“Good luck selling this lemon.” – Constance
In this edition of American Horror Story, the focus shifts to learning more about the history of the house and less on the current day tormenting of the Harmon family.
In the premiere episode Constance had mentioned to Moira, “Don’t make me kill you again,” and this week we finally see the flashback to that murder. Constance and her husband lived in the house in the early ’80s and she walked in on Moira and her husband having sex, not knowing that her husband was actually raping Moira. She shot Moira in her right eye and shot her husband in the chest three times.
But the question remains: how did Moira come back to “life” and what happened to Constance’s husband? And how was she never convicted? We do learn by the end of the episode though that Moira is buried in the backyard and although she would like to be dead and not living in limbo it will never be as Ben has now built a gazebo over her grave, which she now shares with Ben’s former lover, Hayden, which Larry killed for him.
As it turns out the Harmon family is forced to stay in the house for now as they cannot afford to leave due to bad financial decisions and all of their money being tied up in the house. Vivien attempts to contact numerous real estate agents to sell the house but no one wants to be bothered so she must turn to the agent who initially sold them the house, Marcy. After Vivien threatens her with a lawsuit and the possibility of ruining her career Marcy agrees to take the listing once again. I must say that Vivien and Ben were foolish for taking the house in the first place once they learned that a murder had been committed in it.
So, how did this house come to be known as the “Murder House?” We finally learn this tidbit of information when Vivien decides to go on the Eternal Darkness Tour after seeing it stop in front of the house one day. As it turns out the house was built in 1922 by a doctor for his wife. Not long after moving into the house the doctor developed a Frankenstein complex and became addicted to drugs. He conducted many of his experiments in the basement. Hoping to save them from financial ruins his wife begins to schedule illegal abortions from him to perform, also completed in the basement. What exactly did this doctor do down there to create the chamber of horrors the basement now is? Not long after Vivien goes on the tour the doctor’s wife visits the house. Of course Vivien doesn’t know who she is, she believes she’s just someone interested in buying the house. When the camera pans behind her we see a bullet wound in the back of her head. I’m assuming it was inflicted by her husband and that he ultimately killed himself and the young child they had.
One thing that is refreshing about the writing is that certain issues are being resolved immediately instead of being dragged along for numerous episodes. While I wouldn’t say Larry murdering Hayden to absolve Ben of his problem is a resolution it does open the door to the question as to whether we will be seeing the ghost of Hayden around as we do Moira. That would definitely be more interesting to watch instead of a continuous battle between Ben and Hayden regarding her pregnancy and her infatuation over him. Something I appreciate in any show is good writing and having things tied together. Throughout the episode Ben kept blacking out and waking up in the backyard in the same spot with a shovel next to him. At one point he actually starts digging the ground up. Turns out that’s where Moira was buried and now Hayden. When Larry discovers Moira’s remains, I wondered if he knew who it was or if he just shrugged it off as nothing out of the ordinary for the house.
Some stats and info about American Horror Story, “Murder House”
TV SHOW – American Horror Story
SEASON/EPISODE – Season 1, Episode 3
AIRED ON – October 19th, 2011
NETWORK/STREAMING SERVICE – Hulu/FX
GENRE – Horror, Drama
CREATED BY – Brad Falchuk, Ryan Murphy, Halley Feiffer
CAST – Evan Peters, Sarah Paulson, Denis O’Hare, Lily Rabe, Kathy Bates, Frances Conroy, Emma Roberts, Jessica Lange, Billie Lourd, Leslie Grossman, Angela Bassett, Cheyenne Jackson,
This review originally appeared on TV Geek Army.