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American Horror Story: Murder House re-watch – Episode 2: Home Invasion

By Lorry Kikta

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Maria before serial killer R. Franklin has his way with her. (Photo: FX)

Join 1428 Elm’s Lorry Kikta as she re-watches American Horror Story: Murder House and American Horror Story: Coven before the release of the 8th season of the beloved series, American Horror Story: Apocalypse airs September 12th on FX.

The second episode of American Horror Story: Murder House is entitled “Home Invasion”. The scene opens up with a title card that is dated 10 years before the previous episode, in 1968.

With the sound of The 5th Dimension’s “Age of Aquarius” wafting through the halls of the mansion, which, in 1968 was a dorm of sorts for students at a nearby nursing school. Most of the girls in the house are going to see The Doors at The Rose Bowl, but two girls, Gladys and Maria, decide to stay home and do their homework and/or watch Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In.

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Someone knocks on the door. Gladys tells Maria not to answer it, and i bet she ends up wishing she didn’t. There’s a man at the door that says, “Excuse me, ma’am, I don’t want to bother you but I’m hurt and needing some help”. There’s blood running down his forehead, and since Maria is a nursing student, she lets him in the house.

Little do she and Gladys know that their bachelor in distress is actually notorious serial killer R. Franklin (Jamie Harris; The Prestige) who is partially based on the real killer, Richard Speck. Both girls are brutally murdered and then the title card flashes once again to “Today”.

Tate is sitting in Dr. Ben Harmon’s office. No words are being exchanged and Ben’s phone buzzes. Tate makes known the fact that he isn’t speaking on purpose and says a lot of things to get a rise out of Ben, which causes him to end their session early. Tate is angry, but leaves anyway. Ben’s phone buzzes again and it is Hayden (Kate Mara; House of Cards, Fantastic Four), the student with whom he cheated on Vivian. He asks “Do I have to change this number?” to which she responds “I’m pregnant”.

Gladys and Maria, the first official ghosts (that we know of so far) we meet in AHS: Murder House (Photo: FX)

All of this happens before the creepy-as-all-get-out credits sequence even begins. This episode is a bit of a doozy, but it also prepares you for all the insanity that is to follow, not just for this season, but for the entirety of AHS’ existence. Up until this point, things seem strange in the house, and the neighbors are weird, and the tension within the Harmon family is high, but we don’t know why. “Home Invasion” points to come clues.

Ben is next seen treating a patient named Bianca (Mageina Tovah; The Magicians) who has had a recurring dream where she is stuck in an elevator and while she is trying to get out, it starts working again, leaving her cut in half.

Actually, she’s there to check out the house. At this moment is when Ben discovers that not only did the previous tenants die here, so did at least two other victims. Bianca is a bit of a shock tourist and wants to know where the murders took place. She also informs Ben that his home is on a “Murder House” tour.

After Ben gets rid of Bianca, we see him on the phone with Tate’s mother, telling her that she can’t treat him in the house anymore. In what appears to be an awkward cut, we go to Constance’s home, where she is baking in the kitchen while Addy sits at the table. She instructs Addy to get her the ipecac syrup, and then to spit in the bowl she’s mixing.

These end up being cupcakes that Constance wants to deliver to Violet, for some reason. While Constance is in the Harmon kitchen after delivering the cupcakes, she becomes very excited about Vivian’s pregnancy. She has “the nose of a truffle pig” and can smell that Vivian is pregnant, which I didn’t know was possible, and if it is, that’s kind of weird and gross. Vivian also discovers that Constance had four children, but only Addy is still around, well, for the most part.

While Constance is talking to Vivian in the Murder House kitchen, Ben is on a run and breaks down in tears under a graffiti-covered bridge. He once again encounters the still unnamed burn victim played by Denis O’Hare, much to his dismay. For whatever reason, Ben admits to him that he cheated on his wife and the girl is pregnant. For whatever even stranger reason, Ben follows his advice and lies to Vivian, saying he has to go to Boston for an emergency, from the call of one of his old students. Which isn’t a total lie, I suppose.

We are introduced to Hayden for the first time. She seems to be fairly composed about the whole situation, considering how grave it is, until she catches Ben looking at his phone. She freaks out and says “All I ever wanted is for you to love me”. Ben gives her his phone and vows to stay with her until the abortion procedure is complete.

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