In the ‘American Horror Story: Cult’ recap, two huge plot twists are unveiled as Kai continues to spread his special brand of terror across town…
By Damon Martin — Editor/Lead Writer
It turns out my suspicions were accurate.
Following the past two episodes of ‘American Horror Story: Cult’ there were little bread crumbs left to lead a trail to two more members of Kai’s cult but the revelation was still a nice little twist.
Last week revealed that Ivy actually knew Winter long before she showed up looking for a nanny job not to mention the kidnapping they pulled off together to try and stop a Trump voter from making it to the polls. From that moment it was fairly clear that Ivy had more to her story than anything we had seen thus far and it was revealed in the latest episode that she’s been part of Kai’s followers since the beginning.
The other twist was the revelation that Dr. Rudy Vincent is actually Kai and Winter’s older brother — and he ultimately may be the one calling the shots behind all of this.
It turns out, Rudy was just starting out his psychiatry business with his parents were killed in a murder-suicide and he’s the one who plotted to cover it up so his family wouldn’t be marred by the news not to mention the 40-percent taxes they’d pay out of the estate left to them. So it’s Rudy who convinces Kai to keep their deaths hidden and several months later it’s Winter who has to live with the fact that her parents have been dead while she’s away at college.
Considering Rudy’s business is getting inside people’s heads, it’s tough to imagine the seeds of this entire cult following didn’t start with him using his younger brother Kai as a proxy to spread his message without being personally involved. The wizard behind the curtain if you will.
There was plenty more to unpack this week — including three brutal murders — so with that said let’s recap the latest episode of ‘American Horror Story: Cult’ titled ‘Holes’…
Not Scared Enough
You’d think following the death of a high profile news reporter during the taping of one of her segments in broad daylight that Kai’s agenda to spread fear across his neighborhood would have worked wonders, but it turns out people aren’t nearly scared enough.
Because the network wouldn’t allow any video to be shown of the murder, not to mention the only reporting thus far by Beverly Hope has been rehashing the grisly details rather than seeing what’s been done, people aren’t reacting with the same kind of hair-trigger reactions he was hoping to see. In addition to that plight, Kai is also dealing with his city council campaign running into a wall because no one really seems to give a shit about voting on this minor position thus his chances of being elected are still slim to none.
Beverly suggests that to get people truly terrified of what’s been happening in town, they need to see the culprits to put a face to their fears. That inspires Kai for his next murder — which they will film themselves before releasing it to the press.
During his speech, a late arrival shows up to the meeting — Ivy Mayfair-Richards, who has been part of Kai’s cult since before the election. It seems Ivy was so fed up with the way the world was turning that she’d rather burn it all down and start over again before seeing her son grow up in the place she called home currently. Add to that, Ivy was irate with Ally after she wasted her vote on Jill Stein that she’s turned against her wife in an attempt to drive her absolutely mad.
Ultimately the group decides on their next target — Bob, the sexually aggressive anchor at the local news station who was banging the hot young reporter while holding back Beverly Hope at the same time. Bob is the one who decided not to air any footage from the previous murder and then decided to fire Beverly because she was festering rumors about the killing cult rather than presenting actual facts on air.
Following Kai’s instructions to wear the clown costumes while chanting ‘Ave Satanas’ — hail Satan in Latin because Latin sounds scarier — they will record Bob’s murder to truly send the town into a panic.
After beating him down with a metal pipe, the clown cult is just about ready to murder Bob when he wonders what will happen to his gimp. It turns out Bob had sexual curiosities that went far beyond tweaking Emma Roberts’ nipples because in his upstairs attic he had a gimp dangling from dozens of piercing hooks, bound, gagged and wearing a mask while he was doing god knows what to him before the murder cult showed up.
R.J. — Beverly’s cameraman who has been mostly a backseat player all season long — suggests that they let him go. The gimp was never part of the plan, but Kai reminds him that this isn’t a democracy before stabbing him in the heart. The gimp dies a gruesome death as he bleeds out while his body collapses, flesh tearing from his body as the hooks all rip free as he falls to the ground. The horror of the scene sends Ivy running for the bathroom to puke, while Bob is brought upstairs for his final sacrifice.
Just before striking the killing blow, Beverly reveals herself to him and he gets one last shocked look on his face before a hatchet comes screaming down and splits his head in half.
Shortly thereafter, Beverly is the first reporter on the scene with news that Bob has been murdered and she received footage from the serial killers responsible for his death. Now the cult has been seen as well as heard and the panic should spread through the community in rapid-fire fashion.
Just Because You’re Paranoid Doesn’t Mean They Aren’t After You
Ally’s life is falling apart before her very eyes and there’s not much she can do to stop it.
At a session with Dr. Vincent, Ally pours her heart out about Ivy’s exit from their marriage following her infidelity with Winter and the continued struggles she’s having with nightmares about holes in her own body. Remember, holes are another of Ally’s phobias that have gotten worse this season.
