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Lead Critic for the site, as well as serving as an editor when needed.
American Horror Stories Season Two Episode Four, titled “Milkmaids,” is written by Our Lady J and directed by Alonso Alvarez-Barreda. This time around, we get some more return to form for the show and an awfully disturbing, grounded body-horror story set in the Eighteenth century.
As usual, expect some spoiler discussion in this article.
This week, Cody Fern returns to the universe as yet another character, making this episode’s character his fifth overall in the series, so far. He starred as Michael Langdon (The Antichrist) in the highly anticipated sequel season to Season One (Murder House): American Horror Story: Apocalypse, and followed that up in American Horror Story: 1984 as Xavier Plympton. He was also one of the supporting characters in American Horror Stories first season episode, “Feral”, as Stan Vogel, and then as Valiant Thor in the second half of the main series’ tenth season, American Horror Story: Double Feature (Death Valley). Now, here he returns as the lead character, Thomas Browne.
Rounding out the small cast is Julia Schlaepfer, Seth Gabel, Addison Timlin, and Ian Sharkey. Everyone is perfect in their own right, and it was great to see Gabel make a return to the universe since being absent from it since American Horror Story: Hotel, similar to Max Greenfield. My favorite thing about the cast members of this season so far is the return of actors familiar to the American Horror Story universe, as this show isn’t as consistent with returners as the main series, being that this one is an anthology of episode by episode, rather than season by season as usual.
I caught a few things from J’s premise, and due to the sheer oddness of this episode, I had to re-watch it a couple of times after my original watch and sit with my thoughts. Now, while this is a much more return to form than the last few weeks’ episodes, it was so maddening that halfway through I found myself asking, “Where are we going with this?”
J even throws in a lesbian love story right in the middle of the episode, and obviously, that’s very familiar territory for the universe as a whole. I just felt like she was trying to tell two stories in one episode. Perhaps, it would have made more sense to expand this story by two episodes, like Season One’s two-part arc, “Rubber(wo)Man Part One” and “Rubber(wo)Man Part Two.” You could also argue that that arc had three episodes, with “Game Over” giving more life to Scarlett and Ruby’s story, but that’s neither here nor there, and I digress. Nonetheless, J’s premise was still great for the American Horror Story universe.
Body Horror, Cannibalism, and Vibes of Contagion (Steven Soderbergh, 2011)
With our story being set in 1757 New England, J’s storytelling makes for a perfect setting for an outbreak of smallpox, and it was fantastic that this week gave us another story set in an old century, rather than the Twentieth or Twenty-First. The argument could also be made that with an Eighteenth-century setting, there is more thrill or scare factor, however, you want to take that. Much like last week, the focus here isn’t so much to “scare” but rather to disgust the viewers and give us a great body horror story. There is also a small feeling of hollowness throughout the episode, especially with Sharkey’s character, Thomas’ son Edward.
There are several times throughout the episode where I ask myself another question, “Why?” But that’s usually what makes some of the best body horror, and horror in general, moments in film and television. Aliens and The Thing (1982) are hailed as some of the best body horror films, both of which have moments in them where you are lost in the disgust of the moment, even though it’s usually for shock factor. In some ways, these moments also move along the story in the most interesting ways too.
In “Milkmaids,” which could possibly go down as one of the best episodes in American Horror Story history, there are several of these moments. One of the more disgusting moments is within the first ten minutes. Gabel’s Pastor Walter goes to use Schlaepfer’s Celeste’s “services” and she reveals to him the real reason he came to see her. He came to see her, not for her usual services, but instead to drink from her pustules and the puss they excrete. In one of the grossest acts I’ve ever seen in a piece of horror media, she takes some of the excretions, puts it on her finger, and feeds it to him, as if in a sexual act. He reacts by throwing up, slapping her, and promises to have her hanged if she reveals he’s a man of the cloth, a typical religious guy committing one of the more dirty sins.
