American Horror Story: Birth
By Dan Birlew | Posted December 14, 2011 in Television | 5 Comments »“Birth” will show tonight on the FX Network at 9/10pm. The description according to Cox Communication’s Channel Guide reads as follows:
Vivien gives birth; Tate and Violet try to rid the house of some of its ghosts.
Vivien Gives Birth: In the Pilot episode Vivien (Connie Britton) slept with a man who appeared in her bedroom in a rubber bondage suit, assumed it was her philandering husband Ben (Dylan McDermott), and had sex with him. Although the series hasn’t been too clear about the passage of time, certain bits of dialog (regarding Violet skipping school) would have me believe that each episode encapsulates the events of a week. So the fact is, only 10-11 weeks have passed since Vivien conceived, and now according to the promos she’s already going to be giving birth. The episode preview shows an unknown doctor telling Viv that “one of these babies is ready to be born right now.”
Another promo on the AHS Facebook page (click here to view) treats us to a scene where Ben drags Violet (Taissa Farmiga) out of the house and shoves her into the car, as she tries to feign any number of excuses not to go attend Vivien’s bedside during birth. Violet is of course unable to go, and so it looks like this week’s episode will either bring her closer to revealing to her parents that she’s dead (hey, some teens are hiding worse things from their parents), or — if the scene above occurs near the beginning of the episode — then Ben may confront her about disappearing from the backseat sooner rather than later… as in tonight!!! Would be quite a good contrast and a Hollywood sad moment for the Harmons to try enjoying the birth of one child while at the same time grieving the death of their eldest daughter. They’ll also have to deal with the fact that Violet’s soul is now trapped in the house, and the possibility that they’ll have to stay there or nearby forever to be with her. But covering both topics would be a little much for one night, so I bet they’ll deal with point #2 during the season finale.
Though how much the Harmons will enjoy this whole early birth of one of Viv’s twins remains to be seen. Given the extremely short gestation, it seems likely that either a) the child being born tonight is the one fathered by Tate (Evan Peters), who is a ghost, who dressed up in the Rubber Man suit and did a sex number on Vivien as though he were her husband in disguise, in order to please the first Madam of the house, Nora Montgomery (Lily Rabe), or, b) Tate’s evil child may be pushing Ben’s normal child out of the womb to an early death. Though option b would be a big shock, I seriously wouldn’t put it past this disturbing-ass show.
Getting Rid of Ghosts: Previews show Violet and Tate confronting Chad (Zachary Quinto, aka “Sylar,” aka “DJ Junior Spock”) and Patrick (Teddy Sears), who appear to have begun decorating one of the upstairs rooms in preparation for the arrival of “their” twins. In life, Chad and Patrick wanted to adopt children until Patrick caught sight of their dwindling bank account, realized they were going to lose Murder House to foreclosure, and began looking for a way out of the relationship, including joining bondage chat rooms with other anonymous men. (BTW, what if JungleJim4322 shows up at the Murder House one day looking for Patrick, otherwise known as Hardlovejunky656?) Patrick told Chad that he didn’t want to adopt children anymore. Overhearing, Tate put on the rubber bondage suit that Chad bought to try and rekindle the romance (ugh) and murdered them both on Halloween, 2010. While most ghosts in the house don’t remember their death, I wouldn’t doubt if the overbearing and overly analytical Chad has figured out who killed him and Patrick by now, having probably witnessed Tate’s recent dealings with the exterminator (W. Earl Brown). So neither he nor Patrick probably have any love for the evil teenage ghost who mercilessly killed and desecrated them in the hate crime of all hate crimes (especially in regard to one particular anal weapon insertion). I also have serious doubts that the gay couple will welcome Violet to the spiritual fold within Murder House with open arms, considering she’s Tate’s eternal girlfriend. In fact if either Chad or Patrick have any proof, they may just confront Violet with Tate’s actions. But that card would be better played in a future hand. Otherwise, it looks like Chad will be up to his usual shenanigans: forcing everyone to do what he wants, including making ghost-lover Patrick adopt Viv’s newborn twins as their own, replacing the one(s) Chad wanted to adopt in life.
