Anne Frank’s story is concluded and we learn the true identity of Bloody Face.
**CONTENT WARNING: Descriptions of violence and body horror, disturbing photos**
Synopsis
Anne is disarmed by a security guard. The staff searches Dr. Arden’s lab, but they find nothing out of the ordinary because Sister Mary Eunice was the first on the scene and got Shelley out of there and into the woods (though she is later found by a school yard, possibly having crawled there all on her own).
Sister Jude visits a man who might be able to help her find out if Dr. Arden really is secretly a Nazi. She speaks with Anne about what happened with Dr. Arden, but a man comes to take Anne home, claiming she is actually his wife Charlotte. He explains that she has an obsession with the story of Anne Frank, which worsened during her pregnancy. She gave herself the tattoo. She ignores their baby, but he thinks if she can come home and spend time with them, she’ll have clarity on who she really is. Sister Jude releases Charlotte into his care.
Sister Jude leaves a message for the investigator to drop the search into Dr. Arden. Sister Jude tries to make amends with Dr. Arden, but he threatens to press charges against her since she released the patient who shot him with just a slap on the wrist. Before long, Charlotte’s husband brings her back because she tried to smother the baby. Dr. Arden convinces him to agree to a lobotomy, which oddly actually seems to work. She becomes the model housewife and throws out her WWII newspapers, although one of the articles has a picture of a group of Nazis that includes Dr. Arden.
Sister Jude decided not to have Kit sterilized since he has repented, but Grace is still scheduled for one the next day. In the meantime, however, Grace is abducted out of her solitary room by aliens and sees a very pregnant, very much alive Alma.
Dr. Thredson uses a technique on Kit where he records Kit saying how he thinks the murders went down so that he can play it back for him and Kit can hear himself explaining it. This is supposed to help him come to terms with everything. This is Dr. Thredson’s last day on the case, so his last day at Briarcliff, and he manages to sneak Lana out when he leaves. When Sister Jude finds out Lana has escaped, she thinks everything is going to be over for her when the story breaks, so she dresses in civilian clothes and goes to a bar where she drinks and goes home with a random guy.
Dr. Thredson brings Lana to his home to hide her until they can talk to the police in the morning. She notices a lamp in his house that weirdly looks like it has nipples on it. She excuses herself to the bathroom, but the only unlocked door she can find is some sort of workshop. Dr. Thredson says he makes furniture, lamps mostly. Lana fearfully asks what he uses for material and he says skin, then triggers a trap door to fall out from under her. Lana comes to, chained up in the basement near Wendy, dead and frozen. Dr. Thredson taunts Lana before pulling on his mask, sewn together from human flesh.
Kit spots Grace in the common room, weak and bleeding. He assumes they botched the sterilization and calls for a doctor, but the detectives from the previous episode arrest him since Dr. Thredson turned in his taped confession. Grace calls out that Alma is alive and the aliens are real, but she’s too weak to say it loudly enough.
The Staff
I don’t remember much from when I watched this season several years ago. But one thing I did remember was Bloody Face’s true identity. It’s been such an interesting watch with that knowledge, because in his first appearance, he actually seems to be the only voice of reason among the staff (though he is only a temporary staff member). However, I was able to see hints of him being less than honest, as mentioned in the previous episode. I can’t believe how easily he tricks Kit into recording a confession! But then, he always presents himself as such a trustworthy person to these poor abused people. It’s the perfect disguise. I’m still not sure if he knew who Wendy was when he murdered her. He hadn’t even met Lana at the time. But he did purposefully hold off on skinning Wendy until he captured Lana. Maybe they’ll delve more into it in the next episode.
Dr. Arden is indeed a Nazi, but no one’s looking anymore. Sister Jude seems to have given up on her future here.
The Patients
Grace has now been abducted by aliens, and they cut open her belly. Maybe they impregnated her too, like with Alma. Did they really have to put her back in the asylum though? Couldn’t they have at least dropped her off somewhere better? But seriously, why drop her off, but keep Alma this whole time?
Now they really think Kit is Bloody Face! He seems to have heard what Grace said as he was taken away, so hopefully he knows Alma is alive.
Filmmaking
There is something special about the filmmaking in this episode. It definitely has a different vibe than the others so far. I looked up the director, Alfonso Gomez-Rejon, and this was the first episode of this season he directed, but he also directed the Home Invasion and Birth episodes of season one, the two best shot episodes (Birth especially). In this episode, Charlotte’s flashbacks were shot as if they were clips from shows of that time period.
When Kit and Grace discuss their impending sterilizations, there is a wall between them, but as each puts their hand on the wall, to them they are caressing the other’s face or arm. When Dr. Arden visits Charlotte upon her return to the asylum, his shadow looms menacingly. When Charlotte is lobotomized, the music cue fits surprisingly well. Time and again, the method episode was shot in stands out in an impressive way. I look forward to more episodes by this director. It looks like he does episodes 11 and 13 of this season as well, as well as half of the next season.
Conclusion
The Anne Frank storyline was a little odd, but the rest of the episode was really good. I loved the filmmaking, and the Bloody Face reveal was well done.
Score: 8/10
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