Spoilers are ahead from Monster: The Ed Gein Story episode 2.
That was quite a first episode! One of the most important things to remember is that after Ed killed his brother, he set up his death as if he had been caught in a fire. Also, Augusta passed away from a heart attack, and Ed exhumed his first corpse. Now, let's head into the second episode.
Alfred Hitchcock is introduced
The second episode, titled "Sick as Your Secrets," opens with Ed having a hallucination of Jewish inmates from concentration camps chasing after him. The episode then cuts to 1959, where we see filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock and his wife, Alma Reville, having dinner with the author of the book, Psycho. The author and Hitchcock discuss Ed's life story and crimes in more detail over time. We find out later that Hitchcock is making a movie based on the author's book.
Through their discussions, we learn that Ed's fascination with death started at a very early age. We also learn that after Ed would dig up dead bodies from their graves, he would strip the flesh from their bodies and use it to make grotesque keepsakes. This is something Ed learned from reading "The B*tch of Buchenwald" magazine, which detailed how Ilse would carry out the same horrific acts on Jewish prisoners, inspiring Ed’s own macabre obsessions.
Ed claims his first real victim
The episode then cuts back to the early to mid-1950s. Ed and Adeline are on a date. Adeline tells Ed about her dreams of leaving Wisconsin to move to New York, where she'd work as a crime scene photographer. Ed shares with Adeline that he was inspired by one of the photos she gave him of IIse. It's a photo of llse holding a human skull that she made into an ashtray. Ed tells Adeline that he made a bowl out of a skull, but she thinks he's joking. Ed then tells her that he'll show it to her at his house.
When they enter Ed's house, Adeline notices the place is in complete disarray. In the kitchen, Ed asks her to be his girlfriend, and she agrees. Her attention then falls on the sink, where a bloody hacksaw sits. But she doesn’t press Ed for an explanation. Now that they're going steady, Ed tells her he wants her to meet his mother. As they walk upstairs, Adeline notices a strange chair. It's a chair made of human flesh, but again, Adeline doesn't question much. They head into Augusta's old room, and Augusta's corpse is shown sitting in a rocking chair. Adeline freaks out and storms out of the house.
Ed heads to a local bar to clear his head. He begins with a seemingly friendly chat with the bar owner, Mary, but the encounter quickly turns deadly. Ed pulls out his shotgun and shoots her in the head, then drags her lifeless body back to his house. Later on in the episode, the police question a man about Mary's whereabouts now that she's gone missing. The man explains that he left the bar the night Mary disappeared after she told him to go home, but he did see Ed’s truck arriving as he was leaving. When the police search the bar, they discover blood on the floor and near the back door. Uh oh!
Ed arrives at Adeline's house with flowers later on, but leaves after he overhears a conversation between her and mother where she denies ever being in a relationship with him.
The making of Psycho
We're taken back to 1959. Hitchcock is in the process of making a film adaptation of the successful book Psycho, which is inspired by Ed's crimes. To get his lead actor, Anthony Perkins, familiarized with his character, Norman Bates, Hitchcock takes him to the set piece that is supposed to be Ed's old house. Inside the house, Hitchcock shows him some of the things Ed kept from his crimes, like a human skull and preserved vulvas.
Anthony freaks out about everything and nearly quits the film, but Hitchcock manages to persuade him to continue. But at the same time, Anthony is struggling with his sexuality, which is affecting his work. He goes to a therapist who suggests unconventional treatment methods. Since he really wants to be in the movie, he decides to follow the therapist's advice.
The second episode ends with Hitchcock's movie finally made and showing in theaters. One scene from the film shows Norman Bates killing a female character in the shower. However, what we see as the viewers is Ed killing Adeline. Most of the audience leaves the theater disturbed after the film ends, but this excites Hitchcock rather than worries him. It seems he takes pride in the shocking impact his film has had. The episode ends here.
Monster: The Ed Gein Story is now streaming on Netflix.