NostalGeoff

This episode gave us some character backstories, a couple of AHS veterans, and an 80s pop group massacre. Fun.

Camp Golden Star

The opener is a flashback to 1948 at Camp Golden Star. We’ll learn later that this was the precursor to Redwood. Oh, AHS regular, Lily Rabe is there. I always liked her, especially in the Coven season. This time she’s playing Jingles’ mother. She works at the camp and also lives there with her sons Bobby (the favorite) and Benjamin (aka Jingles, the not-so-favorite). Btw, great casting with the kid who plays preteen Jingles. One day at the lake, Bobby is killed in a boating accident. Mother Jingles loses her shit and curses Benjamin, for not looking after his brother, and the counselors who also weren’t keeping an eye on her son. They were too busy having sex. Wait, is Bobby Jason Voorhies?

At the roller rink

After rescuing Brooke from execution, Donna takes her to a motel and helps her come down from the drug she gave her to make it appear like she was dead. Brooke recovers and hears about the music festival Margaret is throwing at Redwood. She vows revenge for the years that bitch took from her. Donna takes her to a roller rink to cheer her up. Cue the fun skating montage. It’s totally rad. Oh and then AHS regular Dylan McDermott (not Dermot Mulroney) pops up. I like these little cameos. Dylan is playing Bruce, a sketchy guy who asks the girls for a ride. Don’t do it! They refuse. Later, who should happen upon them when their car won’t start? Yep, Bruce. He fixes their car and Donna offers him a ride in return. On the road, Bruce starts to act creepy and the ladies want to kick him out. Unfortunately, a cop pulls up. Brooke is worried he’ll recognize her. The cop warns them about a killer who has been murdering women on this highway. Of course, Bruce is the guy. He shoots and kills the cop. The women manage to drive off. But Bruce catches up with them in the cop’s car and rear ends their car into a truck. They’re knocked unconscious and he kills the other driver. Brooke wakes up with a gun to her head and Donna tied to the back of the truck. Bruce gives her the choices of driving off and dragging her friend to her death or getting shot in the face. Is there a third option? A quick-thinking Brooke manages to get the upper hand, saving herself and Donna. They tie Bruce to a pole and cut his thumbs off. Eww, but deserved. Now it’s time to set off to Redwood. Watch out Margaret.

Ghost Mommy Dearest

Jingles shows up at camp and is promptly ambushed by the counselor ghosts. Nobody is happy to see him. Well, he did murder a large portion of the group. Montana, head bitch-ghost in charge, fills him in on what happened after they died. Their plan is to kill everyone at the festival in hopes of luring a ghostbuster to the camp who can figure out a way to get them out of purgatory. Seriously? That’s a stretch. They mention that there’s another ghost at camp. A lady in a white nightgown who terrorizes them. Jingles realizes that it’s his mother. He tells them about what happened to his brother in 1948. Afterwards, his mother butchered all of the counselors (Mrs. Voorhies-style) who let her son die. She tried to get Jingles too, but he accidently killed her instead. All of her blood and rage seeped into the ground. Back in the present day, Jingles speculates that this has caused the purgatory effect. He heads off to the cottage to confront his mother. Side note, they’re definitely channeling the 1988 horror classic Lady in White in this episode. That movie creeped me out as a kid. Anyways, Mama Jingles tells her son that she’s trapped at camp like the others. She’s still blames him for Bobby’s accident. The wrong son died. Ouch, mom. Furthermore, after seeing Jingles with Margaret back in 1970, she encouraged the nutty counselor to go on that killing spree. She really made her son’s life hell. And Christina Crawford thought she had it bad.  

Too shy shy

Meanwhile, Margaret is surveying the camp grounds with Trevor and her assistant, Courtney. I appreciated that this episode had less of her. Trevor sees Montana and follows her into the woods for a ghostly makeout session. Meanwhile, Kojagoogoo has arrived to play at the festival. Too bad for them, Raimrez also shows up. It turns out the group sold their souls to Satan in order to achieve fame. So that’s why “Too Shy” was so popular. The Night Stalker is here to collect on their promise. He slaughters Kojagoogoo! So that’s why they never had another hit. Down at the lake, Jingles is getting ready for his showdown with Ramirez. His mother appears. They have a temporary thaw when he tells her about his son and how he named him after Bobby. Ghost mom warns him that if Ramirez kills him, he’ll stay dead. But if Jingles offs himself, he’ll come back. Then he can take down the Night Stalker and protect his son. Jingles makes the sacrifice and stabs himself in the stomach. That made me a little sad. His ghost returns, ready to take on Ramirez.