Hey there everyone and welcome to the synopsis of the second episode of American Horror Story: Hotel “Chutes and Ladders”. Sorry this post didn’t come to you earlier but with the episode being an hour and forty minutes long, I was so ready for bed by the time it was done! We were introduced to quite a few new characters and learned some new intel on some of the residents of the Cortez whom we met during the season premiere, so let’s discuss:
Claudia Bankson (Naomi Campbell): Thanks to a fashion show party that Will Drake put on at the Cortez, we got to meet Claudia Bankson – a big wig magazine editor who has an eye on John Lowe…don’t we all? That’s about all we know so far on Miss Bankson so we’ll have to stay tuned for more on this fashionista.
Tristan (Finn Wittrock): The Will Drake fashion show introduced us to my dearly beloved Finn Wittrock, who plays Tristan, the edgy male model with a passion for coke and the seductive Countess. During the fashion show, a doped up Tristan acts out on the runway which results in a tussle with an audience member. As he struts his stuff, he locks eyes on The Countess and he impregnates her with his gaze…Just kidding, but they definitely had eye sex. ANYWAYS, a furious Will Drake enters the backstage area to scold Tristan, but he just ends up taking a knife and cutting his own cheek and says that he’s done modeling. Afterwards, he goes on a little jaunt through the Cortez and breaks into The Countess’s room in search of coke and some hanky panky.
Tristan gets caught shortly after he enters the room by The Countess’s lover, Donovan. Tristan gets a good old fashion ass whooping and is about to be strangled when The Countess walks in and prevents Donovan from doing so. Terrified, Tristan runs out of the room and into the elevator where he gets stuck on the seventh floor. He pulls apart the elevator doors and runs down the hall and straight into a room with the creator of the Cortez, James Patrick March (Evan Peters).
James Patrick March (Evan Peters): We meet Mr. March thanks to Tristan stumbling upon him after his encounter with Donovan. Our first scene with March is a friendly one, in which he encourages Tristan to shoot a prostitute dead. The hooker is provided by the maid, Miss Evers (Mare Winningham). When Tristan refuses, March shoots the girl himself, and Tristan evacuates the room. The following information that we learned about James March is from a chat at the bar that John Lowe has with Iris:
According to Iris, James Patrick March “put every atom of evil in his being into building this hotel” in 1925. The Cortez is “a perfectly designed torture chamber” thanks to the secret hallways, chutes leading to a basement to hold dead bodies, and a willing maid to clean up all of the messes (with her “secret ingredient – love”). We see a montage of the Cortez being built and lots of murders committed by James March, some of them in the company of his wife whose face is not shown but I’m assuming is The Countess. ANYWHO, we continue to see the suave serial killer do his thang and sometimes do his victims until we learn of his demise. A sloppy mistake of leaving a napkin from the hotel with the initials JPM at a crime scene points directly to March as the murderer. Miss Evers enters March’s room to tell him the police are at the hotel and then March kills Miss Evers with a gun at her request and then slits his own throat. Some people think that March’s wife turned on him, despite his incriminating sloppiness, to inherit his vast fortune. CRAZY STUFF!
Miss Evers (Mare Winningham): Our story of the Cortez taught us a lot about the dedicated maid, Miss Evers, but it also confirmed the suspicion that her, as well as James March, are dead.
So what else did we learn this episode?
Scarlett finds out that Holden is still alive: During the fashion show, Will Drakes son, Glocklin, takes Scarlett on an adventure through the Cortez. He takes her to a secret room that contains the coffins of the sleeping vampire children, one of which contains the cute as can be Holden. Scarlett returns to the hotel after sneaking away from the cop assigned to keep an eye on her and finds the playroom of the vampire kids.
Holden is the only little one in the room and he adorably says “Scah-lett” when his sister asks if he knows who she is. She shows Holden family pictures and her little brother recognizes that Scarlett looks different to which she replies, “I grew up, why didn’t you?” Scarlett says “let’s go home” and her brother refuses, “I am home. I like it here. You can come and visit whenever you want”. Big sis Scarlett attempts to take a picture with her little brother and he tries to bite her. Scar gets scared and runs out of the room and straight into the arms of Sally with a mouth full of blood and her teeth falling out. When Scarlett makes her way back home, her house is swarming with police because she has been gone for five hours. She tells her parents she saw Holden, which deeply upsets them, she then shows her dad the picture she took that has her smiling face and Holden who shows up as a blonde blur.
Tristan gets turned: Once Tristan exits the room with James March, he ends up in an elevator with The Countess. She turns Tristan and then they have a wild night of banging and heart to hearts. We find out that The Countess was born in 1904 and that she was a big fan of the late 70’s, “I was the disco queen. I still am” she says. Her romp with Tristan is interrupted when Donovan enters the room. She asks Tristan to give them some privacy and then she kicks Donovan out and urges him to pack up his stuff. SHE’S SO COLD!!! The end of “Chutes and Ladders” is compliments of The Countess and Tristan as she flicks her bean to her new beau drinking the blood of his first kill. With a blood soaked face he kisses the vampiress and says, “I need more”.
John Lowe fun facts: We find out that Lowe is a recovering alcoholic AND he’s staying in the room that served as James March’s office…Room 64. DUN DUN DUNNNNN. Lowe also begins to investigate the serial killings of James March and discovers that a lot of them were in fashion of the Ten Commandments. He hated “religion and regulations” Iris stated. He then looks further into the murders happening currently that are similar in fashion and realizes that the person he’s hunting after could be a copycat killer.
“Skinny jeans are out, ponchos are in, fringe is forever.” -Cleopatra
So there you have it, this week’s episode review of American Horror Story: Hotel “Chutes and Ladders”. What did everyone think of the newest episode? How do you feel about the new characters that were introduced? I wanna hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah
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