inside by killing the reporter.

Does the reunion of the mother, Bobby, and Benji mean that the blood curse on the camp is gone and the ghosts can go wherever they are supposed to go?

I am surprised by how much I like Montana and Trevor's romance even though it comes out of nowhere. Still they are good for each other. Maybe there is hope for Montana after all. I am pretty sure that Trevor is going die now that Margaret has seen him with Montana. I hope that Brooke and Ray have their own reunion.

I want Margaret, Ramirez, and the serial killer to die painful deaths and then be forced to have horrible afterlives.

Poor Courtney, having to cut up and dispose of those bodies. I cracked up when he said that he was a diminutive man.

Edited November 7, 2019 by SimoneS

[Chaos Theory]

I am putting on my guess now for the final girl....or in this cast the final people.

it will end up being Brooke, Donna and Trevor.  
 

My guess is that Montana will decide she wants to keep Trevor alive which means teaming up with Brooke (and along with the recently dead reporter) they will all make a good team against Ramerez, Margaret and the Hitchhiker.

Of course Donna and (more to the point Brooke) will again get blamed for the carnage which leaves Trevor As taking  Margaret’s place as Sutvivor Boy which he does in large part to help Brooke and Donna escape and go their separate ways.

Brooke manages to track Ramirez down who also snuck away and just before killing him the cops show up and arrest him.   Leaving Brooke to decide what kind of person she wants to be.  

Edited November 7, 2019 by Chaos Theory

[iMonrey]

I'm not sure I understand the about face by Jingle's mom. Was she willing to forgive and forget now that she has her favored son back? The whole thing was weird. I did like the obvious homage to the original Friday the 13th, with the creature jumping up out of the lake to grab the person in the boat.

[CrazyDog]

I'm another that liked it, lol. The season does seem like AHS-lite, which I'm actually OK with. Some of the other seasons have been far too twisted for me - I could have lived a great life without ever seeing the drill scene from Hotel.

I like Brooke and Donna together, though I still find Donna shady. I'm glad she stopped Brooke from killing the annoying Stacy. Hopefully the camp ghosts enjoy having a tabloid reporter around!

Chet and Ray have gone the same "important early in the season, irrelevant now" path of the two teens from last season. 

I really didn't see Jingles "happy" ending as all that happy. How can he really forgive his mother for the things she said to him, or leave his son to be killed by Ramirez? Is his mom really at peace with Jingles so quickly? It's nice that Bobby is there, but the whole thing had a false ring to it, like it's some fake scene to distract Jingles, or something.

Glad that everyone could unite behind leaving Billy Idol alone. 

Totally dumb question...when Bruce was driving with the ghost hitchhiker, and they heard noises from the trunk...didn't they flashback to him killing the Mary Kay woman earlier? I missed the timing on that sequence.

Montana yelling at Trevor was off - she tells Trevor about Ramirez and then immediately blows up at him. I think they cut some lines there. 

I'll be happy with the finale if Margaret dies. She has gotten away with everything this season. I'm curious what they'll do with Ramirez.

[molotovcupcake]

22 minutes ago, CrazyDog said:

Totally dumb question...when Bruce was driving with the ghost hitchhiker, and they heard noises from the trunk...didn't they flashback to him killing the Mary Kay woman earlier? I missed the timing on that sequence.

I have the same question - did I miss something?

[madhacker]

17 hours ago, WaltersHair said:

I like the actor who plays Ramirez, but it's causing me terrible inner conflict.

9 hours ago, sashayshante said:

Side note: Why isn't Deron Horton in the main credits when he's had more of a story than Chet?

Yes!! As far as I'm concerned Zach Villa deserved to be in the opening credits way more than Gus Kenworthy (did he actually have any lines this episode? He just stood around like a glorified extra). Zach's this season's breakout star. Not that that's saying much but I really hope we see him either next season or on another Ryan Murphy show. But the biggest disappointment in acting has to unfortunately go to Cody Fern. He was the breakout in ACS, and in my opinion killed it as Micheal Langton. This season he was basically eye candy. He was really trying but when your character is that shallow you're screwed. I'll bet Evan Peters is relieved he decided to skip this season.

The only thing that'll save this season is if Lana Winters shows up to cover the aftermath.

[sashayshante]

1 hour ago, molotovcupcake said:

I have the same question - did I miss something?

When Bruce opened the trunk he screamed the only relatively amusing line in the entire episode: "We're trying to listen to Credence!" It was meant to call back to the conversation he'd just had with the hitchhiker about music. He killer her after he picked up the hitchhiker.

23 minutes ago, madhacker said:

Yes!! As far as I'm concerned Zach Villa deserved to be in the opening credits way more than Gus Kenworthy (did he actually have any lines this episode? He just stood around like a glorified extra). Zach's this season's breakout star. Not that that's saying much but I really hope we see him either next season or on another Ryan Murphy show. But the biggest disappointment in acting has to unfortunately go to Cody Fern. He was the breakout in ACS, and in my opinion killed it as Micheal Langton. This season he was basically eye candy. He was really trying but when your character is that shallow you're screwed. I'll bet Evan Peters is relieved he decided to skip this season.

