American Horror Story: 1984 - Mr Jingles

Welcome to Camp Crystal Lake Redwood. This season of American Horror Story takes a page from classic 80's slasher films and goes to summer camp.

Here is your official spoiler warning before we dive into the events of episode two - Mr Jingles.

Our cold open starts with Karen Hopple, owner of the asylum from the previous episode, arriving at Camp Redwood. She's, obviously, there to warn everyone that a serial killer is on his way there. She is specifically looking for Margaret. She finds Margaret in her cabin and tells her that Mr Jingles has escaped and that Margaret will have to shut down the camp. She shares that Mr Jingles is obsessed with her and has a fantasy of revenge. Margaret's not going to listen. She wants to open as scheduled because she has her own fantasy of living without fear. She shows Karen a gun and tells her that if Mr Jingles shows up it'll be him that won't survive. Karen is basically like 'it's your funeral' and drives off. She almost immediately hits something in the road that gives her car a flat (and we all know how this is going to end). A tow truck conveniently shows up but Mr Jingles is the driver so it was nice knowing you, Karen. Her death is a brutal and bloody scene that ends with Mr Jingles telling her that she was right - he is a monster.

We join Brooke and the gang back int one of the cabins. She is jumpy and still unsettled after the events of last episode. She sees a news report about the murder at the gas station and realizes that it was the attendant who they interacted with. She is convinced it is the Night Stalker making good on his promise to find her. The guys tease her by reminding her that she's cried wolf a few times. Margaret comes to ruin everyone's good time and reminds them that boys and girls are not supposed to be together this late and that lights out is in 20 minutes. She also reminds them that tomorrow is a big day and that the guys have got to leave and remove themselves from temptation. Xavier continues to be my favourite and asks if she is going to make them pray the boners away to which she replies that a clean body equals a clean mind and tells them that the boys shower at night to watch the sins away so that they wake up pure. Chill, Margaret.

After the guys leave Montana and Brooke have a heart to heart. Brooke is understandably not okay and Montana can sense that. Montana shares that she has had her boobs grabbed by random guys, and shares a story of being scared her first time away from home at summer camp where all the shadows made her jump but it turned out to be nothing. Sometimes a shadow is just a shadow and we imagine the worst that can happen. Brooke states that you don't have to imagine when the worst has already happened and shares the story behind the wedding ring we saw in the first episode. It ends like this:

Brooke was set to marry a guy name Joey. Joey, it turns out, is a very jealous and possessive asshat. He waits until the middle of the ceremony to accuse Brooke of cheating on him with his best friend (who is also the Best Man) because the guy crashed at Brooke's the night before the wedding. Joey had went over to her place and saw his friend enter and not leave until morning. Brooke says that nothing happened. She hates being alone at night and she didn't want to see Joey before the wedding because of tradition so his friend stayed with her and slept on the couch. Joey is just really upset by the thought that she might not be a virgin anymore. He tells Brooke that he doesn't believe her and takes out a FREAKING GUN! He shoots his best friend and Brooke's father before turning the gun on Brooke. He tearfully says "look what you made me do" and tells her that she doesn't deserve to wear white before turning the gun on himself and committing suicide. Billy Idol's 'White Wedding' playing as this flashback happens only adds a surreal element to the story. Montana is rightfully outraged and is angry that Joey thought he owned Brooke's body and mind. Brooke reiterates that she never cheated on him but Joey didn't believe her (like everyone else). Montana says that she believes her and leans in to kiss Brooke! Brooke isn't into it though and pulls away and makes an excuse to take off. Side note,  Brooke basically has the worst luck with men and just in general - a finance who snaps and kills himself and others at your wedding and now TWO freaking serial killers after her.

The guys are walking to the camp showers and discussing the women at camp. They get to the showers and Xavier is disappointed to find that there are no little hotel room like soaps or towels and he leaves to go get his own towel. We also see that Brooke is walking the campgrounds as Margaret is turning off the lights. Xavier is grabbed and tossed into a car by someone named Blake. Xavier obviously knows him. When Xavier asks what Blake is doing there he is affronted. He reminds Xavier that 'his boys' don't call him Blake. Xavier asks his question again but calls him Daddy this time. I am pretty sure he's not Xavier's actually father though. It's revealed that Blake left the voicemail on Xavier's phone. Turns out that Xavier made a porn movie for this guy (a gay porn at that) and that it was made after he found Xavier in a park addicted to drugs, homeless, and covered in his own piss. He got Xavier cleaned up. He was able to follow Xavier because he left a forwarding address for his pay cheques (Xavier is, as Blake points out, as dumb as he is pretty and he's really pretty). Xavier starts crying and pleads that he was only supposed to do one movie. He reminds Blake that he's not gay. It sounds like Xavier took the role for money maybe but he wants to be a serious actor now and gets angry and leaves the car with a "fuck this". Blake follows him and pushes him down to the ground and threatens to send a copy of the tape Xavier made to all his family and friends if he doesn't fall in line. Xavier offers him a deal instead. Xavier can get him someone else to make the movie. Someone who is the next John Holmes (he obviously means Trevor). Blake seems into it so they head off so he can take at look at this wonder penis.

