American Horror Story
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I have a pet theory about series in which episodes get shorter as the season progresses.
Find the shortest among them, and thats the run time all the episodes should clock in at.
The third installment ofDelicategets it done in a crisp 37 minutes and is creepier and less maudlin for it.
But until this episode,Delicatehas felt so scattershot that Id formed no expectations for showrunners to upend.
But finally, by the end of When the Bough Breaks, weve established some basic truths.
The episode opens in the meadow fromTwilight.
Anna twirls her bouncing baby boy in the air as pollen and dandelion fluff are taken by the wind.
Never has a woman looked so beatific; never has a child loved his mother more.
Out of the cloud bank.
When the gleaming sun breaks through, I half-expected mother and baby to sparkle like Cullens.
But the happy scene disintegrates when Anna tosses the little man into the air.
What goes up doesnt come down.
The infant vanishes, though we can still hear his cries.
Annas sheer white dress turns the color of blood.
The falling leaves are actually buzzing gnats.
The dream is a nightmare; the only escape is to scream yourself awake.
For Anna, of course, being awake is the worst nightmare.
Shes grieving a miscarriage.
Dex, it seems, is losing faith too.
But Anna insists that this is exactly what they want, not sure who they could be.
Does they include Dr. Hill with his extraterrestrial-chic medical offices?
Does it include Sonia, who turns up in the Hamptons for a clandestine dinner date with Dex?
And does they include Dex, who vacillates between his own grief and his frustration with Anna?
By the time they get there, though, Preechers vanished.
Its become a familiar (and tedious) cycle onDelicate.
Anna blames Dex, who blames Siobhan, who Anna defends, but its immaterial.
Could it be Siobhans fault?
In Siobhans company, Anna does relax a little.
The budding starlet has booked the cover ofVoguemagazine, thanks to Siobhans attention.
When God savagely closes a door, he slips your PRs phone number to Anna Wintour.
Siobhan is right about two things, though.
Were all just learning on the job.
Nicolette, the conspicuously breast-milk-pumping house manager with a sinister air?
dressed in black masks and black-feather horns, each holding a goat on a leash.
Who are these women?
They must be real because Anna hasnt seen them; we cant be in her imagination.
Alas, well never know.
The lullaby or maybe its the bottle of wine or maybe its whatever else could be in the wine?
seduces Anna into sleep on the cold basement floor.
Theres gibberish Satan-worshiping Latin scrawled on the dingy walls.
But Anna is past science now.
When her gums bleed, another common/gothic pregnancy occurrence, she self-confirms shes got a bun in the oven.
At least this time, Kamal sees Preecher too.
I want to warn you, the hacker says.
They did something to your baby.
But all Anna hears is baby.
Theres a baby inside her, alive and kicking.
