AHS: 1984 Episode 3 “Slashdance”

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AHS 1984 Episode 3 “Slashdance”

 

Recap and Review

 

*Warning: Spoilers

 

Welcome back, horror fiends.  Get ready, because we are going to dive into this week’s episode 3 recap of American Horror Story: 1984.  This episode should have been called “Dirty Little Secrets” as we learn a few.  First, Nurse Rita uncovers what she has up her sleeve as well as the reason she is at camp Redwood.  We then uncover a character is not who they claim to be.  Ray divulges his true reason for volunteering at the camp.  Lastly, Montana leaves us with a twist.  By the way, this is the longest night ever.  The campers haven’t even arrived yet.  So, buckle up and let’s take off to see how our overwrought councilors are doing.

 

The episode begins where we left off last week.  The Night Stalker is pounding at the cabin door, fiercely determined to gain entrance.  Ray and Chet frantically block all possible entrances while Nurse Rita finds the keys to her car.  They recalculate their odds and finally realize it’s 4-to-1. Ray encourages the group to split up and run for it. May the best man win… good luck team players!  No one else supports this Darwinist plan until Ramirez makes his way in and begins slashing Ray.  Brooke and Rita run, but Chet develops a conscience and goes back to help Ray.  Everyone escapes and Ramirez is left on the floor.

 

Meanwhile, someone is still pounding at the infirmary door.  Xavier is ready to admit defeat and Montana wants a Quaalude.   Thank god for Trevor, as he is the only one with a backbone. Someone sounding like Mr. Jingles, tosses a lit bag through the window.  Trevor acts quickly, stomping the fire out, but unearths a flaming bag of shit.  Dick move. Then hearing laughter outside, Trevor goes out to find two townies dressed as Mr. Jingles.  Apparently, dressing as Jingles and terrorizing the town is a yearly tradition on the eve of the ‘70s massacre.  But guess who shows up and is not amused by this tradition, Mr. Jingles.  As he stabs and slashes the two townies, Xavier, Montana and Trevor, hightail it out.

 

Skip back to Rita and Brooke running ahead of Chet and Ray, who fall into a pit filled with wooden spikes.  Chet is impaled just under his shoulder and is left screaming.

 

Back to Mr. Jingles, who is walking in the woods and comes across another townie (who happens to be dressed like him) taking a piss.  Mr. Jingles develops a soft spot for this chunky townie in costume, who begins thanking him for allowing him to come along and take part in the mischief.  Shifting his mask, he states that he can’t see without his glasses, and comes face to face with the real Jingles.  He then begs to be “a bad-ass for one night” as he takes a hit off his inhaler and stumbles away none the wiser.

 

The next scene is Chet begging for Ray to remove the wooden spike. Ray freaks out worried that Chet will bleed out if he removes him from the spike.

 

We cut to Rita lighting a cigarette after she and Brooke make it back to the car.  Brooke is worried that too much time has passed, and no one has made it back.  Brooke then suggests that they go get help.  Rita lectures her about bailing on her friends while offering up her keys. Sensible Rita stays back and waits for the others.  Another creepy POV shot from behind the trees looking at our two ladies is shown before going back to Rita and Brooke.  While Brooke unlocks the car door, Rita stabs her ass with a needle filled with a horse tranquilizer.  Menacing, Rita taunts Brooke “oh honey, wish you could see your face right now, you confused, aren’t you? Don’t worry Nurse Rita is going to make it all better”.  You have my attention now.  What is Rita’s agenda?

 

Flashback to one week ago as Dr. Hopple is speaking to Miss Chambers, a doctoral student who is conducting research.  The student is requesting to speak with Richter.  The camera pans on Miss Chambers. Hold up! It’s nurse Rita!! Dr. Hopple thinks the student is wasting her time since Richter has not spoken in years.  Dr. Hopple believes that Richter was born evil.  However, Miss Chambers states differently based off of her research.  She recants her list of serial killers whom she claims to have interviewed, Bundy, Gacy, the Freeway killer and more.

 

Next, Art is walking Miss Chambers to speak with Richter and laying down the rules.  Art requires the session be recorded and starts the machine before leaving the room.

 

Miss. Chambers begins the one-way conversation on how one is not evil, but a person is capable of violence due to outside circumstance.  She turns off the recorder and this pulls Richter out of his catatonic state.  She goes on with her theory, presuming that the uptake in serial killers is due to Vietnam and pornography.  Richter finally speaks, suggesting it is due to corn syrup.  Before you think Richter is grabbing for straws, there has actually been a number of studies on this theory of the relationship between high fructose corn syrup and violence.  Richter views this as an opportunity to split responsibility for his violent actions.  So, he’s game.

