- After putting the house back on the market, Vivien learns about its first residents. Elsewhere, Ben's visitor causes him to further unravel, and Constance and Moira's history is revealed.
- After their home invasion, Vivien insists that they move out but their finances are such that there's no possibility of moving into a new place unless they can recoup what they've paid out. Vivien soon learns that selling isn't going to be easy given the long history of murders which go back to 1922 when an abortionist and his wife lived there. Ben is having blackouts, waking up in the backyard and is shocked when his ex-girlfriend from Boston shows up. Larry Harvey gives him a hand. Vivien gets an interesting visitor from the past, though she doesn't realize who the woman is.—garykmcd
- 1983 - Our episode begins with our first history lesson of the house. Young Moira (Alexandra Breckinridge) is going about her duties in the master bedroom. The male owner of the house suggests an afternoon rendezvous with her. She refuses for several reasons - she really needs the job, he's drunk and the last time they had one was a mistake. When she tries to leave, he tackles her onto the bed and attempts to rape her. During his attempt, a shadowy female figure approaches the room with a gun. She fires a warning shot into a vanity mirror, interrupting them. Constance (Jessica Lange) is the gun-bearer and she has had enough of her lover and the maid's trysts. After shooting Moira through her right eye, Constance tells the man she has loved him since she was 16. With her gun, she then takes her anger out on the man. Constance cries out her emotional pain of betrayal and what the outcome has caused her to do.
Through some nifty camerawork, Vivien (Connie Britton) enters the exact same scene and we are thrust into the present. She and Ben (Dylan McDermott) are arguing about him being deceitful with her - not in the way we think. It's about an investment deal gone wrong and she cautions Ben to not lie to her again.
The next day, Vivien meets with the realtor (Christine Estabrook) about putting the house on the market. The realtor complains that it would be difficult, given the current financial state of the country. Vivien remains firm, threatening to sue for not receiving full disclosure on the house. Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Moira tells Ben she made a fresh pot of coffee and hands him an empty cup.
Later, older Moira (Frances Conroy) catches Constance taking some Harmon silverware to add to her "magpie" collection. Constance tells her to let things go and "Move on, missy!" When Moira breaks down and says she can't, Constance lets her know that she feels no remorse for Moira whenever she looks at that ghostly eye of hers.
Ben has a new patient, Sally Freeman (Adina Porter), who has marital difficulty. She doesn't know why, because she has tried her best to like the things her husband likes. She begins to list all the things she has tried and Ben enters a sort of fugue state, from either boredom or something else. He then finds himself outside, in the backyard, with blood on his hands.
Inside, young Moira cleans up a bloody mess and follows him into his office, where she began her cleaning. Once again, she tries to coerce him into a fling, but they are interrupted, this time by Vivian. Vivian doesn't really know who to believe. Older Moira claims Ben approached her, which is understandable from the stress put upon him. Vivian suggests Moira take some time off. Moira fires back with threats of pressing charges.
Later, outside, Vivien sees the Eternal Darkness Tour vehicle pull up. The guide (David Anthony Higgins) calls her house, the Murder House. Also outside, Ben finds Violet (Taissa Farmiga), who hasn't hidden her smoking from him very well. He offers to find her help if she needs someone, aside from family, to talk to. But the person she seems to confide in is always near - Tate (Evan Peters).
Ben approaches young Moira about the whereabouts of his recorder he uses in his patient sessions. Moira suggests it might be down the front of her dress. She then tells Ben he has a new patient in waiting. The new patient is Hayden (Kate Mara), the woman with whom Ben had an affair and got pregnant. We last saw her at the abortion clinic with him. She changed her mind when he bailed on her. Police Detective Jack Colquitt (Geoffrey Rivas) interrupts them and Ben thinks he's there with question about the previous break-in. But he tells Ben he's there to ask about to a missing patient of his - the woman with marital trouble.
We learn, via the tour guide, how actor Sal Mineo (Aric Cushing) allegedly died - stabbed in an alley after making sexual advances on a guy (Trevor Torseth). Vivien has become a ticket holder on the tour, in order to learn more about her house.
In the 1920s, "Doctor To The Stars" Charles Montgomery (Matt Ross) moved his wife Nora (Lily Rabe) to the house in L.A., only to fall on hard times and become addicted to different drugs. He developed a "Frankenstein complex." One night at the dinner table, they squabble over numerous things, including money. Nora tells him she's arranged for him to help out women "in trouble," in order to have additional income. Their first patient, Dorothy Hudson (Abbie Cobb), arrives, and Nora calms her by giving her a sedative for what's to come, while politely asking for cash up front. Nora turns her over to Charles, with tears in her own eyes. Before we can learn how the Montgomery's lives came to a "shocking finale," Vivien notices she is spotting blood.
The OB/GYN, Dr. Hall (Eve Gordon), tells the Harmons that spotting blood during pregnancy is normal, but that there can be no more stress put upon Vivien. Under his own stress and possibly something else, Ben briefly faints. The doctor suggests blood work to determine the cause.
While taking a few of her canine "clients" for a walk, Constance notices Tate in the window of the Harmon house. She waves, but he remains stoic. Accompanying Ben during his outdoor exercise, Larry Harvey (Denis O'Hare) attempts to run lines with Ben, then solicits $1,000 from him for "headshots." Still panicked over losing his patient recorder, Ben searches high and low in his office for it and ends up in the backyard again. This time, he has a shovel nearby and is joined by Constance. Strangely, Moira looks on while Constance tries to convince Ben of building a gazebo in the backyard, rather than planting things.
Inside, Vivien gets a visit from someone she believes is a potential buyer of the house. The woman seems to have an intimate knowledge of the house's design. Upon entering the kitchen, she flinches and winces at the modern appliances. Vivien offers her some tea to calm her. Vivien's visitor is confirmed (to us) to be not of this world, as the camera pans behind her to show a gaping head wound. "Nora" learns Vivien is pregnant and vanishes into thin air.
While landscaping, Ben is told by the detective that his missing patient, as well as his recorder, has turned up. The recording reveals what really happened during Ben's "fugue" state with the patient. She thought he had tuned her out and was ignoring her, so she slit her wrists and ran, taking the recorder with her. Violet accompanies Vivien to look at a new place. She tells her mom that they survived being victims of the intrusion; and, if they move again, she will run away and never be found.
Dr. Hall calls Ben about his bloodwork. The narcotic, Laudanum, appeared in his system. (Until the early 20th century, laudanum was sold without a prescription.) Before answering the door, Ben tells young Moira he knows she drugged him. She tells him to prove it. At the door is an angry Hayden intent on telling Vivien their secret.
Ben decides to take her somewhere to talk about future plans, but Larry has plans of his own for her. Outside, he landscapes her face with a shovel - twice. Ben freaks out. At first, he's sorry for Hayden, then worried he'll be implicated for her death. Larry tells him to leave things to him, while again asking for the $1000.
Larry prepares to bury Hayden in the backyard and thanks Ben for starting the hole. He finds the hole has been previously occupied. Among the remains, he finds a doily-type material similar to a collar of a certain maid's uniform. She oversees her "excavation" from the window. Will she finally be free?
Not today, as Larry drops Hayden's body on top of Moira's remains and begins to bury the two. Later, Ben covers the gravesite with a concrete foundation. Constance needles Moira that now she's "stuck here forever." The Harmons delight in the new gazebo - Vivien, because it adds to the value of the house; Ben, because it covers up two mistakes regarding Hayden.
That night, while Vivien sleeps, the ghostly Nora watches over the new mother.
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content