By Joe R
So after lingering on every excruciating moment at Briarcliff for ten episodes, this hour spans about seven months or so and basically changes everything.
In the framing story, Dylan Face gets himself a hooker to breastfeed him and listen to his bitching about his mom. Dylan Face seems like a real loser, as far as serial killers go.
Back in the Sixties, Grace explains her excellent alien adventure to Kit, specifically that the aliens implanted a giant potpourri husk into her womb and that turned out to be their baby. Only, sorry, Grace saw a dead Alma up on the mothership, so that's bad news. Also, their baby is "special" and will "change the way people think," so start imagining the worst possible people this kid could grow up to be. But before Mom and Dad can be blissful crazies for too long, Monsignor Howard and his goons come by and take the baby away, to the orphanage.
Meantime, Mother Claudia gets really gung-ho about her new assignment to get Lana set free. She hands Lana her file and ushers her right out the door. Lana promises to come back for Jude, flips Dr. Thredson the bird from her taxi, and just like that, she's out. For good. That night, she meets Ollie at home with a gun and tells him the police have the recording of his confession and are on the way. He stalls for time, fixing a drink, starting the fireplace, telling the awful story about sexing Wendy's corpse before burning her remains. He also eyes a gun that's out of Lana's sight, but just as it starts to seem like he's going to get the upper hand AGAIN, she shoots him through the head. Another one bites the dust!
Back at Briarcliff, Judy's going all McMurphy in the common room and absolutely UNLOADING on Monsignor Howard for being such a disappointing hypocrite. Howard has her sent into solitary so he can fret about all the bad publicity Briarcliff has been getting now that Lana is free and her story is getting a lot of coverage. With his name now cleared, Kit gets released, and in a rare moment of savvy, he secures Grace's release -- and the return of their son -- in exchange for keeping quiet about everything he's seen. Kit, Grace, and baby Thomas return to Kit's old house -- which is still in the state it was when he was arrested, of course -- and find a surprise visitor in the bedroom: Alma, with a baby of her own. Reality show!
Lana wants to finally get that abortion she's had her eye on, but when it comes time for the actual procedure, she freaks out. There's been too much death. So she decides to keep her fatherless baby and funnel all her efforts into getting Sister Jude freed. Only when she and the cops get a court order to see Jude, Monsignor Howard tells them she's dead. Produces a certificate and everything. Of course, Judy remains alive, hidden away in some dungeon.
Lana eventually has her baby, which she intends to give up for adoption. But the idiot nurse wakes her up to inform her that the baby is allergic to formula and needs to eat. So Lana permits the thing to suckle at her breast, because if last season's end was a bloodbath, this season seems to be drowning in milk.
(BTW, um, whither Pepper? Kit and Grace and baby got out? Is Pepper still locked up? Did the aliens take her back. Maybe that's what the final two episodes will be about.)