*Spoilers Ahead*
“I believe in Baby Jesus, Richard, and I believe in you.”
Last week’s episode of AHS: 1984 seemed to leave us in just the place we might have expected coming into this season: A deranged killer set loose on a camp of unsuspecting counselors. There was one wrinkle, however, as real-life serial killer Richard Ramirez (Zach Villa), aka The Night Stalker, has also arrived at the camp, eager to finish what he started with Brooke Thompson (Emma Roberts) in her L.A. apartment. This development would spin us in an unexpected direction here in episode 2, “Mr. Jingles.”
As is usually the case on American Horror Story, things are not always as they seem. There was much speculation among AHS fans that we would not be getting the straight-up slasher homage that all the promotional material led us to believe. That didn’t change entirely with this installment, but we were thrown quite a curveball midway through the episode. As Ramirez is busy stalking Thompson, he comes across the hitchhiker we met in episode 1. Which was pretty odd, since we already saw said hitchhiker die last week at the hands of Mr. Jingles. As the Night Stalker approaches him, the hitchhiker exclaims, “You’re not supposed to be here. I don’t die here.” Um, what? Well, Ramirez does kill him, only for the hitchhiker to show up again a few minutes later. This time, when Ramirez finishes him off, the hitchhiker fades away, Jedi-style.
Following this, a distraught and thoroughly confused Ramirez comes upon Margaret (Leslie Grossman), the lone surviving counselor-turned-pious-judgmental-camp operator, but instead of killing her, he reveals what happened moments before. Margaret explains to Ramirez that she knows the hitchhiker, whose name is Jonas Shevoore, which, likely not coincidentally, is an anagram for Jason Voorhees. This may be our biggest clue yet to the motivations of the mysterious Margaret. She claims to have known Jonas when they were campers in 1970. She survived, and he did not. Yet here he is. Margaret theorizes that he is in fact a ghost. That may or may not explain his multiple resurrections. Perhaps, though, their relationship was not as fellow counselors but rather mother and son, a la Friday the 13th‘s Pamela and Jason Voorhees? Could she have opened the camp as a way of exacting revenge for the death of her sweet, sweet Jonas? Does she blame the counselors just as much as Mr. Jingles for his death? Are the present-day counselors acting as proxies for the negligent counselors back in 1970? Hmm…
As they attempt to sort through the conundrum of the hitchhiker, Ramirez reveals his backstory to Margaret, a childhood filled with pain and violence. In a strangely sexualized way, she twists his pain and manipulates Ramirez into protecting the camp from Mr. Jingles. She explains to him that with “God and trauma,” you can justify just about any of your actions. Odd behavior from someone who projects a holier-than-thou attitude.
Earlier in the episode, we also learn from Brooke that she suffered even worse trauma than that inflicted on her by Ramirez a year earlier. At her wedding, her intensely jealous and possessive groom reveals to her at the alter that he believes she had cheated on him the night before with his best man. Brooke vehemently denies it (and seems to be telling the truth), but it has no effect on her fiance. He cold-heartedly shoots and kills his best man, then Brooke’s father, before turning the gun on himself. It is a shocking scene and revelation and one has to wonder how she could even function normally after suffering severe trauma like that.
Elsewhere, the rest of the counselors become acutely aware that Mr. Jingles is indeed on the loose. After finding a gay porn producer who was at the camp to blackmail Xavier (Cody Fern) into “starring” in more of his videos with a spike through his head, the gang attempts to flee. But if you have seen any slasher flicks, especially those set at a remote location, that is often easier said than done. One stalled then crashed van and some missing car keys later, the counselors are forced to fend for themselves if they hope to survive. The episode ends with the gang, split into two groups now, awaiting their fate in separate cabins.
AHS: 1984 continues to be incredibly fun and entertaining, but now the new twists introduced add a whole new level of intrigue to the events at Camp Redwood. What are Margaret’s true motivations for re-opening the camp? Who, and more importantly, what is Jonas? What else might Brooke be hiding? And will Richard Ramirez do the bidding of Margaret and confront Mr. Jingles, Freddy vs Jason-style? Whatever the answers hold, it should make for a helluva ride!
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