Vivien has the twins, but everyone wants to claim a baby for themselves.
**CONTENT WARNING: Violence, death, child harm, rape**
Synopsis
In 1984, young Tate explores the house and the basement. He’s attacked by a creature named Thaddeus, but Nora protects him. Tate wishes Nora was his mom.
In the present, Tate tells Nora he can’t give her Vivien’s baby—he’s in love with Violet and he can’t take her brother away (no mention of the fact that he happens to be one of the fathers).
The gay couple sets up the nursery, apparently also planning to take the babies for themselves. Violet asks Constance to stop them, and Constance confronts Chad about it. He says he plans to raise them until they are at a cute age, then smother them so that they will be cute forever. Constance brings in Billie Dean to figure out how to banish the couple from the house. Billie Dean claims the house has a powerful evil force, which draws more trauma to it and stores it like a battery. She tells a spin on the Roanoke story where the colonists died and haunted the Native Americans, until a ritual involving burning the colonist’s personal items banished them. Violet and Tate steal items from Chad and Patrick, and Violet tries to perform the ritual but it fails. Chad mocks her and reveals that the man she is in love with murdered him and Patrick and raped her own mother.
Ben tries to take Violet to the hospital to pick up Vivien, but Violet disappears when the car leaves the driveway. When Ben picks Vivien up, the doctor suggests considering an emergency C-section, even though she’s only at six months, because one of the babies is growing too quickly and stealing nutrients from the other. Vivien insists she’s going to her family in Florida and will sort it out there. When they get home, Vivien intends to wait in the car while Ben gets Violet, but she goes into labor. Violet tells Ben he can’t let Vivien in the house, but admits that she can’t leave with them because she’s dead. Constance, summoned by Vivien’s pained screams, ushers her into the house after all. Ben tries to call an ambulance but the phones aren’t working, and the red-head twins smash up his car. All at once, ghosts start appearing, even to him, while Charles and the nursing students set to work delivering the babies. Everyone just has to roll with that. The first baby, Ben’s, is stillborn—Charles hands it off to Nora. The second survives, but Vivien suffers massive blood loss. Ben encourages her to cling to life, while Violet encourages her to let go and be with her. Vivien doesn’t think she has a choice and passes away. Constance takes the surviving baby to clean him, but Hayden comes to stake her claim.
Violet confronts Tate, telling him he murdered the teens from Halloween, and that she knows about his other bad deeds. She blames him for her mom dying, since it was the consequences of him raping Vivien. He’s upset, but she yells at him to go away until he disappears. Vivien’s ghost comforts her, and Violet apologizes for her dying and losing her baby. Vivien ominously says she didn’t lose her baby.
The Ghosts
Thaddeus was the name Nora’s baby, so I think the creature that attacks Tate at the beginning of this episode is the abomination created from the baby. I also think this was what attacked Leah way back at the beginning of the season. No other current ghosts are revealed, but Vivien has joined the lot. I like that the ghosts with medical experience came together for the delivery, but I really don’t trust Charles to deliver babies. Not to say it would have turned out much differently even if she had made it to the hospital, but he might not have been the best person for the job regardless.
The Family
Well, two-thirds of the original family are now ghosts and trapped in the house forever, and half of the brand new members are as well. Maybe Vivien’s last line was in regards to the stillborn baby, knowing they’ll also be stuck here forever, though they’ll never age. It’s unfortunate Vivien is now stuck in the house she hates, but I think she’ll be able to handle it a little better now that she’s part of the crew rather than their target. Besides, now she doesn’t have to worry about the stress of selling the house, and she’ll always get to be with her daughter and newborn.
Ben has managed to make it all the way to episode eleven before truly being confronted with the fact that the house is haunted. Other than occasional interactions with ghosts he had no idea were dead, he only had a couple of hints that something was amiss, unlike the women who had more personal experiences throughout. So he went from zero to 100 real fast. The editing in the scene where he’s coming to terms with this information was so fascinating. Inwardly he’s freaking out and screaming, but outwardly he puts on a brave face for Vivien’s sake.
The editing during the following birth scene was also really neat. They cross-cut the footage of the current birth with flashbacks of Violet’s birth to compare and contrast. When Violet was born, they were in a white room and they were happy (birthing pains aside). Now they are in a dim room, frightened, and Vivien’s pain seems unnatural, hinting that she’s in danger.
The Babies’ Potential Caregivers
Vivien is now dead, but that doesn’t mean she can’t raise her own babies, or at least care for the stillborn one. But she’ll have to contend with half a dozen others who seem to think they have the right. Constance views the living baby as her grandchild, and as the only living candidate, she technically could just take the baby away and no one but Ben could do anything about it. Hayden and Nora already made somewhat of a pact to steal the babies. Nora is claiming the stillborn at the moment, but Hayden is not going to let Constance leave with the living baby without a fight. And we have the gay couple who also want to raise the babies, although Patrick seems less inclined. I wonder where Chad is now that the babies are born, or if he’s given up on that plan since Patrick might be bailing on the idea.
Billie Dean
As some previous episodes have referenced various things, so does Billie Dean’s monologue. The obvious reference is the Roanoke story, a historical event that many people have theorized explanations for over time. Another possible reference during her speech is her explanation of the evil nature of the house. The way she describes it and the terminology she uses is very similar to the way the Marsten House is described in Salem’s Lot. Both even call their respective house a battery that attracts and stores up evil.
Conclusion
This is by far my favorite episode of the season thus far. The birth scene is really good, and the scene where Chad and Constance traded barbs is the best scene of the show—there are both so deliciously sassy about it. Also, there’s this palpable shift the moment that Ben realizes ghosts are real and he’s stuck with them delivering his wife’s babies. I want to know what happened with Tate when he disappeared due to Violet’s anger. Is he truly gone, or is he just hiding from her? I also want to know who will end up with the babies, and whether Ben will survive the finale or join the rest of his family. I really stopped too early last time I watched this season, because it’s gotten much better.
Score: 9/10
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