American Horror Story: 1984 season 9, episode 3 recap: Slashdance

Camp Redwood is being terrorized by two serial killers, and last week’s episode of American Horror Story takes it up a notch.

American Horror Story: 1984 is actually a pleasant surprise. I wasn’t quite sure if we’d get another season with a solid idea but poor story to back it up. However, I have to say last week’s episode left me wanting more. As you know, two serial killers are on the loose at Camp Redwood, and it’s starting to get nuts. People are dying left and right, and it’s getting hard to keep track of who and what is next.

The Night Stalker, aka Richard Ramirez, is one of them and manages to get pretty close to killing Brooke, Rita, Ray, and Chet. Meanwhile, the other group (Montana, Xavier, and Trevor) think they’re about to become Mr. Jingles’ next victims. However, they soon learn it’s just kids playing a prank on them. Of course, because this is American Horror Story we’re talking about, the real Mr. Jingles shows up and does what he does best–kill.

What I enjoyed the most about this American Horror Story episode is that we learned that a lot of this group is shady, really shady. They’re hiding all sorts of secrets, and aren’t at all who they say they are, starting with “Nurse Rita”. As we learn, she isn’t Nurse Rita at all, but instead a P.h.D. student interested in serial killers. She believes she knows why there has been so many and has cracked open cases involving some of the most notorious ones (you know, like John Wayne Gacy).

A flashback reveals that “Nurse Rita’ actually met with Mr. Jingles the week before he breaks out, and was part of his escape. She wanted him to be out and about so she could observe him in his natural environment. I mean, there are other ways to do this sort of thing, but hey, whatever works.

Ray is the next surprise in the group, and who we learn, is a coward through and through. After he and Chet fall into a pit of stakes, Chet is impaled with one of them. Assuming they’re going to die here, Ray comes clean about his past and how he was responsible for the murder of a student in his frat. And if that’s not bad enough, he decides to leave Chet behind to die and climbs his way out of the pit.

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Xavier and Trevor stumble across Chet in the pit and find him before Mr. Jingles does. There are a couple more murders, and we even briefly meet the real Nurse Rita who was kidnapped by the imposter. Unfortunately, Mr. Jingles ends up killing her making Camp Redwood officially the worst place to spend your summer.

Montana runs into Ray at some point and they make their way to the parking lot to ride off on Trevor’s motorcycle. The Night Stalker jumps out at that moment and as expected, Ray takes the opportunity to run away sans Montana, leaving her behind to die.

But dying is the opposite of what she does. Instead, she starts making out with the Night Stalker and asks why he hasn’t killed her yet. SO THIS IS SOME ELABORATE MESSED UP PLAN!

Side note: Ray was murdered by Mr. Jingles as he tried to ride away on the bike via gruesome decapitation.

Okay, but who is the “her” Montana is talking about? I want to guess Brooke but I don’t think American Horror Story would be that obvious. It has to be someone else, right? The Night Stalker did try to kill Brooke back in L.A. though, so it’s hard to completely ignore that notion.

Hopefully, we find out next week!

Be sure to tune in every Wednesday on FX to watch new episodes at 10 PM EST!