The episode has everything AHS fans have got used to over nine seasons of the show: Characters returning from the dead, brutal and campy flashbacks and, of course, a subplot about gay porn and Trevor Kirchner’s (Matthew Morrison) giant penis, famously called a “baby elephant’s truck” by Montana Duke (Billie Lourd) last week and “an act of God” by sleazy Blake (Todd Stashwick).
After last week’s episode seemed to follow the standard slasher film tropes, Season 9, Episode 2 ramped things up a gear by suggesting that something supernatural might be afoot, while also teasing that all might not be as it seems with Brooke Thompson (Emma Roberts) and Margaret Booth (Leslie Grossman).
What happened in American Horror Story: 1984 Episode 2?
The action of “Mr. Jingles” carried straight on from last week, with Brooke failing to get the other campers to believe that the eponymous killer was after her.
Turns out this is not the first time that Brooke has struggled with making someone believe her. In a very retro flashback (with shades of the Guns ‘N Roses video for “November Rain”), we learned that her husband-to-be had gunned down the bridal party after failing to believe she had not cheated on him with his best man.
While Brooke opens up about her past to Montana, the boys head for an evening shower. Cue more talk about Trevor’s prodigious bulge, which even becomes involved in the plot of “Mr. Jingles.” When Xavier Plympton (Cody Fern) was ambushed by Blake, a porn producer who had made him “gay-for-pay”, Xavier convinces him to go after Trevor for his new film. Blake looks through a convenient peephole at Trevor showering to check out the goods, but while he does this he gets an ice pick through the eye, adding to the already hefty body count of AHS: 1984.
Though the episode is titled after “Mr. Jingles,” he is not the only slasher on the loose in Camp Redwood. Though our cast all came to Camp Redwood to get away from ‘The Night Stalker’ (Zach Villa), he has followed them there. Brooke encounters him by the lake and is chased until a hitchhiker appears. Who is then murdered by the Stalker.
On second view, however, this is the same hitchhiker who we saw die on last week’s American Horror Story, back from the dead. Turns out he has been trapped in a time loop since 1970 that keeps seeing him killed in Camp Redwood. Something more complicated is afoot at Camp Redwood than we thought and it may involve ghosts.
Also complicated is the relationship between The Night Stalker and Margaret, who seem to romantically bond while she tends his wounds, despite her worshipping God and him Satan.
Meanwhile, the campers try to escape the area in Xavier’s van, but when they swerve to avoid Nurse Rita (Angelica Ross), they crash the vehicle, putting it out of commission. This sends them back into the cabin where Rita had previously been terrorized by Jingles to get keys for the remaining vehicles, leading to a cliffhanger that sees them trapped in the cabin while he bangs on the door trying to get in.
‘American Horror Story: 1984’ airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET/9 p.m. CT on FX
