This week, we learned more about Richard and Brooke’s past. We also learned more about Jonas the ghost. My name is Kent and I write the questions every week and I have a great group of people who answer them. If you are familiar with some of the other TV Show blogs that we do on the site, then you will recognize most of the names. If you would like to participate in the blog and answer my inane questions, please contact me at kent@9deuce.com. Please enjoy!
1. What was the point or purpose of Richard’s (The Night Stalker dude) backstory with his upbringing? Does he have a foot fetish?
Kristi: It didn’t really do anything for me knowing about his past. I could have gone the whole season not knowing what made him a douchewagon. Definitely thinking foot fetish. (Awww, but it’s important to know how one becomes a creepy douchewagon.)
Raylene: Perhaps to give us some reasoning as to why he’s decided to kill. Most likely it has something to do with his mom. (Mom issues. Always a classic in the horror biz.)
Cece: I honestly don’t know. I think it’s interesting to have done that. I mean, I think she’s going to have him help ‘cleanse’ the camp. (I would like a cleansing ritual. Hell, I think I would love a season of AHS Ritual. There’s plenty of content to borrow from and tie in to past seasons. Also, I was a big fan of The Heretics that is currently on Netflix.)
Melanie: To make him more human and make people feel for him. AHS does this every season with one or more of the bad guys (Twisty). He definitely has a foot fetish and adds another level of eww. (Most of the best horror “bad guys” have stories that humanize them. Same applies for superhero films. It’s important for something longer. A short 90 minutes long film can just have jerks like in ILS, The Strangers, or Hell Fest that have no real rhyme or reason. Hell Fest was terrible, that is my whole point in this.)
Kelly: It was pretty dark and upsetting. (You’ll have to understand that before I had a kid I could stomach so much more, but now that I have one, it’s hard watching stories like these with children involved.) I think his backstory will unveil a little more of its purpose later, but maybe I’m just blind to it now. I’m going to assume he has a foot fetish. Who wouldn’t? (Now, I read this as Kelly suggesting that everybody would have a foot fetish. As a man who abhors all things foot-related, I vehemently rejected this. I was then corrected that the “Who wouldn’t” was suggesting who would think that he had a foot fetish. I felt that I should clarify in case anybody else read it the same as I did. Also, I have a list of reasons not to trust a person. Foot fetish is high on that list. Also, people named Brandon.)
Kent: We know that Richard was at March’s dinner or party or whatever back in Hotel with Gacy and Dahmer. I would say it is safe to assume that we will get more backstory and this will obviously become more important. Ya know, last week I asked about what seasons would be referenced in this season and only one (technically two as Raylene said all 8 but she should also be penalized for the seasons that she doesn’t get right) of us said Hotel. I will soak in all of your jealousy now.
Also, it needs to be said that Xavier’s (Cody Fern) earring is no mistake. It’s an upside-down cross that is very similar to the ones that were around him in last season’s Apocalypse. I am looking through this but nobody aside from me mentioned Apocalypse. You suckas need to up your game. I just need Freak Show and Roanoke to come through. And no, I am not counting the idea of “ghosts” as a connection to something like Murder House. Ghosts have been in how many seasons?
2. What do you make of Margaret now? Is she a good God-fearing Christian in the positive sense or is she perhaps more on the evil side of that spectrum?
Kristi: She’s batshit crazy, that is what I am positive of. (I decided to look up the origin of the term “batshit crazy” and I came across this delightful offering. I love knowing the origins of these phrases that we just use every day.)
https://idiotidioms.wordpress.com/tag/origin-of-idiom-batshit-crazy/
Raylene: I think she goes both ways reads the situation and decides which one she’ll present to the world. (I think that is a pretty fair assessment.)
Cece: I think it’s all a rouse. She’s hiding behind it all, but I think she might seriously end up as another killer. (If she doesn’t already have kills under her belt, it seems likely that she will by season’s end.)
Melanie: She wants to recreate her childhood camp experience and make it not gruesomely horrible. She will kill to keep it perfect. (A good childhood camp experience should be valued at all costs. I think that we can all agree to that sentiment.)
Kelly: I mean she reopened the camp knowing full well killings happen and it was likely to bring Jingles back, so I’d say she’s a little of both, but maybe all these years obsessing over her revenge is bringing the bad side out. (Ohhh, I like the idea of obsession with her. It really fits her.)
