American Horror Story: Asylum review – 2×10: ‘The Name Game’

Just a few days into the new year and we’re already back in the nut-house! Welcome back to Briarcliff, kiddies

Let’s bitch it out…Well, if you’ve been reading my reviews so far this second season, you know two things: 1) I’ve been enjoying the show far too much (it checked in at #5 on my ‘Best’ of 2012 list) and 2) I LOVE Lily Rabe (who plays Sister Mary Eunice) most of all. As a result, ‘The Name Game’ is a bittersweet episode for me because (for now) it appears that Mary Eunice is no more.

I’ll confess that I spent the last third of the episode awaiting her resurrection. First of all, there’s no way that the Devil is killed by a three story fall, nor would she be done in by – of all people – the Monsignor (Joseph Fiennes). He sucks! Come on, American Horror Story! Clearly it’s gotta be Jude (Jessica Lange) that does her in.

So yeah, I don’t think we’ve seen the last of Sister Mary Eunice (even if I’m wrong, if Ryan Murphy is smart he would gobble her up for S3 asap). What’s more shocking than Mary Eunice’s demise is Dr. Arden’s (James Cromwell) immolation-o-gram suicide. I’m totally fine with this ending for Briarcliff’s resident Nazi doctor as he’s had a good run. With the reappearance of Grace (Lizzie Brocheré) and Pepper (Naomi Grossman) as her “freak” protector, the death of the experiments/freaks in the woods, and the sight of Mary Eunice riding the Monsignor like the Kentucky Derby, Arden doesn’t really have much left to live for. What is a crazy Nazi doctor without the love of the Devil and his torturous experiments? Answer: a fireball.

And so our list of characters dwindles a little more. It looks like there’s still a big showdown brewing between the other crazy doctor on Briarcliff’s payroll, Dr. Thredson (Zachary Quinto), who this week discovers that his baby mama, Lana (Sarah Paulson) fits the description “plucky.” I would have gone with blackmailer, myself, since that’s what she does to him with his confessional tape to ensure that she and Kit (Evan Peters) remain safe.

While I love this new, kick-ass awesome Lana, she’s more or less flying solo. It’s clear that Thredson is holding Grace and the baby hostage, which makes Kit more or less his b*tch now. Lana better keep up that hard edge, because unless the Mother Superior follows through on Jude’s assertion that Lana doesn’t belong there, our favourite lesbian reporter is going to remain in Thredson’s crosshairs for the time being. Let’s just hope that the Angel of Death (Frances Conroy) has had her fill for now.

Other Observations:

• Jude’s real name is Judy Martin, which Mary Eunice loves to mock. All things considered, it’s not that bad a name, and yet on the lips of Lily Rabe, it’s pretty amusing
• I’m unsure what others thought of the surreal Technicolor dance and sing-along montage of ‘The Name Game’ (from which the episode takes its title), but I kinda thought it was genius. It’s what Glee’s ‘Let’s Have a Kiki’ number should have been. I like how it’s a similar, though slightly different, interpretation of the same thing we saw after Lana underwent her electroshock therapy session earlier this year
• You can add “male rape” to the list of descriptors used to describe AHS S2 as Monsignor loses his virginity unwillingly to Mary Eunice. It’s a little disappointing that the scene is partially played for laughs (re: the protests first about her actions and then when she moves to stop) considering that it’s a relatively serious topic. At the same time, of all the over-the-top things AHS has done in the last ten episodes, this is not the topic that I’m going to make a fuss over
• Finally, after suggesting that there’s a hint about the setting for S3 hidden in the episode, there’s rampant speculation that since all of the songs on the jukebox were from artists based in New Orleans, the 3rd miniseries will take place there (Consider also, Mary Eunice’s taunting song-choice: ‘I Put A Spell On You’)

Best Lines:

• Pepper (threatening Arden): “If anything happens to her, they’ll take you, open up your head and stir your brain around with a fork.”
• Lana (when Thredson pulls away an astray): “It’s a wise move. I was about to bash your head in.”
• Mary Eunice (moments before dying): “I’m about to devour the last morsel of her soul.”
• Lana (threatening Thredson): “I’m godammn plucky, remember?”

We’re now only three episodes away from the series finale of this second miniseries. Where do you think we’re headed? Do you really believe that Mary Eunice (or Arden) are dead? Will Lana escape Briarcliff alive? What’s going on with Grace and the baby? Speculate away below

American Horror Story: Asylum airs Wednesdays at 10pm EST on FX