In American Horror Story: NYC’s seventh episode, “The Sentinel,” tensions continue to rise surrounding the search for the Mai Tai killer. The episode has lots of highs with important plot points, but it also contains some confusing lows.
Gino, played by Joe Mantello (Hollywood, The Boys in the Band), and Patrick, played by Russell Tovey (Sherlock, Doctor Who), find the Mai Tai killer’s lair, for lack of a better word. When they arrive, there’s a dead body hanging in one of the rooms, strung up in a position that’s a cross between the crucifixion and something reminiscent of the murders in the 2002 film Red Dragon. Anyhow, Whitely/the Mai Tai Killer, played by Jeff Hiller (Somebody Somewhere), knocks the two men out cold, trapping them with the intentions of becoming some of his next victims.
Everything that occurs in Whitely’s lair is incredibly gory and graphic, featuring tons of dismembered and disfigured bodies, someone slicing their hand off with a saw, and more random gore.
Whitely reveals that his goal through these murders is to create a sentinel that represents the gay community and will “redeem them;” it has to come from them. Because of this, he wants to excavate Patrick’s heart for this dead body, which is of course incredibly disturbing. Luckily, Patrick breaks free and ends up shooting Whitely. In the immediate moments before the shooting, it almost seems like Patrick is going to hesitate and not follow through; have enough people in his community died? Does he look like a hypocrite and no better than the killer if he also kills a gay man?
With Whitely finally dead, it feels like there isn’t much to do with the rest of the season. Everything should be resolved, correct? Apparently, we have thought wrong.
Patrick ends up quitting his job with the NYPD, claiming that his department still doesn’t care about the community. On top of that, we return to Dr. Wells, played by Billie Lourd (Scream Queens, American Horror Story: Cult), and she’s interacting with Adam, played by Charlie Carver (Ratched, Hollywood), but there’s barely any mention of the fact that she’s pregnant or that he’s the father. If the creators are going to make this an important aspect of the plot, they need to remember to write about it.
Wells is still concerned about the virus and lesions, and she secretly thinks that she may even have the virus as well. If that’s the case, is that all we’re going to focus on for the remainder of the season? Doubtful.
After taking a look at all of the Mai Tai killer victims, Adam is convinced that there must be another killer out there – there have been too many missing bodies for there to be only one. Everyone is wholly unconvinced, but given the amount of episodes left in the season, this plot point is incredibly plausible.
The episode rounds out with Gino working on a piece about pride, questioning whether or not there may have been an ounce of virtue in the Mai Tai killer’s motives. Could the force of the gay community’s collective anger become their savior? The whole speech is very moving and intriguing and definitely brings certain themes of this season to light: owning up to who you are, continuing to fight, being strong, etc.
Overall, “The Sentinel” provides an exciting ending and “11’o’clock” esque episode situation, but I’m still interested to see what there actually is left in store for the show.
Rating: 8.0/10.0