American Horror Stories – Facelift

By: Kelly Kearney

Hollywood has always been a trendsetter for unrealistic beauty and with the rise of social media documenting our daily lives, the fight to reclaim our youth and keep up with photo-filter culture is hotter and more profitable than ever. In “Facelift,” Virginia (played by one of Ryan Murphy’s favorite leading ladies Judth Light), let’s vanity decide her fate when her attempts to recapture her youthful look go drastically wrong. 

UNCOMFORTABLE IN HER SKIN

Wellness and beauty culture has run amok in Virginia’s (Judith Light) home as the Beverly Hills mother of a thirty-something goes through her morning ablutions of urinating in a glass and dabbing it on her face. Her daughter Fay (Britt Lower) is rightfully grossed out when her pee-smelling mother leans in for a good morning kiss. After the two compare notes on which position in society is worse (crow’s feet in your golden years or millennials competing with twentysomethings in law school) the two calls a truce because there’s enough generational trauma to go around. It might not be a competition, but Virginia must see it that way because even her diet of green sludgy breakfast shakes is geared toward making her look young and vibrant. While she finds Fay’s problems to be trivial in comparison to her own, her daughter thinks her mother’s obsession with anti-aging trends is silly and getting out of hand. The two jokingly dig at each other until Virginia spots her soon-to-be-divorced neighbor Bernie (Todd Waring) mowing the lawn. She’s always had a crush on him and even her late husband Bill made fun of her for it. When Fay sees Virginia making googly eyes at him, she pushes her to go talk to the boomer-hottie but Virginia insists the meeting should happen naturally. Every Friday he’s at the local wine shop so maybe she should naturally run into him there? After she washes the urine off of her face and gets out of her robe, of course. She smiles knowing Fay has her back; she’s always rooting for her mother’s happiness. The trouble is that Virginia isn’t happy – at least not with how she looks. 

After a truly horrifying opener of face peeling alterations, trust me, you will cancel your next facial after that nightmare. It’s Friday and Virginia is hanging around the wine shop waiting for her big moment with Bernie. When the owner (Gabe Fonseca) points out she’s been there a while, we immediately see how uncomfortable she is in her skin. She tugs on the collar of her blouse as if she’s covering her neck in shame – completely missing the fact she looks lovely and the shopkeep’s smile says he thinks so, too. He offers to help her find what she’s looking for but he doesn’t sell what has her eye. Enter Bernie, her preferred vintage, who double kisses her hello as the two engage in small talk. He shows sympathy for the loss of her husband and nonchalantly fills her in on the break he’s taking in his marriage. She does a decent job of hiding her joy over that news but fails to keep her composure when Bernie’s new girlfriend Cassie (Cornelia Guest) walks in. Cassie is not only Virginia’s old dorm room buddy from college but she looks twenty years her junior. How is that possible? Virginia quietly stutters through her shock and when Bernie walks away she asks Cassie what’s her secret. Cooly, the tightly pulled together Cassie says she will share it only if Virginia stays away from Bernie. Message received loud and uncomfortably clear. She agrees to steer clear of her neighbor and Cassie hands her the number of the person she should get in contact with. 

BEAUTY STARTS ON THE INSIDE

When we next see Virginia she’s sitting in Cassie’s plastic surgeon’s office talking about how hideous she feels, hoping the doctor can help. Dr. Perle (Rebecca Dayan) brushes her negativity off and coldly says she isn’t in the business of making hideous people beautiful. It’s that tired old (pun intended) adage about beauty starting on the inside and Virginia is offended the doctor would even try such a sales tactic. She accuses Perle of refusing to help simply to lure her into wanting even more procedures, but the doctor assures her this isn’t a ploy. She declines to take Virginia on as a patient, who in turn has a breakdown and practically begs the doctor for her help. “I just want to be able to look in the mirror and be happy with what I see,” she says and that seems to change Doctor Perle’s mind. Virginia is a lonely woman. She has a dead husband, no friends and not even a housekeeper, but this could boost her confidence and collagen enough to restore more than her face. This could inject happiness back into her dull life, and who wouldn’t want that glow-up in their retirement years? The doctor immediately realizes Virginia isn’t your typical Beverly Hills housewife and she’s right, she’s not. Originally from Kansas, she came to California for college and got lucky enough to marry old money. Financial security aside, her wealthy lifestyle kept her from ever finding her true self, but now that her husband is gone, maybe it’s time…before it’s too late. Her tears intrigue the doctor who tells her it isn’t too late. She seems to sympathize with Virginia’s pain and appreciates her honesty. She agrees to help but sets Virginia straight– she isn’t a doctor, a healer, or a face sculptor, “I worship the human form.”  If she wants Perle’s help she’s going to need to believe she’s worthy of that worship or the procedure will never work. Virginia admits she isn’t sure she loves herself the way she is now, but she wants to be a person she could love one day, and that’s good enough for Doctor Perle. 

After an assessment followed by a bill highlighting the exorbitant costs of the treatments, Virginia starts to worry about the price. She’s assured this is a top-secret world-class treatment and you can’t put a price tag on the happiness she will feel afterward. There is just one problem – her business manager says she can’t afford it; not if she wants to keep her home and Bentley. Her husband left her the mansion but he also left her with a sizable chunk of debt and beauty treatments just don’t factor into her budget. After seeing the late-night romps of Bernie and Cassie from across the street she decides to ignore the naysayers and dive right into the “worship.” She has to move some money around to make it possible, which is why she is resistant when Perle mentions treatments for her hands she says are crying out for help. The hands, she says, are on the house and letting her help would be a favor to her. She doesn’t like unfinished work. Virginia agrees to let her do her magic, which seems to have something to do with chanting in a prayer circle while she goes under anesthesia. Perle did say her techniques were secret, but this seems more like a cult than a medical practice. 

