And that’s a wrap, folks. Tonight saw the Asylum saga of American Horror Story draw to a close. After weeks of blood, murder, mayhem and insanity, the madness has ended (hence the appropriate title of the finale). Let’s take a few minutes to reflect on this last episode before we officially begin the frenzy of speculation and anticipation for Season 3.
We open on Johnny Thredson breaking into Briarcliff. He is listening to an audiobook of Lana’s Briarcliff exposé narrated by Ms. Winters herself. As Johnny makes his way through the decrepit halls, we see flashes of the asylum’s former residents, milling about like ghosts. He hallucinates Lana, his mother, sitting in a tub, telling him that he was conceived not in love, but in hate; that he’s an abomination that should never have been born. He then has a vision of his father, Oliver Thredson, telling Johnny that he loved him even when he was still in his mother’s womb, and that she’s responsible for keeping them apart.
As the budding serial killer wanders and broods, two more intruders step through Briarcliff’s front doors: Leo and Teresa. That’s right, we’re in a flashback. As the two lovebirds tour the building, Johnny sits in a dark room smoking a crack pipe. When Leo suddenly sticks his arm through the slot in the door, Johnny bends down and opens his duffel bag. He slowly puts on his Bloody Face mask, and then pulls out a long knife. He grabs Leo’s arm and with three quick WHACKS he’s holding a dismembered limb in his hands while the two honeymooners scream in pain and panic on the other side of the door.
In the present, Lana is preparing for an interview prior to being honored for her prolific career at the Kennedy Center. When we first see her and the interviewer, they’re discussing a sketch of Lana drawn on a cocktail napkin by Bono — it’s one of several memorabilia hanging on the wall of her rather posh apartment, including the cover of ‘Maniac’ and a portrait of Lana that was clearly supposed to have been done by Andy Warhol. Since ‘Maniac,’ Lana went on to achieve great success, publishing five more bestsellers. She’s now living with her partner Marian (an opera singer) and planning birthday dinners for Stephen Sondheim. Sure seems like everything worked out for our favorite plucky reporter, doesn’t it?
