E5 – BAD FORTUNE:
Bodegas and psychic readings on Christopher Street finally make it into the mix as Fran wanders into Kathy’s Tarot Card Business looking for a job after shopping at a bodega with 2022 prices. (Apples $2.29 a lb in 1981?) Sam/Hannah and then Gino both drop by and get read. Literally. ($10 in 1981!?) And all the cards turning into Death cards did bring in a more supernatural elements into a very non-magical season. (but at this point why?) “Bad Fortune” also missed a a great opportunity for Frances Conroy’s Angel of Death to make a quick cameo return and connect all the seasons properly, but alas, it’s not in the cards. Just some computer generated death. Nothing to see here move on.
However, on the topic of supernatural disturbances, the origins of Big Daddy take a paranormal turn after Gino engages in a dark psychic night of the soul. Meanwhile Patrick and Gino have done on their Mai Tai Killer investigation has been completely off the books and they’re liable to implicate themselves (again). Oh and it turns out that Whitely has been taking his victims, cutting them up, and splicing them into a replica of Jesus Christ to martyrize them. AT PRIDE NO LESS. Oh and Barbara was murdered. Big Daddy? Patrick? Who the fuck cares a great ending for an annoying throw away character! BOOM!
E6 – THE BODY:
“Will you put down your fiddle young Willie
Will you put down your fiddle and pray
That the world has begun with the birth of the sun
And its death the very same day” – Sweet William
And it’s back to Fire Island in 1979 with a modern day Pavilion and a couple finding a skeleton, as all romantic couples dream of doing on the beach. Of course it turns out, when Pat first went to New York, he immediately entered into a life of drunken debauchery with Sam. It was all fun and games until their mutual crush “Sweet Billy” ended up dead fucked to death you know., and then later ended up found by the lovers on the beach.
Turns out that Sam knows a “gay mafia cleaner” called the “Velvet Touch” which just happens to be old queen Henry who bring a “fledging” Mr. Whitely to “butcher” the body and led to the body parts being buried on the beach. Gino finds himself in even hotter water somehow when a mob hit is taken out against him. It turns out his investigation and anti-police articles are costing them money. Luckily for Gino, his pal Henry is hired to do the deed. Gino dodges death once again, resulting in a team-up between Gino, Henry, Patrick, and a reluctant Sam (along with Billy’s head) in to taking down Mai Tai once and for all! Henry and Gino set up a date to trap Mr. Whitely. The episode then ends with Gino pleading with Patrick to help him get his friend back.
OBSERVATIONS FROM AN OLD QUEEN WHO WAS THERE:
There were NO GENDERQUEER (drag with beard) performers in 1981. 1. They didn’t exist yet. 2. They would have been laughed off the stage and very real drag performers would have ripped him to shreds.
As expensive as living in NYC was in 1982 the prices listed on the bodega on Christopher Street are 2021 prices.
“All roads lead to Christopher Street” or even a boring representation of it. And all the characters wind up there too in this plot device.
Mr. Whitely works in St Vincent’s hospital. “Borrowed” from the real life murderer Paul Bateson the killer who worked on Freidkin’s move The Exorcist . St Vincent’s Hospital was also Ground Zero during the AIDS epidemic.
HUGE opportunity was missed by not bring back Francis Conroy as The Angel of Death. It would have cemented this season more firmly in AHS universe.
Sweet Billy gives good head. This event seems to be based on Andrew Crispo who in In 1985 was implicated in the so-called Death Mask Murder of Norwegian fashion student.
MIA: So much from the late 70’s and early 80’s just glossed over and missing: No walkmans, no Lambdas, no rawhide, no Lacoste alligator shirts, no roller skates, no smoking. no ludes. Not my NYC 1981 that’s for sure. The set dresser is either extremely lazy, has zero budget of just sucks.
TIME WARP: We are having a bit of an issue with dates. We know Whitely and the murders take place in 1981. Pride 1981 is June. Dr. Lawrence Mass the first person to report on AIDS to the general public did not publish until May 1981. But it’s obviously high summer in AHC- NYC . It’s becoming a bit of a mess timeline wise actually when it comes to the AIDS epidemic.
Discuss? Dish? Read em to filth. Do so in the comments.