American Horror Stories – Game Over

By: Kelly Kearney

In the final installment of the horror anthology, we head back to the Murder House to wrap up the Scarlet and Ruby arc from “Rubber Woman: Part One and Two. It’s business as usual at the haunted mansion where visitors check in but never check out; only Scarlet has the ability to drop in for a visit and then return to her glamourous life as an assassin. Things take a frightening turn from the murderously mundane when the ghostly home is infiltrated by a video game developer with an American Horror Story fanboy for son. Mom is hoping that her creation of a “Murder House” themed game can bring her and her son closer together, but when reality morphs into simulations the audience is left questioning what is real and what is fantasy. Strap in, gamers and horror fans, this one will leave you guessing right up until its closing credits.

The Worst Airbnb Ever!

In the two-part premiere, new homeowners Michael (Matt Bomer) and Troy (Gavin Creel) dreamed of turning their new haunted mansion into a 5-star horror themed vacation resort. And when Game Over opens, it seems the now ghosts got their wish. When AHS fans and couple Connie (Noah Cyrus) and Dylan (Adam Hagenbuch) rent the home for a spooktacular night of mediocre sex and scares, they get their money’s worth when the inhabitants of the house turn their fun night in “the devil’s a**hole” into a bloody end to their fandom dreams. After a flurry of Easter eggs that include mentions of Hotel Cotez, Coven’s LaLaurie Mansion and the annoying couple’s costumes which pay homage to Asylum’s Bloody Face and Sister Jude, the two guests head inside to read the house rules labeled “Violetaters,” named after doomed couple Violet and Tate, things quickly go from themed horror to a fight for their lives. Connie, who caught a glimpse of the Rubber man, questions if someone is lurking in the house after noticing the lit candles in the bedroom. When she hears the voice of Adelaide Langdon (Jamie Brewer) yelling that the two will die in the house at the exact moment the infamous red ball rolls itself into the room, Dylan and Connie are ready to give this themed experience high marks for including all the spine-chilling moments from their favorite show.

As they investigate noises coming from the basement, the couple stumbles upon a dead Nurse Gladys (Kelly Róisin) (a character we met in the original show’s first season) and assume she is just part of the experience. Gladys isn’t the only one they find in the bowels of the mansion. Three girls locked behind a cage who were tag teamed victims of the Rubber Man and the Piggy man beg Connie and Dylan to let them free. The two debate on whether or not they are supposed to free who they assume are actors and that’s when all our deadly killers and house inhabitants come out to play. Even Ben Harmon (Dylan McDermott), the first in a long line of troubled homeowners, drops in for a visit. Ben, who proceeds to navigate us through a story of inconsistencies, watches on as Adelaide, Twisty and Bloody face make Connie and Dylan’s fandom dreams come true by trapping them for eternity inside their favorite four walls. The inconsistencies in the story, which include mixed up timelines and character confusions, are answered when we realize this entire encounter comes from the mind of a video game developer Michelle (Mercedes Mason).

