American Horror Story - The Morning After - Review

Another one bites the big one this episode. That big one is a snake, but that's not what killed her.

It's surprising that in a situation where so far approximately eight billion people have been decimated, the action is pretty limited. Most of the action this episode is relegated to Michael's psychological manipulations. His appearance at Outpost 3 caused quite a stir for all of the guests  hostages there, but not so much for the rest of us. While it left us with some interesting mysteries, it was as a whole pretty lackluster. Unless you really, really love Evan Peters and robots, then this episode was probably pretty top-notch for you.

The episode mostly focused on Evan Peter's Mr. Galant, giving us some insight into his character and his relationship with Nana Evie. While it seemed at first these two were close, given that he wanted to save a seat on the plane for her, it turns out their relationship is much more complicated than that. Evie has never fully approved of Gallant and never let him feel like he was good enough. He wanted to live his life the way he wanted without judgment and she wanted him to basically be her gay pet poodle that she could parade around to everyone.

How do we find this out? It's all thanks to Michael. When Michael shows up, he straight up tells everyone that there's another outpost and he's going to choose who gets to go there. He's going to choose by interviewing and examining them. Gallant volunteers to go first. When Michael interviews him, it's less of an interview and more of a -In how many ways are you screwed up and how can I use that against you and everyone else?- Line of questioning. See, Michael, being the anti-christ, I'm pretty sure is more interested in getting them all to kill and/or hurt each other rather than actually saving anybody. You have to wonder if maybe he's done this to the other outposts and that's really how they fell. In any case, Michael really gets to Mr. Gallant, invoking all of his greatest fears, rage, and desire. Specifically, his desire for leather or more correctly acts that involve leather.

Leather? What does that remind us of? Oh, yeah, RUBBER MAN, who makes his first appearance of the season and thus gives us our second Murder House throwback/crossover. Rubber Man shows up at Mr. Gallant's door that night. Gallant thinks it is Michael, but he doesn't check to make sure. He didn't learn from Vivien's mistake. Murder House watchers, remember when she hooked up with the Rubber Man thinking it was her husband but it was really Tate? Then that led to the birth of the anti-christ and set off this whole chain of events to the apocalypse? Yeah, fun times, right? I can't wait to see what this hookup brings.

Now, anyone have any guesses as to who was inside the suit? Or was it anyone? Could Michael be controlling the suit from the outside? We did see some flashes of Michael doing some kind of ritual just before this. Or maybe that's just my wishful thinking that Evan Peters didn't just hook up with Evan Petters. Anyway, Gallant enjoys himself, but when Evie stumbles onto the scene, it's not so entertaining for her. But what she does enjoy is reaping the benefits of his mistake. Because then she goes straight to Mead and tells her how her nephew broke the rules and should be punished, and she should be rewarded. Yep, Nana of the year over here, folks. She's got just as little love for him as he does for her.

But now Mead has two problems on her hands. First, she finds out about Timothy and Emily's relationship, because they're the worst secret couple ever. Not only that, but the two came up with their own plans to leave the outpost. Emily convinces Timothy to break into the outpost's computer. They find emails which confirm that Venable has been making up the rules. Then what happens? They tell her they know. Then what happens? Venable has them both taken to be executed. But Timothy manages to grab the gun and shoot the executioner, and then shoot Mead, which leads to another surprising revelation, which I'll get into later.

While I thought Timothy and Emily would be the boring goody-goody protagonists, there is actually a lot more to them than that. See, if you've ever read the story of Genesis from The Bible, this would sound pretty familiar. Emily (Eve) gets Timothy (Adam) to break the rules and get on the Apple brand computer (partake of the forbidden fruit). If Emily and Timothy's story is an allegory to that, I am much more interested to see where it goes.

Outside of the very obvious secret couple, Venable has another problem. Before she gets to Emily and Timothy, she also goes through a mini interview process of her own with Michael, in which we find out she has some kind of spinal problem she's sensitive about, and Michael goads her about her insecurities and need to take control of this outpost. He messes with her head a lot and we finally see Venable's tough exterior being shredded to pieces, and thanks to the brilliance of one Miss Sarah Paulson, I actually at that moment feel sorry for this horrible woman.

After that experience, she's in no mood to be merciful. Before she sends off the couple to their should have been deaths, she kidnaps Gallant, chains him up, and tortures him. See, Venable is under the delusion that Gallant and Michael are actually in cahoots and wants Gallant to tell her what their plan is. But Gallant doesn't take any of her crap. With each whip, he yells out the name of famous gay men he admires and seems to actually enjoy it. She stops, realizing this isn't going to do any good. But Michael knows exactly where to hit him where it will hurt the most, his self-esteem. Michael tells Gallant some pretty terrible things, but some of them true, or at least true enough that it haunts Gallant.

Later, Rubber Man shows up for Gallant again. Gallant follows him to a bedroom, pretending like he's going to hook up with him again, but then ruthlessly kills him instead. But, to his surprise, it wasn't Rubber Man he killed. It was his Nana! Yep, Nana, much like Elvis, has taken her last dump. And it wasn't Michael in the suit, because he was standing in the doorway as it happened.

After that happens is when the couple is taken to be executed. When they thwart their execution, and Mead his shot, Mead stumbles out of the room, holding her wound. When he removes her hand from it, what should be blood spilling out is actually some goo with some wires sticking out. She's a robot! Or a cyborg. Dude, I am all here for Cyborg Kathy Bates.

Again, a pretty ho-hum episode for American Horror Story, honestly, at least action-wise. I think it was a good character study/progression for Mr. Gallant, but that's about it. Maybe they're just saving the best stuff for later, but hopefully not too much later. I don't know about any of you, but I am anxiously waiting for a certain crossover from a certain season that should be happening soon. That should help pick up steam.

What do you all think? Did you think the episode worked as is? Have we seen enough of Evan Peter's tush or have we not seen enough? And by the way, am I the only one that when Mead was shot and gushing ooze thought of this?