Prashant Gupta / FX How did American Horror Story reveal the identity of Rubber Man in the first five minutes, and yet still manage to leave us mystified by the end of the episode?
Tonight's installment, aptly titled "Rubber Man," stayed true to its episode name and gave us pretty much the whole who, what and why of the rubber suit. Plus, someone got shipped off to the loony bin, and wait…
Who got shot?!
WHAT WE LEARNED:
Tate is Rubber Man: There's only so many times you can type "Rubber Man" before you start picturing a super hero. But we digress. Holy crap! Tate (Evan Peters) is the man in the rubber suit! Who called it? Personally, we thought it to be Chad (Zachary Quinto). But he did play his part in the Rubber Man mystery…He's the one who bought the suit to try and please his boyfriend, Patrick (Teddy Sears). The coolest thing about getting the backstory of the suit was flashing back to the pilot, and we found out why Tate put on the suit to have sex with Vivien. That leads us to the other big revelation of the episode…
Babies are the Name of the Game: Why are all the ghosts trippin' in the house? They want a baby! Tate knocked up Vivien (Connie Britton) in an effort to please Nora (Lily Rabe), the original owner of the house who still doesn't quite believe she's dead. Tate murdered Chad and Patrick because they were fighting and no longer trying to get a baby. Hayden (the amazing Kate Mara) is all pissed off because she lost her baby, too. Basically, everyone wants a baby! Wait, correction. Everybody wants Vivien's baby.
Violet and Tate Get Real Serious: Aw, couldn't you relate to Violet (Taissa Farmiga) having sex for the first time with her ghost boyfriend that also probably knocked up her mom? No? Good, because that'd be weird. During post-sex cuddling, Tate convinces Violet to keep quiet about the ghosts she sees in the house, even though she knows they are real. So when Vivien asks for her daughter to back her up about all the crazy things she's been seeing, Violet feigns ignorance. Kind of a stab in the back, since Vivien gets taken to the mental hospital
The most telling moment about Violet and Tate? When we flashed back to Tate killing Chad and Patrick, and he says that it's romantic that they died in the house together, because now they'll be together forever. And Tate pushed off Hayden's advances (she complained about the ghost-thing making her extra horny) because he was in love with Violet. Is it possible that if Violet isn't dead already, he'd kill her in the house to stay with her forever?
BURNING QUESTIONS:
- Was it Tate in the suit every time we saw Rubber Man?
- Who else is convinced that Violet is dead? We learned tonight that she hasn't been to school in two weeks.
- Will Tate ever tell Violet he (presumably) knocked up her mom?
- Is the gun used to kill Chad and his boyfriend the same one Marcy had?
- Did Britton just lock down her own Emmy-nom for her crazed performance in tonight's episode? We think we know the answer to that one.
- We missed Constance (Jessica Lange). Not a question, but it has to be mentioned.
WHAT LIES AHEAD:
Demon Baby Time: The birth is coming up real soon, and we know that AHS is casting babies right now, so we'll definitely be seeing at least one normal baby after what will surely be a brutal birth. And the casting notice revealed the sex of the baby, but we won't reveal that. OK, here's a hint: It's either a boy or a girl. Ah, we're such bitches.
Quinto Power: We sure do wish Quinto never left AHS, but our show source eased our fears by revealing that Zach will be back in a "big way." Any ideas what Chad is planning?
More Ghosts to Come: That's probably no surprise to you guys, but it's safe to say that we definitely haven't met everyone who died in that house yet.
What did you guys think of the Rubber Man reveal? How long will Vivien last in the mental hospital? What could possibly be coming up next?! So many questions, so let's head to the comments to talk about it.