American Horror Story: Asylum “Dark Cousin” Review/Recap (Episode 7)

[[wysiwyg_imageupload:4325:]]Tonight saw the latest episode of American Horror Story: Asylum premiere with episode 7, “Dark Cousin.”

The episode sees not only the return of a character from season 1, but also the return of every character who recently left the Asylum ends up back there some way or another.

Another creepy and disturbing episode.

It starts off with Grace a bloody mess at the Asylum in a hospital bed. The nuns see she is bleeding out after what they think is a botched sterilization at the hands of Doctor Arden, and Grace is not breathing. We then see a woman in black – it’s the return of Frances Conroy, the older maid from the first season – and as she gets closer to Grace, black wings open from her body (pictured right)! One kiss is all it will take; however, Grace is not yet ready to go as the nuns revive her.

Next, we see a black man eating a sandwich. He has an alcohol problem and hears voices in his head. They keep telling him to “do it,” so the man offers to fix the meat slicer for a nun. He then cuts his wrists with blood everywhere. Sister Mary then shows, and we see that the man is still alive. He’s strapped down, but something is written in blood on the wall. Sister Mary is taken back as it’s ancient Hebrew/Arabic(?). Why did the man write down her name and summon her — the her in question not being Sister Mary.

From there we are taken to a very disturbing scene where Lana is getting raped by Doctor Thredson. He leaves and we then see the woman in black again, but Lana is not ready to go as well, as she still retains some amount of hope.

Sister Mary Eunice now confronts Doctor Arden about Grace and how he messed up the operation. Arden says he never did the sterilization to which Sister Mary mocks him of sorts with Arden slapping her. He demands respect as he is now in charge. Sister Mary Eunice says if he hits her one more time he will die. Arden goes to slap her again when — WHAM! Arden is thrown across the room by Sister Mary’s powers knocking him unconscious. Sister Mary is in charge.

Now back to Lana; Thredson comes back down and is very upset, he shouldn’t have done what he did. He shouldn’t even have brought Lana down there. So it’s time to end Lana; how does she want to go out? Getting choked out or getting her throat slit. She starts to freak out which upsets him. It doesn’t matter he will drug her and put her out first. He gets on top of her and questions why she doesn’t want to reunite with her lover, Wendy, who is pictured next to the bed in a nice-sized glass frame. Lana manages to grab the picture and smash Thredson, choking him with her leg chain and injecting him with the drug. She escapes.

Let’s see what has become of Sister Jude, as we see a quick recap from the end of last episode with Jude discovering the body of the Investigator who tells her it was one of her own. We then see what took place from the perspective of Sister Mary as she smashed the mirror and stabbed the old man in the throat. Sister Mary then looks at the cracked mirror with her face seemingly cracked up as well. Sister Jude then sees something on the TV set, it’s a newspaper clipping of the girl she ran over with “murderer” written in blood across the screen. On the table next to the bed is a bottle of booze as well as a razor. The woman in black also appeared and kissed the old man, but as Jude looked up she didn’t see her. Jude is now drinking the booze and the phone rings, it’s Sister Mary. She tells Sister Jude that she better run as the cops will be after her because the old man was investigating the missing girl — and Sister Jude! Sister Mary also tells Sister Jude that she left her a bottle on the table and something else (the razor).

We then are taken to a room where the black man says he doesn’t want to be here anymore, doesn’t want to be in this world anymore. He is attempting to open his stitches to bleed out, when the woman in black appears. He succeeds at ripping open the stitches and the woman in black kisses him; however, someone is watching! Who dares! It’s Sister Mary! Sister Mary questions why she is here etc., with the woman in black stating she has been summoned etc. The woman in black then sees Mary for her true self — they are cousins, Mary is one of the Fallen. This upsets Mary greatly as she disputes the notion they are related. The real Mary then comes out, with the “devil” putting her right back, saying “we” like it here. The woman in black says they will see each other again and that her work is not finished — and then disappears.

The woman in black is the Angel of Death.

