So many juicy bits (heh heh) were revealed on this episode, and not all of them telegraphed. As always, SPOILERS!

SPOILER ALERT!

So, this episode was all about Detective Lowe, and in fact was basically one long flashback/memory dump by the character. Kind of the AHS equivalent of filling in potholes: it needs to be done, it’s not that exciting, but it’ll make for a better drive later on.

Let’s fill in some potholes!

So, Wren is dead, suicided by a bus, and Lowe has a flashback to seeing Wren in her sleep coffin. At Wren’s autopsy, Lowe explains (and explains and explains) to his old partner (who is increasingly skeptical) all the weird things he has experienced

FLASHBACK: settle in, make some popcorn, and get comfy. We’re going to be here for a while.

At the Cortez, Lowe demands answers from a still-recovering-from-Duffy’s-death Liz, and Liz is not in the mood for any crap tonight. Sally appears and offers answers, but “they might not be the ones you want.”

They go up to Room 64 and Sally tells him to look behind the armoire. He moves the heavy thing out of his way, and finds a door. And behind that door are a lot of trophies.

Lowe is not happy about what Sally is implying by showing him all this. He can’t be the Ten Commandments Killer…can he?

FLASHBACK WITHIN A FLASHBACK: Lowe recalls the first time at the Cortez, which was actually five years ago, not recently like we had assumed.

A sign outside the hotel advertises “The Best Martini In Town,” and alcoholic Lowe cannot resist one last nightcap. Inside the bar, Liz serves it up and Donovan (the Countess’s old flame) cruises him up and down.

Donovan entices Lowe to go upstairs.

The Countess and James March are having their tense monthly dinner together, and Donovan interrupts them, dragging Lowe behind him. March recognizes something dark and sinister inside of Lowe and wants to exploit it, to draw the evil out of him and let it flourish. March pours Lowe some absinthe and sends the Countess away.

She’s not happy at being dismissed, but March promises Lowe’s pretty son to her if she helps him.

Lowe goes home and his wife berates him for being a terrible husband, for being gone all night and drinking too much. He offers a trip to the beach to make amends. A bad idea.

After his son disappears, Lowe spends even more time away from home, and at the hotel. March is very persuasive, trying to get Lowe to go dark. There follows many pages of dialogue where Lowe tries to fight against his most secret desires and March extols the virtue of murder while plying him with booze.

March shows off his trophy room, which includes the head of his accountant. Lowe is offended and threatens to call the police on March. March tries a different tactic, and appeals to Lowe’s sense of righteousness and justice by showing him (maybe fabricated?) evidence of a guest’s pedophilia. And that was the trigger.

Lowe gets into the guy’s room under the pretense of buying some Hollywood memorabilia. He confronts the creep (who seems genuinely confused) with the evidence, and Lowe bashes the guy in the head with an Oscar.

Depressed and angry and feeling hopeless, Lowe tries to kill himself by hanging. Sally just watches, letting him go, but March comes in and cuts him down, saving him. March angrily reminds Sally about their arrangement, that he will keep the demon tormenting her at bay if she helps him.

Lowe doesn’t like that he’s been saved from suicide. He doesn’t want to live with the knowledge of what he’s done. “I lost control,” he says. March tries to make him feel better: “You let go.”

“That’s very different,” Lowe admits.

“Finish my work, John,” March says. And John does.

MURDER MONTAGE: We watch as Lowe continues what March started (helped out by Sally and Wren), becoming the Ten Commandments Killer and collecting trophies along the way. But with each murder (back at Wren’s autopsy), Lowe’s partner remains skeptical, explaining away Lowe’s confession with evidence of how it’s not possible that he’s actually done these things, trying to prove him wrong.

And then Lowe turns on his partner, accusing him of getting a little too “chummy” with his wife while Lowe was gone, and Lowe kills him.

And takes his peen. Another trophy to add to his almost complete collection.

Back at the hotel, Iris greets Lowe, but acts as if she’s never seen him before. Lowe reassures her he knows who he really is now. She visibly relaxes: “Oh thank God,” she sighs. She was getting tired of not knowing “which” John Lowe was showing up. Now they don’t have to pretend anymore.

John Lowe walks back up to Room 64, goes behind the armoire, and places his newest gruesome trophy on display.

Many people (including me) have said this “surprise twist” wasn’t much of a surprise, and was pretty well telegraphed throughout the season. Still, this wasn’t a bad episode, just a whole lot of reshuffling of the cards before the show lays out its final hand.

I think AHS has always had a slight problem with its finales. They work up a great head of steam, building and building to a spectacular climax, and then it all kind of fizzles and sputters by that last episode. I’m hoping this one is different, but…well, let’s all just hope together, eh?

See you next week!