AHS: 1984 Recap: A bloody night leads to a ‘Red Dawn’

AHS 1984 Episode 5 “Red Dawn”

Recap and Review

*Warning: Spoilers

Hello horror fiends, glad you made it back.   In this week’s episode of American Horror Story: 1984, we finally reach dawn… but not everyone outlasts the night.

We begin with a flashback to 1980 with the bogus Rita snooping on her dad who appears to be having an affair.  Rita goes into the house, suspecting that her dad is having sex with another woman.  Much to her horror, she sees the woman bloody and tied up to the bed.  She learns that her father is a killer and has been for some time.  Rita’s father claims to have been evil since birth.  Somehow, Rita does not buy into it.  Her father then pulls out a knife, and with little success by Rita to get him to put the knife down, he jams it in his own neck.  A psychologist is born, even more determined to prove people are not born evil.

We go back to the present, where we left off last week with Ramirez and Rita.  If you recall, he levitated and was reborn.  Now Ramirez is preaching to Rita, saying “just because something seems inconceivable, doesn’t mean it can’t be true”.  Did anyone else have this moment flash in their head?

Standing there shocked, Rita turns around and sees her father.  Like any good dad, he reminds her that she is the fruit of the seed of evil.  Having troubling accepting this, her father asks her to follow in his footsteps, then disappears.  That’s some heavy shit just to dump on someone.  Camp can also be about self-reflection and growth, Rita.

Meanwhile, the rest of the living counselors are still standing around the burning Caddy with Margaret.  Xavier is losing his shit and wants to let the place go ablaze to draw attention from afar.  No one is down with this plan and Margaret knocks him out from behind.  Margaret, Montana, Brooke, an injured Chet, and an unconscious Xavier go back to the cabin.  Brooke is all about the group staying together, likely thinking that there’s safety in numbers.  But Montana wants to run for it.  Margaret drops a belated bomb by informing the group that she saw campers across the lake.  Margaret and Chet leave to check it out and get help.   Montana uses this opportunity and pulls out a hatchet and sneaks up behind Brooke.  But before she can do this, Brooke sees Ray outside and runs after him.

Brooke and Ray hear Jingles, so they end up in the mess hall.  While hiding, Brooke gives us a sob story of how she has never been able to be herself because she was always hated for it.  We discover that the person who was most jealous of her hard work and intelligence is Sam.  She confesses that she wasn’t really in love with him.  Now Brooke doesn’t even know who she is.  Ray, feeling her pain, expresses that he worked hard at impressing everyone and it cost him a lot.  Ray boosts Brooke’s ego and she is all about carpe diem.  She kisses him and they have sex.  Virgin sex.

Afterwards, Ray professes how amazing that was and asked Brooke if it was good for her.  Brooke replies after a pregnant silence, “uh-huh”. OUCH! She confesses that this was her first time, and Ray responds, “So I popped your cherry?”.  On this statement alone, I can tell you the sex was nothing to write home about.

Meanwhile, Chet and Margaret are making their way across the lake.  Chet announces that he doesn’t see anyone.  That’s because there are no campers.  Margaret made this up to get another councilor alone.  She smacked him upside the head a few times with an oar.  Then attached an anchor to him and tossed him over.

Meanwhile, Xavier is conscious and distraught over his new appearance and how it will affect his acting career, and Montana is stressing about Brooke not returning.  Before Montana can make it out the door, Rita comes barging in.  Xavier learns what Rita has done and goes off on her.  He blames her for everything and makes a couple of unsuccessful attempts to stab her.  Rita finds her chance to escape and runs out the door. Xavier chases after her.

We now switch gears to a thirsty Brooke and a relaxed Ray.  Brooke heads into the kitchen and opens the refrigerator… and screams after discovering Ray’s head on the shelf.  She freaks out after realizing she just screwed a ghost and runs back to the cabin.  Brooke hysterically tells Montana what just took place.  Montana knocks her out.  Applause!!

Kneeling over Brooke as she becomes conscious, Montana is yelling how everyone views her as a good girl.  But Montana exclaims that Brooke is a “fucking bad girl” and starts kicking her.  She reveals to Brooke that it was her fault her brother was dead, but Brooke stabs Montana and runs.  Montana catches up with Brooke after her failed attempt to hide.  We get another GLOW scene until Brooke gets the upper hand by retrieving the knife.

Meantime, Jingles is in the same place Rita was trying to hide from Xavier.  Jingles professes that, aside from the war, he was not a killer prior to meeting her.  He explains that Rita was the one behind the ‘70s massacre.  Rita, expressing guilt, tells Jingles to kill her. He declines so she can live with what she has done for the rest of her life (however long that may be at this particular camp).  Jingles then leaves to go find and kill Margaret.

Margaret is standing near the target practice and Jingles tosses his keys: “Those are yours, Mrs. Jingles”.   Jingles grabs her by the throat and lifts her in the air.  As Margaret reaches for a knife she had hidden, Xavier shows up and shoots five arrows into Jingles.  During his celebration of his success, Margaret stabs him in the chest.

All of a sudden, Jingles gasps for breath as Ramirez perches near on a rock.  Ramirez asks Jingles if he accepts Satan as his master.

As the show winds down, we see Brooke and Montana still battling it out.  Brooke gets the upper hand and repeatedly stabs Montana as the campers pull in.  Seeing this take place, the campers all scream.

Next was see several law enforcement officers and EMTs.  Brooke is in handcuffs being placed into a squad car.  Margaret, stabs herself in the leg and stumbles into view crying, pinning everything on Brooke.  Ray appears, confused and an EMT assists him.  After checking his vitals, she places him into the ambulance.  As the ambulance crosses the entrance out of the camp, Ray can’t seem to do anything but just sit there.  Jonas appears and tells him this is his home now.  Those killed at the camp are not able to leave it.  Montana appears and embraces her death. Having fun with her newfound deceased status, she kills a police officer with his own gun.  Montana comes into her own as she announces how they can be Gods here.  Montana really appears to be coming into her own as she commences her purgatory.

Ramirez and Jingles steal a squad car.  Both of their moods have lifted, and Ramirez even makes a joke, telling Jingles to buckle up.  They laugh while heading toward Los Angeles, presumably to carry out the future murders that Ramirez becomes known for.

With only five episodes left, I’m sure AHS still has a lot instore for its viewers.  In typical AHS style, both Ramirez and Jingles are reborn through the power of Satan.  Will this play out again in our story or will this be the last we see of them? Montana, Ray, Xavier and Jonas have reappeared after their violent deaths through purgatory.  However, I won’t be surprised if we don’t see Chet and Trevor, along with all the murdered campers from the ‘70s, show up at some point. What role they’ll play has yet to be seen.