That night Fay comes home to find her mother deliriously crying out in pain and wrapped in bandages like a mummy. She needs her painkillers and says she will be in this terrible condition for about a week. She can’t listen to Fay’s outrage over what she’s elected to go through just to look younger because it’s her body, her choice. It’s not though, not since the business manager called Fay to fill her in on the debt. It was news to both of them but Virginia assures her they will not lose the house or the ability to pay for her law school tuition and if they did her stepdaughter can take out a loan like the rest of America. OUCH! That truth hurt. She never once referred to Fay as anything but her daughter, even if their relationship was through marriage. Virginia apologizes but Fay is too angry to hear it and leaves her with her painkillers and begging her to stay. As the pain increases we see Virginia desperately trying to grip her bottle of pills but the thick bandages on her hands knock them to the floor with her falling after them. That’s when everything changes and she starts hearing the familiar pre-surgical chants as a red beast crawls towards her and then morphs into Fay. She’s back and asks if her mother needs help. What psychedelic hellscape is lurking in that pill bottle?

THE REVEAL

The next morning Fay is back with a new perspective on Virginia’s surgery and the hurtful things she said. She tells her about a time when she was in high school and shaved her head, much to her bio-parents dismay, and was punished until the hair grew back. Being a dramatic teenager, she overreacted, trashing her room and breaking an heirloom necklace of her mother’s. The memory made her realize that sometimes things that seem important to you aren’t always understood by everyone else, but that doesn’t make them any less important – just misunderstood. She may not understand why Virginia did this but she still loves her and wants to make sure she is going to be okay. Her bandages look extensive and she prods Virginia to check in with her doctor to make sure she’s healing according to plan. Perle says it’s fine but what’s worrying her most is Fay’s negativity. She tells Virginia that she cannot properly heal if her daughter is making her worry and suggests Virginia go to a like-minded retreat at her house on the coast. She would be surrounded by supportive people who understand what she’s going through. Perle will be there too and she can take Virginia’s bandages off during her stay. Intrigued by another no-cost offer, Virginia packs up for the secret location much to Fay’s worried protests. After some research on this doctor, the soon-to-be law student discovered that Perle doesn’t have a medical degree…just a vague certificate from a country of which she’s never heard. She also found a slew of lawsuits filed by her previous patients who received similar treatments but later dropped the cases. Virginia accuses Fay of making her feel worse than she already does and says she’s escaping her negativity to parts unknown. 

When she arrives at the Southern California compound she’s greeted by dozens or more bandage-free onlookers who she assumes are judging her bizarre appearance, but Perle assures her all of the guests will be judgment-free because they’ve been where she is. She also learns everyone will be in attendance for the big reveal: Perle is removing Virginia’s bandages in front of everyone! “I want to see you take your place among us,” she says as if Virginia doesn’t have a family who cares so much she snuck onto the property to make sure she was safe. Fay was so worried about this quack doctor that she hid in her mother’s car just to check the place out. However, before she can make contact with her stepmother, one of Perle’s guards chloroforms her and drags her away.  

Later that night, Perle gathers her “family” and Virginia in the courtyard and drags a screaming Fay out. She admitted to sneaking onto the property because she was worried and from the looks of things, she was right to be. Her excuses do not matter; Fay broke their sacred rules and must be punished. Virginia doesn’t even defend her and instead pulls the stepmother’s card and takes Perle’s side! “You shouldn’t have come here,” she says, and does nothing but act slightly concerned when the guards drag her away. 

Next up: isthe big unbandaging! In front of Perle’s “family” they cut Virginia free to reveal a pig snout and hooved hands, like something out of The Twilight Zone! Virginia freaks out just as the crowd starts chanting prayers to their goddess of beauty, Etain. Virginia was modified to be the swine for this beauty cult’s sacrifice, but this isn’t just any virgin into the fiery pit sort of death…they’re going to give Virginia a fighting chance. The house is two miles from the beach and tucked behind a dense patch of woods. If she can make it to the water before Perle and the others hunt her down, she can live. Perle says, “They’re the beautiful ones and this is how we stay beautiful.”

Dressed in white like a sacrificial lamb, Virginia runs through the dark woods and finds a sewage pipe that exits the beach. Almost free she runs right into Bernie holding a spear and calling out to the others. She’s surrounded, as the group takes turns stabbing her to death. Devastated by what she witnessed Fay is even more shocked when she finds out this whole thing was in honor of her biological mother! She was a Beautiful One, too and that means Fay got more than a necklace passed down to her. Virginia’s death was a gift to keep them all eternally young – her included. That’s when Fay thinks back to the story she told about her teenage haircut meltdown. Her mother’s necklace was a butterfly, the symbol of Etain, and when we next see Fay she’s had an Etain makeover, including a butterfly tattoo added to her wrist. A fellow butterfly-tatted student (Harrison Cone) approaches her on campus and as the two walk away we know Fay embraced her natural born vanity, but unfortunately for Virginia it easily filtered out the unpleasant pig-woman she once called “mother.”