She Wants Revenge (American Horror Story)

Plot

The Countess (Lady Gaga) wants a small wedding with Will Drake (Cheyenne Jackson); however, he insists on having a grand affair, but Will eventually agrees to downsizing the wedding. Liz Taylor (Denis O'Hare) helps Elizabeth prepare for the wedding, but their relationship is still tense following Elizabeth's killing of Tristan Duffy (Finn Wittrock); Elizabeth herself is sad thinking about her generous "gifts" to people in the Cortez, as well as angry about what James March (Evan Peters) had done to her lover, Rudolph Valentino (Finn Wittrock). She meets with Valentino to sort out their differences, but unknown to him, The Countess is already back with Donovan (Matt Bomer). However, Donovan sees Elizabeth leaving Valentino's motel.

Two pornstars and a director check into the hotel to shoot a scene; however, Iris (Kathy Bates) gets tired of being an enabler and kills the director and female pornstar. Donovan finds her change in attitude as endearing. Miss Evers (Mare Winningham) meets Will and forewarns him from marrying Elizabeth, however Will refuses to believe her. Donovan returns to Ramona Royale (Angela Bassett) to recruit her for killing Elizabeth, he offers her the male pornstar for his blood and pursues her by telling that he is back with Elizabeth.

Ramona recounts how after Elizabeth had killed off her boyfriend, she got back to her parents. After her mother died, she took care of her father. One day, her father had almost died when Ramona gave him the blood virus to cure him. However, he still remains senile and weak and Ramona had to bring him blood from her killings. In the end she had to kill off her father. Once Ramona and Donovan reach the Cortez, he tasers her since he is still in love with Elizabeth. A warning Iris disapproves of her son for the first time.

Alex Lowe (Chloë Sevigny) meets the vampire children, including the one she had cured. Most of them are full of remorse over killing off their own parents except the boy she had saved, Max Ellison (Anton Lee Starkman), who has become the leader of the gang. Alex tries to get them to the hotel. The Countess and Will enter the wedding area at the hotel lobby, despite Liz's protests to stop it. After the wedding is over, March leads Will to Room 33, to see Elizabeth's baby, Bartholomew. He insults her, causing Elizabeth to knock him out and imprison with Ramona. Will frees himself and does the same for Ramona, however she kills him and feasts on his blood. The Countess watches the whole thing from the hotel cameras in her room.

Reception

"She Wants Revenge" was watched by 2.14 million people during its original broadcast, and gained a 1.2 ratings share among adults aged 18–49.

The episode received mixed reviews, earning a 64% approval rating, with an average score of 6.6/10, on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. The critical consensus reads, "Angela Bassett shines as Ramona Royale in "She Wants Revenge", but her story arc feels forced this late in the season of Hotel." Alex Stedman from Variety believed that "the aptly titled "She Wants Revenge" moves the plot quickly in ways that few episodes before it have", complimenting the plotline as well as the upcoming expectations the episode enabled. Michael Calia from The Wall Street Journal commented that "[a]fter getting lost in Det. John Lowe's long, strange, bloody and warped trip last time, AHS: Hotel turned its attention back to the character at the center of it all, Lady Gaga's the Countess. This week's episode, "She Wants Revenge", casts the Countess as an immortal on a mission. Well, make that several missions." Matt Fowler from IGN was also of the same opinion, saying, "Hotel sobered up this week, peeling itself away from its current streak of enjoyable-but-masturbatory flashbacks to coldly remind us that the beating heart of this season is an unfathomably dull vampire story."

Writing for the Den of Geek, Ron Hogan observed, "One of the interesting choices in this episode, written by Brad Falchuk, is that it's communicated mostly through voiceovers. We see montages of characters doing acts, but most of what we actually hear is from a recording booth." He complimented Michael Uppendahl's direction as well as some of the visuals of the episode. Brian Moylan from New York Daily News rated the episode 3 out of 5 stars, saying that "[the] episode certainly took a hard left turn, didn't it?... Sure, there's plenty of killing and bloodletting, but not even a single measly Seven rip-offs." Moylan believed that the unnecessary bits of the episode, including the sub-plot regarding the porn filming, were adequately mixed in the main story. E.A. Hanks from The New York Times believed that "She Wants Revenge" "returned to one of this season's most interesting themes – how love and hate can be bedfellows." Darren Franich from Entertainment Weekly observed that "[the episode] was at the point of an American Horror Story season when the players on the final-act chessboard start moving into position".

Emily Stephens from The A.V. Club stated, "A lot of the details in "She Wants Revenge" seem beside the point, too little too late, and uncomfortably low on results". She especially criticized the under-utilization of Angela Bassett and her "confusing" storyline. Ryan Sandoval reviewed the episode for TV.com and criticized the excessive monologues as well as the episode being "a regular soap opera this week on American Horror Story: Hotel, complete with betrayals, broken hearts, dramatic revelations, and thwarted revenge plots, all taking place on the Countess's wedding day no less". Ross Bonaime from Paste rated the episode 6.8 out of 10, saying, "Everyone makes mistakes, but in American Horror Story's case, it seems like its own mistakes could have been solved with a bit more planning and foresight. There's a lot of holes left in this Hotel with not a lot of time to fill them up."