The only thing that'll save this season is if Lana Winters shows up to cover the aftermath.

I absolutely think either Paulson or Peters will make an appearance in the finale. I still maintain there was some kind of mutiny that led to the entire regular cast not appearing this season.  That they all bowed out for the same season can't be a coincidence.  I think Finn Wittrock is playing grown up Bobby Richter Jr. in the finale. The shots of the mental institution in the preview for next week have me wondering if we're going to find out the entire story was some wild story told by a patient.

[Terrafamilia]

Did Bobby show up because it is so close to Halloween? Otherwise, it doesn't make much sense and makes me suspicious about that whole scene. Also, if those who died in Camp Redwood can't leave how come the dead hitchhiker/former counselor shows up well outside on the road to the camp?

[Mattipoo]

Poor Courtney! Having to clean up all those dead bodies must not be fun. Kajagoogoo are back as ghosts!

I am glad Jingles is able to have that picnic with his mother and Bobby. Hope he gets to finally kill Ramirez next week.

[Bali]

On 11/7/2019 at 7:05 AM, sashayshante said:

It's not just that it's dumb. It's messy. They obviously had no story, or at least one so thin they could have told it in 5 episodes. They crammed a bunch of extraneous plots into the story to stretch it out ie Dylan McDermott's useless character and The Enquirer reporter. They threw in stuff that ultimately did nothing to advance the story or was particularly relevant ie Ray's history of killing a pledge (Side note: Why isn't Deron Horton in the main credits when he's had more of a story than Chet?) Jingles decapitated, tried to burn alive and slaughtered a bunch of people but we're supposed to care about him because I don't quite understand why. Montana and Trevor have a sudden nonsensical love story because he went down on her once. Only certain people killed at the camp are featured, and it's not the people that were actually interesting like Bertie, Blake or the real Rita. Margaret is a cartoon villian. Montana is all over the place and we're suddenly supposed to care about her.

But we're suppose to love it because, SlAsHeR FiLmS.

Good to see Finn Wittrock in preview for finale, but I already know the ending is going to make no sense and be thrown together.

Hasn't that happened literally EVERY season? I mean- the aliens in the woods in Asylum? There's always been a bunch of crud that doesn't belong. 

Ray's history of killing a pledge is the entire reason he became a counselor in the first place. It's his backstory. We're supposed to care that Jingles got turned into a murderer because people always believed the worst of him, so eventually he was brainwashed into giving them just that. I think that when reporter lady said whatever that was about the shallowness of the 80's it was supposed to parallel the shallowness of the season. (For those that like "the deeper meaning") Honestly, I think this is just a straight up slasher season, but there are people who want "more symbolism". Dylan McDermott's character is a tribute to the people who think serial killing is the way to get famous. You know, "I'll get my fifteen minutes by going on a mass shooting spree". Why can't Montana and Trevor mean something to each other because he went down on her once? It certainly wouldn't be the first romance that started as lust and turned into something more.

This season makes ABSOLUTE sense to me. But I'm also taking it at face value, I'm not looking for a deeper meaning.

16 hours ago, CrazyDog said:

Totally dumb question...when Bruce was driving with the ghost hitchhiker, and they heard noises from the trunk...didn't they flashback to him killing the Mary Kay woman earlier? I missed the timing on that sequence.

The flashbacked to him putting her in there. She was still alive. He didn't kill her until he opened the trunk to show her to the ghost hitchhiker. He opened the trunk and killed her off screen.

10 hours ago, Mattipoo said:

Poor Courtney! Having to clean up all those dead bodies must not be fun. Kajagoogoo are back as ghosts!

And singing "Shy Shy" over and over to the ghosts- FOREVER- As if Montana wasn't angry enough.  ROTFL!!!

This season has completely matched my twisted sick sense of humor. It's my favorite season in years. But then again, I've despised the past couple of seasons. Last year was okay. But Roanoak and Cult were dreadful and for me, the ones that were messy and didn't make sense. I haven't really had an emotional connection to a character in AHS since Misty Day. And after what happened to her, I refuse to get close to any of them. I go into each season with the belief that they will ALL die. Then when they do, it doesn't bother me as much. But the corollary to that is that the one who annoys me the most will be the one to survive. Therefore I'm calling it now, Margaret survives. 

[LoveLeigh]

17 hours ago, sashayshante said:

Spoiler

The shots of the mental institution in the preview for next week have me wondering if we're going to find out the entire story was some wild story told by a patient.

I am spoiler tagging this because the mods do not like discussion of previews.

Spoiler

That would be an homage to the film IDENTITY. So maybe all of this is happening inside Jingles head.

