American Horror Story: Asylum Recap: The Angel of Death Descends on Briarcliff

American Horror Story: Asylum Recap: The Angel of Death Descends on Briarcliff

by Jenna Mullins Wed., Nov. 28, 2012 8:00 PM PST

Michael Becker/FX

The Angel of Death was our guest of honor tonight on American Horror Story: Asylum, and she certainly lived up to her name.

Season one alum Frances Conroy played the dark angel guiding people through death with a kiss, and she landed more than one smooch during the episode. We had to say goodbye to a character we've come to care about, and Sister Mary Eunice (Lily Rabe) kicks her evil ways up a notch. Lucky us!

Goodbye, Grace: At the beginning of the episode, the Angel of Death paid a visit to Grace (Lizzie Brocheré), who was dying from an infection caused by whatever those aliens did to her in the previous episode. But the nuns managed to revive her before the angel of death could kiss her. And that was all the foreshadowing we needed to figure out that our time with Grace was coming to an end.

Missed last week's episode? Read our recap!

Kit (Evan Peters) escaped from prison and came right to Briarcliff to bust Grace out, but a nun caught them before they could get out. The bigger problem came a beat later when one of Arden's creatures jumped out and attacked the nun. "What in the hell is that thing?!" is what we wrote down in our notes when we watched the episode. Kit quickly killed the creature, and that is when the guards came in, ready to shoot Kit. He was a fugitive, after all, still presumed to be Bloody Face. Grace stepped in front of Kit, taking the bullet for him. This time, when the Angel of Death came, it was for real. Grace's final words? "I'm free."

Lana's Big Escape: Our favorite reporter Lana (Sarah Paulson) has her own brush with the Angel of Death when Oliver (Zachary Quinto) tells her that because he likes her, he's going to go easy on her when he kills her. But first he's going to knock her out so she doesn't feel a thing. Lana, not about to give up now, manages to wrestle the syringe away from Thredson and get her chains around his neck, choking him until he passes out. She runs out of the house and flags down a car.

We think she's finally safe until the man driving starts going on about how awful women are, revealing that he just caught his wife cheating on him. He pulls out a gun, and the Angel of Death pops up in the backseat. We facepalmed ourselves, thinking that after all that, Lana was going to die because of this dude? Not quite. He shoots himself, and the car crashes. Lana wakes up, alive, but in Briarcliff. Not much of an improvement.

Producers Guild nominations are out

Sister Jude's Discovery: After a flashback to the 1940s reveals how Sister Jude (Jessica Lange) became a nun, it's quite clear that she is thisclose to losing it. She is haunted by the hit-and-run she's responsible for, and now she knows that Sister Mary Eunice is the one behind the murder of Mr. Goodwin, the Nazi hunter. Mary calls her at the hotel and tells Jude the cops are on their way, and she's made it look like Goodwin was investigating the death of the little girl Jude murdered. She better start running.

After imagining her own suicide, Sister Jude chats with the angel of death. They've clearly had interaction before. We get more backstory on Jude's tortured past, including the fact that contracting syphilis from her ex-boyfriend led to her inability to have children. Sister Jude says she's ready to die now, but she has one thing she needs to do.

Sister Jude goes to the house of Missy, the girl she hit with her car, gearing up to confess to everything. Until Missy walks in. Turns out she survived, and Jude is not a murderer after all. However, Missy's dad is side-eying her hard, and he's probably figured out why this random stranger came to their house. That can't bode well for Jude.

Burning Questions:

Will Thredson be able to track Lana down?
What in the world is Sister Mary up to? And when can we see more of the supernatural powers she used on Arden?
Will the Angel of Death be part of the demon's downfall?
What's next for Sister Jude now that she knows about Sister Mary's actions?

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