The more I sit with the love story in this episode, it seems that maybe it does make sense for it to be here, albeit that it’s super short-lived. Timlin’s Delilah is seemingly a woman of science while Celeste claims her “power” is from Saint Lazarus, therefore making her similar to a Priestess of Lazarus. So, while they fall in love, their views clash several times throughout the episode and one argues for science, while the other basically says it’s bull and that God doesn’t have anything to do with it. It’s interesting dialogue nonetheless. It ends in oblivion as Thomas eventually confronts them and accidentally kills Delilah while attempting to kill Celeste, after being stabbed by Pastor Walter. Prior to that, though, Thomas confesses Celeste is Edward’s real mother (her alleged mother dies as the episode opens), which prompts Walter to stab Thomas as they confront the women.
The episode also has hints of cannibalism, similar to something like The Green Inferno, but not that extreme. It was cool to see cannibalism in the show again too, after being featured in Asylum, Roanoke, and also Season One’s “Feral.” While it’s been used several times, clearly, there is always a different spin on the topic and it’s refreshing to get that every now and then with the show. Here it’s used in perhaps the “best” way: Thomas tells Walter that in a nearby village, also ravaged by smallpox, people dug up the bodies of those who died from the disease and found that their bodies aren’t that decomposed.
Interestingly enough, those in the village decided to eat the hearts of those from the ground and smallpox miraculously went away in the whole village. Now, I’m not a scientist but apparently, the salt in the shallow water upon which the two villages were built kept the bodies from decomposing slower than normal. At least according to Delilah, who tries to tell the people that those with cowpox are actually immune to smallpox, which is what Celeste has all over her body and is the reason why those men who used her services and drank the puss from her are why they too didn’t get smallpox. I guess, it isn’t really Saint Lazarus or maybe even God, but science in some form, who knows? The premise was very interesting all around and executed brilliantly, even with a few bumps here and there.
I got small vibes of Steven Soderbergh’s 2011 drama thriller, Contagion, due to the sheer violence towards Celeste and how she’s treated by Walter throughout the episode. While it may not mean anything, it’s still cool to pick up on small things such as this, regardless of the end result we get here. Lastly, Gabel’s character reminds me slightly of Jude Law’s character from Contagion, which was interesting to pick up on.
Cinematic Aspects of This Week’s American Horror Stories
The direction is pretty standard here, with a few cooler shots here and there. There’s one where Celeste barges into the church where Thomas’ wife’s funeral is being held, and eventually, she’s chased out by a mob, rolls down the steps, and breaks her arm. While it is a gnarly scene, the shot itself is great as the camera rolls with Celeste as she breaks her bone.
There’s another scene in which Celeste burns the site of the stabbings of Delilah, Thomas, and Walter, and I couldn’t help but think of Halloween Kills when Michael walks out of the front of Laurie Strode’s home as it burns before he brutally murders the responding firefighters. It was a superb shot.
J’s writing was terrific. As I mentioned, I wasn’t entirely sold on this episode and found myself asking “Why?” several times, but after sitting with my thoughts and ironing everything out in this article, I really enjoyed what she did with this episode. It works greatly.
We got another grounded story with a crazy premise, and touching on the character of Edward, Thomas’ son, he is another in the long line of weird kids in American Horror Story history. He follows Pastor Walter’s word to a tee and straight up murders his own mother, and then proceeds to eat her heart right as the episode ends and cuts to black, in a style a la The Sopranos. This was one of the more knotty episodes of the show entirely, and it worked perfectly.
Final Thoughts
As always, it was awesome to see actors make a return to the American Horror Story universe, as it’s always welcoming to get that aspect with each new episode. As I have also been saying in past reviews, each episode seems to give us a new take on some sub-genre of horror. This week, our main sub-genre was body horror, and the execution was terrific.
Now, while I did prefer the first couple of weeks to this one, this is still a great episode, and I enjoyed it after ruminating on my thoughts and meshing everything out. As I have been expecting with each new episode, the team behind the show has been topping each week and giving us new, yet grounded stories and expanding the universe in ways the main series could not. They just have to remain on this track and all should end well, as we have reached the halfway point with Season Two.
American Horror Stories Season Two Episode Five will air next Thursday, as part of FX on Hulu, and the rest of the AHS universe is streaming on Hulu as well.
How creeped out did this episode leave you? As always, keep it right here at The Cinema Spot for more horror-related reviews and news!
Lead Critic for the site, as well as serving as an editor when needed.
This article was edited by John Tangalin.