Review: Season Finale, American Horror Story: Asylum, S2 Ep 13 – “Madness Ends”

Air date: Wednesday, January 23, 2013, 10pm ET/PT, on FX

Rating: ★★★★★

Lana gives an interview to the press

“Madness Ends” is an extremely satisfying conclusion to a ghastly season that saw various deplorable abuses and deaths at the Catholic Church-run Briarcliff Manor, the insane asylum handily shut down by the intrepid Lana Winters (Sarah Paulson). She may have been a self-serving journalist, but there is much to admire about Lana—particularly her persistence and fearlessness in the face of the intimidating authority figures of the Church. She may not have always been likeable but her gumption cannot be dismissed.

When we met Lana’s son Johnny (an appropriately chilling Dylan McDermott) a few episodes back, there was an inkling that he took after his father, the infamous Bloody Face (Zachary Quinto). It isn’t so much that he bore a physical resemblance; it was more who his father was and the horrific rape that resulted in his birth. I fully expected Lana to abort the baby but when she didn’t—even after an unsuccessful attempt at self-aborting with a coat hanger—I considered this a misstep in the writing. But then the story wouldn’t have led to the intense showdown between mother and son in “Madness Ends,” which was the sweetest icing on the cake, ever. Were you expecting the twist at the end of that scene?

Kit tells Lana about taking Sister Jude out of Briarcliff

I believe there can be only one hero/heroine in a story. If Lana is not the heroine, then Kit fits the hero bill quite nicely. It’s Kit who saves Sister Jude (Jessica Lange) from Briarcliff as a way to put his past behind him. He has his two children to care for, and bringing Jude into his home as a grandmother of sorts brings peace to her. Being part of a family she never really had made the scenario all the more touching. My heart actually felt heavy seeing Jude realize her time on Earth was ending; her six months with Kit’s family was the healing she needed and when the Angel of Death (a darkly ethereal Frances Conroy) comes for her yet again, I breathed a huge sigh of relief when Jude says, “Kiss me.” It was a fitting end for her. It may not have been the ending Lana wanted, but it was the right one. Lange’s acting was sheer brilliance, veering from a spiteful nun in the beginning of the season to a destroyed shell of a human being at the end of her life.

The bright spot in “Madness Ends” are the scenes with Jude, Kit and the children, especially the scene where Jude teaches them how to dance to Louis Prima’s “Jump Jive and Wail”—it’s a rare look of happiness on her face that was particularly cheering. It never mattered that the kids had alien blood; it was sort of pointless having them so. Perhaps the only scene where this might have been pertinent is when the kids lead Jude by the hand out to the woods after a nasty outburst. Their calming effect on her could just have easily been attributed to the purity of their childlike nature.

A new beginning for Sister Jude?

Somewhat perturbing is not knowing what happened to Pepper. The circumstances of her death are questionable, and it’s sad to see she was just one of many death statistics at Briarcliff. Here’s hoping Ms. Grossman returns for a third season of American Horror Story. What little we saw of her left quite an impression on this reviewer.

Lana’s dogged pursuit of Cardinal Howard (Joseph Fiennes) ends with his suicide, an appropriate conclusion to the life of a cowardly man out only for himself, a man who never had the guts to put an end to the Nazi criminal Dr. Arden’s (James Cromwell) human experiments at Briarcliff.

I would be remiss not to mention Lily Rabe whose Sister Mary Eunice left a trail of terror and fear in her wake. The Sister’s fall from grace was difficult to watch, and it is Rabe’s compelling portrayal that kept this reviewer glued to her seat every week.

I was pleased to hear creator Ryan Murphy’s announcement of a third season of American Horror Story, which will see the return of Lange, Peters, and Paulson. No storylines have been fleshed out as of yet.

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You might also like to follow co-creator Ryan Murphy @MrRPMurphy, Director/Producer Brad Falchuk @BFalchuk, Dr. Thredson @ZacharyQuinto, Lana Winters @MsSarahPaulson, and Kit Walker @tweetsonurface (Evan Peters).

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