Pulled into this growing struggle for space in Murder House, Violet seeks answers from Constance (Jessica Lange) in regard to getting rid of other ghosts. This will be the first time I can recall that she and Constance have spoken since she died, so it will be interesting to see if Constance realizes the teenager is now one of the departed. “Aw, sweetheart, what happened?” I can hear Constance cooing now. But then again, the way that wacky Murder House works, I doubt Constance will realize Violet’s dead at all unless the Harmon daughter speaks up. I’m also interested to see Constance’s reply to Violet’s question, since I hadn’t considered the possibility that someone (a medium perhaps, such as Billie Dean) might be able to walk into Murder House and expel spirits. Which in turn makes me wonder if the season finale will include a last ditch effort seance with Billie Dean trying to make the ghosts of Murder House “move on.” Good luck with that bullshit, as Hayden would say. Speculate with me now or comment after the show tonight on FX!
Tags: American Horror Story, baby issues, preview, recap, teenage drama
When the developer, Mr. Escandaidrian or whatever, was going to buy the house, Constance said something to Moira about his paving over the backyard and how she’ll be stuck there forever. To the other ghosts, the destruction of the house seemed to be the problem.
So maybe dispelling ghosts has to do something with remains that… remain…on-site? Or maybe I’ve watched too much Supernatural wherein the best way to eradicate a restless undead is to burn their bones. And then there are only four ghosts whose bodies we know for certain to remain on the grounds: Moira, Hayden, Violet, and the exterminator (and even he’s a stretch).
Even if the candidates for explusion have nothing to do with remains, it would still make sense that Hayden is the targe. Chad and Patrick have a similar desire to Nora’s and even Constance’s. For some reason these people are all baby crazy, but in a good way (I’m speaking in relative terms here). The ones with potentially malicious intentions are Hayden and Tate, and Tate because I wouldn’t trust him with anything, let alone a baby. The new child will be a reuniting force for the Harmons, which will seriously affect Hayden’s plans to snag Ben as her own. Plus, Hayden is too much of a rabble-rouser. The other ghosts are pretty much doing their own thing in the house. She’s the one who’s shaking things up by spouting ugly truths, messing with the Harmons just for fun, and getting in the face of dead folks for whom she should have a little more respect (like Moira and Tate).
My vote is for Hayden, and what’s more, I’d accept that Tate would tell Violet that Hayden forced him to assault her mother, should the issue ever arise. She’s the perfect scapegoat.
Yeah, I remember when Moira was thinking that. But I think her guess about her remains trapping her there was wrong… which means she doesn’t know as much about the house as I may have been thinking she did. All that “ancient medical knowledge” and specific literary knowledge (the novel she vividly describes) may have been red herring to make us think so, so I’m rethinking that now, too. Tate and Larry’s children do not have remains on the property, I’m sure their bodies would have been carted out. And Travis’s and Black Dahlia’s remains were carted out too, and they’re still around. I’m sure Charles and Nora would have been removed from the property, as well as Chad and Patrick, who were “discovered” that way according to Marcy.
I love Hayden. She’s so awful, and keeps everything nice and interesting.
I doubt there’s any way to get rid of her. Even though Kate Amara is listed as a guest in the credits, I think the show would lose a lot by losing her. I hope she stays, but you’re probably right about her expulsion.
Also, occurred to me while writing this that AHS is basically Silent Hill, constricted to a single property. Probably explains why I love it so, and probably others.
Well, I didn’t get my wish. Hayden still lurks. I loved the showdown between Constance and Chad, too. Zachary Quinto rocks. I really like the way he plays Chad– just so straight about everything.
As for the content of the episode itself:
Anyone who didn’t see Vivian’s death coming raise your hand and then get on the short bus. Until the whole birth thing happened, I wasn’t sure what was going to happen, but then when Dr. Montgomery appeared with the nurses to assist, it became very clear, very quickly that things were going to go very, very wrong.
And as a public service, I’m going to add this episode to the list of shows pregnant women shouldn’t watch, up there with the “Love’s Labor Lost” episode of E.R. (same situation, non-demonic cause) and “Jersey Girl” which nobody should watch anyway because it’s terrible.
Violet and Tate’s split was interestingly amicable. Of course, she had no choice because she can’t leave town. Better be on friendly terms with the psycho ex-lover than on his bad side.
