By Joe R
It's Christmas at Briarcliff, and Devil Eunice has decided to reverse Sister Jude's Grinchy ban on all things yule and bring back festivities like a tree and holiday music. (Of course, she does so by hanging patients' dentures and locks of hair from the tree, which Monsignor Howard finds cute, but Monsignor Howard is an idiot, you know?)
But there's trouble in Eunice's paradise (lost). Frank is feeling the guilt from having shot and killed Grace, and he's enough of a stand-up guy that Dr. Arden's vague threats to keep quiet or else be blamed for her death don't deter him. Something needs to be done. The other thing, though, is that Sister Jude shows up and puts a razor to Devil Eunice's throat. Arden walks in before she can do anything (and I'm not sure she would, since she seems to genuinely care for Mary Eunice so much), and Jude is removed from the asylum, but before she goes, she plants a seed in Arden's mind that Eunice is wicked. Later -- after a gift of Holocaust-obtained ruby earrings fails to horrify Eunice -- Arden approaches Sister Jude in supplication: she was right, and he's willing to do whatever it takes to get Eunice back.
While all this is going on, Devil Eunice brings a patient named Leigh out of solitary after over a year locked up. Leigh (played by Ian McShane so deliciously I could die) went on a rampage two years ago, killing 18 people while wearing a Santa suit. Then last year, at the Last Christmas Pageant Ever or whatever, he ruined Sister Jude's nice family photo by biting the face off an orderly. Eunice frees him so that he will murder Frank for her and take his guilty conscience out of the game. When that doesn't work, Eunice simply slashes Frank's throat herself (R.I.P., buddy) and sets Leigh upon Sister Jude in a locked office. Seems Arden was merely proving his loyalty to the Prince(ss) of Lies and walked Sister Jude right into the lion's den. Leigh menaces Sister Jude and plans to take his revenge on her for her mistreatment of him, but she manages to find a sharp object and stabs Leigh in the neck.
Meanwhile, Lana discovers that Kit is back in Briarcliff as well, and being kept in a drug haze. The manhunt is still ongoing for him, which tells Lana that no one knows he's here. No one knows SHE'S here either, which means Thredson is roaming free. She unhooks Kit's IV drug drip and tells him everything about Thredson, before finding a telephone to call the cops. But she's cornered by a returning Thredson, who tells her he purged his house of all Bloody Face paraphernalia, and now he's going to take out the one living witness to his crimes: her. Kit gets the jump on him, though. And while Lana desperately wants to kill him, Kit convinces her to merely imprison him until they can figure out how to expose his crimes and exonerate Kit. Good plan! Can't see how it'll backfire!
Featuring How the Grinch Stole Christmas, as performed by Ian McShane as Grinchy Claus and some little girl as Cindy Lou Who; the Silence of the Lambs scene where Lecter bites that guard's face off, as performed by Ian McShane; and the Christopher Walken scene in Pulp Fiction, as performed by James Cromwell and Lily Rabe.
week: Brooke Smith and the Origins of Dylan Face!