With new characters and an added dose of sadness, this week’s episode of American Horror Story: 1984 is setting up for an exciting rest of the season.
Last week’s episode ended with Dede (Angelica Ross) saving Brooke (Emma Roberts) from execution and Benjamin (John Caroll Lynch) giving his son to his sister-in-law after his wife was killed by Richard (Zach Villa).
This week’s episode follows Dede helping Brooke recover after withstanding multiple tough drugs. Once Brooke trusts Dede, the two take their trip to the festival to catch Margaret (Leslie Grossman). On the way they pick up a hitchhiker, who happens to be portrayed by Dylan McDermott.
At first he seems nice, but the women soon figure out that he is the cause of multiple disappearances of women. In an epic showdown between him and Brooke, she is able to overtake him and escape with Dede.
Meanwhile, the audience gets to see a lot of Benjamin’s backstory, including the addition of his mother, portrayed by Lily Rabe. Benjamin’s mother was the cook in the 1940s because it provided care for her two sons after she was widowed. Her other son, Bobby, was her favorite.
After Bobby was accidentally killed at the camp, Benjamin’s mother never recovered and slaughtered everyone on the camp. When she tried to kill Benjamin, he killed her first.
Benjamin is reunited with his mother when he returns to the festival to get revenge on Margaret, but she convinces him to kill himself before Richard gets the chance to. Benjamin follows this suggestion, and gets ready to kill Richard with no repercussions.
“What kind of man would I be if I didn’t do everything I could to protect my son?” Benjamin said.
Trevor (Matthew Morrison) is reunited with Montana (Billie Lourde) at Camp Redwood, which is even slightly more disturbing now that she’s dead.
Richard also arrives to Camp Redwood and ends up killing all of the musical acts in the name of Satan. All that’s left is an epic showdown between him and Benjamin.
It’s exciting to see some familiar faces added to the show, especially McDermott, who hasn’t made an appearance since season two. However, the excitement was met with sadness in light of Benjamin’s death.
Here’s how audiences reacted on Twitter:
American Horror Story: 1984 airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. on FX.
