Grotesquerie continues to keep us on our toes every week, and Grotesquerie Episode 5 and 6 were chaotic and horrifying. We all know Ryan Murphy is known for pushing the envelope, and he leans into controversy. That being said, I need to preface this review by giving you a trigger warning because some intensely horrifying stuff was happening, particularly in episode 5, ‘Red Haze.’ It involves pregnant women. So, if you decide to read this review, know that I will be going into some details that may or may not disturb you.
Grotesquerie episode 5 picks up right where we left off in episode 4, ‘Coordinates‘. Lois and Sister Megan have picked up a young girl named Andrea, who they found walking around in the desert covered in blood. The moment they arrive with her at a motel, which Lois says looks like it’s “built for some good old fashioned fornicating,” there is nonstop chaos. It’s a continuous shot for 15 straight minutes. There is so much happening that the viewer has difficulty keeping up. Sister Megan can feel that something is off. From the purple pool to the fact they still don’t know why Andrea was covered in blood in the first place, there is something wrong.
Things get incredibly crazy when a car accident takes place right outside of the hotel. Sister Megan runs outside to help, and when heading back into the hotel to try calling someone, she sees the hotel caretaker, Nick, drowning the concierge in the pool. The concierge goes back inside as if nothing ever happened, and Lois tries talking to her, but she, in not so many words, tells her to mind her business. Then, there is an eruption of gunfire. Lois and Sister Megan head outside to figure out what is happening (we don’t know either). They stumble on the concierge being held at gunpoint by Nick, The bloody desert girl comes out still a bloody mess (we thought she was getting cleaned up), and there’s yelling and screaming. Then a man all decked out in Black who may or may not be Grotesquerie (more on that later) pulls up a gun in hand, fires off some shots, and takes the bloody desert girl with him. Sister Megan attempts to stop him, but she gets shot in the process. As I said, absolute chaos.
Thankfully, Sister Megan was not killed, but according to the Doctors, she is not out of the woods. Father Charlie shows up to visit, and we learn that he seems to have feelings for her that are much deeper than we thought. He knows the flowers she likes and is genuinely upset that she was shot. He accuses Lois of using her as bait, which is ridiculous. I loved that Lois turned it back on him and pointed out that he was the one who wanted Sister Megan to keep covering these stories for the Catholic Guardian. We’re sure Sister Megan knew the ramifications of covering something like this. She chose to go with Lois.
Later in the episode, Lois is called out to another crime scene, where that trigger warning comes in. The crime scene is a Maternity House attached to a church. It’s a place where pregnant women can go and they can decide if they want to give their kids up for adoption. Several pregnant women who were 30 – 40 weeks pregnant had their babies removed from their stomachs, and they were left to die. It is possibly one of the most horrifying things I have seen on TV. The visuals of the open bellies were truly disturbing. However, I got the message loud and clear, which I will elaborate on when I get to a specific scene in episode 6. The killer has left a message for Lois, and she believes he lured her out to the desert so that he could commit this crime back home while she was away. Jack tells Lois that because they have no leads and they don’t seem to be getting any closer to solving the case, the FBI is now involved, and the Governor no longer wants Lois on the case.
As Lois is trying to process all of this, she gets called to a house full of kids whose mother left after a man came and took her. Lois learns the mother is also pregnant. As she canvases the crime scene, she finds an older lady outside holding a baby, and she keeps saying, “He’s coming,” and that’s where the episode ends.
Grotesquerie episode 6, ‘Good Caesarean Work,’ was a lot slower than episode 5. At least at the beginning. After Lois talks to the old lady named Maisie, it leads her to a woman who goes by the name “Glorious.” Glorious Mckall is someone that Lois has a past with, and she’s brought her in several times over the years. Lois thought she was still behind bars but learned she got out. When she gets to Glorious’s place, she confronts her about everything and accuses her of trying to kill her. Glorious doesn’t know what Lois is talking about, but it appears there were plans for an ambush while Lois was there to see her, so she takes Glorious in. It honestly did nothing to move the plot along. All it did was eliminate a suspect we already knew was never one.