[Jsage]

Quote

Only certain people killed at the camp are featured, and it's not the people that were actually interesting like Bertie, Blake or the real Rita.

Someone mentioned in last week's thread that Lavinia blamed the counselors and Jingles for Bobby's death. That may be why all future counselors, and Jingles, always come back. Bertie, Rita, Blake, the band that got slaughtered, etc. may be allowed to have regular deaths because Lavinia doesn't care about them. My memory isn't good enough to figure out if there's an exception to this but it seems to make sense.

[willco]

You know, I'm starting to think that Margaret's whole Christian persona in the pilot episode was all just an ACT !! ( ha).  I spent the whole episode thinking it was the season finale, so I'm really glad it wasn't, just because that would have been a really bad ending. I hope they tie up a few loose ends, though they probably won't. But until it's over, I can hope.

[renatae]

On 11/6/2019 at 10:20 PM, farmgal4 said:

I know a couple of women who have/had MK vehicles, and they’re not that pink.  That car tonight was straight up PeptoBismol pink.

Tonight’s episode was great IMO, but I’m confused by the final scene.  

I loved the Mary Kay car, and have been loving all the 80's homages. FTR, I used Mary Kay back in the day and it did my skin wonders. Now that I'm older and don't take as many pains, I feel I'm still reaping the benefits of having used it when I was young. People have been telling me all my life that I look younger than my age.

I keep getting confused about Jingles. First he's the killer, then Margaret is exposed as the killer, then his mother tells him she saw him killing. 🤷‍♀️

[tennisgurl]

I am glad that Jingles is apparently getting some kind of happy more peaceful ending with his family, even if Lavinia doesent really deserve a happy ending after everything she did. And I did enjoy the Friday the 13th style ending shout out as well. 

This season has been super weird and frequently random, without much deep characterization or deeper themes, but I have still enjoyed it for the most part! Its had a lot of fun moments and episodes, and I admit to enjoying cheesy 80s slasher movies and combining that with usual AHS tropes has been a blast for the most part. 

I did really like Brooke and Donna together and Donna keeping Brooke from killing the reporter so that the darkness didnt take her over. Like, I think that might be as close as we get to a greater theme or "real life horror" that we normally get from seasons. How some people deal with tragedy and trauma by becoming filled with darkness and hatred and lashing out at others, like how Montana took out her grief about her brother on Brooke, or Jingles started killing after he went insane due to his horrible treatment, or the ghosts becoming murderous after being murdered, you can say its about people not being able to deal with the darkness in them, and instead feeding into it.

Or its about creating an 80s soundtrack and killing some 80s bands. 

[Bali]

On 11/10/2019 at 4:14 AM, renatae said:

I keep getting confused about Jingles. First he's the killer, then Margaret is exposed as the killer, then his mother tells him she saw him killing. 🤷‍♀️

Well, he killed her. Also, Margaret is the killer in the 70's. He killed several people when he was released. 

[Bruinsfan]

He also presumably killed people in Vietnam before coming back to the camp and meeting Margaret. Though Lavinia wouldn't have had any way to observe that beyond overhearing him talking about it.

[Last Time Lord]

I hate myself for how hard I laughed at Bobby’s mayonnaise joke. 

[Black Knight]

Whee! All these killers running around, some of them teaming up and some of them in opposition, made for such a fun episode. I evil-giggled through much of it.

I think what Stacy said in the diner to Brooke and Donna is a pretty good statement of the theme of the season. You have all this rich glitzy stuff and also the "family wholeness" of summer camps and roller ranks, and allegedly "everyone was happy" (my mom made that claim to me during the 90s, which, suuuuuure), but really we had so much darkness going on, from the Night Stalker to AIDS. And the psychic uneases of a given era are often reflected in the fiction and horror of what was created then, so her point about slasher horror taking over in the 80s from what we had in the 70s was an excellent one. I don't need AHS to have a deep theme or anything, but Stacy really ties together what the writers were doing with this season.

I was surprised at how quick Brooke was to go to murdering Stacy as her solution to that problem. I guess it shows how important it was that she actually became friends with Donna, or she might have killed her in the last episode. Good on Donna for stopping her from going through with it, although having Stacy run away on her own pretty much guaranteed she'd get killed anyway. Donna should maybe have thought about that.

The miserable look on Courtney's face as he hauled the body bags down the bus steps was perfect. I laughed so hard. Props to Leslie Jordan for that.

Of course Margaret decides to kill all the musicians (except Billy Idol). I do wonder why she continues to overlook that there are ghosts at the camp who have it out for her for good reason.

The final scene of Benjamin with his mother and brother was sweet, but, I don't know. I don't think his mother would make such a complete turnaround so quickly. He may be trapped in an illusion conjured up by the creature who pulled him into the water. I wonder why the show had Montana witness it. It seems like that might be important later.

Next up, the finale!