American Horror Story reaches its hundredth episode, as Brooke faces yet another threat to her life.

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With its hundredth episode, American Horror Story 1984 finally escapes the confines of Camp Redwood to set the scene for the rest of the season. Jumping forward to 1985 initially, we see the aftermath of Richard Ramirez (Zach Villa) and Jingles’ (John Carroll Lynch) flight into the sunset. As it transpires, Jingles has become tired of the on-the-road murder spree lifestyle and elects to turn Ramirez in, leading to Ramirez being pinned down by Mexican locals who have identified him from the newspaper. It is almost unbelievable, had it not been the actual apprehension of The Night Stalker in August 1985. And all before the opening credits too!

Following the opening, we jump further forwards in time to 1989. A lot has changed in the life of the core cast. Montana (Billie Lourd) and Xavier (Cody Fern) are busy murdering every person who dares tread on Camp Redwood, much to Ray’s (DeRon Horton) chagrin. It seems quite an abrupt change of pace for Xavier, who fought on the side of good until his last, but the revelation that being virtuous has no bearing upon outcome has evidently shaken his moral foundation. Meanwhile, Trevor (Matthew Morrison) miraculously survived his brush with death and, instead of revealing Margaret’s (Leslie Grossman) murderous spree, elected to blackmail her instead. This has resulted in an incredibly unhappy marriage as spouses don’t have to testify against each other, but hey they are both rich, so you reap what you sow.

Margaret is earning her riches through the repurposing of famous murderous sites as tourist attractions. Her latest business venture, of course, involves Camp Redwood where she intends to host a music festival over Halloween. As well as irritating the resident ghost coterie at Camp Redwood, the news also reaches Jingles, who is now safely settled into a new life in Alaska, complete with a wife and a son, naively attempting to escape his deal with Satan made to save his life.

Also worrisome on the news is the fate of Brooke, who is hardened by her time in prison. She proudly proclaims to Ramirez that she “gutted that bitch [Montana] from the inside out, and now she’s in hell, licking Satan’s balls!”, and boldly refuses Ramirez’s supernatural projection offering her protection in Satan’s name by telling him to “fuck off”. Life behind bars for a crime she has not committed has created a steely resolve within her, and she goes to the site of her lethal injection, telling Margaret on the other side of the glass that she will burn for wanting to watch her die. Trevor, despite knowing of Brooke’s innocence, similarly does nothing to help her, but rather watches mutely and dispassionately.

However, permanent endings seem to have a tough time sticking this season. Ramirez, trapped in his own prison cell, uses a Satanic ritual to possess a prison guard and escape the prison. In Alaska, Jingles comes home to discover his wife brutally murdered and his son in a cabinet with an invitation to Camp Redwood’s music festival on top of him. Jingles heads off to confront Ramirez at Camp Redwood. Meanwhile, having been successfully injected and pronounced dead, Brooke is wheeled into another room and injected once more. This time, she splutters back to life and sits up to see the nurse unmask herself as Donna (Angelica Ross). And that’s all for this week, folks.

A music festival at Camp Redwood, with murderous ghosts, three serial killers, plus Brooke, Donna and Trevor in the mix. What could possibly go wrong?

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Questions

If Montana, Xavier, Ray and Chet are all ghosts, why aren’t all of the other victims of the first Camp Redwood massacre?

What has Donna been up to for five years?

Why on earth does Trevor have such faulty logic?

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Mark’s Maundering Musings

So having judged Trevor as being “pure of heart” last week, we have now seen him blackmail and then marry a serial killer for money, and placidly watches an innocent woman receive a lethal injection. I’m very grumpy about this development.

I think it’s very safe to say that Margaret’s comeuppance is coming, with Brooke, Donna and all the ghosts of Camp Redwood gunning for her. With so many conflicts at play, however, the ultimate conflict at Camp Redwood is going to be a bloodbath. Everybody seems to hate everybody, and half of them are already dead!

As delightful an episode as this was, I must confess that I was expecting something a little bit more dramatic for the hundredth instalment. I was anticipating returns from past characters, some sort of crossover vibe (though, admittedly, it totally wouldn’t make much sense at this juncture in the story) but it was a fairly ordinary instalment.

I’m very uncertain what the twist could be coming through to the end of the season. With three episodes still to come, there’s got to be something more interesting than a brutal melée in the grounds of Camp Redwood, right?

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Next episode

So, what did you think of the episode? Leave your thoughts in the comments below, or tweet @GarbledGoodwin.