Tonight’s AHS: Hotel episode 8 not only revealed the Ten Commandments Killer, but finally rewarded viewers for paying attention!
Eight down, two to go. AHS: Hotel may have revealed the mastermind(s) behind the 90-year murder spree, but will the duo become a trio by the season’s end?
The Ten Commandment Killer(s) revealed
Everyone has appeased John’s little breakdown for weeks, but after attacking Liz Taylor in the lobby after Wren’s death, Sally agrees that enough is enough. It’s time to let John in on another of the Hotel Cortez’s hidden gems. Room 64 buzzes with mystery, but tonight it holds the answers John needs and they were behind the armoire the entire time.
March and Lowe’s Murder Tableau
- Thou Shall Not Steal: The hands of a thief
- Remember the Sabbath and Keep It Holy: The teeth of migrant workers
- Thou Shall Not Worship False Idols: A Gold Derby blogger’s skull bashed in by an Oscar
- Thou Shall Not Bear False Witness Against Neighbors: Eyes and tongue of a lying, cheating husband
- Honor Thy Mother and Father: The hearts of two sons who killed their parents for their fortune
- Thou Shalt Not Bear False Witness: The vocal chords of gossip mongers
- Thou Shall Not Take the Lord’s Name in Vain: A false prophet’s spleen
- Thou Shall Not Covet Thy Neighbor’s Wife: A cheating man’s penis
For a detective, John has a hard time connecting the dots. Maybe he should take a bit of advice from Sherlock Holmes and consider that whatever option is left, no matter how impossible it may seem, is likely the answer to his query.
A Hall of Fame fit for a killer
The trophies of the Ten Commandments Killer are on display in a room just off John’s hotel room. March, it turns out, has had his eye on John for over five years. One fateful night brought John through the doors of the Cortez and into Donovan and Sally’s competing gaze. Fast forward five years later as John shakes in Sally’s arms struggling to remember the nights since he returned to the Cortez for good. His mentor called him back to the haunted halls and nightly sent him out into the world among the living to commit murders most foul. As it turns out, the first murder, of the Gold Derby blogger, occurred within the walls of the Cortez. That was John’s first taste of blood and as a reminder, March had the bloodied Oscar sent to his desk at the precinct.
The first trophy of many to join the hall of fame. This is nothing compared to March’s room of horror.
Why you talkin’ like that Jimmy?
“You sound like a 1930s movie,” John says to Mr. March at their first meeting at the Hotel Cortez. James March explains that he mimicked his professor’s accent until it was his own. March’s accent captures the attention of whichever room he speaks in, but it is John’s utterance of the phrase, “Death is the only thing in life that has any meaning,” that sends March into a tizzy. His next disciple has arrived.
Sure, Gacey, Ramirez, and Dohmer were fine, but John is to be seated at the right hand of the father, so to speak. John’s aura is jet black, full of rage, danger, and yet there is a glimmer of hope still burning somewhere deep inside. He is willing to hurl himself into the abyss; all he needs is a little push to access the darkest corners of his heart. So begins March’s two day journey into John’s mind. They talk about everything from man to God and John gets exactly what he was hoping for when he walked through the Cortez’s door — the chance to forget.
And forget he does, for two days later he shows up at home and begins his day with apologies to his wife. It is the day that his son Holden slips into the Countess’ grip. We come to discover that Holden was a gift from March for stealing away from their monthly engagement.
An unnatural arrangement
John is not the only one hanging on March’s puppet strings. Sally has her own cross the bear within the walls of the Cortez, namely against the addiction demon we saw early on in the season. Sally’s arrangement with March goes as follows: She keeps John in touch with his demons (booze) and March will keep the demon she conjured up through her addiction at bay. All Sally truly wants is a ghost lover in the Hotel Cortez she can call her own. Sally’s storyline fell a little flat in this moment, but hopefully there is another layer to her confinement that has yet to be explored.
For the first time, John sees both sides of the man he has become over the last five years, much to Iris’ relief. But John needed plenty of convincing to get his killer instincts rolling. March presented murder as a way to remove evil from the world one body at a time. This ultimately backfires, as John takes his sensible and darker side to visit his partner Hahn in the morgue. As they look over Wren’s body, John confesses to the murders of the Ten Commandments Killer and hints that Hahn and Alex were both on his hit list. John walks away a free man and Hahn’s member becomes another addition to the trophy wall.
Related: Why are you watching AHS: Hotel?
This is perhaps the first time the breadcrumbs led to some form of satisfactory goldmine of information. Paying off the story is something that AHS rarely does, or does so in a way that makes the back of your eyelids a familiar landscape during the course of the season. It is not to say this was a masterpiece by any means. Hopefully the rest of the series stays on track so AHS becomes less of a chore in the large catalog of television shows to weed through each week.
Watch AHS: Hotel episode 9, “She Wants Revenge,” Wednesday, December 9 at 10:00 p.m. ET on FX.
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