We begin our final episode in Lake Sammamish, Washington, where we see Ted Bundy asking a girl for help hitching a sailboat to his car due to his injured arm. When they get to the car, she notices a lady in the back of the car. He proceeds to knock her out when she’s not looking. The two women are then seen tied up next to each other, with Ted playing eeny meeny miney mo to decide who he’s going to rape and kill first.
After that, we are put in Salem, Oregon, where two detectives (John and Robert) arrive at a prison and request to speak to Jerry Brudos. At the interrogation, the detectives tell Jerry they are part of the new FBI branch that questions killers to track other serial killers. After describing the crimes of Ted Bundy, Ed Gein’s name comes up, along with some of Jerry’s origin. The interview doesn’t go well, and we see John and Robert talking with a woman about potentially speaking with Ed Gein to help.
We then return to the mental hospital where Ed Gein resides, where we see an older Ed, and then the questioning begins. Ed asks to see photos of what Bundy did, and he realizes he has something in common with him; they are both loners. After the detective mentions the trophies he takes of the women’s heads, Ed explains the best way to cut off a head- with a hacksaw, with a high-speed steel blade -and to look into people buying saws like that. We then head to a jail, and see Birdman, who is told he has a gentleman caller. After the two have their little encounter, Birdman also mentions Ed Gein, who is apparently his idol.
After a more levelheaded Ed Gein talks with Nurse Roz about what he’s still doing in a place like the hospital, he reads some of the letters from his fan, Birdman. Birdman mentions that Bundy wrote him a letter, with his plans for what he’s going to do to some college girls.
Ed is then visited by Deputy Will Stanton the next morning, and Ed tells him the killer is named Ted, the car he drives, his knowledge of hotwiring, and mentions the letter Bundy sent to Birdman. Ed’s advice seemingly helps, as the next day, the news talks about the arrest of Ted Bundy, much to Ed’s Delight.
After a hallucination involving various killers, Ed is told by Nurse Roz that he has stage 4 lung cancer, and he only has a couple of months left at best. She suggests that he write his own story of his life while he has the time, which he declines. Ed then gets a visit from Adeleine, where Ed talks about how she practically ignored his existence, and Adeleine talks about her mental sickness and her episodes, like him. She then hands him a list of people she has to get rid of, much to Ed’s disappointment, telling her it’s not who she is and that he loves her.
Ed then has a near-death dream, where his mother tells him she’s proud of him, before he passes away. Later, we see some kids rip up Ed Gein’s headstone, and one of the kids strays to talk to a person who’s watching them. The person is revealed to be Norman Bates, followed by Buffalo Bill, and then Leatherface. Leatherface becomes Ed Gein, as his ghost dances away with the chainsaw, and we get a moment with Ed and Augusta.
This episode was good, but after doing some research, this episode is an entirely made-up event. Not that this is a huge problem, just saying. In all honesty, the episode may have just been a filler episode to have a stronger ending (and maybe some kind of redemption/character arc for Ed Gein) as opposed to him just being in the hospital taking meds like the previous episode. It establishes where characters like Adeleine are now. It also might have been to display the message that Ed Gein’s horrid nature and actions live on in the characters created and based on him, with the cemetery scene.
Rating 8/10