In American Horror Story fashion, the series picks up its second episode with Ally waking up (post-trauma) to a familiar faced clown in her bed sending her downstairs screaming for her wife and right past her son’s room. Though Ivy is ready to call the police, Ally reminds her that Ozzy is upstairs and they rush to check the perimeters despite the fact that their son’s safety seems to be a secondary concern. Upon finding out that the clowns have once again vacated and Ally begins to question her sanity, Ivy tries to loosen things up and get some wife on wife action going but they are interrupted by the screams of the son they had still yet to check on. Ozzy is dealing with his own clowns, having dreamed of Twisty and the three faced zombie-esque clown attacking him. When they wake him up, he only wants the comfort of Ivy and it becomes clear that everyone is questioning how stable Ally actually is.

With the constant barrage of clowns, we see that Winter is still putting in work on Ozzy’s perception of events and offers him her advice that essentially translates – people will believe what they want, so make them believe you are giving it to them yourself. Winter is diabolically brainwashing the young boy, but the depths of this cult seem to be larger than most expect (more on that later.) When we last saw Kai, he was initiating a beatdown on himself after antagonizing a group of construction workers. Since causing more Trump-based trouble, a recording has since surfaced that he uses as a contributing factor to racial tension and announces his upcoming pursuit of a spot on the city council (there happened to be an opening after he most likely killed the former chairman.)

The video taken of the brawl was newcomers known as the Wiltons who not-so-coincidentally moved into the Chang’s former house after their murders. While moving in, Ally notices the man in a beekeepers outfit and the woman shrouded in clothing – not to mention the barrels they have moved into their home. Rightfully so, Ally becomes intrigued and is later forced to meet them when Winter leaves Ozzy over at their home to check out their bee colonies. An already displeased Ally sees the honeycombs and becomes visually disturbed (I’m still banking on involvement from the therapist and Ivy) but they still give them a chance to introduce themselves. Harrison Wilton is a gay man who married his straight best female friend with a love of bees and the occasional chance to go sleep with men in Detroit – and Meadow Wilton is a former pharmacist turned etsy seller who avoids the sun at all costs because of her experience with skin cancer. The one thing they have in common? Well, they run a Nicole Kidman fan club together… So obviously Ally has her concerns about the new neighbors moving into the recently deceased Chang’s home.

Earlier I wrote that Ozzy seemed to have a growing attachment to Ivy over Ally, so when an alarm at their restaurant sounds off, Ally decides to take initiative and handle it on her own. When she gets to the restaurant (I would have straight up called the police) she silences it and finds a manager hanging from a meathook who had just previously went off on a racist rant at a chef who was speaking spanish. Though she tries to pull him from the hook, it causes his death which presumably was the goal of whomever hung him in the first place. Within the next week, Ally has taken a gun from her new neighbors and secured her home with security doors and metal bars around the windows, so her therapist tries to convince her to get rid of it and she refers to him as a “knee-jerk liberal” showing us that Ally is transitioning who she is over the course of her experiences from this group targeting her. Kai shows up at the women’s home (talking to people about his hopeful political role) when Ally is alone and prods at her supposed open mind whilst protecting/isolating herself to make her rethink her stance – making me wonder just why Kai is working so hard to sway Ally to his way of thinking with all of these people in play at his disposal.

If you thought Ally couldn’t experience anymore paranoia or fear – you were dead wrong. Towards the end of the evening, Ally is at home with Ozzy and Winter and Winter offers the idea of a little rest and relaxation in the form of a bubble bath. Winter draws the bath and subtly (or not so subtle I suppose) tries to flirt with Ally and a backrub turns into something far more sexual. The moment is cut short as the home security system goes off and the power is cut, so Ally is back to that familiar fearful feeling she knows well. Harrison shows up to tell her he heard over the radio that it was a blackout through eight states which meant a terrorist attack, so Winter says she’s leaving to “protect her shit.” Ally is triggered by the events then finds multiple clowns in her house so her barricaded doors aren’t enough to aid her safety – in response, she arms herself with the neighbors gun and prepares to run across the street with Ozzy. Just as she opens the door, she sees someone in close range and fires out of fear, but it turns out to be the friendly and harmless Pedro who was bringing her supplies for Ivy. With more blood on her hands, Ally only gets closer to completely snapping and it seems as if that’s precisely what Kai is working towards.

Overall Grade: 7.5/10

The second episode of the series brought more tension to Ally’s life and made me even more paranoid that just about every character’s role in the series. I still don’t have any real idea of why so many would be targeting Ally over anyone else, but perhaps Ozzy’s unknown father is a potential factor? American Horror Story continues to give us enough to keep us enticed but now we just have to hope that as things pick up, the series goes into a state of constant intensity and horror to amp up the energy for the shortened horror anthology.

Aedan’s Final Thoughts:

– The fact that Ivy allows Ally to do anything alone with everything going on makes me more suspicious of her than sympathetic.

– I am not okay with Winter / Ally affair. When you already don’t trust people, allowing your son’s nanny to provide you with some lady lovin’ seems like a very bad idea (and clearly disrespectful.)