"Ave Satanas!"
Warning: Full spoilers for the episode below.
Now that it's been confirmed that Kai is definitely behind a cult and their purpose is to drive a small town into a paranoid frenzy (with loftier, grander goals in mind), it was time, this week, to see how they all function as a group and meet all the members. Meaning, apparently, everyone who's ever been on the show who isn't Ally (or about to be stabbed to death).
Right out of the gate here, let's address the fact that both Ivy and Gary are full-fledged pinky-swear members. Last week, I questioned whether or not they were part of the indoctrinated or just pawns in the game - like Ally is. Kai and Winter appealed to them both, separately, based on their political ideology, which is different from how Kai roped in the others, so it didn't quite make sense for them to be a part of such a unified effort to bring down all of society. They were hooked because their fuming hate for the other side was encouraged and nurtured.
So Ivy and Gary weren't neutral. They also actively loathed each other. Ivy, more or less, was the reason Gary didn't have a hand anymore (sure, Kai was the final catalyst for that). How are they both now a part of this clandestine shadow company? It's something I felt needed more explanation, but we just sort of hopped right into the deep end here.
That being said, Ivy being part of the cult now - with Harrison, Meadow, Beverly, Winter, and some dude named R.J. (it took me a while to realize he was Beverly's camera guy) - makes it easier to buy the group's mass hoax regarding Ally. Ivy would volunteer to leave the house the night of the blackout, and then purposefully send Pedro out to face a frazzled, gun-toting Ally. Ivy being part of the cult doesn't explain everything, but it does smooth out some wrinkles and overly-convenient Ally mishaps.
Still, not everything can go according to plan. Oz discovering the Winter/Ally bathtub video was, we were told, a mistake. And this week we watched the entire group invade Anchorman Bob's home and (satanically) kill him. They achieved their desired end result, but it didn't go exactly right. Bob had a pierced, dangling "gimp" dude in the attic (that he referred to as "it"), R.J. bitched a lot, and Ivy puked (could the cops find her DNA that way?). We're now peeking behind the cult curtain and seeing that there's dissension in the ranks, but the show is still filled with several smoke and mirror elements simply because Kai doesn't trust everyone.
Was Meadow really being killed off or was that another ruse meant to send Ally spiraling? If Meadow's set for slaughter, Kai's not telling Ivy because Ivy, we heard, thinks Meadow's off on a trip or something. But it's possible that everything Ally spied on was a set up. The kiss between Harrison and Jack. Meadow appearing right in front of Ally's window and then getting a bag put over her head. It's too ridiculous to be happenstance given all that we've seen. On the flip side, why would Kai dupe Ally in a way that makes her flat out think that Ivy's a part of the cult and not trust her?
One thing that is happening though, for real, is that Ally, as the one person on the show who's not part of the cult (you can argue that Oz is, but he doesn't know it), is becoming someone to root for. Maybe. It's a hard sell, but she could get there. As the only one who knows something nefarious is going on, she's become our only shot at an unlikely heroine.
The final piece of the cult member puzzle this week, revealed during Kai's flashback to his parents' murder/suicide, was Dr. Rudy Vincent. Though the surprising part wasn't that Rudy was a member (previously, it was obvious he'd told the cult about his patients' fear of coffins), but that he was Kai and Winter's brother. Does the fact that he's never among the other cult members mean that he's the actual leader? Or does he just like to stay out of the messiness? Either way, Beverly, Kai's most devoted member, might be making a play for the throne. After watching Kai break down over the memory of his parents, she seemed to hold him in contempt.
But then - smoke and mirrors - did he even tell her the truth? Were those tears real? One thing's for sure, and I think I brought this up last week, there's no way Kai is delivering on his promise for "equal power." He already pits his minions against one another, and favors some over others. Beverly does too, for that matter. The main thing that "Holes" did, aside from show us a couple of gruesome murders via knives and nail guns, was illustrate just how flawed Kai's cult really is. Unless it's his ultimate plan for the group to disintegrate in certain ways (to weed out the less loyal), Kai's sitting on top of a power keg because everyone's operating on different levels of devotion.
The Verdict
Cult found solid footing with "Holes" and its angle focusing on the villains' side of the mass hoax, but it's best we don't linger here too long. Repetitive ruts have been American Horror Story's bane for years now as the show operates best when it's not delivering the same thing week after week. It's what sunk Roanoke, ultimately.
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