Mr. Grotesquerie: The musical (episode 4 review)

Ryan Murphy just couldn’t help himself, could he? He had to sneak in a musical number in his latest series, Grotesquerie on FX. Let’s review the latest episode of the horror drama and highlight the biggest events – but first, here's your only spoiler alert! 

If you are not caught up on Grotesquerie, go stream all four episodes available now on Hulu before reading ahead. Final warning: This review dives into big spoilers.

In the latest episode of Grotesquerie, Lois (Niecy Nash-Betts) pays her husband Marshall (Courtney B. Vance) a visit. During her one-sided conversation with an unconscious Marshall, Lois shares that all she has keeping her together are uppers and vodka. Listening in on this visit is evil Nurse Redd (Lesley Manville), who is also recording the conversation. 

Does Lois know more than she’s telling us?

It makes you wonder…Nurse Redd told Lois that she records these visits, so why is Lois being so open? The detective also tells Marshall that she doesn’t have any leads on the Mr. Grotesquerie killings. I may be wrong here or giving Lois too much credit, but I think she is more clever than she’s letting us know. Could Nurse Redd be a suspect, but Lois doesn’t want her to know? Lois did witness the nurse sewing up Marshall’s blister wounds in the previous episode. And in the most recent murders, Lois notes that the killer could be a surgeon, someone in the medical field who knows how to sew. Again, this is only a theory of mine!  

This is also the first time Lois gives the serial killer a name, Mr. Grotesquerie. All of the killings have been gruesome and seem to require a lot of physical strength to pull off, but that doesn’t mean it couldn’t have been a woman. Miss Grotesquerie, perhaps? Maybe more than one killer? 

Sign me up for Cycle Class with Father Charlie! 

Father Charlie (Nicholas Alexander Chavez) has many hobbies we have yet to learn about, but add Cycle Class Instructor to the list! And his number one fan? Sister Megan, of course! We see her spying on the priest, and he is quick to take notice. The nun is also there when the priest steps out of the shower and stands wearing nothing but a towel. The two chat and conclude that they are sinners no matter what they do, so why not have sex? 

Tsk. Tsk. Father Charlie. Sure, the nun should know better and not be so easily tempted, but as her boss, the priest is the one to blame here. The biggest question about Sister Megan and Father Charlie, however, is – where is this all going? At first, I admired Grotesquerie for featuring a more focused story. Murphy’s American Horror Story tends to feature a lot of distractions, giving audiences side quests and shocking scenes without value. But now, Grotesquerie is getting close to matching the same mess. 

If Father Charlie and Sister Megan are not more involved in the murders than we know, why are we seeing so much of them (literally and figuratively)? Episode 5 airs next week, so Grotesquerie needs to bring the story back into focus pronto.

Eddie is not a figment of Lois’ imagination 

After watching Eddie’s (Travis Kelce) angelic entrance into the world of Grotesquerie, I really thought he was not real. Not to mention, Lois seemed to be the only one who was able to talk to him. But in episode 4, Eddie is introduced to Lois’ daughter, Merritt (Raven Goodwin).  

Merritt was able to figure out how to open the mysterious box Lois gave her from one of the crime scenes. Inside, Merritt found some coordinates written down on a small piece of paper. She calls Sister Megan to join her on the trip to find out where the coordinates lead – but not before calling Eddie for help. 

Lois doesn’t want to leave Merritt home alone for one night, let alone a couple of nights. Because she’s not sure how long this will take. Eddie is happy to help, but Merritt is less than thrilled to have a babysitter. 

Now that we know Eddie is not a figment of Lois’ imagination, I don’t trust him. He and Lois seemed to have hit it off a bit too quickly. I’m actually disappointed Lois is trusting Eddie to stay home alone with Merritt. Eddie is nice, sure, but come on, detective! You only just met the guy! 

Eddie did get Lois to attend an AA meeting (well, he sorta tricks her into going). After the meeting, they have dinner. Eddie shares that he also had an addiction problem. We learn that Eddie used to work at a male strip club under the name Big Peter and His Banana Splitter. Classy. After ending up homeless, he hit rock bottom. And now, Eddie wants to help Lois give up drinking. I don’t know. Eddie seems too good to be true. But hey, I don’t think we saw Lois drunk after her “date” with Eddie. 

Mr. Grotesquerie: The musical 

On the way to the location they discovered in the coordinates, we learn that Sister Megan has some pipes! She starts singing along to “I Don’t Know How to Love Him” from the original Broadway production, Jesus Christ Superstar. Lois joins her and the two have a mini karaoke session. Welcome to Mr. Grotesquerie: The Musical, I guess! 

Sister Megan points out that this journey they are going to could be a trap. Sure enough, things quickly go south. They arrive at a fire pit in the middle of nowhere. A man who introduces himself as Dr. Ritter tell the nun and Lois that this is a sink hole over a natural gas deposit, and it is quickly growing and spreading. They decide to turn back and drive through the fire in order to escape. 

While telling Lois about sleeping with Father Gabriel, Sister Megan shouts for Lois to stop the car before they hit a woman in the middle of the road. They get the woman to hop inside the car, and the mysterious woman tells Lois and Sister Megan to step on it because “he’s coming.” Is she talking about Mr. Grotestquerie? I sure hope so, because this story needs to get back on track! 

Next Wednesday, Oct. 9, we’ll get another two back-to-back episodes. Don’t miss out! Be sure to follow along with us as we continue to recap and review each episode of Grotesquerie.