Miss Chambers lays out her plan to get Richter out of the asylum and back to the camp.  Richter states he would kill again if he went back there, but Miss Chambers is like “oh well this is for science”.  That’s dedication to your work.  Her goal is to crack the code and make Richter the last serial killer.  Richter doubting himself, gets a pep talk from Rita, telling him to be himself and trust his instincts.

 

Back to present time, Rita reveals to Brooke how she found the ‘real’ Nurse Rita on her way up to the camp.  Rita relives the scenario of how she over took the nurse’s identity and her car.  There is nothing this woman won’t do in the name of research.  So why is she going to such lengths to prove this theory of hers?  Did something in her past lead her into psychology and this line of study?

Cut to the next scene, Chet is passed out from the pain and Ray is whining how he doesn’t want to be at camp, but has to because he is in trouble.  Long story short, Ray done fucked up.  It was Hell Week at his fraternity.  One of the pledgees drank too much.  Ray took him out to the hall for a pep talk.  As Ray walked away, the pledgee fell down the stairs and was presumed dead.  To save his neck and that of his fraternity, he takes the body to a cliff.  He leaves the body in the car and places it in neutral.  As the car rolls, the pledgee wakes and they both begin to panic but it’s too late.  Chet hears this confession.  Ray rants how the car was found, and it is only a matter of time before the police discover it was him, since his watch was left at the scene of the crime.  Typical Ray, all about himself, leaves the pit… and leaves Chet to die.

 

Xavier, Montana and Trevor stop near the boat house.  Xavier protests the importance of getting Margaret.  Trevor agrees that no one should be left behind and mentions snagging Bartie too.  You know the chef who was briefly in Episode 1.  It’s been so long that even Montana has to ask who the hell Bartie is.  They hear Mr. Jingles approaching, so they run into the boat house to hide and stumble across a female bound and gagged.  They try to shut her ass up as they free her, but out of fear, she keeps screaming.  Jingle hears her and enters the boathouse.  She stumbles out of hiding and he puts and oar straight through her mouth.  Shinning the flash light on her, the group reveals her nurse uniform and embroidered name, Rita R.N..  This revelation leaves the small group with a shocked awareness that (imposture) Rita is not who she claims to be.

Ray stumbles upon Montana, Xavier and Trevor.  He feeds them a bullshit story about how everyone was separated, and he had to hide under some leaves.  Montana asked where Brooke was, Ray says he last saw her with Rita.  Red flags go off for the other three and they tell Ray about the real Rita.  This leads Ray to be even more determined to save his own ass and Trevor hands over the keys to his bike, telling Ray to go call for help.  Anyone else hoping this selfish candy-ass gets killed next?

 

The next scene shows Mr. Jingles with an ax in hand, hearing Chet’s screams, he goes looking for him.  Thankfully, Trevor and Xavier found him first and get him out of the pit.  The guys hear those keys again and hide.  Mr. Jingles approaches the pit and looks in.  Trevor seizes his opportunity and pushes Jingles into the pit.  HUZZAH!!… Hold up. Trevor comes across a Jingles mask and looks in the pit to see the chubby Jingles wannabe.  A Scooby Doo reveal.  Kids, have you not learned anything from the Halloween movies? Don’t dress up like the killer and run around like a fool.

 

Checking back in with Montana and Trevor, we see they make it to the parking lot.  Montana discovers a trail that someone was here.  Ramirez shows up and asks if Ray is ready for round two.  Not sticking around, Ray hops on Trevor’s bike and speeds off leaving Montana with Ramirez.  DICK!  We see Ray flying down the road as Mr. Jingles steps out with ax in hand.  With one swift swing, Ray’s head goes flying off.  And this one is out of the park everybody! Best kill scene to date in this series.

Meanwhile, Ramirez pulls out his Karambit knife and approaches Montana.  She aggressively pulls him in, making out with him.  GROSS! You guys know that Ramirez was known for his halitosis, right?  I’m all for doing what it takes to stay alive, but even this is too much.  Montana then pushes him away asking “why haven’t you killed her yet?”.  What?! Who does Montana want dead?  Could it be Brooke or another uncovered plot.

 

You can now unbuckle yourself, the ride is over.  We learned that nurse Rita is really Miss Chambers, a doctoral psychology student who has a thing for serial killers.  Her career goal is to prove she can stop serial killers from killing and is using Richter for her gain.  But why did she tranquilize Brooke? Ray is a selfish coward who only cares about his own ass.  He reveals he killed a fraternity pledgee and is running before the police discover he was behind the murder.  Heads up: he dies.  We end with Montana, uncovering that not only does she know Ramirez, but she has him on a mission.  Looks like Ramirez is not smitten with Margaret as he has done nothing she has asked of him from last week’s episode.  We are going to have to wait till next week to unravel what’s up between Montana and Ramirez and what she has planned.  Who knows, we may even get a chance to see Chef Bartie.

 

 

 

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