I Did It All For You

When we meet Michelle and her AHS obsessed teenage son, Rory (Nicolas Bechtel), the two are discussing the finer points of the horror series and how it’s portrayed in the game. Rory knows this show and his attention to detail means he isn’t impressed with his mom’s amateur mistakes. If she was hoping to appeal to the fans, she will not do it until she watches the series’ and marinates her creative brain in the stories. Considering the fact she created this game for the sole purpose to get closer to her son, Rory doesn’t understand why she didn’t just ask him to watch it with her. Her effort should have been spent with him and not trying to impress him because, in the end, she failed at both.  Rory storms off to his father, Steven’s (John Brotherton), house to get some space from his mother who is left ringing her hands trying to figure out where she went wrong. She concludes that her son was right; to get to know the fan, you have to get to know the very thing that made them one. So, with nothing but time on her hands now that Rory moved out, Michelle binge watches the show and then puts in an offer to buy the Murder House! Considering its history and the body count it racked up over the years, the house is on the market for practically nothing considering the hot housing market of Los Angeles. $100,000 and it is a done deal. Michelle goes to her ex’s house to tell Rory the news, but when she is faced with her son she decides to keep her new home a secret. Instead, she tells the boy she took what he said to heart and is heading to a horror convention to talk to the show’s writers. Still Rory, who might be the fairest weathered fanboy I have ever come across, is not impressed with her sudden interest in his favorite show and his father shares his sentiment. Michelle’s ex accuses her of literally willing to die to prove a point and, considering the home she is about to live in, the man might have a point. The minute Michelle approaches her new home she is met by the exiting ghosts who are heading out for a night of Halloween escapades. Inside a crying Ben Harmon explains the traumas of being stuck in the house claiming it is hell on earth. After all, the house is a portal to hell and the birthplace of Satan, so I am not sure what Ben was expecting, but he would definitely get along with Michelle’s dissatisfied son. After her conversation with Ben we cut to the upstairs bathroom where we find Ruby (Kaia Gerber) and Scarlet (Sierra McCormick) having their yearly reunion in the bathtub. The two are still together, making it a point to spend the ghoulish holiday celebrating their love. Ruby still wants Scarlett to stay home forever and Scarlet, who really enjoys her thrill-kill life, continues to leave her love with a promise for “one day.” For now, their yearly hook ups will have to do but that doesn’t mean they still can’t have a little fun. Fun like Scarlet dressing up in the Rubber man suit and taking her bloody ya-yas out on Michelle while Ruby lets the game developer in on a little secret: Not all of them are stuck in the house! Some don’t want to leave because they love to kill! Michelle, who coincidentally just got finished telling Ben she thinks the ghosts aren’t trapped in the house but in their own issues from when they were alive, takes a dagger to the stomach and her last breath inside the Murder House. The video game mom bought the ticket and Scarlet gave her one hellish ride, but at least now she has a full year to break free from whatever issues haunted her when she was alive.

Halloweens

As the night falls on another Halloween in Los Angeles Michelle, along with the rest of the home’s inhabitants, leave the Murder House for their yearly outings. Heading straight to Rory, Michelle is perplexed when her irate son accuses her of lying to him about buying the doomed home which ended up killing her, and any hope for the two of them to reconcile. He then mentions the only way for her to escape is through fire. If he sets the house on fire, the house and its evil will crumble to ash and take its occupants with it. As mad as he is at his Mom, he isn’t ready to say goodbye to her forever. Of course, by the time the sun comes up, Rory changed his mind and he covers the house ground with gasoline as the ghosts inside look on in a mix of cheers and pain. All are excited for their end but Ruby who is not ready to move on to the other side. As Rory lights the match, the volatile teen ghost runs out of the house attempting to stab him but gets intercepted by Ben Harmon who is not going another day crying over his masturbatory disappointments. As Ben holds Ruby back, Rory drops the match and the whole house goes up in flames as Scarlet watches on from the sidewalk. In Ruby’s last moments she calls out to her love, pleading with Scarlet to die wither her. The red head turns towards the house and then walks away; back into the world of the living without Ruby beside her. The house engulfs in flames as we hear Tate Langdon’s whistling tune, acting like some kind of chipper funeral dirge.

Cut to three years later and a recently retired Scarlet meets with Tim (Tom Lenk), the realtor, about purchasing a condo built on the hallowed lands of her family’s haunted home. Tim tells her there have not been any reports of hauntings or murders in the new development. It seems the fire purified the land just like Rory thought it would. With the deed signed on the one-million-dollar condo, it is immediately clear Scarlet bought the house in hopes of reuniting with Ruby. She unpacks her belongings and draws a bath, calling out for her love like a prayer that goes unanswered. Not until later that night when she is lying in bed does Ruby finally comes to her. She tells Scarlet that the other ghosts are dead because they chose to be, but she could not leave her girlfriend behind. She just knew one day Scarlet would come back to her, and now that she has, it is proof of how “true love never dies.” A kiss to seal the deal followed by a graphic of bloody fireworks as the camera pulls back to Rory, congratulating his mom on finally making a game AHS fan should love. That’s right, it was all a game! Well, at least the goings on in the house. None of that was real, and neither was Michelle dying and the subsequent fire set by her son. All of that was a simulation, or at least it was right up until that familiar red ball rolls into Michelle’s living room, making us question where the line between reality and gaming truly lies in the episode. In all of this anthology’s twists and meta turns, “Game Over” managed to reimagine the murder in a house this fandom would die for, even if it was a theme that was a bit overplayed and over cooked.