Kent: I really want to pick on religious people here because they are the easiest example, but it truly applies to everybody. Everybody lies to themselves to make certain things work. Whether you want to pin it on God or some religious belief or something written that you just believe in, people twist things around just enough to where they warrant their actions, often while knowing what they are doing is wrong or hypocritical. What I am saying is that Margaret is just like me and you. It’s like when you have your first bowl of Count Chocula and you’re thinking that you should stop and follow your diet. Then you look at the nutritional facts or info and you say to yourself what’s another 100-140 calories per serving. The only difference is eating more versus killing people. Not THAT big of a difference. Also, I can find Frankenberry and Booberry but no Count Chocula this year. What the hell?
3. What are your thoughts or theories on Jonas the hiker who appears to be a ghost?
Kristi: I agree with Raylene. Somehow related to Murder House. (As you know, sometimes dead is better, just like in Pet Sematary.)
Raylene: I say it’s linked to murder house somehow. (I want to dismiss you, and therefor Kristi as well, because I don’t think there’s any Murder House connection here. Ghosts have been in so many seasons but often aren’t connected. Still, I don’t feel like getting a double dose of I told you so from both of you. Just know, I don’t think they’re connected.)
Cece: I love that he’s a ghost. It’s pretty interesting to me. I think he will be the ‘hero’. (Are you holding out for a hero? It sure sounds like you are.)
Melanie: He will keep appearing to be killed until he beats his killer and “lives” and gets to move on. (There we go. That is something rational that I can get behind. Ghosts in films are often used to help guide somebody toward finding out why the ghost got f’d over initially. So this would make sense. I also highly recommend a film called The Pact.)
Kelly: I’m always happy when they bring in multi-dimensional aspects into the seasons so to have ghosts is a great thing when characters begin to die. Shows the potential of them coming back which sometimes we need. Maybe Jonas can channel the others who died and create an “army” to tackle Jingles with those still alive. (I agree that it is a clever way to bring characters back on screen. Here’s the thing, this show doesn’t have an Ash, a boomstick, or a chainsaw to take on this army, so I’m a bit concerned. I like Bruce Campbell…a lot.)
Kent: Here’s the thing that nobody is talking about and it feels incredibly obvious to me. Jonas isn’t as innocent as he appears. He’s reappearing as a ghost as a form of punishment. We will find out what horrible thing he did. Also, I think that he’s related to Margaret. There’s 2 bold predictions for you.)
4. What were your thoughts on the opening scene with Dr. Karen Hopple getting murdered? Did it seem too soon?
Kristi: I dug it. A good slasher is always best when it starts off with a good murder. Not too soon in my book. (I have already bashed Hell Fest, but I did like the opening kill scene. One of the few positives from it.)
Raylene: Well since none of the main group has been killed off I felt it was needed. Perhaps she intentionally thought she could change Ben then realized she couldn’t and started abusing her power. (Since she decided not to drive off, the least they could have done is have her try to have a bit of a conversation first. It was a poorly executed death from a logic standpoint.)
Cece: For sure. I almost felt like she was in it to nod at Halloween and then just to be taken out like that? Kind of a waste. (Mitch Pileggi says hi.)
Melanie: Not soon enough! Her character was unnecessary and only there to tell Margaret that Mr. Jingles escape. (I don’t know why, but this made me laugh. Her existence was meaningless, at least for now. Now they are going to pull a Cult thing and go back and tell us why she was important instead of just telling us in ep 1 or 2, but that is AHS.)
Kelly: I don’t think it’s too soon because she only barely established her role so far. By the end when we see scenes from next week it looks like we’ll still get to see her again. (Yeah, which is fine because hopefully, we get some JCL acting, but I hate this storytelling technique when overused.)
Kent: I thought that she would serve as the Dr. Loomis character, but now it may end up being Mitch Pileggi. It makes sense for him to be the Loomis character and he’s a talented actor if you can forgive that he starred in Shocker. This seemed too soon initially, but not anymore. By the way, that whole scene was garbage. I know that it’s a slasher, but she is supposedly an intelligent character. Why didn’t she drive when she realized who it was, or even if she had a bad vibe knowing that he escaped. Come on Murphy, up your game!!!
5. Am I the only person that thinks that there is something more sinister about Brooke than what we have been led to believe so far?
Kristi: Something is up with her. Like how does all this killing seem to keep happening around her? I feel like we will get a twist at some point. (A twist or a Twisty? But yeah, something is up with her. The events feel all too convenient.)
