"Murder House" is the third episode of the first season of the television series ''

American Horror Story ''American Horror Story'' is an American anthology horror television series created by Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk for the cable network FX. The first installment in the '' American Story'' media franchise, each season is conceived as a ...

'', which premiered on the network FX on October 19, 2011. The episode was written by

Jennifer Salt Jennifer Salt is an American producer, screenwriter, and former actress known for playing Eunice Tate on ''Soap'' (1977–1981). Life and career Salt was born in Los Angeles, California to screenwriter Waldo Salt and actress Mary Davenport. S ...

and directed by Bradley Buecker. This episode is rated TV-MA (LSV). In the episode, Ben (

Dylan McDermott Dylan McDermott (born Mark Anthony McDermott; October 26, 1961) is an American actor. He is known for his role as lawyer and law firm head Bobby Donnell on the legal drama series ''The Practice'', which earned him a Golden Globe Award for Best ...

) is paid a visit by an upset Hayden (

Kate Mara Kate Rooney Mara ( ; born February 27, 1983) is an American actress. She is known for work in television, playing reporter Zoe Barnes in the Netflix political drama ''House of Cards'' (2013–2014; 2016), computer analyst Shari Rothenberg in t ...

), who demands he tell his wife the truth. Vivien (

Connie Britton Constance Elaine Britton ( Womack; born March 6, 1967) is an American actress. Britton made her feature film debut in the independent comedy-drama film ''The Brothers McMullen'' (1995), and the following year, she was cast as Nikki Faber on the ...

) learns about the house's former residents: a crazed surgeon, Charles Montgomery ( Matt Ross), and wife, Nora (

Lily Rabe Lily Rabe (born June 29, 1982) is an American actress. She is best known for her multiple roles on the FX anthology horror series ''American Horror Story'' (2011–2021). For her performance as Portia in the Broadway production of ''The Merchan ...

), who provided illegal abortions in their basement, until their bitter marriage mysteriously ended.

guest stars as Hayden McClaine.

Plot

Flashing back to 1983, Hugo Langdon, the husband of Constance, begins making unwanted sexual remarks/advances to a young Moira who's fixing up a bed in the room. She keeps on turning him down in order to keep her job. Hugo throws her on the bed and

rapes Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or agai ...

her. Constance walks in on them, misinterpreting his advances on Moira as consensual. As a result, a heartbroken Constance kills them both by shooting Moira in the eye and Hugo in the chest. The Harmons'

finances Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services (the discipline of finan ...

take a blow, making moving impractical. Meanwhile, Ben falls asleep during an appointment and wakes up in the yard having dug a hole, but with no memory. Moira continues to

sexually harass Sexual harassment is a type of harassment involving the use of explicit or implicit sexual overtones, including the unwelcome and inappropriate promises of rewards in exchange for sexual favors. Sexual harassment includes a range of actions fro ...

Ben, and he threatens to fire her. He is unable to convince Vivien about Moira's sexual advances, and Moira threatens to sue if they try to fire her without just cause. Hayden arrives, announces that she is keeping the baby and moving nearby, and wants Ben to continue their affair. Vivien goes on a bus tour of

haunted places The list of reportedly haunted locations throughout the world, that are locations said to be haunted by ghosts or other supernatural beings, including demons. Reports of haunted locations are part of ghostlore, which is a form of folklore. ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, after finding the house is on the tour, where the origin of the house is explained. Charles Montgomery, the original owner of the house and a doctor, had developed an addiction to

anesthesia Anesthesia is a state of controlled, temporary loss of sensation or awareness that is induced for medical or veterinary purposes. It may include some or all of analgesia (relief from or prevention of pain), paralysis (muscle relaxation), ...

and began to conduct

Frankenstein ''Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus'' is an 1818 novel written by English author Mary Shelley. ''Frankenstein'' tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist who creates a sapient creature in an unorthodox scientific ex ...

-like

experiment An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into Causality, cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome oc ...

s. With the aid of his wife, Nora, Charles started performing abortions on young women. On the bus, Vivien worries that she is miscarrying again, due to

vaginal bleeding Vaginal bleeding is any expulsion of blood from the vagina. This bleeding may originate from the uterus, vaginal wall, or cervix. Generally, it is either part of a normal menstrual cycle or is caused by hormonal or other problems of the reproductiv ...

. The doctor assures Vivien that the baby is fine, but advises that the stress of moving could cause a miscarriage. Ben encounters Larry, who asks for money. When Ben returns home he blacks out again, and wakes up in the same spot in the yard. As he begins to dig, Constance encourages him to stay with the house and to build something over that spot. Hayden arrives at the house to speak with Vivien, but Ben manages to calm her down and they share a kiss. She recommends they both go to a restaurant to get something to eat. When he walks Hayden out, she is killed by Larry who bludgeons her with a

shovel A shovel is a tool used for digging, lifting, and moving bulk materials, such as soil, coal, gravel, snow, sand, or ore. Most shovels are hand tools consisting of a broad blade fixed to a medium-length handle. Shovel blades are usually made of ...

Ben used earlier. He buries her in the hole Ben had dug, where Moira is also buried. Ben builds a

gazebo A gazebo is a pavilion structure, sometimes octagonal or turret-shaped, often built in a park, garden or spacious public area. Some are used on occasions as bandstands. Etymology The etymology given by Oxford Dictionaries (website), Oxford D ...

over the spot, and Constance taunts Moira, telling her that now she is stuck in the house forever.

Production

The episode was written by co-executive producer

, and directed by editor Bradley Buecker.

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

reports a 67% approval rating, based on 6 reviews. Matt Fowler, in his review for

IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...

, gave the episode an overall score of 7.5, stating that, ""Murder House" took a bit of a step backwards from the forward momentum we got in "Home Invasion", but it still offered up some wickedly puzzling frights and gave us all a new past atrocity to mull over." Emily VanDerWerff from ''

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...

'' gave the episode a D+ grade, and said that ''American Horror Story'' is "a terrible, messed-up television show. And yet by doing virtually everything horribly, it becomes preposterously entertaining." In its original American broadcast, the third episode of ''American Horror Story'' was seen by an estimated 2.58 million household viewers and gained a 1.5 ratings share among adults aged 18–49, according to

Nielsen Media Research Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rat ...

. The episode rose a tenth from the previous episode.

References

External links

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"Murder House"
at

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