Ally remarks how Ivy’s exit from the marriage almost seemed orchestrated by the way she cancelled all their credit cards and got the court to sign off on her custody over Ozzy while she’s left with only supervised visits, which are awkward and unfulfilling. Of course little does Ally know right now that Ivy absolutely set this entire situation in motion and was ready to strike the moment their marriage ended.
At home, Ally is still struggling with the loneliness and silence but she’s finally distracted when she notices her neighbor Harrison moving a bag around the garage that looks suspiciously like a body. She then spies in the house and sees Harrison kissing Detective Jack Samuels, who is not only part of Kai’s cult but apparently the only cop capable of responding to any crimes in this neighborhood.
With Harrison distracted, Ally decides to do some investigating in the backyard when she discovers Meadow lying in an open grave begging for help. Meadow went missing two episodes back but it doesn’t appear she’s dead but rather being held captive before possibly being buried alive. She begs for help but Ally nearly crumbles at the sight of the huge hole before she retreats back into her own house.
Ally locks all of the doors and calls the police but they are busy. She then calls Ivy, who sounds panicked when she hears the fear in her wife’s voice but we’re not quite sure how she’s playing this scenario. A moment later, a pounding is heard on the outside gate as Meadow reveals herself at the window begging for help again.
She then screams to Ally that this is all the work of a cult and everybody’s in on it — the cops, her babysitter and even her wife.
A moment later, a bag is placed over Meadow’s head as she’s dragged away and Ally is left in a puddle of her own tears wondering what exactly she’s just heard. That’s when she realizes that Ivy is still on the phone shouting and asking what’s wrong. Rather than answer, Ally ends the call because perhaps some of what Meadow said is starting to add up.
The Weakest Link
Following Bob’s murder, Kai is out to dinner with Beverly, who not only seems like his right hand but perhaps the person most likely to take over the cult from him one day — willingly or not. Beverly remarks how the group is starting to splinter, especially during the Bob murder when everyone began freaking out after discovering the gimp in the attic.
She suggests that it’s time to eliminate the weak link in the group to bring everybody back together again. While it seems that perhaps Ivy is that person because she went running out of the room during the murder, Beverly notes that it’s natural considering that was her first time.
Instead, Beverly points the finger at her cameraman R.J., who has been questioning the murders since the first day they started. He argued against suffocating that married couple alive in those coffins from a few episodes back and he also had a problem with killing the gimp. By eliminating R.J., the group will not only stop questioning the actions of their leader, but they will be unified once again.
Kai gathers everybody for a meeting when he reveals R.J. tied up to a chair, ready for his execution.
This time it’s Ivy who voices an argument against killing him and that’s why Kai says she must be first this time in the murder parade to take out R.J. Kai’s plan is to shoot him with a nail gun over and over again until he’s dead — the record is 13 but if Ivy doesn’t want him to suffer, perhaps she should choose a spot where he will die instantly rather than being punctured over and over again.
With tears in her eyes, Ivy ultimately comes through by placing the first nail in R.J.’s head before everybody else in the group takes their turn. Finally, Kai sees the commitment from his cult and he finishes R.J. off with one final nail to the back of the head.
The weakest link has been eliminated and the group is strong once again.
Brothers and Sisters
In a pinky-truth moment between Kai and Beverly, she asks him to tell him the real story behind his parents. She’s heard him tell different versions of what happened to them but Kai has never come clean with what actually happened.
Kai finally reveals that his father was an attorney and a really good guy until he was involved in a motorcycle accident that left him paralyzed. From that moment on, he tortured his family as a giant dickhead, berating his children and accusing his wife of infidelity on a daily basis.
Finally one night, Kai’s mother had enough and she shot him dead before turning the gun on herself. Horrified by what he witnessed, Kai called for help from the only person he knew to turn to — his brother Rudy aka Dr. Vincent.
Rudy shows up and instructs his brother to put his parents in their bedroom, cover them in lye so the bodies will decompose without smelling and that will be their final resting place. Otherwise, Rudy’s new practice might be ruined before it starts and the family will lose a ton of money from the estate tax that will hit them from the settlement his father received as well as the insurance from their mother.
Kai goes along with the plan and then has to break the news to Winter when she returns home from college.
These days, Kai still visits his parents on a regular basis having conversations with his dead mother while telling his father how much he still hates him.
At the end of the pinky-truth session, Kai breaks down in tears as Beverly stares back at him with a cold look in her eyes. It’s clear Beverly has ambitions to lead this cult and perhaps now she sees the weak link that Kai’s so carefully hidden from everybody else. Of course, Beverly might be underestimating that perhaps the real puppet master pulling the strings is Kai’s older brother Rudy, who could be lurking somewhere in the shadows just waiting to manipulate everyone to his own will.
Something tells me, this cult will be down a few more members before the season is over.
‘American Horror Story: Cult’ returns with a brand new episode next Tuesday night at 10 p.m. ET on FX.