Raylene: I’m not sold yet on her being evil. (You should buy into this. The bandwagon is leaving after episode 3.)
Cece: I don’t think anything is odd with her specifically… (You will soon enough.)
Melanie: Okay…here is my theory, She is Mr. Jingles’ daughter. She is there to get revenge on the camp because they took away her Daddy. Her other story was bullshitariffic!
This is probably super incorrect but I feel better for getting it off my chest. (Well, you earned points for bullshitariffic. I am really enjoying all of the random word combinations that we have had in this blog. Also, I love theories because it gets your mind thinking. Even if you get one wrong, it prompts a whole other way of observing the story. I would enjoy seeing this theory play out.)
Kelly: There could be. Perhaps she’s the one who actually killed her fiance, dad, and fiance’s best friend but was in a psychotic episode and that’s how she remembers it. Maybe instead her fiance cheated with HER best friend and she actually killed them. Just making some random predictions here. (No, that’s exactly how you SHOULD be looking at this. The 80’s experimented a lot with this ideology. I would encourage people to check out Jacobs Ladder as it really delves deeper into this idea and is really good, but not scary. I can only recommend the original with Tim Robbins as I haven’t seen the new remake. I think there is a lot to be learned from that film that will be applicable here. Seeing is not always believing. Believe that.)
Kent: This bitch is crazy. In another life, I would have tried hooking up with her because I am attracted to crazy bitches. And she probably would have murdered me. Did this wedding ceremony even happen? I am doubting it. That would have made the news, people would have heard about something like that happening. So I’m calling bullshit on the whole story. Her past is sinister. What is nice is that we have multiple crazy and evil entities all at the same location. This could wind up being a clusterfuck or it could be quite fun.
Final Thoughts – Do you fear that you may lose interest in this season given that a typical story like this would only last 2 hours? Are they just going to keep killing non-important characters as a way to keep the main cast alive for the next 8 episodes?
Kristi: I don’t think I will lose interest. I’m really enjoying this season. I think the main characters will die off eventually. They had to get the whole story to make sense before they start killing off the main people. We will see plenty of blood this season. (Good, I am in need of more blood.)
Raylene: I’ll lose interest if they don’t start killing off some characters. (That is my biggest fear. Sometimes they dick around too much early on expecting too much patience from the audience, which isn’t fair or smart. Today’s audience wants more instant gratification.)
Cece: I think there’s gonna be a whole new element added. I feel like this season may have more than one ‘story’. (I agree to an extent. We have Mr. Jingles, Richard Ramirez, Brooke, and Margaret and they could all be killers and crazy. So maybe that’s where we get our side stories that fill up the season. It’d be better than…oh I don’t know, something like having an alien abduction story that serves no purpose. Looking at you, Asylum!)
Melanie: I don’t think I will lose interest, but other people will. I may be one of the only ones left, like other seasons. (There have been times when you and I were the last ones standing at this blog. It happens. Traditionally second episodes are never as strong as the first one and it weighs on viewers. By episode 4 or 5 they should rein us back in, but they risk losing viewers and causing complaints and in today’s social media age, that can be bad.)
Kelly: I already did. I didn’t finish the episode originally because I wasn’t captivated. I’m also ready for some daylight haha. So far they’ve got it set up as if we aren’t going to see normalcy at the camp with random disappearances, mysterious lake drownings, or what-have-you. (I swear I read somewhere that the whole season takes place in one night or something to that effect. I like being the Grim Rapper of bad news. That wasn’t a typo.)
Kent: 2 episodes in and nobody has explained something very obvious here. How was Margaret going to run this camp if the group of 5 didn’t randomly decide to all be camp counselors? I get it, we may not see any of the kids if this is all over the course of one night. That’s fine. But this also wasn’t a mistake. These people were brought here for a reason. This wasn’t happenstance. Maybe all 5 of them have a dark past like Brooke does. Maybe Xavier is the antichrist and we get some real cleansing. There are some oddities that will get answered, I hope. If Mr. Jingles escapes, the cops will be notified. They will ask where he is most likely to go. They would investigate. This has to play out and we just have to wait for this to unfold in the usual jumbling of time. I’m here for the long haul and I’ll be whining at the end when some of my burning questions aren’t answered.
Also, in an episode titled Mr. Jingles, there wasn’t much about him. Quite misleading title, for now at least.