American Horror Story 11: Episodes 5 and 6 Recap and Review

American Horror Story 11: Episodes 5 and 6 start with everyone’s favorite conspiracy theorist, Fran getting a job at a psychic shop owned by everyone’s favorite club owner, Cathy. This goes as horribly as you’d expect, with multiple characters visiting her throughout the episode and having a not-so-fun time at the fortune tellers. Especially Gino, but we’ll get to that later.

We see early on in the episode at Pat and Barbara’s divorce signing that the virus could possibly be spreading outside gay men, as it looks like Barbara might herself be infected. Speaking of the infection, we learn through Barbara that those infected have a decreased red cell count. This, along with what else we know, adds more layers to the AIDS comparison.

After Barbara passes out, she asks Pat to take care of her dog quickly when he is confronted by a violent Big Daddy. In the process of fighting him, Pat manages to fend him off before he is sexually assaulted, only to be left knocked out. It’s one of the show’s more visceral moments, with actor Russell Tovey (Pat) giving a particularly harrowing performance.

Gino visits Cathy to get Fran to stop creeping everyone out at the psychic shop and finds himself thrown into a fever dream from hell. Joe Mantello gives an absolutely amazing performance as Gino during Cathy’s reading, where she reads him like a book. Not only that, but we get some really bizarre imagery that feels like, on the one hand, could be totally in his head while, on the other, may have some truth to them. With the show’s unpredictable nature, it could go either way.

In an absolutely incredibly well-put-together scene switching from the perspectives of Barbara and Gino bathing, Barbara is murdered by Big Daddy while Gino notices strange marks on his body. It’s a moment that somehow manages to both hit like a truck and simmer like a burn. Seeing Barbara die so unceremoniously out of nowhere knocks you off your feet, while Gino’s discovery sets up more pain down the line. Every moment with him from here on has a countdown clock on it.

Okay, so the last five or so minutes with the Mai Tai killer are nuts. He proclaims that he is killing for the good of his victims. That through their deaths, he is forcing society to notice them. Which is crazy but not nearly as crazy as what you’re about to hear next. Mai Tai has been taking his victims, cutting them up, and splicing them into a replica of Jesus Christ to martyrize them. I never thought I’d see a call back to the 1999 film Resurrection, but I’m not complaining.

Episode 6 starts with a couple finding a skeleton, as all romantic couples dream of doing. We come to learn that it’s connected with both Pat and Sam, who have a history together. As 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 ended up dead, and then later ended up found by the lovers on the beach.

Gino and Pat investigate the murders together, leading them to Hannah, who refuses to disclose possibly case-breaking information. She states, “No one cares about your community more than I do,” which is ironic considering a little thing like the law is enough to stop her from saving the lives of those she claims to care so dearly about. Between her and Mai Tai, there’s enough fake allyship to fill the Grand Canyon.

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, as his old friend refuses to kill him, resulting in a team-up between Gino, Henry, Patrick, and a reluctant Sam in taking down Mai Tai once and for all.

Mai Tai ends up getting the drop on Henry, leading to his kidnapping. The episode then ends with Gino pleading with Patrick to help him get his friend back.

This season has definitely been more of a slow burn, and while it’s been successful at it, it’s refreshing to see things finally really take off. As each episode passes, this feeling of foreboding doom builds and builds. It feels like it’s all leading up to something, which of course, it is, but the heaviness felt in the tone is almost screaming at us that it’s going to be something very bad.

Maybe I’m wrong, though, and everything will be sunshine and puppies in the end. We can only hope.

One last note, but the music this season, primarily in these two newest episodes, is fantastic. It reminds me of something like you’d hear in a John Carpenter movie. If you want further recaps and reviews, check out the column.