While all that has been going on, Kip has been getting interviewed by his attorney who basically tells him he’s up the creek. Kip gets the idea to escape into his mind and bashes the lawyer in the head a couple times and escapes out the window.

Sister Jude is now drunk and we see a flashback of how she became a nun. She’s hammered in her motel room when she gets a knock on the door. It’s some guy she is in a band with who tells her she missed a gig and hands her, her walking papers, which also includes the name of a detective looking for information on a recent hit-and-run. Well, Jude gets plastered again, and again drives. This time she passed out at the wheel and ends up at a Convent discovering the Lord. 

The flashback is over and eventually Jude ends up at a diner drinking coffee and eating free crackers. The woman in black shows up to which Jude is not the least bit surprised. Jude questions her, why the woman in black didn’t take her before, and gives a couple examples, one of which was the time she ran over the poor girl, with the other the time before her wedding night when she confronted her finacee about giving her syphilis, which caused her to go barren. The woman in black says that He has a plan for her etc, but Jude drowns in self-pity stating she’s just a drunk whore etc. Two of the waitresses remark that maybe the Asylum has a spare bed they can keep her for the night.

Next we see Lana escaping from Thredson’s house and she comes upon a car. She immediately jumps in and orders the man driving to drive off. He questions her about what happened, not really believing her, actually blaming her. Lana wants to get out, but the man is going 50mph, and what is she going to do jump? We then see the woman in black appear in the back seat. Lana sees her and doesn’t want to go out like this. The man now has a gun. His wife cheated on him and left him, he blames all his troubles on women. BAM! He shoots himself in the head and the car crashes. The woman in black was there for the man.

Back to Sister Jude who is now at the family of the girl she ran over. It’s been a few years since the accident and she is trying to explain who she is to them. A baby is present with the lady trying to calm the baby down. Jude is explaining how she is a nun etc., and about to tell them she was responsible for the death of their little girl – in the blue coat – when someone comes through the door. She just got off work, she’s a nurse, and came to get her baby. It’s the little girl — she never died, but only suffered a few broken bones! Sister Jude cannot believe it and tells her a story of how the girl’s accident inspired her to become a nun, and that lately she was having doubts about her mission, and that is why she came to visit the parents of the little girl with the blue coat. Sister Jude never tells them she was responsible, but the parents make it a point of how they are not the ones who have to live with what happened. The girl is indeed alive and Sister Jude’s faith is restored.

Lana begins to awaken and as she comes to her senses she sees — Sister Mary! Lana is back in the Asylum! Lana tells Sister Mary that Thedson is Bloody Face to which Sister Mary says she believes her. We then see a flashback of when the “devil” was inside the boy and Thedson was examining him, the “devil” whispers in his ear, “I like your work Bloody Face!” Sister Mary then gives Lana a couple sleeping pills and leaves her room, remarking to the guard how confused she still is etc.

[[wysiwyg_imageupload:4326:]]Next we see what has become of Grace as she is in the kitchen area where the black man attempted to kill himself. “She shouldn’t be there,” says the same nun that let the man use the meat slicer, but says that Grace has until she is finished cleaning. Then we see what has become of Kip as he makes his way back to the Asylum through the Arden’s secret passage — and something is there with him. It’s one of Arden’s monsters (pictured left)! Kip doesn’t notice and makes his way to Grace, telling her it’s time to go. Just then the nun discovers them and screams for help. Kip tells her it’s okay, attempting to quiet her down when the monster bites the nun’s throat out! The monster then knocks Kip and Grace, with a short ensuing fight between the monster and Kip, which ends with Kip using the meat slicer on the monster, exposing his entrails!

Then the guard discovers them and pulls his gun. He warns Kip not to move, but Grace steps in the way and gets shot. 

The woman in black appears yet again, and now it’s time for Grace to go.

“American Horror: Asylum” airs Wednesdays at 10pm ET on AMC.

For a preview to the next episode, “Unholy Night,” head on over here.