The guys are in the shower now and making jokes about Trevor's penis. Trevor claims it is not all it's cracked up to be. Most women can't handle it and it costs him jobs (like the Jane Fonda video). Xavier and Blake show up and Blake checks out Trevor by being a perv and looking through a hole in the wooden fence around the showers. He's super into Trevor's monster penis and while he is distracted Xavier takes the chance to run away. Pretty much as soon as Xavier makes his escape Blake is killed with a spike through the head that comes out right where his eye is with the spike going through the hole he was just spying through. Is it okay that I don't feel bad he died? I feel awful for Xavier.

Brooke went to the dock when she ran away from Montana and sees a body floating in the water which sends her screaming back up the dock only to find Richard Ramirez waiting for her. Brooke wants to know how he found her. Richard uses his typical answer and says Satan. He attacks Brooke and she uses a canoe paddle to hit him in the head. I am loving that they are making him look like a complete fool. He chases after Brooke and just as he is about to grab her someone barrels into him which sends Richard crashing to the ground. The guy that saved the day? The guy they picked up on the side of the road (the one that Xavier totally didn't hit). He tells Richard 'you're not supposed to be here' before Richard slashes his stomach with his knife. This prompts the guy to say that he is not supposed to die here (does that mean he is supposed to die some place else? I am so confused). Richard disagrees and slashes the guy's throat so  I guess that settles that (pretty sure the stomach slash would have killed him so the throat slash is just overkill).

Nurse Rita is dancing around the medical cabin to "Jump For My Love" by The Pointer Sisters which is fun. She turns around though to see Mr Jingles in the cabin with a knife. Eeeep! Run, Rita, Run!

Brooke is trying to call the police (smart decision) but the phone is broken. She turns after hanging up to find Montana there. She quickly tells Montana that the Night Stalker is there. Montana pretty much rolls her eyes at this. I totally get it, Montana.

We next see Richard  about to head off in search of Brooke when the guy he just killed once again says "you're not supposed to be here" which causes Richard to freak the hell out (which, same). He demands to know how the guy is alive and kills him again for good measure. He searches the body until he finds a piece of id. The id reveals the guy was a counselor at Camp Redwood and is dated in 1970 (which is when Mr Jingles killed everyone). WHAT IS GOING ON?! Is this guy a ghost? Why can he technically be killed and immediately come back to life? This reminds me of the Murder House/Hotel thing where anyone who dies on the property comes back as a ghost but WHY IS EVERYONE ELSE WHO DIED NOT ALSO A GHOST?!

Brooke shows Montana the slashes in her sweater as proof and while they are arguing over what happened they hear yelling. It's the guys and they have discovered Blake's body. They check that he's dead. The women come running over and Brooke starts screaming (which prompts an 'oh no, here she goes' from Trevor). Xavier arrives and is super upset. He wants to call an ambulance. He goes to touch the body and is warned against it from Trevor because people could think he is involved. Xavier is all 'Why would anyone think I was involved' in a high pitched, squeaky voice. Brooke shares that she thinks it is the Night Stalker and tells them about the body in the lake. The group next makes the best decision EVER by saying that they need to find Margaret and leave the camp immediately. Trevor points out that he doesn't think Blake was killed by the Night Stalker and shows them that Blake is missing an ear. They deduce it is Mr Jingles and take off running for the van.

Margaret, oblivious to everything going on, arrives back at her cabin. She enters to find Richard Ramirez sitting on a chair. They share this great exchange:

Margaret is quick to realize he is talking about Satan and rolls her eyes. She wants to know what he wants and is surprisingly calm about a random guy being in her cabin. Richard shows her the id he stole from the guy who might be a ghost and demands to know everything about him.

