Since Grotesquerie premiered, it’s been a show that has kept us on our toes. After episode 7, ‘Unplugged,’ everything shifted. What we thought we knew to be true wasn’t, and from then on, things just got even more confusing. We had hoped that by the time we got to Grotesquerie episode 10, ‘I Think I’m Dead’ which was the finale, we’d better understand what was happening. Turns out, once again, we still have questions.
What should have been an hour that put things into perspective, Grotesquerie’s finale was a bit slow. The first half of the episode is a Marshall Fest. Now, I love Courtney B. Vance, but as I watched Marshall’s story, I couldn’t identify with him. I think it’s because the first scene we see of him in the episode is him basically asking Lois if she wants to have some weird sister-wife type of relationship with him and Redd (Lesley Manville). From then on, it’s a glimpse at his life as a professor, which involves him getting arrested and charged with sexually assaulting one of his students, May Colsby.
Marshall claims the relationship was consensual. Of course, we, the viewers, know nothing about him and the relationship he supposedly had with this May Colsby person. And honestly, I didn’t see the point of adding on another random person we know nothing about. I would understand if we had seen her throughout the season, but we didn’t. But the allegation really gets to him to the point that he attempts to take his own life. He survives the attempt, and then Ed becomes a sponsor of sorts for him and takes him to some weird, musty basement for a meeting at the Mexicali Men’s Club led by Dr. Smythe and, I guess, Dr. Witticomb. Remember, Dr. Smythe and Dr. Witticomb are Lois’s doctors, so that’s weird. The whole thing was strange, actually.
The Mexicali Mens Club is a metaphor for how I guess men think we see them. It was like a chat room of sorts for them to air out their grievances. They discuss all the issues of the world, the changing times, having to try and learn all the pronouns to identify individuals, and the weaknesses of men. Something else that was odd about this meeting was that Dr. Charlie Mayhew was also there. He didn’t speak. He just stood in the back and watched.
After all that weirdness, we return to Lois, who is in crisis. After she killed Megan’s boyfriend Justin in Grotesquerie episode 9, ‘The Stinging Aroma of Sulfur,’ something in her snapped. And after Marshall’s proposition, it made her begin to question whether she was still in the coma. Lois checks herself into the hospital, where Dr. Witticomb sees her, and she expresses that she believes that she’s dead. Dr. Witticomb tries to convince her that she is not, but she lists all the reasons why she feels this way. She tells him about Marshall and Redd, and then she goes into what she witnessed Dr. Mayhew doing. According to Lois, the doctor was having orgies in her room. I guess that explains why she saw him as a freaky Priest. It still doesn’t make a bit of sense, though.
Lois tells Dr. Witticomb she confronted Dr. Mayhew but he denies Lois’s accusation and reminds her that he saved her life. During the confrontation, he informed her that Marshall would make jokes about killing her by knocking one of the cords on her machine loose. Lois talks to Dr. Witticomb about what happened when she went to Megan’s hotel room, saying that it looked like nothing had happened when she returned. She is spiraling more and more, and it only worsens when Dr. Witticomb accuses her of being Grotesquerie. Lois shoots that down immediately, and that’s the end of their session. As the episode comes to a close, Megan rushes to see Lois and pulls her out of the hospital to go to a crime scene.
Why Megan would do this is beyond us because Lois is not in a good place. She’s in a mental ward, and it was far too soon for her to leave it. But she does after Megan tells her that what is happening is real. She tells her that she did kill her boyfriend, and she did cover it up by cleaning up the crime scene. She begs Lois to help her because the crime scene they need to go to is eerily similar to what she was seeing in her coma. When they arrive at the crime scene, it’s the same church from Lois’s coma dream. It has the Last Supper set up, and Lois recognizes the victims. One is Marshall’s accuser, May, and the other is Dr. Charlie Mayhew (that’s right, Charlie dies in Lois’s coma dream and in the real world). Lois says she knows who did this and is ready to return to the investigation. And that’s how the finale ends.
With everything that happened in the finale of Grotesquerie, it is and isn’t obvious that Ryan Murphy is eyeing a second season of this. There’s a real murder mystery to solve. We still don’t have any idea who Grotesquerie is. My money is still on Marshall because two people who were in his orbit are dead. Both his accuser, May, and Lois’s doctor, Charlie, were killed. Just how he’s been accomplishing the murders, who knows? And if it isn’t Marshall doing the killing, it is definitely someone fully aware of everything in Lois’s life. The only other suspect could be Dr. Witticomb. Whomever it is, that’s the reason I would want another season.
Overall, Grotesquerie wasn’t a bad show. It had some solid episodes and also some really slow ones that were a little questionable. The acting from the cast throughout the series was superb, and my real reason for tuning in every Wednesday night. The storyline was shaky and at times felt like Murphy couldn’t grasp a foothold of what he wanted this series to be or where he saw it going. In some ways, it felt like things were happening on the fly. Like American Horror Story Delicate, I found Grotesquerie’s ending somewhat underwhelming.
Was I shocked to see that Charlie was actually killed this time? Yes. But there is still far too much that was not answered about him. It would make sense if the plan for season two is to show us more about why Charlie was killed. We need more of a backstory on him. Because if Marshall is responsible, why? And if he is not, again, why? What is it about Charlie other than him saving Lois’s life? Maybe it is just that simple. Either way, there are people like Megan for whom I still need answers. Is she as good and innocent as she seems to be? Or does she have her ulterior motives, too? I hope that if Grotesquerie does come back for another season, we get answers to these questions. If season one was the setup, season two needs to be better and give us more answers and less confusion.
All episodes of Grotesquerie are available to stream on Hulu.
I am equally as befuddled by this final episode. There was lots of talking and not much answers, more questions. It’s a shame because it started off so good and then lost its way. I think by trying to be too clever it ties itself in knots. But yes I agree, the acting is superb.