After that major major twist on Grotesquerie episode 7 “Unplugged” we needed to take some time to regroup because everything we thought could be true, was in fact not true at all. For episodes 1 through 6 of Grotesquerie, it seems that every bit of what Lois was experiencing, from the murder case she was trying to solve to the family drama she was facing, was all in her head. We learned in episode 7 that she was the one in the coma the entire time and not Marshall. In episode 8, “In Dreams,” and episode 9, “The Stinging Aroma of Sulfur,” we are back to reality as Lois is wide awake (At least we hope she is) and coming to terms with all that happened before she slipped into her coma.
With the assistance of Dr. Witticomb, Lois tries to find her way back to the real world. Through multiple sessions, they hash out everything she was experiencing during a comatose state, which she was in for six weeks. It was a lot to process, and to figure it out, he had to get to the heart of everything. As they flesh everything out, Lois answers the questions, well, some of the questions we had. Remember Merritts’s food obsession and her desperation to be on the reality show Half-Ton Trauma? Well, that stemmed from Lois’s fears. She feared that her daughter’s weight would get so out of control that she would become a shut-in, die from heart disease, or have to be lifted out of her home by a crane. We don’t really learn why she was force-feeding her though.
We also learn why she saw Megan as a Nun. This one was actually self-explanatory. Because Megan was her partner at the police department, when she was told to retire, Megan got her position. Lois saw Megan as judgy and holier than thou. Hence, the creation of the good sister. The Father Charlie thing is a bit trickier to understand. Dr. Witticomb tells Lois that she concocted a relationship between Father Charlie and Megan because she saw them as being in cahoots. Why Lois saw Dr. Mayhew as a priest is still confusing. But, based on her reaction to him in Grotesquerie episode 8, that tells us there is so much more to these two. Dr. Mayhew seems almost infatuated with Lois and it’s a bit reminiscent of Nurse Redd and her feelings for Marshall. That manifestation of him doing freaky things behind closed doors did not come from out of nowhere. And we pretty much know why everyone else presented the way they did inside Lois’s head. Whatever Charlie was doing, Lois was fully aware.
When he stops by to check on her during a therapy session, she reveals to him that she heard things while she was in her coma, and soon she’s going to get him to confess too. He looks concerned by this, which had us asking just what the good doctor was up to with Lois after hours. What did he say or do to her? Because something is definitely up. Also, we still don’t know why she conjured him up to be such a highly sexual Priest either. Maybe the finale will tell us because we still have questions about that.
A few other things that get briefly explained during Lois’s sessions with Dr. Witticomb are her affair with her daughter’s husband Eddie, who was also her sponsor (yikes!), finding out that Maisie, the lady we thought was a weird baby snatcher, was actually a very good friend of Lois’s. The stuff with Marshall and Redd was essentially because the two were hooking up. Lois takes all that she’s learned and goes on a non-apology tour of sorts to try and explain to her daughter why she saw her the way that she did while she was comatose. Merritt doesn’t want to hear any of it and is far from ready to forgive her mom for sleeping with her husband. Lois makes it a point to tell Merritt that she was no picnic either, and when she’s ready to try and have a relationship, she can come and find her.
Speaking of relationships, Lois also pays Marshall and Redd a visit where she tells him that she’s done and she gives him divorce papers. She also tells him that she heard him wishing her dead. Marshall is not remorseful at all and doubles down on it by calling her a chimera and a beast (harsh!). Lois doesn’t seem fazed by it at all because she’s ready to start a new life far away from everything. That, unfortunately, is easier said than done.
With all of these things sorted (sort of), Lois begins to decipher who Grotesquerie was and where the killer came from in her mind. Lois thinks that Grotesquerie was a representation of her and all that she’s seen around her working as a detective. It’s Lois’s PTSD manifesting itself. The definition of grotesquerie is as Lois described it is “To live in a world that is grotesque and make believe.” According to Dr. Witticomb, he believes that the death of Andrea Salana was the catalyst for all of it because it was one of Lois’s failed cases. In Grotesquerie episode 9, he brings in an expert Dr. Milton Smythe to do a deeper dive into Lois’s psyche.
Dr. Smythe gathers more information from Lois, and after their conversation, he concludes that everything she saw was the future. Both Dr. Witticomb and Dr. Smythe are intrigued by her and they think that what she saw was a representation of the de-evolution of the human species by way of technology. Humans are changing more and more because of the increase in technology. Empathy is being lost more and more and people have become numb to everything around them. This didn’t really help us because it left us with questions again. Especially the last half of the episode.
Megan who has essentially escaped from her abusive boyfriend Justin, is holed up in a motel which is the same motel she and Lois were at in Lois’s comatose state. She calls Lois to come to her room to talk about the crime scene she was previously at which was an exact copy of the crime scene involving the Burnside family who had been brutally killed in Grotesquerie episode 1. When Lois arrives to Megans hotel room it gets crazy. Lois is already freaked out because the crime scene looked exactly like what she saw in her head. She believes someone is taking what she shared and re-creating the murders. She is still trying to figure out what is real and what isn’t. Megan does what she can to convince her that she is in fact living in reality and not a dream. But, things get incredibly confusing when Justin shows up and attacks Megan.
During the struggle, Lois who was in the bathroom comes out and pulls her weapon on him. There is a whole back and forth where Megan for reasons unknown reverses what she previously said and tells Lois she’s dreaming and what’s happening is not real. Justin is yelling and goading Lois telling her she’s wide awake and he doesn’t think she’ll shoot him, she calls his bluff and then pulls the trigger. It was in that moment that we looked at the TV and yelled “WHAT IS GOING ON?”
With just one episode left to go, we still feel confused about some of what we’ve seen in Grotesquerie. We thought we had answers but nope. We’re still trying to figure out who the killer in all this is. Because there is clearly one out there based on the crime scene Lois and Megan went to. We don’t think it’s Dr. Mayhew because that seems to simple and Lois already killed Mayhew when she was in her coma so why would that happen again in reality? We still are not quite ready to take Marshall off our list either because he just won’t leave our minds. One thing we are certain of is that we hope the finale provides us those answers we are seeking.
Grotesquerie airs Wednesday Night on FX.