Margaret notices that he is hurt and goes to get her first aid kit. She asks his name and he tells (surprisingly giving her his real name). She is cleaning his wounds and they are .... bonding. He shares that he killed the guy whose id he has and expresses that it is not the first person he has killed but it is the first time he has had to do it twice. This doesn't send Margaret screaming out of the cabin like it should. Nope, she instead tells him that the guy wouldn't stay dead because of Jesus (because he is there to explain all that can't be explained basically). She reveals that the guy died back in 1970 and that she saw his lifeless body herself. Richard doesn't understand so she says that she'll try to explain. She asks what the worst thing that has ever happened to him is and Richard demurs. He doesn't like talking about himself. She starts flirting and tells him that he just hasn't found the right person to listen. This makes Richard share that everything is the worst thing that ever happened to him. He shares that pain is how the world has always talked to him so why shouldn't pain be he how he talks back (which is a great line). His mother worked in a shoe factory while she was pregnant and breathed in all of the fumes so he was poisoned before he was even born. His dad was cruel to him causing him to hit his head on a swing which caused seizures. His cousin, Mike, showed him pictures of all of the girls he killed over in Vietnam during the war but his cousin's wife didn't like that and so his cousin shot her in front of Richard (because the wife didn't want the cousin to be free apparently). I wonder how much of this is true. I think I am going to have to find a podcast that does a deep dive to find out. Margaret serves Richard tea after he finishes this story. Richard Ramirez is just sitting there drinking freaking tea. What even is this show?! She tells him all of this bad stuff happened to make him the person he is today, the person who was brought there to her. Richard says that a girl (aka Brooke) brought him there but he likes Margaret better and he smirks and asks to see her feet. THEY ARE FLIRTING?! I am speechless. What is even happening. Margaret next makes a case for us not to trust her by saying that God can be used to explain why something happened but God can also be used to explain why you've done something (even something bad). Richard, smartly, surmises that this means he doesn't need to feel bad for anything he does if he is doing God's (or Satan's in his case) work. She brings up his cousin and the idea of freedom and says that to have true freedom all you need are two things - 1: God and 2: trauma. Richard is all heart eyes and says that she is the first person who understands him. Margaret hints that she wants Richard to take out Mr Jingles for her (she wants a safe haven for the kids). She'll look for the counselor for him but she insists that he doesn't kill anyone else (except Mr Jingles) because there has been too much death at the camp already. Part of me thinks Margaret wants to make out with Richard and the other part of me thinks she is playing him to get what she wants. It could be both.

The gang is trying to get the van to start and predictably it won't at first. They're all panicking and this prompts Chet to reveal something:

Montana is all of us. Xavier gets the car started and there is some pretty good acting from the cast as they all do this relieved but almost crying reaction. They take off and have barely moved when Rita jumps in front of the car causing them to crash. She's injured. She explains that Mr Jingles is in the infirmary. Xavier tries to start the van but it won't start. It got busted in the crash. Rita has a car and Trevor reveals he has a motorbike (which Montana is VERY into) but they will have to go back to the cabins to get the keys (naturally). They break up into two groups to go get the keys. One group heads to the infirmary and the other to the men's cabin.

Margaret is out in the woods searching and comes across the 1970's counselor. His name is Jonah and they have a talk. Jonah seems to think it is still 1970. They both marvel over the other with Jonah exclaiming how different she looks, while Margaret exclaims that he looks exactly the same. When asked he shares that he last remembers all of the blood and running away. He saw Margaret that night through the window of the cabin and instead of helping her he ran away and tried to call the police. The phone didn't work so he kept running. He got as far as the road and Mr Jingles hits him with a truck, gets out and kills him. I am not sure the timeline works here but I guess we'll get more of the story as we go along. Jonah tearfully asks if he is a ghost which is the obvious answer. Margaret shares that she thinks so because there are ghosts in the bible. Jonah is suffering from the guilt of everyone dying and him just running. Poor guy. I still want to know how he is even there and why just him. Also, how is Margaret so cool with everything that is happening? I don't trust her.

The first group reaches the infirmary and tries to find the keys to Rita's car. They are supposed to be in her desk but they are not there. Mr Jingles sees some flashlights in a window and heads towards wherever they are coming from.

We cut to the other group searching for the motorcycle keys which are easily found. Xavier chooses this moment to have a break down. He starts crying and saying it is all his fault. He brought everyone there including Blake. He shares that he knew him and that Blake only came there because of him.

Back with the other group, Chet decides to go talk to Brooke. He tells her some version of 'it'll be okay' but Brooke isn't having it. She tells him to stay away from her because bad things happen to those who get close to her. She sees something in the window and runs to lock the door. Someone, I bet Richard, starts pounding on the door as soon as she locks it. I bet Richard because we see that he has headed toward the infirmary. At the same time someone (Mr Jingles, probably) starts pounding on the door of the men's cabin as the episode ends with Xavier exclaiming that they are all going to die.

So, episode two introduced a possible ghost, a tea drinking Richard Ramirez, and added two deaths to our body count (three if you count Jonah). The show has opened up layer I didn't expect with this ghost (or whatever) he is. I feel like so much happened this episode that is going to pay off later on in the season.

Until next time .... maybe don't leave you forwarding address if you're trying to hide from someone.