'American Horror Story' recap: Smells Like Teen Spirit

Violet expressed wariness about Tate's proposal. Tate grew belligerent. Violet got scared. Okay, she'd roll the dice on the suicide solution, she lied, but only if they could do it in the bathtub, where it would be warm and nice and there could be candles and stuff. Tate tried not to freak. Why was she pitching this? Was she remembering? No: Violet was playing him; she was trying to find a way to get some space between him and flee. He let her go -- and Violet bolted. She ran out of the attic and out the door, ran to the gate. She yelled at the couple across the street walking a dog -- but only the dog could hear her. She opened the gate and ran… right back into the kitchen. Huh? Tate appeared, pleaded with her to go through with their plan, begged her to stop running. She ran. Out the front door -- except the run led her back into the house through the side door. She tried again. Out the front… and again, back into the house from the side door. It was interesting that Violet never again made it back out to the gate. It was as if the house was responded to her repeated attempts at escape by contracting the perimeter, limiting the range of space in which he could move. The Victorian had become an M.C. Escher madhouse, and Violet was losing her mind -- which was exactly what Tate had been trying to avoid with his well-meaning let’s-go-gently-into-that-good-night ruse. Tate realized he had no choice. Brutal truth it had to be.

“I don’t want to die,” Violet cried.

“It’s too late for that,” Tate said. “I have to show you something. Afterward, you are free to go wherever you want. I promise, I won’t do anything to stop you.” I think most of that wasn’t true. Based on what we know about Murder House, Violet wouldn’t have the liberty to go wherever she wanted. But Tate probably reasoned that once she saw what he had to show her, the lie wouldn’t matter.

They went into the basement. They crawled through the bowels of the house. As they approached the place where Phil saw what he saw and turned tail, Tate asked Violet to close her eyes. “Remember,” Tate said, “everything is going to be okay. I love you.” He guided her to the threshold of revelation and then said, “Open your eyes.”

Violet looked. She saw the corpse of a teenage girl. She saw the mouth stretched open and frozen, scores of blowflies buzzing in and out. She saw herself. Dead. A despairing wail came out of her, and she remembered. The day she learned Tate was a mass murderer. The day she learned he was a ghost in a house full of ghosts. The day the rational world stopped making sense and she swallowed a whole bottle of pills so she could sleep, only sleeeeep…

“I died when I took all those pills,” Violet said.

“I tried to save you. I did,” Tate said. “I tried to make you throw them up. You threw up some. Not enough. You took so many, Violet. You died crying. I held you. You were safe. You died… loved.”

+++

Later, in the bedroom of smoldering children, Violet slowly came to some functional peace about her strange state of being, as well as a gracious regard for the boy who was only trying to protect her. “What happens now?” she asks. Tate -- sitting on the floor with a deck of playing cards -- quipped: “You draw a card and discard.” He grew serious. He told her that life goes on. More board games and Go Fish. More fetch with Beauregard. More videos. More sex. More of whatever they want. Except it would be for forever, and they can never leave. Sartre’s No Exit, with a slacker makeover. Never has a Nirvana sounded more… lifeless.

“You and me. Together, for always,” Tate says.

Here they are now. Entertain them…

Until at least Vivien gives birth to her twins. One with Harmon genes. One with Langdon genes. One to be the new vessel for Violet’s soul, the other to be the new vessel for Tate’s soul. My bold prediction for the “Birth” that looms: The Reincarnation of Violet and Tate. Come on! Doesn’t that theory just rock your face?!

Okay, okay, enough of me. Your turn. Did “Smoldering Children” fire your imagination or leave you cold? Do you like the Violet twist? Where do you think it goes from here? And what do you think of where Larry has landed this season? I loved Denis O’Hare’s performance, and his scenes with Jessica Lange in this episode were true acting treats. And yet, I wish more had been done with Larry, or something different had been done with Larry. Since the “Halloween” two-parter, I had gotten the sense that while the producers knew Larry’s significance to the Langdons, they were less certain about his place in the present day drama. I’m not sure he really paid off for me as he should have. And didn’t I say it was YOUR TURN to talk? Sorry. Go! And remember: This week’s exit interview with AHS exec producer Ryan Murphy can be found here. Also: An interview with Taissa Farmiga, here.

Twitter: @EWDocJensen

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