In a scene I found pretty unnecessary, Nurse Redd shows up at Lois’s place with booze as a peace offering. She sits down to chat and tells her that she knew Marshall before his hospitalization. She’s been to a few of his seminars, and she goes on and on about their relationship and even says that she wanted to run away with him, but he wasn’t going to leave his wife and daughter behind. I don’t know what Nurse Redd thought telling Lois would accomplish because all it did was make Lois pull her gun and tell her to stay away from her and her husband at the hospital.
The only part of the episode that was remotely interesting to me was the end when Lois and her team arrived at a warehouse. The warehouse is filled with women who are attached to milking machines. Yes, you read that right. The women were being milked. And there are also babies in the warehouse. Now, this is where I will bring us back to Grotesquerie episode 5 and why I said, though horrifying, I got Murphy’s message. As I tied both of these scenes together, I thought about it being a way to showcase how women are currently being treated in this world. Not to get political, but the overturning of Roe V. Wade made me think about how much women feel like we are being viewed as nothing more than machines built to make babies. Pregnant women are dying all the time, so even though all of this was disturbing to see onscreen, it was a great representation of how we are overlooked in this entire situation. As long as they can get the babies out of us, that’s what matters. The mother can die, and it’s not a problem. Was it an in-your-face moment? Absolutely, but guess what? It got people talking.
As Grotesquerie episode 6 comes to a close, Lois finds a room in the warehouse that is filled with photos of her that show the killer has been stalking her every move. As she processes what she’s seeing, the man in black comes up behind her with a knife, ready to slit her throat. Lois’s life passes before her eyes, and she then breaks out of the killer’s hold and fires her gun. When she bends down to unmask the person, the episode ends before we can see who it is. However, because we can slow things down, the facial features of the attempted murderer look a lot like Father Charlie. I suspected it might have been him because of the build-up of his body. But that’s probably too easy, especially since we still have four more episodes. Unless Father Charlie has a twin brother running around, I have another theory, though, and it’s wild.
If Father Charlie turns out to be the one under that mask, I wonder if he was possessed to go there, and he isn’t even the killer. Something about the “He’s coming” and “He’s here” stuff feels so interesting. I go back to what Nurse Redd said in episode 1 when she talked to Lois about Marshall. During their conversation, she told Lois she needed to communicate more with Marshall, even if he was in a coma. She used the phrase, “He knows, He hears, He feels.” So, is Marshall the “HIM.” It feels far too easy that Marshall is just in a coma. I think there is more to him than what we see. Of course, that means there is something supernatural at play. Listen, I know my theory sounds wild. It sounds wild to me, and I almost didn’t share it, but I said we are getting closer and closer to the end, and this show is wild, so I will leave room for any and every possibility.
Grotesquerie is a show that is confounding. I like it, but it is losing me in some ways because I feel that it’s doing too many things. And there is a lack of consistency in the pacing. Some episodes are all over the place, with the characters doing things that don’t make much sense. Even the characters thrown into the story don’t do anything to move the plot. I’m hoping the series begins to make more sense as it goes on because, right now, it’s just like throwing something at the wall to see what sticks.
Other Thoughts
- Did they mix up the titles of Grotesquerie episodes 5 and 6 because the title ‘Good Caesarean Work’ would have made more sense for episode 5 than ‘Red Haze.’
- So… the actresses in the hotel in episode 5 are twins. Were their characters supposed to be related? Lois didn’t react when she talked to the concierge, who looked much like Andrea. The two girls didn’t seem to acknowledge each other, but they both knew Nick and talked about him like he was an okay guy (he was not). What was the point?
- Lois told Sister Megan to stop praying. No, girl, that is WHEN you DO pray.
- Again, what was the point of the dude in black taking Andrea? We still don’t even know why she was covered in blood. WHAT WAS THE POINT?
- Father Charlie throws away the carnations. Rude.
- Sister Megan is awake! we like her.
- Because of Lois’s drunken stupors, I keep asking how much of this is real and how much is all in her head. it’s hard to tell.
- WHO IS “HE”???
Check out the preview for Grotesquerie episode 7 below:
Grotesquerie airs Wednesday nights on FX.
girllll….. you are on the nose with this. it’s too easy to say that it’s charlie. plus all the red symbolisms… the nurse, his shoes, the crosses on his robe. having him be the killer seems too safe. the husband on the other hand makes it into something interesting. all she cared about was work, so what if he is making her care about him by way of killing all of these people? he cheated so maybe he is in a sort of hell which could explain the black goo.