5.3 Mommy The story of the relationship between Ramona and Countess is told in a very subtle montage. The two in an elevator. As the elevator descends, blacking out and flashing light again, the years change at the bottom, throughout the 70s and 80s into the early 90s. As the years change, fashions change. Disco gives way to New Wave gives way to Madonna at her peak, with both actresses changing clothes, hair, makeup, and positions… making out, arm in arm, cuddling close, on opposite sides of the elevator… it’s clever and a great way to show the two slowly growing apart. When Prophet Moses appears, all early 90s hip-hop swagger and entourage, she’s ready to move on and he’s just the kind of man for her. Unfortunately, there can be only one queen bee, and Ramona won’t be it, as Countess makes perfectly clear after killing Prophet’s entourage and executing the rapper with a point-blank gunshot to the head (blowing the back of his skull off in graphic fashion). That little move has earned Countess an enemy for life. Or, I guess, undeath. Another one of Countess’s enemies is, amusingly, Bernie Madoff, the con-artist who scammed hundreds of rich people and corporations out of billions of dollars in one of the most effective Ponzi schemes since Ponzi himself. That’s why Countess is no longer the owner of the Hotel Cortez, but she’s got a plan, and it involved Will Drake. She needs money, and Drake has a whole lot of money at his disposal, plus he owns the hotel that the whole gang lives in. The first two episodes of the season have been very long, clocking in at well over an hour of television time. Mommy is also a longer episode at 55 minutes, but it’s substantially shorter than the 73 minutes of Chutes And Ladders from last week. It also feels a lot shorter, a bit more focused and interconnected despite having multiple subplots happening at once (Sally and Iris/Donovan, Donovan and Ramona, Countess/Tristan and Drake, and Alex/John). Sally and Donovan end up being bridging characters, connecting everything together as they drift from pairing to pairing. That’s a strength for James Wong’s script, which gives the characters a good amount of time together while focusing on the main Countess narrative and the Lowe family drama. Kathy Bates is compelling as Iris, and she’s great as the no-nonsense centre of the hotel. Denis O’Hare’s brilliant Liz Taylor sparkles, literally, whenever he appears on screen. He gets the least screen time of any of the major players, but the character feels the most lived-in. Iris and Sally’s scenes are always good, thanks to the way Sarah Paulson approaches Sally as equal parts pathetic and vindictive, and Wong has the most fun by pairing March and Tristan together in a brief scene. The two men share a lot of common interests, but Wong, Finn Wittrock, and Evan Peters get good comic mileage out of the vast disconnect between 1925 and 2015. It’s still very early to get a handle on American Horror Story: Hotel, but so far it seems like all the elements are in place for a slightly more logical Ryan Murphy crazy-fest. There’s still a lot of stuff that doesn’t make sense, there’s still a surplus of style, and there’s still some great actors doing some great acting, in spite of (and because of) the cheese grated over every script. Even the show’s shakiest element on paper, Lady Gaga, has been surprisingly good at her role. If Hotel can keep up this pace, it’ll find a happy place on the positive end of the AHS spectrum. Read Ron’s review of the previous episode, Chutes And Ladders, here. US Correspondent Ron Hogan was surprised by the episode’s 74-minute run-time, without commercials That’s two feature-length American Horror Story episodes in a row! Find more by Ron daily at Shaktronics and PopFi.