And here’s props to the production design team for the cribs. How awesomely hamfisted was that? One looked like a baby devil’s crib, complete with “horns” and one was angelic white. Ha! They didn’t have to go so obviously over-the-top, but they went there, and that’s friggin awesome.
On a side note, and just to end any wild speculation before it gains traction, an interview with Ryan Murphy about this episode revealed that the quick cuts of Ben in the corner screaming weren’t meant to indicate he was in a psych ward or anything. They were added as a last minute thing the director thought would be effective to demonstrate what was going on in Ben’s head vs. what he was doing. That is, he was talking all calmly and trying to be reassuring for Vivian while inside, he was panicking like he’s never panicked before, trying to draw on the happy memories of Violet’s birth, too (but even that was a source of panic because he had just learned she was dead, too.)
The previews for next week were interesting. Looks like Tate tries the rubber suit routine with a new family, or tried it in the past with someone. Chad indicated that there were alot of things left around the house from previous inhabitants. Maybe that was a barb at Constance, referring to her ghost children as well as the physical crap she left in the basement and elsewhere when she left, or maybe it was indicative that this whole sordid set of events played out at least once before with another hapless family. Why haven’t we seen their ghosts? Why hadn’t we seen Larry’s kids before “Smoldering Children”?
So what’s next? Vivian and Violet add to the population of the house and Ben… I think he becomes the next Larry and the cycle repeats. Can’t you see Ben telling the next man of the house, “I killed my family…” because he “killed” them in the same way Larry did– set in motion a chain of events that allowed the house to take over and claim the wives and children.
There have been some insightful commentaries on the show found about the interwebs. Average people, in an act of restoring my confidence in the literacy and intelligence of the American people, have noted that this show was unique in that there was no hero character to root for. All of the humans, dead or alive, were alternately nice and really not nice. There wasn’t one character who acted with nobility and decency through the entire show. The closest you got was Moira, and maybe Nora, but even they had issues. This insight combined with yours, Dan, about the rotating cast potential makes for something just this side of genius in the founding concepts and vibe of the show. If they never introduce a hero character, the hero (or anti-hero)becomes the house itself. As long as the house doesn’t change, the series doesn’t change. The day they introduce the noble human is the day we know the series is at an end. I like this.
@Jayne Some of what you’re talking about is going to feature in next week’s recap and post of course, but I’d like to agree that women have a tough time watching it, including Laura even though she’s never given birth. Even I was cringing with phantom sympathy pains. Connie Britton did a marvelous job, and in spite of what you say I think that Viv and Violet are indeed the characters we’re supposed to be rooting for in all of this. Noble? No. But human and endearing in their own ways? Yes. The show does deal strictly in shades of grey, but mother and daughter have been the most innocent victims of the house thus far, I think.
I also noticed that thing with the cribs: one being all white and traditional looking while the other was cedar brown and empirical in design: perfect for a dark prince baby.
And the subtext I took from the conversation was that at least one of those was a crib used by Constance, and that Chad’s line about finding it discarded by a previous owner was an early dig at her, she having lived there before. She just refused to respond to it. I figure he hates her so much because she probably hid the fact that she used to own the house from Chad and Pat just like she did with the Harmons, until either very late in the game or until after they died. He probably feels like if she was a decent person, she would have warned them (especially about Tate). Even at this point I think only Violet is aware that Constance used to live in Murder House and still has major ties to it.
I have a different view on Ben’s “role” in the history of Murder House, which I’ll detail next week before the finale. But I think they’ve been getting at it all season long: especially through Viv’s arguments with Ben.
I came up with the theory that the Harmons would die in the house and that new people would move in early on, while re-watching episodes on FX On Demand. When you watch it that way they show FX network commercials, including the extended promo for AHS. It shows all the characters wandering the house at the same time, including both versions of Addy and Moira. The Harmons appear multiple times throughout the promo, showing various states of agitation and fear. But at the end they all sit calmly in the center of the room, as if accepting of their new home. And… they all suddenly look excessively pale. So I took this as a possible clue that the Harmons were going to die in the house and become “permanent residents” and therefore permanent characters on the show. The excessively quick manner in which Hayden and Travis were introduced, murdered, and added to the ghost roster reinforced my feelings about this, along the way.
Hooray for AHS and Jessica Lange getting Golden Globe nominations!