(Contains plot spoilers)
Episode 3, “Murder House” kicks off in 1983 with the younger, sexier Moira, still donning her sexy maid outfit, doing the cleaning in the master bedroom of the house! In comes Constance’s husband, Hugo, (yes, this was Constance’s house back then….) after some of Moira’s sugar, however, Moira, the conscious getting the better of her, resists, resulting in Hugo sexually assaulting her!! At this point Constance enters the bedroom and finds them, believing that Moira instigated it, she shoots Moira straight in the eye and repeatedly shoots Hugo in the chest!!!! Good start!!! Nice to see that the series is continuing in its graphic, horrific moments!!!
Present day, and difficulties with selling the house are getting problematic, as money is tight and Ben’s patient list being a bit thin on the ground!! Moira, in her younger form to Ben, continues to come on to him! Vivien walks in on their exchange in the kitchen and Ben (unaware that Vivien only sees Moira in her older form) tries to tell Vivien what Moira has been doing. Moira manages to convince Vivien that it is the other way around and threatens to sue if they fire her!!! A very surreal scene, particularly from Vivien’s point of view as she only sees Moira as old, and it must seem a bit odd your husband coming on or accusing an old lady of sexual harassment!!!
Ben has a new client and while in a session with her, he begins to get dizzy and all of a sudden, blacks out and wakes up outside, confused at how he got there! He returns home, only to find a big splodge of blood in the hallway, and Moira on her hands and knees, very seductively cleaning it up for him. She teases him and it seems that his Dictaphone has gone missing. Worried that he may have done something sinister, he frantically tries to find the Dictaphone, but no success, believing that Moira is hiding it from him. A policeman then turns up as the patient has been reported missing and Ben fears the worst!!!
Hayden then turns up on his doorstep, fuming that he left her at the hospital on her own, and tells him that she decided to have the baby and is moving into the neighbourhood so she can be nearer to Ben. She explodes into the house, wanting to tell Vivien about the pregnancy, deluded that she and Ben will now be together. Vivien is out, and Ben agrees to meet the following day, eager to get her out the house! Ben passes out and after seeing a doctor, it turns out that there was an opiate in his blood, causing memory loss and Ben instantly believes it was Moira!!! Later in the episode, the policeman returns, who has the Dictaphone, the patient found alive, and Ben has a sense of relief! On the tape, all that can be heard is the patient screaming at Ben for not listening to her!!!! I was a bit disappointed at this, thinking that the house was starting to get to Ben but instead it was just the results of being poisoned!
Vivien, after deciding to go on the “Murder House” tour, which visited houses in the area where famous murders had taken place, starts bleeding after they pull up at the house and the tour guide tells the story of the many murders that had taken place there. The original owner, an eccentric surgeon, had built the house for his wife, Nora. As times were hard and the surgeon wasn’t meeting his bills, Nora, sick of her husband and his failures, forced her husband to provide an illegal abortion service in the basement of the house, until their marriage ended in murder. At this point, Vivien flees the tour and runs into the house! After seeing the doctor, Vivien informs her that the bleeding stopped when she entered the house! The doctor says the baby is fine, but tells her not to move houses as the stress could cause another miscarriage.
Later when she gets home, the doorbell rings and as she looks through the peep hole, the ghost of Nora is stood there. She lets her in, believing that she is an interested buyer. Seeing as the house was built for her, Nora has a vast amount of knowledge of its interior design, but is disgusted when she enters the kitchen and sees that it has been modernised! Vivien turns to make some tea, and as she turns back, Nora has vanished!!
In all the franticness of losing his Dictaphone, Hayden turns up again after Ben stood her up! As he tries to calm her down, Larry takes her by surprise and whacks her with a shovel, killing her outright! He tries to tell Ben that he did it to help him so he wouldn’t be exposed to his wife. Larry convinces Ben that he needs to dispose of the body and digs a hole in the garden. However, there are other remains at the bottom of the hole – Moira’s – and Larry buries Hayden on top!! Ben, guilt ridden, builds a gazebo on top of the grave, hoping that no one will find the body of Hayden, while Moira looks on from the upstairs window, with Constance telling her she will never leave the house now!!!!!!!!!
I found this episode really entertaining, but also the story is really developing with regard to the murders, getting more and more interesting. Particularly now that they have introduced the original owners and where it all began! In amongst all the horrific scenes, I just find it so surreal with all the murdered folk walking around, only appearing every now and again and the fact it seems to just be consigned in the boundaries of the house! Although I’m still a bit confused about Tate and whether he is alive??? What is for sure though is the series just keeps getting more and more puzzling and very very entertaining.
By Kirsty Wavish
Moira Rocks!