American Horror Story: Murder House re-watch – Episode 3: ‘The Murder House’

American Horror Story: Murder House – 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.

Caution: This article contains spoilers. All episodes of American Horror Story: Murder House are available to watch on Netflix.

The third episode of the first season of American Horror Story is where the season got its name. The title of this episode is “The Murder House”, and subsequently we learn about more of the murders committed in the confines of the beautiful yet evil Los Angeles mansion.

The episode starts in 1983, and we see the young sexpot version of Moira straightening out the linens on the bed. A visibly drunk man comes into the room and starts pawing at her. It’s made clear to us that Moira has had a dalliance with this man before, but she considered it a mistake. This man will not take no for an answer and forces himself on Moira.

She is screaming for help and we think she will get it when Constance Langdon enters the room, in a stunning red dress. She has a gun, but instead of shooting the man, she shoots Moira straight in the eye, explaining the ghostly cataract that Frances Conroy’s version of the character possesses.

“I’ve loved you since I was sixteen,” Constance says. This man was her husband, Hugo Langdon (Eric Close; Without A Trace, Nashville) Not long after she says that, he’s gone as well and Constance curls up on the bed with her husband’s body and cries. Moira is buried in the back yard and no one is ever the wiser.

When the show flashes back to current day in the murder house, Vivian is yelling at Ben for what at first seems to be her discovery about Hayden’s abortion, but it was actually about how the Harmon’s had been ripped off by their financial advisor and all the money they have is tied up in the house, so they will have to live there until it is sold.

Vivian has a meeting in the kitchen with the realtor who sold them the house, Marcy (Christine Estabrook; The Usual Suspects, Spider-Man 2). Vivian is not pleased with the fact that her home is on a “murder house tour” which she heard about in the previous episode. She demands to know why Marcy only told her about the gay couple who had the murder/suicide before she moved in and not the other murder or murders that occurred in the house. Apparently the statute of limitations for disclosing deaths in the house is 3 months. Vivian puts her foot down and tells Marcy she better sell the house or Vivian will sue her.

Once again, Constance is in the house without permission from anyone, and she is stealing more of the Harmon’s silver, enough until she has a whole set apparently. Moira walks in on her and as usual Constance belittles her throughout the entire conversation. Moira gets angry and screams that she wants to leave the house, and she misses her mother. Ben has a patient while this is happening. His patient’s name is Sally Freeman (Adina Porter; True Blood, The News Room) and something happens to him in the middle of the session. The next time we see him, he is out in the yard with blood on his hands.