Previously on FX’s American Horror Story: 13, we are introduced to Ben DeSorto, who has a fear of the number 13, which is clinically called triskaidekaphobia. After surviving a tragic plane crash, he takes on a new hospice patient, Mr. Nas, and meets his daughter, Jessica Lange’s famous role, Constance Langdon.
The episode begins with Ben coming back to the hotel for the day and telling Constance about Mr. Nas leaving his bed. Constance tells him that Mr. Nas can get out of his bed and assures Ben not to worry about that.
It’s time for Mr. Nas’ bath. While Ben is bathing him, he hears banging coming from the tub, but every time Ben looks, it stops. Thinking it’s coming from Mr. Nas, Ben lifts him forward to wash his back and finds a tail, but decides to somehow ignore it.
After the bath and once Mr. Nas is put to bed, Ben takes pictures of some of the artifacts from the home and puts the images into ChatGPT to figure out their meanings and history. He learns that each item is tied to the number 13. He uses his inhaler to make sure he doesn’t have a panic attack.
Next, we see a group of theater people for a clown project. Suddenly, the infamous Twisty the Clown approaches them. He slowly takes things out of his bag before killing everyone, saying clowns aren’t funny.
Ben wakes up at 1:13 a.m. and hears groaning coming from the living room, only to find Mr. Nas standing by the window. He watches, walking toward him, seeing the man’s bones cracking and his back forming. Ben tries to help him, touching his back to make him go back to bed, and is instantly disrupted. Mr. Nas turns around with black goo coming from his mouth.
In the morning, Ben gets ready to leave and go back home, but Constance insists he stay for a little while longer. Ben tells her about the black blood, but Constance says that it’s probably just a buildup from his digestive system.
Constance tells him about how she got into the hospice care business, saying she wanted a purpose to give back to the community. While telling him the story, she urges him to drink his coffee. She tells him, “To live is to suffer,” and talks about her children and how she was an emotionally absent mother.
When Ben gets home, he has a session with his boss and tells him about Mr. Nas. Ben learns that the woman who was taking care of Mr. Nas before him died by suicide. After the session, he gets a notification about the clown murder. He watches the news, and there aren’t any suspects or information about what happened.
Next, we see Constance celebrating her daughter Adelaide’s return. She’s been brought back from the dead. Tate and Rubber Man make their returns as well. Tate lights up the star and puts it on top of the Christmas tree. Winter Anderson, Kai Anderson’s younger sister and a friend of Constance, comes over, bringing along a woman who’s wearing a mask.
Tate Langdon is from Seasons 1 and 8 of American Horror Story. We’re introduced to him in Season 1 as a 17-year-old boy who’s a ghost. Adelaide Langdon also comes from Season 1. Both Tate and Adelaide are Constance’s children.
Overall, this was a pretty good episode. A theme that stood out was resurrection, which could also be considered immortality, in a sense. Constance has brought her children back to life, in their own able bodies. This is a major part of the storyline, seeing as these characters play a big factor in Constance’s life. Fedor Steer is incredible as Mr. Nas in this episode, being able to captivate the viewers with having such an intriguing and creepy aura about him. It will be interesting to see what will happen now that the children have returned.
Rating: 9/10
Photo credit: Courtesy of FX Networks.