‘American Horror Story: Hotel’ episode 4 review: ‘Devil’s Night’ and the ‘Mount Rushmore of Murder’

We are now four episodes into “American Horror Story: Hotel,” and after getting through Wednesday night’s installment “Devil’s Night,” we found ourselves immediately wondering whether or not this is a story that really needs 13 episodes in order to tell a full story. There was a whole lot of filler over the course of the hour, even if some of it was fun filler.

Our main event tonight was the Devil’s Night tradition: A dinner that featured some of the most-notorious killers in modern history all coming together for a fancy meal, complete with absinthe and a surprise guest: John Lowe, who could not resist the curious temptation to see just what this tradition was after meeting Aileen Wuornos (Lily Rabe) down at the bar. There were a few interesting, philosophical moments in here … and then lots of rambling on and on about how Mr. March inspired many of the other killers to do their thing.

This was a fever-dream, completely insane, and extremely pretentious all at the same time. We like that the show wants to celebrate Halloween, and we even praise them for being creative. But there had to be a way to tie this more into the story than this. How much of this story is going to matter down the road? We’ll give the art department and the artists credit for creating something that was visually stunning, but when it comes to Mr. March, we want to see more of what he can do now, and not just what he has done in the past.

The best parts of this episode took place (mostly) in the first thirty minutes, where we had further backstory on Miss Evers, and also the Countess going back-and-forth with Alex over the state of Holden, who no longer recognizes her as her mother. Eventually we did see Alex decide to surrender herself to the blood virus, mostly so that she could be close to her son once more. These are the stories that started to turn us around on this season after some weak moments through the first two episodes.

Tonight was too weird, too unnecessary, and too much about getting guest stars and characters from history. The better “Horror Stories” are the ones that have us invested, not just confused with what the writers are trying to tell us. Grade: C.

If you want to get some other news when it comes to “American Horror Story,” head over here to preview more of what lies ahead on the show! Also, sign up here to get some other TV scoop on all we cover, including some exclusive teasers, via our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: FX.)